Hello and welcome to Comic Drake where I talk about comic books and my name is Drake!
Despite the popularity of the Blade movies, it seems like a lot of fans don’t seem to
realize that Marvel Comics actually has A LOT of vampires in their universe and this
is a real shame because although they’re inconsistent, I really think that the Marvel
vampires are some of the longest running and coolest things they have in their universe.
Anyway, let’s take a look!
The first time that we’ve seen vampires in Marvel Comics was in Marvel Mystery Comics
#35 in 1942.
Naturally, vampires started off following the myths and rules established by popular
fiction, but over time, they’ve gotten a lot more elaborate.
Now I need to make it very clear that for a long time Marvel didn’t thoroughly keep
track of their vampire canon and if we’re being honest, they still aren’t doing that
good of a job of it these days.
A lot of inconsistencies were explained away via retcons with new ones popping up all the
time.
So for a lot of this video, I’ll be pulling information from the best official source
around, Marvel’s official vampire handbook entitled “Vampires: The Marvel Undead”
which was released in 2011.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about what Marvel’s vampires are exactly and how
they were created in the first place.
Alright so get this, an evil Elder God wrote down a bunch of evil spells and stuff which
went on to be known as the Chthon Scrolls.
A good portion of these scrolls were eventually bound together by the ancient sorceress, Morgan
Le Fey, into a book that is now known as the Darkhold.
This book was the basis for several demonic and unholy spell books going forward including
the Necronomicon.
With this knowledge in mind, let’s go back in time to Atlantis, before it ever sunk to
the bottom of the sea.
A group of Atlantean sorcerers used the Chthon Scrolls in an attempt to avenge the death
of their leader, Thulsa Doom.
One of these sorcerers, Varnae, allowed himself to be sacrificed for the spell and three days
later, he came back to life as the first vampire.
Varnae swiftly killed his fellow sorcerers, thus beginning the spread of vampirism throughout
Earth.
The method of becoming a vampire is pretty well documented in Marvel Comics.
You see, vampirism is spread through a special enzyme contained in a vampire’s saliva which
begins the transformation process once it enters the victim’s bloodstream.
During this time, a green substance called ichor is formed.
Additionally, victims of vampire bites begin to resemble vampires without actually fully
turning.
Many times, they’ll grow fangs and even crave blood like a full on vamp, but they
are still able to be cured during this time.
While in this transitional state, there are multiple ways to stop the spread of infection
which if we’re being honest, isn’t consistent and fully relies on what the writer wants
at the time.
However, we HAVE seen consistently that special qualities of a victim’s blood can fight
off the enzymes including Spider-Man’s irradiated blood and the healing factor inside of Wolverine’s.
If not cured within the typical three day process, the victim will die and the ichor
in their body will properly mix into their blood, fully turning them into a vampire which
is more or less irreversible.
This can partly be attributed to the belief that vampires lose their soul after being
turned.
But hey, it’s not all bad because being a vampire comes with a plethora of fun powers!
First off, vampires are technically undead so they don’t require food, water, or even
oxygen!
However, they do need roughly one quart of fresh blood every other night to stay healthy.
Also, it’s not just human blood on the menu!
In fact, a typical Marvel vampire can sustain itself off the blood of any warm mammal!
It’s important to note though that unless they regularly feed, a vampire can be overtaken
by bloodlust.
Vampires also don’t cast reflections and they can’t be recorded on camera!
Yep, that means that they are completely invisible on photo and video!
Fun fact, the real world myth about vampires not casting reflections is because the modern
advent of manufacturing mirrors with aluminum didn’t come into being until the 20th century.
Before that, almost all mirrors were made with silver which is one of the materials
vampires are weak to.
Marvel vampires straight up ignore this though.
Vampires can also control most human beings by using hypnotic suggestion.
This is accomplished simply by looking into a vampire’s eyes.
Let’s also not forget though that some vampires can also control animals, most commonly bats,
wolves, and rats, but if that wasn’t enough, most vampires can shapeshift INTO bats, wolves,
a hybrid man-bat form, or even mist!
Of course, what good are these powers without a bit of super strength and durability?
It’s been stated that Marvel vampires on average are able to lift between 1,000 and
1,500 pounds!
Plus, vampires have a healing factor, but granted most can’t regrow body parts.
The most import powers though are that a vampire can use are the aforementioned enzymes in
their saliva to turn other creatures which they can usually have some degree of control
over and of course, vampires are functionally immortal.
So while being a vampire does sounds neat and all, they do have a TON of weaknesses.
The most famous example being sunlight, specifically ultraviolet rays.
Very few vampires can withstand this without protection because the UV rays cause the ichor
in their veins to congeal which leads to their skin quickly decaying and disintegrating.
Vampires are also pained by silver, salt, and wood, but the latter only affects them
if the wood pierces their heart.
Additionally, vampires have an aversion to garlic.
It’s not lethal, but garlic can do as little as ward vamps off or even go so far as to
sap their strength.
Other little aversions include not being able to enter a place of dwelling without being
verbally invited, but once invited, they can enter any time afterwards.
Then there’s the whole “averse to traveling across running water” thing that Marvel
almost never explores and the fact that they’re susceptible to drugs and toxins, although
they’re able to quickly detox.
Finally, there’s the inconsistent aversion to religious items and holy water.
There’s precedent to show that this can only be achieved if the wielder of the item
believes in its religious significance.
For example, a cross is powerless if it’s held by a Jewish person.
It’s worth noting however that for basically every weakness and limitation a vampire faces,
it’s possible for them to grow tolerances and immunities or find loopholes.
Yes, even to staking.
See, if a stake is removed in time, a vampire can usually return unharmed and some vamps
can resist the effects of a stake for up to TEN MINUTES!
In extreme examples, we have seen that some vampires are just straight up IMMUNE to stakes
altogether!
Some vampires can fend off their weaknesses by walking on their native soil.
Some vampires are resistant to items from religions that they predate and hell, some
vampires need to actually have some sort of belief in religion to be affected because
apparently an atheist vampires is resistant to holy water.
Like I said at the top of the video, Marvel’s vampires have been INCREDIBLY inconsistent
because Marvel has and still keeps very poor track of their vampire lore and canon.
However, one of the most brilliant things they have ever done to explain this away is
to introduce different vampire sects and tribes.
There are several different vampire groups and organizations and it seems like new ones
pop up with each vampire story that Marvel publishes!
These groups possess special powers and traits from the Japanese Yiki Onna Tribe that transforms
into razor sharp ice clouds instead of mist to the constantly airborne Charniputra.
There’s also the 70s disco vampires of Studio 13 and heck, despite vampires originating
in Atlantis while it was still on land, the Aqueos sect is still un-alive and well as
aquatic Atlantean vampires!
Yeah, there are a LOT of these vampire groups.
Like… too many to go over in this video.
I mean hell, these groups only cover the REGULAR vampires and not even the vampire fish and
squid or even Redwing!
Oh yeah, The Falcon’s bird companion?
He became a vampire in 2015.
But wait, there’s more!
Vampires also have different sub-species including Purebloods, vampires who were born already
infected which is rare because most vampires are unable to sexually reproduce, the Tryks
A.K.A.
Vapor Vultur Vampyrus (or V3s for short) which prefer to feed on other vampiric species instead
of humans, the mindless feral vampire-like creatures called the Huskies, and of course,
the infamous Daywalker, Blade.
Now Blade is a unique case in that contrary to what you might think, he was actually originally
introduced as a regular human who was immune to vampire bites.
He didn’t become a Dhampir/Daywalker until his 1998 movie.
Almost immediately afterwards in the comics to mirror the movies, Blade was turned into
a pseudo-vampire after being bitten by Morbius the Living Vampire who despite his name, is
not actually a vampire…
If all of this sounds confusing to you then you’re not alone because comics fans felt
the exact same way and Blade’s origin was later retconned so that he has always been
a Daywalker for his entire life, having been converted while his mother was giving birth.
As far as I know, Blade is the only Daywalker to have existed so I’m going off of just
what we know from him.
Blade has the same strength and need for blood as a vampire, but none of the other traditional
powers and weaknesses.
In addition, it looks like Blade can not be turned into a full vampire because like his
original appearance, Blade is still immune to vampire bites as a Dhampir and we have
seen that he does not cast a reflection or can be caught on camera just like traditional
vampires!
I understand that all of this has been a lot of information and I want to present this
for a reason because it’s really crazy that vampires and vampiric sub-species have basically
vanished from Marvel as a whole save for a handful of one off appearances.
At the time of this recording, the only vampires at the forefront of Marvel is X-Men’s Jubilee
who was converted in 2010 during the Curse of the Mutants event which honestly was the
last real time that vampires were active in the Marvel universe and of course the aforementioned
vampire falcon, Redwing.
Outside of that, Marvel has basically forgotten that vampires exist in their universe entirely.
I think it’s a real shame that Marvel doesn’t really give a lot of attention to their vampire
lore because I think with a little bit of time and effort from a good quality writer,
we can get a series of new books that fall outside of the typical superhero genre, but
are still contained within the Marvel comics universe.
It would be really awesome and it seems like a giant missed opportunity.
But if you like this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another video?
And before I let you go, I want to ask you guys a question!
What Marvel character would you guys like to see as a vampire?
Let me know down there in the comments below and maybe I’ll see you next time!