Varnae
Encyclopedia
Varnae is a fictional
villain
ous vampire
in the Marvel Comics
universe
. He has been an adversary of several of Marvel's supernatural and fantasy-related heroes, and is a major character in Marvel's Dracula
mythos. He is named for Dracula
's literary predecessor, Varney the Vampire
.
and Steve Bissette.
Varnae's involvement with Dracula's origin was a retcon
to the original Marvel version of Dracula's origin. According to the origin given in Dracula Lives! #2 & 3, Dracula became the Lord of the Vampires by killing Nimrod
, who held the title before him. When revisiting the characters in the black and white magazine Bizarre Adventures, Steve Bissette and John Totleben
decided to go further back and create a worthy sire for Dracula, and inserted Varnae into a darker version of the story from Dracula Lives!. Much later, writer Roy Thomas
revisited the character of Varnae while writing Conan the Barbarian and Doctor Strange in the early 1990s. Thomas added the history of the character as an Atlantean and a foe of Conan and Red Sonja in the former, and revived the character in modernity in the "Vampiric Verses" storyline in the latter. Varnae's history was further fleshed out by the addition of the battles with Thor (in Marvel Comics Presents
) and Aamshed (in the 2005 Tomb of Dracula
miniseries).
Varnae appeared as part of the "Vampires" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
#20.
who was a member of the cult of the Darkhold
ers. The other Darkholders used the Darkhold tome to transform Varnae into the Earth's first vampire, but he turned on them when they tried to use him as a weapon against their nemesis, King Kull. Varnae became the Lord of the Vampires, and would retain that title for millennia. When Atlantis sank beneath the sea during the Great Cataclysm, Varnae entered a state of suspended animation, and awoke thousands of years later during the Hyborian Age
. There, he fought Conan the Barbarian
and his allies Red Sonja
and Zula, but was forced away by Zula's magic. In ancient Sumer
ia circa 2000 BC, Varnae and the sorceress Aamshed created a spell that could magnify a vampire's power, but Aamshed twisted the spell so that it could only be cast on a vampire's home soil (which, in Varnae's case, no longer existed), and it could only be cast every 2,000 years. When the next opportunity came to cast the spell around 1 AD, Varnae attempted to mystically raise Atlantis, but Aamshed foiled his plans. During the Viking Age, Varnae traveled to North America, where he discovered a colony of Vikings and battled the Norse god Thor
.
Eventually, Varnae tired of his existence, and set events in motion that would grant him a successor as the Lord of the Vampires. In the 15th century, Varnae manipulated a war between the Turkish Lord Turac
and Dracula
, who was then the mortal Vlad Tepes, prince of Transylvania. During a battle with Turac's forces, Dracula was fatally wounded by the immortal Apocalypse
, but was saved from death when he was bitten and transformed into a vampire by Varnae's servant Lianda
. Varnae rewarded Lianda with death, and rewarded another minion, Nimrod
, with a taste of Varnae's own blood. Varnae named Nimrod the Lord of the Vampires, then set Nimrod against the fledgling vampire Dracula as a test for Dracula, who was his real choice for the title. As Varnae watched from afar, Dracula slew Nimrod and his lover Lala, only to be slain alongside the assembled vampires by a mortal priest. Varnae arranged for one of his minions to deflower a virgin near the waters where Dracula's ashes had been scattered; exposure to the former virgin's hymeneal blood was enough for Dracula to return to life. Dracula then slew the minion and confronted Varnae, but Varnae effortlessly overpowered Dracula. Varnae then forced Dracula to drink his blood to the point of saturation, placed Dracula in a coffin to sleep through the coming day, and walked into the dawn to die in the sunlight.
In the modern day, the voodoo priestess Marie Laveau
sought the blood of a vampire; she had been given a potion in the 19th century by the immortal Cagliostro that would make her temporarily ageless, but each draught of the potion required a vampire's blood. Doctor Strange
, the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme
, had previously used the Darkhold's Montesi Formula to destroy all of the Earth's vampires (including Dracula) and prevent any more vampires from being created. Although Laveau had once been able to obtain vampire blood via time travel, she instead sought to undo the Montesi Formula so that she could more easily obtain vampire blood. She tried to cast the Vampiric Verses from Strange's Book of the Vishanti
to completely counter the Montesi Formula. When that failed, she used the Darkhold to recreate the Lord of the Vampires, but instead of resurrecting Dracula as had been expected, she revived Varnae. Varnae fought Strange, Laveau, and Brother Voodoo
to a standstill, and left with a grudging respect for Strange as a nemesis.
Varnae later fought several of Strange's allies John Blaze
and the Nightstalkers
. In his conflict with the Nightstalkers, Varnae took control of Bloodstorm (a clone
of Dracula) and transformed the Nightstalkers' ally Taj Nital into a vampire. In the final battle, the sorceress Salome, who had usurped Strange's title as Sorcerer Supreme, freed Bloodstorm, with the resulting battle ending in an explosion that apparently killed the Nightstalkers Frank Drake
(a descendant of Dracula) and Hannibal King
(a vampire). The remaining Nightstalker, Blade
, fought Varnae as well as Dracula, who had been reborn by the combination of the blood of Bloodstorm, King, and Drake. Since his rebirth, Dracula has again taken on the title of the Lord of the Vampires.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
ous vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. He has been an adversary of several of Marvel's supernatural and fantasy-related heroes, and is a major character in Marvel's Dracula
Dracula (Marvel Comics)
Dracula is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker, and is also influenced by Universal Studios' version of the character.-Publication history:A...
mythos. He is named for Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
's literary predecessor, Varney the Vampire
Varney the Vampire
Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood was a Victorian era serialized gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer . It first appeared in 1845–47 as a series of cheap pamphlets of the kind then known as "penny dreadfuls". The story was published in book form in 1847...
.
Publication history
Varnae first appeared in Bizarre Adventures #33 (December 1982), and was created by Steve PerrySteve Perry (author)
Steve Perry is an American television writer and science fiction author.-Biography:Perry is a native of the Deep South. His residences have included Louisiana, California, Washington and Oregon...
and Steve Bissette.
Varnae's involvement with Dracula's origin was a retcon
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
to the original Marvel version of Dracula's origin. According to the origin given in Dracula Lives! #2 & 3, Dracula became the Lord of the Vampires by killing Nimrod
Nimrod (vampire)
Nimrod is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Nimrod first appeared in Dracula Lives! #3 , and was created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema....
, who held the title before him. When revisiting the characters in the black and white magazine Bizarre Adventures, Steve Bissette and John Totleben
John Totleben
John Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comics.-Biography:After studying art at a vocational high school in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year...
decided to go further back and create a worthy sire for Dracula, and inserted Varnae into a darker version of the story from Dracula Lives!. Much later, writer Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
revisited the character of Varnae while writing Conan the Barbarian and Doctor Strange in the early 1990s. Thomas added the history of the character as an Atlantean and a foe of Conan and Red Sonja in the former, and revived the character in modernity in the "Vampiric Verses" storyline in the latter. Varnae's history was further fleshed out by the addition of the battles with Thor (in Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
) and Aamshed (in the 2005 Tomb of Dracula
Tomb of Dracula
The Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces...
miniseries).
Varnae appeared as part of the "Vampires" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...
#20.
Fictional character biography
Varnae was a sorcerer in ancient AtlantisAtlantis (Marvel Comics)
Atlantis is a fictional location in the Marvel Universe. It is based on the mythical island of Atlantis first mentioned in Plato's initial dialogue the Timaeus, written circa 360 BC. In the Marvel Universe, Atlantis was a small continent with many human settlements...
who was a member of the cult of the Darkhold
Darkhold
The Darkhold, also known as The Book of Sins, is a fictional book in the Marvel Comics universe.-Publication history:The Darkhold was co-created by Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog. The Darkhold was first mentioned in Marvel Spotlight #3 but first shown in Marvel Spotlight #4...
ers. The other Darkholders used the Darkhold tome to transform Varnae into the Earth's first vampire, but he turned on them when they tried to use him as a weapon against their nemesis, King Kull. Varnae became the Lord of the Vampires, and would retain that title for millennia. When Atlantis sank beneath the sea during the Great Cataclysm, Varnae entered a state of suspended animation, and awoke thousands of years later during the Hyborian Age
Hyborian Age
The Hyborian Age is a fictional period within the artificial mythology created by Robert E. Howard, in which the sword and sorcery tales of Conan the Barbarian are set....
. There, he fought Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
and his allies Red Sonja
Red Sonja
Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture"...
and Zula, but was forced away by Zula's magic. In ancient Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ia circa 2000 BC, Varnae and the sorceress Aamshed created a spell that could magnify a vampire's power, but Aamshed twisted the spell so that it could only be cast on a vampire's home soil (which, in Varnae's case, no longer existed), and it could only be cast every 2,000 years. When the next opportunity came to cast the spell around 1 AD, Varnae attempted to mystically raise Atlantis, but Aamshed foiled his plans. During the Viking Age, Varnae traveled to North America, where he discovered a colony of Vikings and battled the Norse god Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
.
Eventually, Varnae tired of his existence, and set events in motion that would grant him a successor as the Lord of the Vampires. In the 15th century, Varnae manipulated a war between the Turkish Lord Turac
Turac
Turac is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Turac first appeared in Dracula Lives! #2 ....
and Dracula
Dracula (Marvel Comics)
Dracula is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker, and is also influenced by Universal Studios' version of the character.-Publication history:A...
, who was then the mortal Vlad Tepes, prince of Transylvania. During a battle with Turac's forces, Dracula was fatally wounded by the immortal Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
, but was saved from death when he was bitten and transformed into a vampire by Varnae's servant Lianda
Lianda
Lianda is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Lianda first appeared in Dracula Lives! #1-2 .Lianda appeared as part of the "Vampires" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #20....
. Varnae rewarded Lianda with death, and rewarded another minion, Nimrod
Nimrod (vampire)
Nimrod is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Nimrod first appeared in Dracula Lives! #3 , and was created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema....
, with a taste of Varnae's own blood. Varnae named Nimrod the Lord of the Vampires, then set Nimrod against the fledgling vampire Dracula as a test for Dracula, who was his real choice for the title. As Varnae watched from afar, Dracula slew Nimrod and his lover Lala, only to be slain alongside the assembled vampires by a mortal priest. Varnae arranged for one of his minions to deflower a virgin near the waters where Dracula's ashes had been scattered; exposure to the former virgin's hymeneal blood was enough for Dracula to return to life. Dracula then slew the minion and confronted Varnae, but Varnae effortlessly overpowered Dracula. Varnae then forced Dracula to drink his blood to the point of saturation, placed Dracula in a coffin to sleep through the coming day, and walked into the dawn to die in the sunlight.
In the modern day, the voodoo priestess Marie Laveau
Marie Laveau
Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo renown in New Orleans. She was born free in New Orleans....
sought the blood of a vampire; she had been given a potion in the 19th century by the immortal Cagliostro that would make her temporarily ageless, but each draught of the potion required a vampire's blood. Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
, the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme
Sorcerer Supreme
Sorcerer Supreme or Sorceress Supreme is a title granted in the fictional Marvel Universe to the "practitioner of the mystic or magic arts who has greater skills than all others or commands a greater portion of the ambient magical energies than any other organism on a given world or dimension". By...
, had previously used the Darkhold's Montesi Formula to destroy all of the Earth's vampires (including Dracula) and prevent any more vampires from being created. Although Laveau had once been able to obtain vampire blood via time travel, she instead sought to undo the Montesi Formula so that she could more easily obtain vampire blood. She tried to cast the Vampiric Verses from Strange's Book of the Vishanti
Vishanti
The Vishanti are a fictional triumvirate of powerful mystical beings appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. The three beings who make up the Vishanti are Agamotto the All-Seeing , Omnipotent Oshtur , and Hoary Hoggoth...
to completely counter the Montesi Formula. When that failed, she used the Darkhold to recreate the Lord of the Vampires, but instead of resurrecting Dracula as had been expected, she revived Varnae. Varnae fought Strange, Laveau, and Brother Voodoo
Brother Voodoo
Brother Voodoo is a fictional character, a supernatural superhero in the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Gene Colan, he first appears in Strange Tales #169...
to a standstill, and left with a grudging respect for Strange as a nemesis.
Varnae later fought several of Strange's allies John Blaze
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
and the Nightstalkers
Nightstalkers (comics)
The Nightstalkers is a fictional trio of preexisting characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A team of occult experts, they reluctantly banded together to fight supernatural threats....
. In his conflict with the Nightstalkers, Varnae took control of Bloodstorm (a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Dracula) and transformed the Nightstalkers' ally Taj Nital into a vampire. In the final battle, the sorceress Salome, who had usurped Strange's title as Sorcerer Supreme, freed Bloodstorm, with the resulting battle ending in an explosion that apparently killed the Nightstalkers Frank Drake
Frank Drake (comics)
Frank Drake is a fictional character appearing in publications from Marvel Comics, most notably the Tomb of Dracula series created by Gerry Conway....
(a descendant of Dracula) and Hannibal King
Hannibal King
Hannibal King is a fictional character, a supernatural detective appearing in publications from Marvel Comics. He first appeared as a supporting character in the 1970s comic book The Tomb of Dracula.-Fictional character biography:...
(a vampire). The remaining Nightstalker, Blade
Blade (comics)
Blade is a fictional character, a superhero/vampire hunter in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan, his first appearance was in the comic book The Tomb of Dracula #10 as a supporting character.The character went on to alternatively star and co-star...
, fought Varnae as well as Dracula, who had been reborn by the combination of the blood of Bloodstorm, King, and Drake. Since his rebirth, Dracula has again taken on the title of the Lord of the Vampires.