NOAH van HELSING

Real Name: Noah van Helsing;
    formerly Noah Tremayne

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Vampire Hunter

Group Membership: A group of vampire hunters (Benjamin Alomii, Blade/Eric Brooks, Divinity Drake/Aamshed, Enzo Ferrara, Lucas Telling-Stone, Michiko Watanabe)

Affiliations: Mr. Gheorgiu, Ion,  Mortuus Invitus, 

Enemies: Dracula, vampires (notably the Adze, Charniputra and Yiki Onna)

Known Relatives: Mr. Tremayne (father, deceased), Mrs. van Helsing (formerly Mrs. Tremayne, mother, presumably deceased), August van Helsing (adoptive father), Jeremiah van Helsing (adoptive grandfather);
    Mr. van Helsing, Rache van Helsing, Hans, Abraham van Helsing and his son (presumably also named Abraham), Boris van Helsing, Eveline O'Reilly (nee van Helsing), Rachel van Helsing and her father or mother (relatives via adoption)

Aliases: "Little Man" (from Dracula)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    mobile across the world;

First Appearance: Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (December, 2004)

Powers/Abilities: Noah van Helsing did not have any superhuman powers. He was extensively researched and fairly knowledgeable with regards to vampires. His logic and deductive skills were not as strong. 

    He was willing and able to develop complex plots, and he had contacts around the world to provide him with technology (such as a "suitcase" nuclear bomb) and transport, as well as the wealth to charter (or perhaps own) a private jet. 

    He readily led and participated in missions against vampires, but when actually confronted by vampires he immediately froze up, panicked, and despaired. He did not demonstrate any combat skills.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 6'2"-6'4")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 220 to 260 lbs.)
Eyes: Dark brown
Hair: Gray (presumably darker in youth)

History:

(Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Noah Tremayne was born the son of a petty claims adjuster who died when Noah was young.

    When Noah was fourteen, his long-widowed mother remarried to August van Helsing, son of Jeremiah van Helsing. 

    August adopted Noah and gave him his name, and Noah tried to live up to that name and carry on the romantic legacy of his adopted father's ancestors.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#2 (fb) - BTS / Tomb of Dracula IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Deep in the bowels of the Vatican, Enzo Ferrara (apparently guided by Aamshed) discovered a second century Greek commentary on Aamshed's lost text on the Ritual of Ascendance, which commented that the vampire-lord's metamorphosis could be thwarted by the "smallest part of the greatest fire." Believing the greatest fire to be the sun, Noah and Enzo concluded that its smallest part was the uranium atom and that Dracula could be defeated by nuclear fission (see comments).

(Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS / Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Appreciating the sudden, unprecedented migrations of vampires across the international date lines to the region in which Vlad Dracula had perished and revived as a vampire, Noah realized that the Ritual of Ascendance, which would grant Dracula god-like power -- had begun.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS / Tomb of Dracula IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Keeping secret that he was adopted (apparently influenced by Aamshed), Noah recruited a number of vampire hunters, notably Benjamin Alomii, Lucas Telling-Stone, and Michiko Watanabe, to destroy Dracula before he could complete the Ritual of Ascendance. 

(Tomb of Dracula IV#2 (fb) - BTS) - An unidentified contact of Noah's acquired -- at no small cost -- for him a portable Soviet warhead, one of the so-called "suitcase" bombs that was given to the Kremlin-backed Ceaucescu regime in the 1980s.

    From what Noah and Enzo could determine, Dracula would enter a four-day period of weakness in a chrysalis prior to gaining his vast power.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS /Tomb of Dracula IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Wishing to complete her long-term goal of destroying Dracula, "Divinity Drake" -- allegedly a direct descendant of Dracula, but secretly the Sumerian sorceress Aamshed, who had been forced to create the ritual by ancient vampire lord Varnae but had twisted the ritual to prevent Varnae from utilizing it -- allied with Noah van Helsing.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Aamshed secretly wished the others to bring her to Dracula so she could follow through on her plan to destroy him.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#1) - After Divinity Drake had attracted the attention of vampire-hunter Blade and drawn him to her apartment, Noah contacted Divinity and summoned her to a meeting, and she slipped away unseen by Blade.

    At an undisclosed location, Noah met with Benjamin Alomii, Enzo Ferrara, Lucas Telling-Stone, and Michiko Watanabe, reviewing their histories and qualifications. Reviewing the Ritual of Ascendance, Noah informed his associates that, as they knew exactly where Dracula would be, they would have him at their mercy. 

    Interrupting after having tracked Divinity there (and arriving at the meeting before her), Blade advised the other vampire-hunters that they were seriously underestimating Dracula's abilities as a strategist and assured them that Dracula would have gathered a massive vampire army to stop them. After Divinity arrived and admitted that she had led Blade there, Noah introduced her to the group and noted her to be "a cousin of his from another branch of the family." 

    Hearing her full name, Blade queried whether she was a direct descendant of Dracula and suggested that she might turn at any moment. Noah countered that she was a world-class bio-chemist and vampirologist who knew more about their enemy's physiology than anyone living, as well as being an expert in bioweaponry and gene-manipulation and a three-time hap-ki-do champion. 

    Nonetheless, Blade advised Noah and his allies that they were deluded and that Dracula was a much more dangerous threat than they could ever imagine.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#2) - During a training exercise, Noah showed Divinity a plexiglass bullet filled with silver nitrate that would explode past a vampire's epidermis. She swiftly turned and shot Blade in the chest. Noah commented on the accuracy of her dead-center lung shot, and noted that she must have known Blade's Kevlar would save him. She replied that she strongly suspected it, but noted that the sting he felt anyway was payback for a recent close-range paintball shot he had taken on her.

    Later, Noah detailed the Ritual of Ascendance to the others and discussed his interpretation of "the smallest part of the greatest fire" as the uranium atom. Blade argued against using a nuclear bomb, but Noah advised him that it was not his solution but Aamshed's, and he clarified that the plan was to carry a nuclear weapon into Dracula's crypt a mile below Castle Dracula, which would protect the surrounding environment and people from the nuclear explosion. Noah also agreed that he would not trigger the weapon until/unless Blade failed to kill Dracula through conventional means. 

    Divinity told Blade to trust Noah, but Noah assured her that he didn't mind being questioned, which kept him on his toes. After reiterating the urgency of this opportunity -- as failure meant that Dracula would grind Earth between his teeth. 

    As Noah detailed the "suitcase" bomb they would use, he and the group departed by car to a private jet, they were ambushed by a group of vampires, as Dracula at this phase could sense their plans. Noah despaired and believed their cause to be lost before it had started.

    Rescued by the Mortuus Invitus, Noah's group survived this assault and flew by plane toward Bucharest. However, as they crossed the Carpathian mountains and into darkness, the Dracula-sent Charniputra approached their plane.

(Tomb of Dracula IV#3) - After Blade dove out of the plane and engaged the Charniputra, Noah's vampire hunters made it safely to the ground in Romania, though they had to abandon their ship, which crashed.

    Noting that as it was dawn on the day of Dracula's transformation and that they were stuck in the Carpathians with no way of reaching their contact in Brasov, much less Castle Dracula during the daylight hours when his army was asleep, Noah again despaired, noting that it would have been better to have perished in the plane than sit there waiting for the rule of the vampire god to begin.

    Divinity urged Noah to get a grip on himself, after which Blade led them across the Carpathian mountains towards Castle Dracula.

    After they arrived in a town, Noah met paid a Mr. Gheorgiu (who accepted American dollars) for a truck, after which he met with his friend Ion, and Noah noted his desire to complete their transaction and go as time was of the essence.

    When Divinity attacked Blade, frustrated by his constant scrutiny, Noah stopped her. However, the Yiki Onna then attacked, and while Michiko engaged the creatures, Noah was struck down by the Yiki Onna's ice shards..

Comments: Created by Robert Rodi, Bruce Jones, Jamie Tolagson, Tom Palmer, and Jay Leisten.

    According to Tomb of Dracula IV#1 and 2, the Ritual of Ascendance can take place every thousand years, and that Varnae attempted to use it around 0 AD and then again in 1000 AD. However, in Tomb of Dracula IV#4, Aamshed states that by foiling Varnae she kept humanity safe from the coming of the vampire lord for two thousand years. References from #1 and #2 were coming from copies of old texts, while the info from #4 comes straight from Aamshed directly.

    Why would Uranium be the smallest part of the sun? How about hydrogen? He still could have made a nuclear weapon connection, as I believe they can involve both fission and fusion. Certainly in the mid-20th century nuclear bombs were referred to as the H-bomb or hydrogen bomb. 

    If Noah was bitten and fatally bled by the vampires, he should have returned as a vampire. If they slew him before drinking his blood, then he would not have come back. It seems to me that Dracula disdained Noah sufficiently to prevent him from becoming a vampire and instead had his agents first tear him to pieces. 

    As we know the the van Helsing line opposing Dracula dated back to 1465 A.D., it may be that Jeremiah was not descended from Abraham but rather from anyone else dating back to Rache or her father. Of the KNOWN van Helsings, Jeremiah could be descended from Boris of the 19th century Abraham (who is the great-grandfather of Rachel), or possibly from Abraham's son (apparently also named Abraham).

    I'm not sure why Noah referred to Divinity Drake as a cousin of his from another branch of the family. Perhaps he was joking and was referring to Dracula as the opposite side of the van Helsing family, as he believed her to be a descendant of Dracula.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Noah van Helsing should be distinguished from:

• see the relatives and comments sections....

Appearances:
Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (December, 2004) - by Robert Rodi & Bruce Jones (story), Robert Rodi (script), Jamie Tolagson (pencils), Tom Palmer and Jay Leisten (inks), Warren Simons and John Miesegaes (editors)
Tomb of Dracula IV#2-4 (January-March, 2005) - by Robert Rodi & Bruce Jones (story), Robert Rodi (script), Jamie Tolagson (pencils), Tom Palmer and Scott Koblish (inks), Warren Simons and John Miesegaes (editors)
Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic (2007) - David Sexton & Jeff Christiansen (head writers/coordinators), Madison Carter, Michael Hoskin, Eric J. Moreels, Ronald Byrd, Chad Anderson, Al Sjoerdsma, Mark O'English, Chris Biggs & Stuart Vandal (writers), Michael Short & Cory Levine (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley (associate editor), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editors)

First posted: 09/24/2022
Last updated: 10/22/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters