Blood Wraith

Crystal is having a shower with her daughter Luna when an intruder breaks into the mansion. She is ambushed by Mongu and the Maha Yogu, who are looking for Doctor Druid, unaware that he has long since left the Avengers.[1] Although she is stark naked, Crystal manages to defend herself with some aid from Luna’s nanny Marilla, and Lockjaw, the Inhumans teleporting dog. Unfortunately, Maha Yogi manages to use his mind control powers to force Marilla to put a knife to Luna’s throat, ending the fight.

Downstairs, Hercules is entertaining her new girlfriend, Taylor Madison when the intruder alarm goes off. He rushes upstairs to aid Crystal but is ambushed by La Sabre, who has come looking for the Black Knight. While Hercules is busy dealing with La Sabre’s flying hound, the villain manages to take Taylor hostage as well.

In the basement, the Vision is on monitor duty where he is also ambushed. His opponent is Chandu the Alchemist who uses his powers to cause the Vision’s synthetic body to melt into a puddle on the floor. Luckily, the Vision is able to phase through the wall and trigger the emergency signal on his Avengers ID card before the process can complete itself.

Meanwhile, at Garrett Castle in Washington, DC, the Black Knight — aka Dane Whitman — is training his new squire Sean Dolan in the art of sword fighting. When Dane wins the duel, he tells Sean the importance of sparing an opponent at all costs. He reminds Sean about how his ancestor — Sir Percy of Scandia the first Black Knight — wielded the Ebony Blade, a powerful sword created by Merlin. This sword is now stuck in a chunk of the meteorite used to construct the weapon. He recounts how the weapon had a blood curse that forced the wielder to take more life to feed the weapon’s lust for blood. Dane had recently decided to stop using the sword for this very reason.[2] That’s when they are joined by Victoria Bentley, who has a sense of uneasiness about the sword as well, reminding Dane of the warning made by his ancestor about not putting additional curses onto the sword. That’s when Dane’s Avengers ID gives off the alarm, prompting him to get his flying steed Valinor so he can fly back to New York post haste.

Back in New York, the Black Widow had also received the distress call and scales the wall of Avengers Headquarters in order to sneak inside and launch a surprise attack on the intruder. She rushes in on Mongu and Maha Yogi who are still terrorizing Crystal and Luna. Her intervention helps free Marilla from the Yogi’s control. The nanny then grabs Mogu and tosses him at Lockjaw, who teleports the bruiser off to points unknown.

Downstairs, Chondu has used his power to bind Hercules with the Vision’s body. They are saved by Sersi who uses her transmutation powers to transform the Vision into tiny versions of himself that swarm and knock Chondu out. She then restores the android to normal. As the rest of the team are regrouping, the Black Knight arrives above the mansion where he is confronted by Le Sabre and his flying hound.[3] La Sabre demands that the Knight reveal the location of his Ebony Blade, but Dane quickly knocks him out of the sky and fights him into submission on the roof of Avengers Headquarters. He demands to know why La Sabre and his allies attacked the mansion and learns that they were trying to obtain the Ebony Blade as part of a scheme to obtain immortality and collect weapons of mystical power. He also reveals that another team had been dispatched to Garret Castle to search for the enchanted weapon there.

Sure enough, a group of mystics have attacked Dane’s ancestral home. Sean Dolan tries his best to fend them off with the various weapons and gadgets that are around. Unfortunately, he is unskilled and is quickly disarmed and knocked toward the meteor with the Ebony Blade imbedded in it. When Le Sabre’s minions threaten Victoria, Sean is forced to pull the Ebony Blade from its stone so he can defend her. Upon doing so, Sean is transformed into a black-clad knight. Driven by the blood curse of the Ebony Blade, Sean — now calling himself Bloodwraith — takes perverse joy in killing his attackers, something that reaches euphoria when the sword absorbs the souls of those he kills. With the attackers dead, Bloodwraith then turns his attention toward Victoria, intending to end her life as well.

Luckily, the Black Knight arrives to stop him. As the two battle it out, the rest of the Avengers arrive on the scene to lend a hand. Unfortunately, this allows Bloodwraith to take Crystal as a hostage. He then openly mocks Dane for not telling Victoria about the feelings he has for the Inhuman woman.[4] He then shoves Crystal into the blade of the Black Knight’s energy sword, causing her synaptic pain. Hercules then charges their foe, hitting Bloodwraith with enough force he smashes through the castle wall. The Avengers then begin piling on, but eventually Bloodwraith engages in another sword fight with the Black Knight. Dane still proves the superior fighter, and seeing that he cannot win this fight, Bloodwraith summons Valinor and flees the scene. As he escaped, Dane vows to follow Bloodwraith to the ends of the Earth.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Hercules, Vision, Black Knight, Black Widow, Sersi, Crystal), Bloodwraith, Luna Maximoff, Marilla, Lockjaw, Taylor Madison, Victoria Bentley, Catherwood, Maha Yogi, Le Sabre, Chandu the Wizard, Valinor

Continuity Notes

1. Dr. Druid was a member of the Avengers from Avengers #278-297. I really hope Crystal burned his old bedsheets.

2. The idea that the Ebony Blade was cursed was first mentioned in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #68. Dane himself suffered the effects of the curse after the Blade was used to kill Leviathan in Avengers #293. This turned him into a statue eventually until he was freed of the curse when the spirit of Sir Percy possessed the blade, as seen in Black Knight (vol. 2) #1-4. Here, Sir Percy is referred to as the first Black Knight. This is not accurate, as New Excalibur #12, which revealed that there were at least eight Black Knight’s before Sir Percy. One could assume that Dane means that Sir Percy was the first Black Knight of his family bloodline. King in Black: Black Knight #1 reveals that the blood curse didn’t originate from the sword itself, but from Sir Percy’s repressed rage. That’s what happens when you pretend to be a fop I guess.

3. Here, La Sabre mentions the last time he fought the Black Knight. The previously fought one another in Marvel Super-Heroes #17.

4. Victoria had developed feelings for Dane during her past adventures with him in Black Knight (vol. 2) #1-4 and Avengers Spotlight #39. However, when he returned to the Avengers in issue #336, the same time Crystal joined, he soon found himself smitten by her.

A Gamble in Time

Long ago during the time of King Arthur, the wizard Merlin witnessed a meteor fall from the sky. Believing that it could be fashioned into weapons, Merlin crafted the Ebony Blade and the Ebony Dagger. The sword was given to his chosen champion, the Black Knight, while the dagger fell into the hands of the scheming Mordred, son of King Arthur. Modred would eventually use the weapon to kill his father, bringing the golden age of Camelot to an end.[1]

Elsewhen, in the realm of Chronopolis, the Anachronauts — Deathhunt 9000, Apocryphus, Ssith, Sir Raston the Black Knight, Raa of the Caves, Tyndar, and Wildrun the Red Wolf — are engaged in a training session. Suddenly, Sir Raston’s Ebony Blade begins to glow. That’s when their leader — the Terminatrix — enters the room and demands to know what her minions are doing as the time fields she had been monitoring has suddenly gone crazy.

Suspecting that this might have something to do with Raston’s blade, they check the scanners and discover that the disturbance is happening in the distant past during the time of Camelot. Raston fears going to this era, as he worries that Merlin might deem him unworthy of wielding the Ebony Blade. Luckily, part of Chronopolis overlaps with the 6th Century, allowing them to travel to that era with ease. Here, the Terminatrix recalls how her predecessor, Kang, once attempted to conquer this era, but merely defeated an impostor posing as Merlin before being driven off.[2]

They witness the meteor which was used to make the Ebony Blade — called the Starstone — fall from the sky. Soon after a mysterious cottage materializes out of thin air. Emerging from it is an army of Incinerators, rogue robots created by the Time Variance Authority and abandoned. They have come to destroy the Starstone and alter history. Seeking to stop the robots, the Arachronauts enter the cottage and discover that the Incinerators have captured the time traveler known as Justin Alphone Gamble and free him. He explains that he was once a member of the TVA and has been trying to prevent the Incinerators from altering history.[3]

The Anachronauts help Gamble fight off the endless army of Incinerators, holding them at bay long enough for the time traveler to shut down the device that allows the robots to replicate themselves. With the battle over, the Anachronauts return to Chronopolis, leaving Gamble to hand over the Starstone to Merlin himself, suggesting that the wizard use it to craft a weapon.

Recurring Characters

Anachronauts (Deathhunt 9000, Apocryphus, Ssith, Black Knight, Raa of the Caves, Tyndar, Wildrun), Terminatrix, Justin Alphonse Gamble, Incinerators

Continuity Notes

1. The fall of Camelot at the hands of Mordred was first told in Marvel Super-Heroes #17.

2. There is lot about this casual reference to Kang the Conqueror that is not explained very well. The details:

   • At the time of this story, Kang had been gravely injured during a battle against the Terminatrix. See Captain America Annual #11, Thor Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #25, and Avengers Annual #21. Kang will be in stasis until he is restored to normal in Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1-4.

   • A while back, Kang attempted to conquer Camelot as part of attempts to take over the present day. This effort was thwarted thanks to the Human Torch and the Thing who were sent back in time by the Watcher in Strange Tales #134.

   • This story is the first to note that Kang did not fight the real Merlin, but an impostor who became known as the Maha Yogi. The Yogi was pretending to be Merlin as far back as Journey into Mystery #96.

3. Reference is made to past appearances of the TVA and Gambles own adventures. See Power Man and Iron Fist #79, Thor #371-372, Fantastic Four #346, 352-354 and Annual #24, as well as What If? (vol. 2) #35-39.

Bonus Material

This issue features pin-ups of Crystal fighting Anti-Vision, Magdalene, and the Anachronauts. It also came polybagged with a trading card of Bloodwraith. All of Marvel’s 1993 annuals featured this gimmick to showcase new characters that were created for that years annuals.