Elsa Bloodstone

Elsa Bloodstone

Elsa in Nextwave
Art by Stuart Immonen
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Bloodstone #1, (Dec. 2001)
Created by Dan Abnett (writer)
Andy Lanning (writer)
Michael Lopez (artist)
In-story information
Full name Elsa Bloodstone
Species Human
Team affiliations Nextwave
Fearless Defenders
Astonishing Avengers
Abilities Expert markswoman
Superhuman strength, speed, durability and endurance
Regenerative healing factor
Immunity to vampire bites
Use of mystical items

Elsa Bloodstone is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appears in Marvel's Bloodstone mini-series of 2001 written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. She is the daughter of the previously established Marvel Universe character Ulysses Bloodstone and the sister of Cullen Bloodstone.

As she is a young, female monster-hunter there are potential similarities with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although when asked about this the authors claimed "neither of us have seen an episode of Buffy all the way through! I know we're missing out on some great TV but we've determined to steer clear of Buffy at least while we're doing Bloodstone."[1]

Publication history

Elsa appeared as the lead character in the Bloodstone mini-series and has been mentioned in the aftermath of the Civil War.

In August 2013, Elsa joined a team of Super heroines known as the Fearless Defenders. At the time of her joining, the roster consisted of Valkyrie, Misty Knight, Annabelle Riggs, Warrior Woman, Danielle Moonstar and Clea.

Other versions of her have appeared in Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness and as a team member in the Nextwave series.

Fictional character biography

Bloodstone

Elsa lives in Bloodstone Manor with her mother and ally Adam the Frankenstein Monster. She has befriended Charles Barnabus, a pureblood vampire lawyer and executor of the Bloodstone estate.[2] Together along with Dracula they defeat Nosferatu and his scourge of vampires.[3]

Marvel Monsters

Pursuing a monster-hunting occupation, she begins an online blog to create an electronic encyclopedic reference guide for the numerous monsters and alien beasts in the Marvel Universe (published by Marvel as Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters).[4]

Nextwave

Main article: Nextwave

Elsa Bloodstone has also appeared in Nextwave, but the series' connection to the Marvel Universe is unclear - it was initially out-of-continuity[5][6] and was later implied to be the adventures of tourists from Earth-A.[7][8] However Civil War: Damage Report suggest that at least parts of the adventures of the team were set in the main continuity: the others may have been delusions brought by constant use of drugs, mental conditioning and deceptions by their H.A.T.E. employers. Her delusional state could also account for her "memories" of being routinely subjected to abusive monster-hunting training by her father, like being left alone in childhood with a robotical nanny programmed to torture her whenever she wasn't able to reply to a question regarding monsters, or being forced by her father to kill monsters, as a toddler, armed with simple cutlery.[9]

The character elected to suspend her college studies upon being recruited by Dirk Anger of H.A.T.E. to fight Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction (UWMD) alongside Monica Rambeau, Tabitha Smith, Aaron Stack, and The Captain. Shortly after this recruiting Elsa and her teammates found H.A.T.E. to be funded by the Beyond Corporation©, which is in fact a terrorist organization.[10] Using the stolen Marketing Plan of Beyond, the Nextwave squad traveled across the country destroying hidden UWMDs which included Fin Fang Foom, Mindless Ones, and Forbush Man.[11][12][13]

She suffers constant abuses by her teammembers, like being confronted by Tabitha Smith about her European origins and accent (referred even in the Nextwave Theme Song as her main characteristic), and constantly ogled by Aaron Stack, attracted by her large chest.[14][15]

The Initiative

Recently, Elsa joined up as part of Iron Man and the government's Fifty State Initiative. Elsa has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear to have signed the Superhuman Registration Act and become part of the Initiative.[16] She later returns to her monster-hunting adventures: still with her brasher mind-set, seen in her Nextwave days, she vows solemnly to never have children on her own, since she feels the responsibility of being a Bloodstone too heavy to be forced on another living being. Instead, she chooses to end her legacy once and for all, completing the task of freeing humanity from monsters before dying.[17]

Marvel NOW!

As part of the Marvel NOW! event, Elsa Bloodstone is shown as one of the teachers at the Braddock Academy (the British equivalent of the Avengers Academy), where she takes her brother Cullen Bloodstone to attend.[18]

She gets involved with the Thunderbolts, when Punisher steals her magic regalia to battle teammate Ghost Rider[19] and again when the team needs magical assistance from her and W.A.N.D. in order to battle Dr. Strange.[20]

Elsa Bloodstone is later recruited to join the Fearless Defenders.[21]

Avengers Undercover

Elsa later appears in the pages of Avengers Undercover where she visits Cullen and argues with him in the S.H.I.E.L.D. detention center after Hazmat killed Arcade.[22]

AXIS

During the AXIS storyline, Elsa Bloodstone is among the heroes recruited by an inverted Doctor Doom to join his team of Avengers.[23]

Civil War II

During the Civil War II storyline, Elsa appeared in Ouray, Colorado, where she defends the town from an infection that is turning the populace into a swarm of giant bugs. She befriends Nico Minoru - joking that they could form a whole team of superheroes that are missing a hand - who is running from Captain Marvel due to a vision of the future predicting she will murder an innocent woman named Alice. Elsa takes Nico to meet her contact - Janine - who is harboring survivors and looking for her missing daughter, Alice. Captain Marvel, Medusa, Dazzler and Singularity arrive and argue over whether to apprehend Nico or not. Eventually they split into two teams: one to find Alice and the other to protect the civilians. Elsa, Nico and Captain Marvel search for Alice in an abandoned mine and are attacked by a giant bug which infects Elsa. Nico learns the bug is Alice who begs Nico to kill her since she is the one infecting the people. When Nico refuses, Elsa threatens to murder Captain Marvel to force Nico into committing murder to stop her transformation into a monster. Medusa, Singularity, and an infected Dazzler are overrun by bugs and regroup with the others just as Bloodstone infects Danvers. After Dazzler infects Medusa, Minoru casts a spell to transform Alice back into a human but it does not cure the rest of the populace. Alice explains that she must be killed and Minoru reluctantly casts a death spell on Alice which transforms the infected back into humans. Alice then remerges in her final form and tells A-Force that she is no longer a threat as she now has greater control of her powers.[24]

Powers, abilities and equipment

Elsa has exhibited superhuman strength, speed, durability and endurance, and a regenerative healing factor. She appears to possess all of the abilities her father once had. In addition, she has demonstrated immunity to vampire bites (her blood will kill a vampire if consumed and the original Bloodgem fragment itself is anathema to vampires).

In the Bloodstone series, Elsa claimed that she had inherited at least some of the Bloodgem power genetically, but it has also been shown that her powers of strength and invulnerability were bestowed upon her by the Bloodgem fragment she wears on a choker, although she does not appear to be wearing it in Nextwave #8 flashbacks to her childhood training sessions. She has also been portrayed as an expert marksman.

She has been shown to use a removable Bloodgem on a choker as well as a number of artifacts gathered by her father. These include a lamp which contained a genie whom Ulysses had enslaved years ago. This serves as an early warning system, lighting up during times of supernatural crisis, and transporting him to said crisis. In Nextwave, she carries a guitar case with a false cover, containing two Uzis and a rifle.

Other versions

Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas

In an archaeological expedition, Elsa and her team find the stone statue of Fin Fang Foom.[25] She sells this statue to Tony Stark for the opening of his new casino only for the statue to release the actual dragon himself from his stone tomb.[26]

Marvel Zombies

Main article: Marvel Zombies

Elsa Bloodstone alongside the other members of Nextwave show up "in a purely superfluous cameo" in the third issue of the Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness to save Ash from a zombified Power Pack, before being "Ruthlessly dispatched off-panel in the most humiliating and degrading ways imaginable" moments later.[27]

In other media

Video games

References

  1. ↑ New DnA, Sequential Tart, December 2001
  2. ↑ Bloodstone #1 (2001)
  3. ↑ Bloodstone #4 (2002)
  4. ↑ Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters #1
  5. ↑ Jennifer M. Contino (2005-12-08). "Ellis Talks Nextwave & Ultimate Extinction", Comic-Con International
  6. ↑ Wade Gum (2006-07-01). "Heros Con: Joe Quesada Panel", Wizard
  7. ↑ She-Hulk #21 (2007)
  8. ↑ For further details on this see Nextwave#Continuity
  9. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #8
  10. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #1
  11. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #2
  12. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #7-8
  13. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #9-10
  14. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #9
  15. ↑ Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #2 (among others...)
  16. ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #1 Character Map
  17. ↑ Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2 (2009)
  18. ↑ Avengers Arena #5
  19. ↑ Thunderbolts Vol. 2 #28
  20. ↑ Thunderbolts Annual Vol 2 #1
  21. ↑ Fearless Defenders #8
  22. ↑ Avengers Undercover #4
  23. ↑ Avengers World #15
  24. ↑ A-Force Vol. 2 #8-10
  25. ↑ Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1 (2008)
  26. ↑ Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #2 (2008)
  27. ↑ Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #3 (2007)

External links

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