Child of the Storm: Non-Aligned Villains / Characters

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/ChildOfTheStormNonAlignedVillains

This page lists tropes associated with villains who don't align themselves with anyone in Child of the Storm, operating on their own, for their own ends. If they do form an alliance, it's likely to be temporary and stacked in their favour.

Beware: Spoilers for Child of the Storm are unmarked.

open/close all folders

The Disir

Once the elite soldiers of Bor Burison, they were altered and empowered by Malekith to take their revenge on him. Mowing through the Asgardian armies, they were stopped and exiled by Bor. Gravemoss unleashes them with the Darkhold, allowing them to take their long-awaited vengeance on Asgard. Or so they think...

A Taste of Their Own Medicine: After carving through Malekith's armies on behalf of Bor, Malekith turns them into monsters and sets them to mowing through Asgardian armies instead.
Didn't See That Coming: They didn't expect Gravemoss or Strange to be able to defeat them, or for Harry to know a spell that would harm them.
The Dreaded: After their imprisonment, they became the Asgardian bogeymen.
Elites Are More Glamorous: They were the vanguard of Bor's armies.
Logical Weakness: As they are dark wraiths, Harry correctly reasons that the Patronus Charm will work against them.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After kidnapping the kids, Doctor Strange got pissed off, restored their consciences, and trapped them in a crystal ball for as long as he pleases.
Revenge: They are really angry at Bor and his descendants for what was done to them.
Sealed Evil in a Can: They were banished outside the universe.
Starter Villain: Played straight for Uhtred and Diana, and zig-zagged for Harry. While they're certainly not his first villains, not even his first creepy, soul-sucking wraiths, they are the first villains he battles in the story.

Doctor Doom

Doctor Victor Von Doom

"Extraordinarily powerful sorcerer, brilliant scientist, and undisputed ruler of Latveria. The man with so many groups, agencies, and entities wanting to have a little word with him that an orderly queue would reach all the way back to New York City.

The undisputed ruler of Latveria, an absolutely brilliant scientist, and a very powerful sorcerer, whose name apparently doesn't Anglicise very well. Has undisclosed ambitions, generally believed to involve the steady de facto takeover of Eastern Europe. Is generally believed to be a very, very dangerous man. Cold, calculating, and when required to be, utterly ruthless, this is an entirely correct assessment.

Adaptational Badass: According to Word of God, he's actually more calculating and less egotistical than his canon counterpart. He's certainly less of a Large Ham.
Adaptational Heroism: Word of God has described him as being halfway between pre and post his Secret Wars (2015) selves. He's not a hero, but he's not evil for the sake of it, either.
Affably Evil: He's entirely pleasant and polite, if brusque at times. However, he is also entirely ruthless.
The Apprentice: To "Baron" Mordo, Strange's former student.
Badass Boast: The narration makes one on his behalf when describing the Red Room's Red Son powered expansion into Eastern Europe, and how it got nowhere with Latveria, Doom sending would-be assassins back in neatly labelled boxes.
The message was clear. Doom, and Doom alone, ruled in Latveria.
Badass in a Nice Suit: Strolls around in a finely tailored black suit with a green tie and emerald cufflinks - though his armour, described in the style of his 'Infamous Iron Man' suit, is concealed beneath.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Alludes to this trope when threatening a part-vampire Peter Parker - a child - into drinking a cure that could kill him painfully, or dying anyway, at Doom's hand. As he points out, Peter is either an unacceptable tactical risk, who could be possessed, or will turn in full in a matter of hours and will then turn against them anyway. He also points out that both Bucky and Alison are being conspicuously silent.
Casual Danger Dialogue: Engages in a bit of this with Alison and Bucky.
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He's intentionally described like his Secret Wars (2015) incarnation, who closely resembles Vincent Cassel.
Dissonant Serenity: Not many individuals would be unfazed by the original Agent 13 and the Winter Soldier holding them at gunpoint, while the latter's demigod student is seriously considering frying them, and they're surrounded by other similarly lethal people, such as the infamous Wolverine, Gambit, and a version of the Flash who'll kill in a heartbeat (or a good deal less) if they deemed it necessary. Doom is one of them.
Doomy Dooms of Doom: It's in the name. He claims that it doesn't translate to English very well.
The Dreaded: Lucius is very wary of picking a fight with him. Since this is the man who shrugs off the potential wrath of the Avengers, that's really saying something. The White Council are also very, very worried about him, and for good reason. Even the Red Room armed with the Red Son don't go after him - apparently those assassins they had sent were returned 'with their remains in neatly labelled boxes'. His appearance in Ghosts shows exactly why this is the case.
Emperor Scientist: Implied to have turned Latveria into an industrial powerhouse.
Enemy Mine: Teams up with Alison, Bucky, and Harry not out of any sense of compassion, but because he doesn't want Dracula impinging on his turf.
Enlightened Self-Interest: Why he gets involved fighting Dracula - much better to stop Dracula, with effective back-up, before he successfully becomes immune to sunlight, bestows that immunity on his Court and comes gunning for his big regional rival - Doom.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: He welcomes pretty much everyone to Latveria, with the sole stipulation that they don't bring the problems that drove them to Latveria in the first place with them. Or else.
Even Evil Has Standards: Loathes vampires, and Would Prefer Not To Hurt A Child.
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humour: Jokes seem to be the one area where his fabled genius fails.
"[ The Grey Court vampires] failed to rest in peace... so now let them rest in pieces."
Evil Is Petty: It's implied that he called shotgun in Alison's car just to annoy Logan.
Hannibal Lecture: Delivers a short, calm, and measured one of these as part of his justification for why he's threatening to kill Peter to make him drink the possible cure for his part-vampire state (which could just as easily kill him painfully).
Hidden Agenda Villain: Initially. He eventually reveals that he sends Doombots to take a measure of potential foes. His longer-term goals are still a mystery, however.
I Gave My Word: Swears on his magic to use the drop of Peter's blood, which he's testing for vampirism, for that test and only that test.
Jerkass Has a Point: His stated reason for having sent in Doombots periodically to get the measure of the Avengers - they act largely on their own whim, they have shown a willingness to depose leaders they don't like before, and they are incredibly powerful. And he's a leader who ticks most of the boxes for someone they'd object to.
- He also notes in passing that Harry's becoming more and more like Bucky as time goes on.
"As all men become their fathers, so all students become their teachers."
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: It's Doctor Doom. What do you expect?
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Doom is a name that should set one on their guard - though he's aware of it and claims that the ominous sound is mostly because it doesn't translate to English very well.
Nerves of Steel: Unfazed by Alison and Bucky holding him at gunpoint, plus Harry seriously considering frying him.
Noble Demon: He's got principles, more than most versions of his canon self, and he keeps to them.
Obviously Evil: Subverted. Apparently his name just doesn't translate very well.
Pet the Dog:
- He's willing to accept Russian refugees, as long as they don't try to bring their problems to Latveria.
- When Peter hesitates over drinking a possible cure to his developing vampirism, Doom promises that should he turn, Doom will Mercy Kill him as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Portal Cut: Is very skilled at this.
Powered Armour: Has his own suit, different to Tony's, though designed after the fashion of his canon incarnation's Infamous Iron Man armour. It's immediately compared to an Iron Man armour, to Doom's mild irritation, but it's not the same - though based off the same principles - with Alison comparing it to the difference between a Jaguar and an Aston Martin. However, it is also very much combat capable and comfortably out-flies and dispatches multiple Predator Drones. It's also usually hidden, but Doom is apparently always wearing it, in collapsed form - Alison indicates that he has to wear it, and also hints to Doom that she knows why, as a verbal shot across his bows (i.e. he's not the only one who's been doing research).
Pragmatic Villainy: Alison describes his attitude as 'coldblooded logic' - while warning him that if that logic leads to him trying to kill Carol to prevent Dracula from draining her for power, she'll kill him. He won't go out of his way to save the life of an innocent, but he won't go out of his way to harm them either, and he will step in to help if there's something in it for him.
Robot Master: He's got an army of very capable combat robots, less distinctive versions of the famous Doombots (enough that no one can prove that they're his, even though it's an open secret). He uses them to gather data on the strengths and limitations of potential enemies.
Sorcerous Overlord: A talented enough sorcerer to attract Baron Mordo (Strange's former apprentice) to be his teacher. He's even described by Loki as the third-most powerful mortal practitioner of magic after the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange - though Harry Dresden may have something to say about this.
The Spymaster: Heavily implied to have some serious intelligence connections—he recognizes the Winter Soldier as Bucky and knows that he never hurt children, knows at least some details of Alison and her family, and is heavily implied to know the identity of the Red Son, judging by how he reacts to Harry.
Steven Ulysses Perhero: Apparently the result of having a name that doesn't translate very well into English.
The Stoic: Very rarely shows any emotion.
Villainous Rescue: His involvement in the Bloody Hell arc comes down to this, of Carol, on the purely pragmatic grounds that it's in his interests to prevent Dracula - his main regional rival, who will come after him in time - from growing more powerful.
Would Hurt a Child: Slightly downplayed. While he wouldn't be particularly happy about it, he's certainly more than willing to do so if necessary.

Chthon

The universe is my plaything, mine by right, mine to destroy.

The Man Behind the Man for Gravemoss by way of being the author of the Darkhold. He doesn't appear directly until the end of Child of the Storm, but the mere possibility of his presence makes everyone from Wanda to badass Dresden to Loki to Gravemoss himself have a Bring My Brown Pants reaction.

A God Am I: He's an actual God, an Elder God, even, but his ego is off the scale - see the folder quote.
Always a Bigger Fish: He's usually the bigger fish, and plays this role to HYDRA and Gravemoss. The White Phoenix of the Crown, however, is a step beyond even him.
Ancient Evil: Somewhere in the region of billions of years old.
Bring My Brown Pants: Inspires this reaction to the point of O.O.C. Is Serious Business. Even Gravemoss is abjectly terrified of him and thinks that unleashing him is insane.
The Corrupter: Being the In-Universe inspiration for Sauron, he tries this on Gravemoss. He succeeds.
- Tries this on Harry. It ultimately fails.
Demonic Possession: After Gravemoss is destroyed, he tries to possess Wanda, and ends up in Harry instead. Thanks to his own powers, his connection to the Phoenix and its other hosts, and the aid of his parents, Harry casts him out.
Eldritch Abomination: He's pretty much the biggest, baddest Eldritch Abomination of them all, with even a small fragment of his power being capable of scrambling reality across the world, breaking down the barriers of time and space, if not the universe, as a mere side-effect of it being present on the mortal plane, as well as being capable of going toe to toe with Odin.
Eldritch Location: The place of his banishment untold millions of years ago, Mount Wundagore. To the present day, it's still the source one of the most powerful dark ley lines in Europe.
Evil Is Hammy: He's incredibly melodramatic, especially when frustrated and angry.
Faux Affably Evil: Keeps up a detached, amused façade until someone presses his Berserk Button.
The Final Temptation: When losing control of Harry, he offers him the power to resurrect his mother and create his perfect universe. Harry, however, ultimately sees through his lies and casts him out.
God of Evil: God of Chaos, though per Wanda, some have argued that he's also the God of Black Magic.
Greater-Scope Villain: HYDRA want to take over the world, at least, according to Lucius, to start with. Gravemoss wants to kill everyone. His return would destroy the universe.
I Shall Taunt You: When possessing Harry, he takes great pleasure in taunting the Avengers, Odin, Wanda, and everyone else present.
Omnicidal Maniac: He wants to destroy the universe. And unlike most, he can do it.
Out-Gambitted: By Doctor Strange, to the other's malicious delight.
Smug Snake: He's mostly an opportunist, not a long term planner (ironic, considering how old he is), unlike Strange - consequently, he doesn't quite get that Strange has got the better of him until it actually happens.
Soul Jar: The Darkhold is essentially his "anchor" in the material universe. It's apparently 'a brother to Entropy' and completely indestructible. Loki describes it as being like the One Ring, but infinitely worse.
Strong and Skilled: He's an Elder God with the raw power to destroy the universe, and good enough to go toe-to-toe with Odin.
Villainous Breakdown: His reaction to Strange turning one of his spells back on him is brief, but messy.
Villain Override: When Gravemoss desperately digs into the Darkhold's power during his duel with Strange, it enables Cthon to manifest through him fully.
Void Between the Worlds: He was exiled here at the beginning of the universe by his siblings, the other Elder Gods, hence why he's referred to as an Outsider.
Wicked Cultured: Has this vibe in his speaking appearances.
Winds of Destiny, Change!: The very least of his abilities.

Malekith

Malekith the Accursed

The former King of Svartalfheim, a powerful mage, and a wielder of the Aether, otherwise known as the Reality Stone. He led a revolt approximately 6000 years before the story begins against the Asgard-dominated order of the Nine Realms, with the objective of putting the Elves (specifically, his partisans, led by him) on top. He was defeated by Asgard and her allies, led by Bor, Odin's father, after an absolutely brutal war that left Svartalfheim in ruins. However, as Harry finds out in Ghosts of the Past, they Never Found the Body...

The Ageless: Like all elves, he doesn't age past his prime.
Ambition Is Evil: It is when you're trying to tear apart a cosmic structure acting as a prison for a galactic class Eldritch Abomination to put yourself in charge because of an inferiority complex.
The Archmage: In Harry's view onto the past, he primarily uses magic (and uses the Aether to enhance his magic) in combat with Bor. According to Word of God, he's incredibly formidable even without it, being arguably even stronger than Loki - even when he's not on his home turf. When he is, chapter 50 suggests that he's capable of obscuring even the combined efforts of Odin and Heimdall, and sensing and taking out Huginn and Muninn. And he's entirely comfortable with threatening someone very heavily implied to be the Black Captain, and Surtur by proxy. He's got serious game.
Body Horror: Gives and receives this in his duel with Bor, with half of his mask being melted to his face.
Lightning Bruiser: Though compared to the likes of Bor, he's closer to a Glass Cannon.
Magic Knight: Primarily favours magic, but he mixes it up with Bor, a vastly powerful Physical God, at close range.
Master of Illusion: He was a very skilled illusionist.
Morph Weapon: The Aether functions as this.
Never Found the Body: He was last seen having been impaled by Bor, before the Aether within him exploded extremely violently, and no sign was left of his body. This is why Odin suspects that he's Not Quite Dead.
Our Elves Are Different: Ageless, eerily beautiful, an incredibly powerful Magic Knight, incredibly arrogant, extremely ambitious, and quite possibly insane. Just to really drive it home, he's described with a reference from Lords and Ladies about elves: "They entranced. They were wondrous. They were glorious. No one ever said that they were good."
Reality Warper: With the Aether, and quite possibly without it, considering how powerful he's supposed to be.
Red Baron: He's almost exclusively referred to as 'the Accursed.'
The Resenter: The root of his rebellion; he felt that the Elves, being the only other species in the Nine Realms to have two worlds (Alfheim and Svartalfheim, while the Asgardians had Asgard and Vanaheim), as well as ending up immortal, should have been at the top of Yggdrasil rather than accepting second place.
Super Supremacist: He thought/thinks that Elves are superior even to Asgardians, what with their immortality.
Teleporters and Transporters: Used teleportation and hit and run tactics to try and wear Bor down.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Possibly - if he'd succeeded in his plans, he'd almost certainly have unleashed Surtur. However, he might have known and been banking on the power of the Aether to keep Surtur down while he rearranged things.

Nicodemus

Nicodemus Archleone

The immortal and Nigh-Invulnerable nominal leader of the Knights of the Blackened Denarius (evil is not one big, happy family and the 30 Fallen have their own agendas), partnered with Anduriel, Lucifer's own spymaster. Over 2000 years old, responsible for countless wars, plagues, and famines, he's one of the worst monsters to walk the Earth, compensating for a relative lack of personal power with a ruthless intelligence. His ultimate aim is, apparently, to bring about the Apocalypse. Was last seen in Madripoor, which he's apparently running now. All canon tropes from before Small Favor still apply.

Arch-Enemy: Mostly of the Knights of the Cross, though he's crossed paths with Wanda and Harry Dresden too.
The Chessmaster: A master manipulator, having had millennia to master the art.
Evil Counterpart: To Loki, with Clint explicitly noting that he has "a mind like a pre-reform Loki."
Evil Overlord: Took over the island nation of Madripoor at some point. Madripoor being Madripoor, this hasn't changed much. Yet.
Famed In-Story: His name is known and feared, with Wanda having pulled a Colony Drop on him being a marker of how badass she is.
The Ghost: Has yet to make a direct bow, though he has been mentioned on several occasions.
Healing Factor: Strong enough to not only survive one of Wanda's signature moves, the Colony Drop, but outright shrug it off. Pretty much nothing can hurt him for long.
Hidden Agenda Villain: No one exactly knows what he's doing, or why, beyond his general 'apocalypse is a state of mind' mentality.
Know When to Fold 'Em: It's implied that he's not willing to go up directly against the Avengers and considers Harry more trouble than he's worth.
Living Shadow: Anduriel takes this form. It is intensely creepy.
Master Swordsman: A truly formidable one, thanks to millennia of practice, and he's killed Asgardians in the past.
Nigh-Invulnerable: Thanks to his noose. In turn, it's one of the very few things that can actually hurt him.
The Spymaster: His Fallen partner, Anduriel, has the power to listen and see through the shadows of other living beings. Practically any other living being — the only ways to stop him from listening in on someone is to have someone of sufficient power around (like Mab), or be somewhere that blocks him (like the Carpenter family's house, protected by multiple angels).
The Worf Effect: Subverted. He appears to have been on the receiving end of this from Wanda in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, but Clint later reveals that he was mostly just annoyed that the resulting fireball had ruined his suit.

Lucifer

Satan. The original Fallen Angel, master of The Legions of Hell and the other Fallen, and "patron" of Nicodemus and the Order of the Blackened Denarius.

The Dreaded: What would you expect?
The Ghost: He's been mentioned maybe once or twice in the story. Besides that he has never made a physical appearance, or even been directly involved in any schemes opposed to the heroes (or at least, to the Avengers).
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Thor apparently ran into him once in the past, and we don't learn any details besides that it is not an encounter that Thor remembers fondly.
- Strange also mentions him as one of his usual opponents as the Sorcerer Supreme, heavily implying that they've crossed swords multiple times.
Physical God: Irony in the statement aside, if one goes by the fact he ran into Thor and apparently got away scot free, he's easily in this category.

Doctor Essex

Doctor Nathaniel Essex a.k.a. Doctor Nathan Milbury a.k.a. Sinister

A shadowy figure first alluded to in chapter 48, capable of evading even Doctor Strange, he is responsible for the failure of Social Services and Mrs Figg to twig to how Harry was being abused, also directly heading off the Grey family's attempt at adopting Harry via telepathy and bribery. Genius and sociopath, he sees the entire world as his petri dish. Finally appears in Ghosts, working with the Red Room.

Adaptational Wimp: While he stays ahead of Strange for a long time, it's mostly thanks to someone else's protection. He also doesn't quite have his canon counterpart's raw power, or skills as The Chessmaster (certainly not at Xanatos Speed Chess), being much more of a pure scientist.
The Ageless: Implied to be immortal - certainly, he hasn't aged for over a century. Judging by his comments to Harry about following the Silk Road and going to the New World in his search for "unusual abilities," he's probably Really 700 Years Old.
Asshole Victim: What Wanda does to him in Ghosts is absolutely horrendous, fully living up to her promise to reduce him to 'traumatised, screaming molecules' and would be a Moral Event Horizon if done to anyone else... but damn does he deserve it. Also, he doesn't stay dead for long.
- Ditto what Strange does to him.
Badass Boast: He gives a rather pithy one, echoing one from canon, after dropping Carol with a single punch.
Just because I disdain physical combat does not mean that I am not good at it.
Badass Bookworm: He's arguably the most brilliant geneticist on Earth, if not in the Nine Realms, an Evil Mentor to Zola himself. And as he observes, while he disdains physical combat, that doesn't mean he's not good at it.
- He's a powerful and skilled psychic, too, though no match for Xavier. He's also the only person other than Maddie and, latterly, Harry, who scares Dudley a.k.a. the Beast.
Badass in a Nice Suit: His nice suits, in his Milbury persona, are mentioned by both Petunia and the narration. This proves a Berserk Button for Wanda.
Berserk Button: He really doesn't like being defied, and gets very angry when Wanda smashes his data.
Body Back Up Drive: After Wanda melts him alive, it's confirmed by Strange - who figures out how to hack it.
Combat Pragmatist: He doesn't pick fights, and is rarely without back-up. When he does fight, he uses his abilities to lethal effect, attacking blood vessels, internal organs, and the brain. It didn't work on Wanda, however.
- It's also noted that while he's no coward (as Lukin notes, he's absolutely willing to walk around a Red Room base where half the personnel want him dead and the other half would gladly help hide the body), he goes out of his way to avoid fights with those more powerful than him, such as Dumbledore, Wanda, Strange, and Xavier.
Cultured Badass: He can fight when he has to, but he's also a brilliant (if amoral) scientist and his Trigger Phrase for Maddie/Rachel is a quote from T.S. Eliot.
Curbstomp Battle: He's extremely intelligent and moderately powerful, powerful enough that the Red Room are all terrified of him, but he stands absolutely no chance whatsoever against an enraged Wanda. Or a gleefully malicious Strange, as it happens.
Dissonant Serenity: Generally keeps the same mild, professional tones no matter the circumstances. Until he realizes that Strange is right behind him.
Dragon with an Agenda/Dragon-in-Chief: Lukin inwardly observes this about him, noting that Sinister's agenda mostly means that he gets involved with pretty much every Super-Soldier project going in one guise or another, and that he doesn't particularly care so long as the Red Room reaps the benefits. It's also very obvious where the power lies in that partnership.
The Dreaded: He carries this vibe. Huginn and Muninn, not easily freaked out, found him particularly creepy.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: To the point where at least two people have independently theorised that he's a vampire.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Xavier gives him a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech regarding Essex's lack of understanding of free will and the Power of Love, specifically on how his inability to understand it was always going to lead to his downfall.
Evilutionary Biologist: Looking to advance human evolution and quite happy to experiment to do it.
Evil Genius: He taught Zola. More than that, he taught him everything he knows. Jesus remarks that his brilliance is equalled only by his hubris.
Evil Counterpart: To Doctor Strange. Both are immortal, manipulative medical doctors with superhuman powers and an intense interest in young superhumans, especially the Grey family, who they intend to mould into warriors. Strange, however, actually has a conscience, some very strong medical ethics that he takes incredibly seriously, and builds familial ties and bonds, while Sinister has no ethics whatsoever, separates and isolates those he seeks to mould, breaking their wills and treating them solely as weapons.
Fatal Flaw: Lack of Empathy, meaning Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, identified by Xavier in a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
Faux Affably Evil: Poses very effectively as a kindly and respectable family doctor.
The Force Is Strong with This One: Makes a remark to this effect about Harry. He's not wrong, either.
For Science!: His keeping Harry at Privet Drive is entirely motivated by his desire to see how Harry's powers manifested as a result of the abuse, as well as how his X-Gene, M-Gene and Asgardian traits interacted.
The Ghost: He has a big hand in Harry's and Jean's backstory, but he doesn't make a proper appearance Ghosts.
Healing Factor: He's almost impossible to kill, though Wanda and Strange both manage it.
Kick the Dog: Sending Dudley after the prisoners to distract the Avengers was bad enough. Sending him mental images of Carol, among others, knowing what Dudley would think of, is particularly awful.
Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Is sometimes seen wearing one.
Lack of Empathy: One of his defining traits, and Xavier identifies it as his Fatal Flaw, as he failed to understand why his control of Maddie was doomed to failure.
Lean and Mean: Described in a more spidery fashion, closer to his depiction in Wolverine Origin II than his usual.
Mad Scientist: He taught Zola, and the student isn't a patch on the master.
Mechanical Abomination: While he usually works through organics, he creates the Transmode Techno-Organic Virus, which canonically is what infects Cable, gives Apocalypse some of his powers, and is based on what is very heavily implied to be this 'verse's version of the Pegasus replicators.
Minored In Ass Kicking: He avoids combat, but as he notes, this does not mean that he is not good at it.
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Described as seeing the entire world as his petri dish. Also, he kidnapped Rachel/Maddie from her crib the night she was born, tried to grab Jean too before Strange jumped him, and kept Harry with the Dursleys as a nature versus nurture experiment. He is also entirely unfazed by torture, if necessary.
More than Mind Control: What he did to Maddie. He raised her such that he didn't need to control her.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His aliases include 'Nosferatu' and, of course, 'Sinister'. Unlike canon, the latter is one of his many nicknames, just one of the most prominent. As Carol remarks, it's appropriate.
Nerves of Steel: He doesn't bat an eye after being captured by the Avengers, figuring that that particular body is doomed and shrugging it off. Running into Strange, on the other hand...
Non-Action Big Bad: Usually. He can fight, but he prefers to avoid it.
Not in This for Your Revolution: It's safe to say that he really doesn't care who provides the subjects for experimentation, so long as they do. Apparently, he's been involved with most, if not every, super-soldier project in history.
Obfuscating Stupidity: As Doctor Milbury, he's timid and polite.
Oh, Crap!: When he realises that his cloned superweapon has been frozen by Time Magic, since there's only one likely candidate - and that one candidate is someone who's been hunting him for a very long time.
Pædo Hunt: Not actually a paedophile, but his taking of blood from Harry when he was a child, posing as the family doctor and giving him sweets to reward him, and Thor's incandescent wrath when he finds out about him, definitely carries this vibe. So does snatching Rachel/Maddie as a baby, though sexual abuse was just about the only thing he didn't put her through.
Papa Wolf: Of a sort. He has a little 'chat' with Dudley that cowed him into submission after he made a move on Maddie. However, since Maddie was more than capable of looking after herself and Sinister sees her as an asset, nothing more, he was more likely protecting his experiment/putting Dudley in his place.
Punch Catch: From Carol, no less.
Psychic Powers: Powerful, and subtle, but not even close to a match for Xavier or any of the other heavyweights.
Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Quotes this trope when Dresden refers to Wanda's melting him.
Sinister Surveillance: He kept a close eye on Harry, that's for sure. Also a literal case.
Skewed Priorities: A whole dimension is crashing around his ears, and all he cares about is collecting data, yelling at an enraged Wanda when she destroys his computer, in the only real display of emotion seen from him. Until Strange turns up, that is.
The Sociopath: He can put on a good show, but he cares about absolutely nothing, except his experiments.
Super-Strength: He catches one of Carol's punches and knocks her out with a single blow.
Stalker with a Test Tube: Ghosts confirms that he's taken samples of all Harry's bodily fluids.
Unwilling Roboticization: While it's not his usual method, he's more than willing to dabble, infecting Red Son!Harry with a Techno-Organic nanotech virus that remains dormant until it's activated, and promptly devours the host from the inside out, transforming them into living metal.
Unperson: Ghosts reveals that this is what he does to every one of his superhuman test subjects, telepathically and technologically, to ensure that no one comes looking for them or raises the alarm.
Villainous Breakdown: First when Maddie reveals that she's free of him, and then when Strange appears behind him.
Strange: Hello, Nathaniel. Long time no see.
- He has another when Xavier taunts him about his failure to control Maddie.
Villain Respect: Seems genuinely impressed at Harry's ingenuity.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of his methods of disguise.
Wicked Cultured: His first Trigger Phrase for Maddie/Rachel is a quote from T.S. Eliot. The second is one from The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson. He also references Mark Twain's famous quote when speaking to Dresden.
The Worf Effect: Demonstrates his power by flattening Carol, terrifying the Beast into submission, swanning around the Red Room knowing that they're all scared to death of him, and keeping Maddie on a leash. However, powerful as he is, he's no match for the likes of a furious Wanda or a half-mad and vengeful Strange, and Xavier warns him that he knows every one of Essex's psychic tricks and then some.
- Although they never meet, Steve points out that Essex left after Harry began Hogwarts, not wanting to attract Dumbledore's attention.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Points Dudley at the prisoners and the Avengers to distract them to give the Red Room time to escape.

Grindelwald

Lord Gellert Grindelwald

Currently a rather elderly prisoner in Nurmengard, a prison he built for his enemies. Formerly the foremost Dark Lord of the 20th century; naturally one of the strongest wanded wizards on the planet, he became a Physical God via deals with demons and dark gods, carving out a magical empire in alliance with the Third Reich and HYDRA that spread from Russia to Portugal, making inroads into North Africa, making other Dark Lords like Kemmler his lieutenants in the process. Was ultimately stripped of the additional power by Doctor Strange in a brutal duel that lasted for days and almost levelled Berlin, before Dumbledore met him on even footing and defeated him.

Ambition Is Evil: Ambition is, from Dumbledore's account, what drove him to darkness.
Armies Are Evil: Had armies of dark wizards and witches, wandless warlocks, vampires, demons, and other monsters.
Batman Grabs a Gun: Dumbledore was forced to study and master the darkest of dark magic to learn how to defeat him.
Big Bad Ensemble: With the Red Skull.
Brought Down to Badass: Even after Strange stripped him of the bulk of his power, he was still a Person of Mass Destruction and very well trained in the dark arts.
Create Your Own Villain: Per Strange, Dumbledore helped create Grindelwald, so it was his responsibility to stop him.
Even Evil Has Standards: He refused to deal with beings like Chthon that actively wished to destroy the world.
Evil Counterpart: Dumbledore describes Grindelwald as one to himself.
Evil Former Friend: To Dumbledore, with their friendship being noted in passing.
Evil Genius: Dumbledore explicitly remarks that he was brilliant.
Evil Is Not a Toy: The dark compacts he made, with Dumbledore quoting the trope. He made them with the partial intention of building up enough power to take on his benefactors and knock them out of the game, one by one, playing them off against each other, but it ultimately wound up corrupting him.
Evil Old Folks: He was hitting his sixties when he ruled Europe.
Evil Overlord: What he became, being explicitly described as ruling the magical world from Lisbon to Moscow.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From smart student expelled by Durmstrang for dark dabbling, with a few hangers on interested in flouting the Statute of Secrecy, to Physical God Dark Lord with a vast magical empire.
Genius Bruiser: Dumbledore freely acknowledges that he was 'brilliant', and he was, with Dumbledore, by far the strongest wanded wizard of his generation.
The Ghost: Mentioned several times throughout the story, but has not yet made an appearance. A justified trope, since he's locked up in Nurmengard, a place none of the characters have an interest in visiting.
Humanoid Abomination: Had effectively become one, until Strange stripped away the vast majority of his power.
Physical God: Loki remarks that, thanks to his dark compacts, he was 'godlike' in his power.
Sorcerous Overlord: Essentially ruled Magical Europe for most of a decade.
Talented, but Trained: He was one of the strongest of his generation, along with Dumbledore, and also a master of both light and dark arts.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dumbledore states that he was a visionary genuinely intent on changing the world for the better, so that those with power and knowledge could openly guide mankind, helping shape its destiny. As Dumbledore also states, however, Grindelwald was never content with mere guidance.

Doctor Reynolds

Doctor Robert Reynolds a.k.a. the Parasite a.k.a. the Void

A scientist laughed out of academia for his interest in combining science and magic for medical benefit (specifically, via alchemy), he tried to get traction for his theories under multiple aliases, of which Robert Reynolds is just the latest. Eventually, he fell under the influence of Lionel Luthor, who made him Director of Belle Reve Sanitarium, giving him free rein to indulge his theories, using them for good... at the initially implicit price of providing magically mind-controlled Super Soldiers and/or a viable Super-Soldier enhancement process. Once a decent man, pride and dark magic took their toll on him, leaving only a monster behind.

An Ice Person: Where he goes, the temperature drops, and does so like a stone after he gets charged up. It's indicated to be a side-effect of his absorbing power from wherever he can get it.
Arc Villain: For the Smallville arc of Ghosts of the Past.
Big Bad Wannabe: His ego writes checks his body can't cash. He pushes Harry and Clark to their limits to subdue (killing him is implied to be significantly easier), but neither is seriously hurt, and he isn't taken very seriously. Hell, Harry outright ignores him when something more interesting comes up and contemptuously quotes "The Lazarus Experiment", stating that he was nothing but "a vain old man who tried to defy nature".
Blood Magic: Quite adept at this, as part of his general thaumaturgy shtick, which he can use to control people (though he generally uses hair - blood is better, but hair tends to last) and force his monsters into a Fusion Dance.
Cast from Stamina: He's much more prone to this than normal magical practitioners.
Crippling Over Specialisation: He's brilliant at Sympathetic Magic, certain forms of Alchemy and Transfiguration, but he's pretty much useless at everything else. However, after charging up from all the power he leeched off Clark, he's (almost) strong enough that it doesn't matter.
Cold-Blooded Torture: The dark(er) side of his thaumaturgy skills, including jury-rigging a poppet a.k.a. a Voodoo Doll of Lex. He then, briefly, takes a more direct approach with Chloe Sullivan.
Combo Platter Powers: After he gets charged up, he's capable of: Weather Manipulation, Psychic Powers, Hand Blasts, Voluntary Shapeshifting, a massively powerful Healing Factor, and high-end Functional Magic (primarily transfiguration). Unfortunately for him, he's also an absolutely terrible fighter.
Composite Character: He's drawn from Robert Reynolds (his current alias) a.k.a. the Sentry/the Void and Rudolph 'Rudy' Jones a.k.a. the Parasite. His appearance and apparent power-set (with a magical flavour) comes from the former, while his original name and methods of gaining power come from the latter. His aliases are drawn from a mixture of the former's past and the latter's successors.
Counter Spell: In his fusion state as the Void, he eventually figures out how to nullify some of Harry's spells during their one on one duel, causing Harry to opt for supernaturally boosted physical attacks instead.
Deadly Doctor: Approaches this from a magical perspective.
Determinator: You can't fault his persistence, initially in trying to worm his way back into the academic community and prove his theories, then in seeking power.
Drugs Are Bad: His addiction to stolen power/life-energy is directly compared to drug addiction, at first by metaphor, then explicitly by Reynolds himself - who sees it as an advantage.
Drunk on the Dark Side: Palpably and perpetually, especially in his POV section.
Entitled Bastard: Once Drunk on the Dark Side, he believes any power he can take (especially Clark's) is his by right, because others either haven't been using it right, or at all.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: Closely associated with cold and darkness from the start, specifically the draining away vitality parts.
Expy: Aside from his canon counterparts, he bears a strong resemblance to Doctor Richard Lazarus from the Doctor Who episode "The Lazarus Experiment", with his obsession with rejuvenation, treatment of others as nothing more than power sources, mutating into a monster because he can't control the power-surge, and becoming a monstrous Power Parasite who reverts to (semi) human form from time to time. Harry even quotes the Doctor's scathing "Reason You Suck" Speech to Lazarus when facing Reynolds.
Fatal Flaw: His original sin is Pride, which drove him down the road of Black Magic.
Faux Affably Evil: He can put up a normal, affable façade, but it vanishes the moment he gets suspicious.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Yes, he was quite clearly treated like crap, then used by the one apparent benefactor he had, but as is pointed out, that doesn't excuse the way he resorted to experimenting on people with Black Magic.
For Science!: Started out as a compassionate variant on this, combined with a desire to prove he was right. Then, he went off the deep end.
Fusion Dance: Eventually performs this with his demonic symbiote, resulting in the Void.
Healing Factor: He's got an extraordinarily powerful one thanks to his demon-symbiote, once he's charged up, allowing him to repeatedly regenerate entire limbs. However, it gets weaker and slower the more power Harry and Clark force him to expend.
I Have Many Names: He's used a number of aliases in the past, trying to get back into academia and prove he was right. It never worked, since as is noted, there's a lot more to a successful change of identity than just changing your name. Robert Reynolds is just the latest alias, though the one he's usually referred to by.
Implacable Man: Even repeated dismemberment doesn't stop him, not until his final reserves are wasted.
I Surrender, Suckers: Tries to pull this on Clark by exploiting his mercy, and nearly succeeds. Harry, on the other hand, is not fooled and armed with a very sharp sword.
It's All About Me: His journal becomes more and more egocentric as his sanity declines, and his POV section just oozes this.
Life Energy: He uses dark magic to feed on Clark's, primarily, treating him as a Living Battery.
Mad Scientist: He didn't start out that way, despite his left-field theories. At worst, he had a bit of an ego and a complex about showing his old colleagues he was right. He only ended up as one thanks to dark magic induced Sanity Slippage.
Magic Enhancement: The basic principle of his work was a low-level variant of this. In theory, magic could be captured, distilled, and used to boost immune systems and general health thanks to its connection to life. He was recruited by Lionel Luthor to create magic-based Super Soldiers.
Mana Potion: He figures out how to make these from the life-force of empowered people (his original goal was to distil magic itself, but this was easier), making him seriously powerful when he overdoses on ones made from Clark's.
Mighty Glacier: While he's got Super-Speed by everyone else's standards once powered up, he's not on Harry and Clark's level for either speed or grace, and the two consequently dance around him. However, he's durable enough, with a strong enough Healing Factor, to hold them off for a long, long time.
Physical God: Anyone who can go toe-to-toe with Harry Thorson and a teenage Clark Kent simultaneously, and make them work to beat him, is definitely in this category.
Pride: His original sin and his Fatal Flaw, as Harry observes.
Psycho Electro: His magic manifests in crackling black-white lightning and he's completely nuts.
Rasputinian Death: He doesn't actually die, but the sheer brutality of what Clark and Harry (and SHIELD) are forced to put him through just to get him to stay down is downright scary - and SHIELD's proposed plan to deal with him if they can't subdue him essentially involves dropping a Nexus Bomb.
Sanity Slippage: When Chloe skims the notes in his journal, this becomes very clear - initially, he's coherent, and reasonable, even compassionate. Later, as the addiction takes hold, he goes full Gollum. If anything, he gets even worse after the demon part takes control, and the Fusion Dance result isn't all that pretty either.
Smug Snake: He drastically overestimates his abilities and practical intelligence at every turn. At the same time, he also horribly underestimates the magnitude of who and what he's dealing with.
The Sociopath: Post Sanity Slippage, people are divided into 'useful' and 'useless', the latter usually being disposed of. He even takes a moment to explain to Clark that he calls him his 'source' not because he doesn't know: it's because he doesn't care.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: Pre-transformation, his rage can lead to Suddenly Shouting, but his truly sadistic moments have him speak in a soft, almost reasonable tone.
Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: He's a minor talent in terms of actual magic, but he's genuinely brilliant at this, managing to channel magic and Life Energy from a target through a Sympathetic Magic based shrine into capacitors that can then be turned into a kind of Mana Potion that he stores up for later. This, once he strikes the mother-load in Clark, allows him to get his hands on Person of Mass Destruction levels of power. However, Crippling Over Specialisation cuts in when it turns out that he has practically no idea how to do anything else.
The Symbiote: It's mentioned in passing that he merged with a spirit, like the White Court's Hunger demon, to properly metabolise the power he was absorbing. It is unlikely to have helped his sanity.
Sympathetic Magic: His real gift is for this, in many and varied forms, including using hair clippings to track, subdue, and drain power from Clark.
Tendrils of Darkness: How his magic starts manifesting after he mutates, outlined with crackling sickly-white energy.
They Called Me Mad!: The heart of his motivation is proving - especially to his former peers - that he was right all along. To be fair, it's indicated that he was, he just picked the wrong time to advance his theories.
True Sight: He didn't have it - or at least, didn't use it - to begin with, due to his previous lack of ability. Then Harry got pissed off and not only ripped it open, but, it is implied, left it that way.
Ungrateful Bastard: He throws every offer of mercy back in Clark's face.
Unskilled, but Strong: Outside of his Crippling Over Specialisation, his abilities are very limited - he can't even pull off a basic repairing charm. In general, he only really gets in good hits when they're broad area of effect attacks, or he catches someone (usually the inexperienced Clark) off-guard, because he's relatively slow and a bad fighter.
Villainous Valour: He might just genuinely be that crazy, but he keeps coming at Harry and Clark, no matter how brutal the fight gets (especially once Harry starts getting creative).
Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of his many powers post-charge up.
Walking Wasteland: He learns how to feed on the energy of any living thing around him, which has this effect.
Weather Manipulation: Causes a significant temperature drop, a major storm, and multiple tornadoes over Smallville.
Who's Laughing Now?: His desire for acknowledgement and acceptance curdled into this and a hunger for power.
Would Hit a Girl: He beats up Chloe, a teenager half his size then electrocutes her.
Would Hurt a Child: Without a qualm, following his Sanity Slippage. It's at the root of what he's doing to Clark.

The Spirit of the Fortress

Spirit of the Fortress

The spirit of the Fallen Fortress in the Forbidden Forest, it's actually less one spirit, more a gestalt of countless gods, Sidhe, giants, and whatever other unfortunates died within its walls - the protection spells of which are so good, they essentially trapped them inside. It has added to itself over the years by luring everyone from centaurs, to acromantulae, and (nearly) a young Hagrid, then driving them insane before killing them. It's usually dormant... until Voldemort stirs it up. And tricks Ron and Hermione into entering its walls.

Alien Geometries: It ensures that the physics of the Fortress makes no sense at all, and it only gets worse when it possesses Hermione, junior chaos mage and apparent space manipulating mutant.
Body Snatcher: As it acknowledges, this isn't its usual M.O. by any means, but it just couldn't resist the opportunity presented by Hermione and her extremely potent combination of Chaos Magic and an Omega Class mutation.
Circling Monologue:
- It tries a classic one on Harry, as part of a Breaking Speech. It doesn't work.
- It uses teleportation and illusions to pull one on Hermione, with a downright inhuman Creepy Monotone coming from a twisted mirror image of her, then, apparently, from Hermione herself. Since she doesn't have Harry's experience of psychological warfare or psychic defences, it's much more effective.
Deadpan Snarker: Usually when it's impersonating Harry, which isn't all that surprising, since both it and Harry suggest that it picks up on the personality traits of people it's hunting.
Demonic Possession: Of Hermione in chapter 64, taking it to borderline Living Bodysuit levels, as Harry specifically notes that Hermione doesn't have the means or training to fight back.
Dirty Coward: It runs instantly from anyone who can really fight back, unless it's sure it has an advantage or it's backed into a corner - as Harry notes, it's a predator, and predators hate fair fights.
Eldritch Abomination: It's a reality warping fear monster that eats the souls of its prey.
Eldritch Location: It's the main reason that the Fortress is one, as it can bend space within its walls, switch it from ruined to solid (or an extremely effective illusion of solidity), and haunt the unfortunates within it.
Evil Gloating: Whenever it thinks it has the advantage, partly related to its hunting strategy, partly related to overconfidence, and partly because it copied Harry's habits of talking too much and bluffing on a bad hand.
Evil Is Petty: It will absolutely go out of its way to be as big of a dick as it can.
Evil Twin: It spends most of his time as Harry's. Harry isn't bothered - in fact, he's mostly just bored. Ron and Hermione, not so much.
Expy: Of the final fusion of Padan Fain/Mordeth from The Wheel of Time, right down to the Fog of Doom associations, especially once it possesses Hermione.
Fog of Doom: An Eldritch Abomination that defaults to this form.
Forced Transformation: What it does to Harry after getting hold of Hermione's powers is downright nightmarish, opening him up like an anatomy book while technically keeping him intact. Harry being Harry, this mostly just pisses him off.
For the Evulz: Played With. On the one hand, the torture is part of how it hunts. On the other hand, not all of it is strictly necessary, and it makes clear that it enjoys every bit of it.
Gravity Master: It tries this on Harry via Hermione's powers, which works... initially.
Hannibal Lecture: One of its many, many methods of Mind Rape - though going by how it didn't faze Harry (who's heard better), and Ron saw through it, it's probably not one of its most effective.
The Heartless: It is literally made of the pain, suffering, and anger of thousands of dying beings.
Humanoid Abomination: When possessing someone, it's referred to as the Hermione-thing or Hermione-creature, and it gets increasingly less humanoid as time goes on.
I Know What You Fear: It depends on how well its Psychic Powers work. Harry, for instance, has strong psychic defences and experience, meaning that it ends up driving him through fear into rage and wildly misjudged what Harry was capable of. Sirius spent 12 years in Azkaban and can actually fight back this time, so he outright No Sells it. Ron and Hermione, without that experience or defence, are far more vulnerable.
Master of Illusion: One of its many, many means of Mind Rape, and one of the more effective ones - especially when it starts using it directly on its victims.
Mind Rape: Its entire hunting strategy and, Harry suggests, reason for being - every one of its components died alone, afraid, and angry, so it does its best to make others suffer the same way.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Initially, it just annoys Harry and scares Ron and Hermione a bit. Heck, when it finally triggers a Heroic BSoD in Harry by turning into Belova, it backfires. Then it snaps Ron's wand and nearly kills him while wearing his best friend's face, while simultaneously gaslighting and terrifying Hermione before finally possessing her, matching Harry in a full-blown slugging match, warping a very large chunk of the forest into an Escher-like nightmare, before finally taking a combination of Harry, Dumbledore, and Betsy just to get it out of Hermione and stun it for long enough to trap it temporarily.
Oh, Crap!: It gets unsettled whenever it gets caught off-guard.
- Firstly, when Harry overcomes its psychological torment, secondly when he breaks free of its pin after it possesses Hermione and uses her newly manifested mutation, which it was very confident he couldn't get out of. Wrong.
- Finally, it gets more than a little unnerved when it recognises the Elder Wand and Dumbledore demonstrates just how good he is with it (which is very, very good).
Our Ghosts Are Different: A gestalt entity of hundreds, if not thousands, of dead beings that died within the Fortress walls, it usually exists as intangible mist, but it can take physical form whenever it likes, which it uses to Mind Rape and murder its victims, before eating their souls. It can also lure people towards it, bend reality within the Fallen Fortress, and possess people if it wants to.
Psychic Powers: Mostly various forms of telepathy, used to lure its prey in, deduce their fears, and then use those fears to break them before killing them and eating their souls.
Reality Warper: A low-end version within the walls of the Fortress, then a far more powerful one after it possesses Hermione, accessing her chaos magic and activating her X-Gene, which is implied to involve manipulating space itself.
Sadist: It enjoys making people suffer - not just because that's how it feeds, but because that's the only way it can alleviate its own suffering. This would make it more sympathetic if it didn't seem to enjoy it so much.
Sealed Evil in a Can: It was sealed in a very large fortress. Possessing Hermione removes this limitation, before it's sealed again.
Small Role, Big Impact: It unleashes Hermione's X-Gene, breaks Ron's wand, unwittingly provides significant catharsis for Harry when it appears as Yelena Belova, and Hermione figures out her heritage as a result. Also, there's the fact that both Ron and Hermione's fears ended up wearing Harry's face...
Smug Snake: Its usual demeanour includes a lot of gloating and toying with its prey. While the latter is part of its hunting strategy, it repeatedly gets complacent when it gets the upper hand on Harry, despite access to Ron and Hermione's minds, which should tell it that that is a very bad idea.
Squishy Wizard: It's naturally a spirit being, but when it takes physical form (or possesses someone), it tends to not match up physically.
Tragic Monster: It's an amalgam of countless beings that died painfully, frightened and alone, trapped by the defensive enchantments on the Fortress, and it's spent the last millennium or two lashing out, because that's the only way it can alleviate its pain.
Unskilled, but Strong: While it has access to Hermione's Reality Warper powers after inhabiting her body, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with Harry, it's unable to use them to their full extent, allowing Harry and Dumbledore to overwhelm it with Betsy's assistance.
Vengeful Ghost: To be exact, it's hundreds, if not thousands, of vengeful ghosts in one horrifying gestalt entity.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: It uses this, illusions, and varying degrees of psychic ability to torment its prey. In Harry's case, it takes the form of Yelena Belova.
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: With Harry, even after getting Hermione's powers, which Harry implies is down to picking up some of his personality when it copied him - he tends to talk too much. Not so much with Dumbledore, as after several nasty surprises from Harry and it recognises the Elder Wand, so it tries to obliterate him.
Your Soul Is Mine!: It eats the souls of its victims, incorporating them into itself. It doesn't try this after possessing Hermione, because it's implied to be very afraid of what Harry might do if it did.
You Talk Too Much!: Harry notes that it picked up some personality traits when it copied him.

Dark Phoenix

The Dark Phoenix

What happens when mortal darkness meets cosmic power: the corrupted form of the Phoenix, twisted by the emotions of a host who has either gone bad or simply lost control. Its primary instinct is to destroy everything that has hurt/threatened its host, then progress to simply destroying everything it can reach.

For the most recent manifestation of the Dark Phoenix, Harry Thorson, see their entry under Child of the Storm: Harry Thorson.

Achilles' Heel: As noted below, The Power of Love can disrupt and weaken it.
Animal Themed Super Being: Phoenix, natch.
Ax-Crazy: This is basically what happens when a Physical God goes mad.
Became Their Own Antithesis: The Phoenix is, ultimately, a force of Life, pruning away only what must be pruned away - basically, a cosmic trauma surgeon. The Dark Phoenix just wants to destroy everything.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: How the latest one, Harry, wound up going dark.
The Dreaded: The universal reaction to the Dark Phoenix is Oh, Crap! on an epic scale. This is for excellent reason.
Eldritch Abomination: What the original became.
Elemental Shapeshifting: The latest host in particular transformed into 'a being of living flame'. Which was, somehow, still capable of a Crush Blush.
Evil Counterpart: To a sane Phoenix host.
Fallen Hero: A standard, since a Phoenix Host is specifically chosen to judge their world and, hopefully, fix it.
Flying Brick: On a cosmic scale, as a mere minor side-effect of its greater powers.
Flying Firepower: That's the least of its capabilities.
Game Face: The host's face lengthens, they wind up with Glowing Eyes of Doom from which white fire flows like tears, and a major Throat Light.
Healing Factor: Though it rarely needs it, it has a monstrously powerful one: it can eject the Transmode Virus and regrow a limb, an eye, and about half the host's body in moments.
Humanoid Abomination: The latest host Harry has their features somehow stretched, giving them a fey/falcon-like appearance, Glowing Eyes of Doom from the edges of which white fire runs down like tears, which along with serious Throat Light give the impression that their physical form is merely a thin container for a fully fledged Eldritch Abomination. Even as a 'fledgling', they make animals howl from hundreds of miles at the sheer wrongness of their presence, and give everyone on Earth nightmares about everything burning.
Light Is Not Good: The embodiment of Life and Fire, and a cosmic scale nightmare.
Mad God: Of a particularly terrifying kind.
Nigh-Invulnerable: Even a baby version flat out ignores nukes.
Omnicidal Maniac: It wants to burn everything, with no apparent higher purpose, simply blindly lashing out.
Physical God: Even as a 'Fledgling', it's basically unstoppable. According to Strange, the last Dark Phoenix manifestation took place over a million years ago, whereupon the host destroyed an entire galaxy before being stopped. And even then, they could only be imprisoned, and at an incredible cost.
- In a parallel reality, an incarnation of the Dark Phoenix (Harry), destroyed the Nine Realms, and Yggdrasil, including the Avengers and the Asgardian royal family.
Playing with Fire: A constant is that it wants to burn everything.
Power Echoes: At first, with the latest host. Then, as it gets stronger, it kicks it up a notch with a voice consistently described as being like the crackle - or, when particularly annoyed, the roar - of a forest fire.
The Power of Hate: The Phoenix magnifies emotions. The power of the Phoenix is also fuelled by emotions. Therefore, any host that loses control of their emotions finds them rapidly spiralling out of control, which corrupts the Phoenix and makes the host stronger, magnifying emotions even more... it's a vicious circle.
Power of Love: Vulnerable to this and the Power of Friendship (which is its own kind of love - the specific form doesn't really matter) for fairly logical reasons: the Dark Phoenix is by definition consumed by hatred, which corrupts the Phoenix and feeds the fire of its power, which in turn magnifies emotions. Introduce love into the equation, and you derail the vicious circle.
Psychic Powers: To the extent that the laws of the universe become optional.
Reality Warper: As a standard.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: With exception of the Phoenix emblazoned on his chest, the latest host's gear is mostly as dark as a black hole or the colour of dried blood, before transforming into a being of living flame.
- The original evolved into a being of shadowy darkness and dark red flame.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The last Dark Phoenix, being too powerful to be destroyed.
Smug Super: Basically regards more or less everything and everyone as being beneath them, at least power-wise. The frightening thing is, they're not necessarily wrong...
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Basically this trope incarnate, and if left to grow unchecked, theoretically capable of pulling it off - the last Dark Phoenix destroyed a galaxy.
Super Power Lottery: Let's see... epic scale Healing Factor, Nigh-Invulnerability on a cosmic scale, Resurrective Immortality, Mind over Matter powers sufficient that make the host a full on Reality Warper, Telepathy that simply disregards any extant psychic defences, the ability to open point to point portals between dimensions the size of mountains with a mere thought, Flight fast enough to travel between Earth and the Moon in a matter of seconds, and the ability to wield fire that burns in a vacuum and cheerfully disregards all known laws of physics. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Too Much for Man to Handle: Even touching the mind of the original Dark Phoenix a.k.a. Surtur incinerated six powerful Askani psychics before they could even blink, while the seventh, partly protected by the other six, barely managed to pass on a warning before going up in flames.
Unstoppable Rage: By default, due to their fire amplifiying their negative emotions.
Voice of the Legion: Sort of. Its voice is explicitly described as sounding like the crackle of flames.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Phoenix is fuelled by emotions... and fuels them in turn. Which means that the Dark Phoenix, tainted by pain, hatred, and rage, gets stronger the more those emotions are felt, and fuels them in turn. It's a vicious circle.

Doctor Lake

Doctor Vivian Lake a.k.a. Nimue

"I love this world, Merlin. I love our people. And I will do anything to protect them, even if I have to fight everyone and everything, even Magic Itself to do it! No matter who I have to kill, no matter what I have to destroy, you can rest assured of this: I will save this world even if I have to rebuild it from scratch."

An apparently friendly middle-aged witch and herbologist who's an acquaintaince of Gambit's. She worked with SHIELD at Project Pegasus, and even now lives on the edges of the exclusion zone in the bayou near New Orleans, with the heroes turning to her for advice in Unfinished Business. It turns out that she's actually the legendary Nimue and out to - at minimum - restore her crippled powers. All canon tropes from Merlin (2008) apply here.

Actually Pretty Funny: She concedes to Strange's quip that, for all the foibles of the modern world and its science, plumbing is certainly much more civilized than in their time.
Ancient Evil: She was already an adult when Arthur and Merlin were born, 1500 years prior.
Arc Villain: Of Unfinished Business.
Back from the Dead: In the 1970s. She survived Merlin's attempt to kill her - though mainly because she was on her own ground, he was inexperienced, and she only survived as a dormant spirit for nearly 1500 years.
Badass Bookworm: Armed with nothing more than wand and Obfuscating Stupidity, she comfortably takes down Carol, Deadpool, Gambit, and Peter Parker, then swipes the Green Lantern Ring and effortlessly forces it to her will. She later breaks the Lantern, claims the position of Champion of Magic for herself, and effortlessly multitasks while fighting Strange.
- It's also worth noting that wands were not a thing before she died, so with severely weakened magical abilities, she learned an entirely new form of magic, something compared to someone who's right-handed learning how to use their left. All while adjusting to a 1500 year Time Skip, language changes, the loss of most of her magic, and creating a cover sufficient to pass muster to get into Project Pegasus.
Bad Boss: If You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, you'd best hope she just kills you. The alternatives are not pleasant.
Beauty Is Bad: After her rejuvenation, Carol notes that she could have just strolled off a Paris catwalk.
Big Bad Friend: In her guise as Doctor Lake, she's a friendly acquaintance of Gambit's.
Black Magic: Extremely proficient at it, and unfazed by using it.
Break the Haughty: She's still more than a little arrogant, but her death and her powers being chopped back seems to have had this effect, teaching her a fair bit about a) patience, b) not underestimating people.
Buffy Speak: For someone whose lived experience minimally puts her in her late 70s/early 80s, she's surprisingly prone to this.
Came Back Wrong: Her powers, while still dangerous, are a fraction of what they once were thanks to the botched nature of her resurrection (which came about thanks to SHIELD personnel working for Project Pegasus disturbing her). She fixes that and then some.
Can't Take Criticism: Zig-Zagged. She does not like being told that she's wrong, but mostly just seems determined to defy it. Wanda's running critique of her magical technique in battle inspires an epic tantrum, though that's partly thanks to Sanity Slippage and her inability to lay a glove on Wanda.
The Chessmaster: A trait she retained on resurrection, and she's become even more patient, waiting thirty years for her plots to come to fruition.
Comedic Sociopathy: While kind of terrifying, her often snarky and petulant internal monologue adds a funny edge to her point of view sections. Plus, this is the woman who, while at Pegasus, once spiked most of her colleagues' coffee with hallucinogenics simply because she was bored.
Consummate Liar: She fooled everyone in and around Pegasus, including the highest members of SHIELD and HYDRA, for thirty years. Even Alison Carter never suspected anything of her.
Dark Messiah: In her own mind, at least, as far as magic users of any kind are concerned. She's basically a female pre-reform Magneto, right down to ultimately planning a Mass Super-Empowering Event to pre-empt persecution, no matter the horrendous cost. She's also every bit as dangerous as that implies, especially when she goes full Knight Templar.
Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments, in a chilly faux amiable sort of way, and her internal monologue is quite snarky.
Determinator: She's spent thirty years working on getting her powers back, to the point where the collapse of Project Pegasus didn't make her give up, and she forced the Green Lantern Ring into submission through sheer force of will. She later surpasses that feat by replacing it with Pandora's Box, getting all that power without the restraining influence of the Lantern and controlling it, something that Strange outright states "not one person in a billion" could manage - though it does cause steady Sanity Slippage. Not only that, but after, when locked in a duel with him, she endures some of his most vicious magical and psychological warfare (he made her vomit up pieces of her soul), all so her plans continue.
Didn't See That Coming: Carol surviving her Transflormation, reversing it, and becoming a rival Champion of Magic and then creating dozens of 'splinter Rings' to share her power and obscure her location. She's both screaming with frustration and grudgingly impressed.
Distaff Counterpart:
- To Magneto. They have relatively similar backgrounds and motives, and, in their natural state, power-levels. The main difference between them is that he has reformed, and she has not.
- Also to Strange. They share the same cultural background, a chunk of the same history (they weren't exact contemporaries, but overlapped), enough that she's one of the few people who knows how to really get under his skin. They also share an affinity for similar brands of magic, similar motives, and very similar means of puppeting people behind the scenes, giving them enough knowledge to get things done while advancing to an endgame. Both acknowledge the similarities - though also the differences (she thinks he's a Hypocrite unwilling to change the status quo, he thinks that she's selfish, childish, and short-sighted).
The Dreaded: With good reason. For all that she's not a natural duellist, she fought a young Merlin on equal terms, took a Thor-sized thunderstorm to kill, and per Strange, of all Merlin's enemies she was the one who came closest to killing him. She was also the only one to, technically, survive. Oh, and at full strength, she's as strong as Strange is.
Drunk on the Dark Side: After gaining access to the full power of Pandora's Box. It's a relatively subtle example, given that she's a much clearer thinker than most, but her impulsiveness and frustration are noticeably amplified. This aspect gets dialled up more and more the more power she has to draw upon, and the more stress she's put under.
Eviler than Thou: Much, much eviler than thou, as Woodrue finds out to his horror.
Evil Genius: An extremely skilled sorceress, a brilliant herbologist and botanist, a capable duellist, and a pretty competent tactician, too (though Strange holds a very dim view of her long-term strategising).
Evil Is Hammy: When she starts getting frustrated and suffers Sanity Slippage, her screaming tantrums reach literally world-shaking levels. At points, she becomes arguably the hammiest villain, maybe even the hammiest character overall, in the story. Which is saying something.
Evil Is Petty: She drugs people with hallucinogens because she's bored, she transforms minions into horrible monsters because they annoy her, and she turns people into appropriate animals or trees for her own amusement. Yes, she is extremely petty.
Evil Old Folks: She's about eighty if you only count years above ground, and a millennium and a half if you don't. Either way, still evil, still fairly old (even if she doesn't look it).
Evil Sorceress: A textbook example, especially before her death and after she regains her full powers. As Strange warns the heroes, she went toe to toe with Merlin and came very close to killing him.
Expy: Of two Marvel characters played by Kathryn Hahn.
- As an initially harmless-seeming middle-aged scientist who's actually a cold-blooded monster, a lot of readers noted her resemblance to Liv Octavius.
- Since she's also a similarly harmless-seeming middle-aged witch, others compared her to Agatha Harkness. The latter was intentional, going by Deadpool's nod to the series.
Fantastic Racism: Doesn't think much of ordinary humans. Then again, she doesn't seem to think much of anyone - though it's later revealed that she's still deeply embittered by Uther Pendragon's great purge.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. She's got the answers, and she won't accept any alternatives, much less the possibility that she might be wrong.
Faux Affably Evil: She's smooth and pleasant on the outside, but it's a hollow, mocking act - albeit a good one. However, she does have sincere and sympathetic traits, sharing a few moments of camerarderie with Strange - they are rough contemporaries, after all - and a moment of shocked empathy with Merlin when she realises that he really does care. She's also capable of acknowledging an enemy's abilities, no matter how much they might frustrate her. For instance, she's genuinely, if grudgingly, impressed by Carol's willpower, tactical acumen, and ingenuity, inwardly observing that it's a pity she's not a witch.
Forced Transformation: She seems alarmingly fond of this, turning Carol into a tree, inflicting symbiotes on several of her minions that make them change shape in horrifying fashion, and turned Jason Woodrue into Man-Thing, along with all of his subordinates - and, implicitly, everyone using his drugs.
Godhood Seeker: Not originally, funnily enough, as she was just looking to restore her powers. Once it became an option, however, she embraced the idea. Frighteningly, she succeeds.
Green Thumb: She's implied to be pretty adept at it, thanks to being a High Priestess of Avalon. This is proven when as Champion of Magic she practically tears New Orleans apart with this sort of magic as a mere side-note to her main scheme, while fighting Strange.
Heel Realization: She has one in the final chapter when she goes toe to toe with Merlin and he desperately appeals to her, revealing that she's been fighting against magic itself, and shows that his compassion for her is genuine. It shocks her and snaps her out of her Glowing Eyes of Doom for a moment, and it looks like she might stop. Then she decides to double down.
Hidden Depths: While she appears to be simply a selfish, sociopathic witch, easily bored to the point of casual sadism, it's very clear that she's deeply affected and embittered by the Purge of magic-users by Uther Pendragon and the ultimate failure of the Golden Age of Albion, and her grander schemes are at least nominally to the end of protecting other magic-users... but only as long as they do what she wants.
High Priestess: Strange name-checks her as a High Priestess of Avalon and 'the Old Religion', particularly the Triple Goddess, noting the related connections to Faerie and Hecate.
Humanoid Abomination: Becomes this after taking the power of Pandora's Box, half the magic of the Earth, and it's especially on display in her chase of an empowered Carol when she transforms into an aerodynamically efficient nightmare serpentine-humanoid living ramjet. Carol just inwardly criticises her flying.
Hyper-Awareness: She recognises both Alison, and then Carol, as Super Soldiers just by watching how they move, noting that she knows exactly what it looks like when someone who's "more" is trying to hide.
Ice Queen: She's as cold as ice in a Faux Affably Evil sort of way.
I Was Quite a Looker: While by no means bad looking as a middle-aged woman, she used to be stunningly gorgeous - and reverted to this at the first opportunity.
The Juggernaut: After she claims Pandora's Box, she can bulldoze through almost anyone in her way. However, some people, such as Wanda and Merlin, can at least slow her down by being strong enough to contend and skilled enough to make up the gap - Strange, meanwhile, justly terrifies her. While he's definitely not at her level, he's more than skilled enough to make up the difference.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Unleashing Pegasus a second time was arguably this moment for her.
Knight Templar: When pushed to the edge of sanity and after realising that a lot of magical humans don't want any part of her mage supremacist schemes to defeat Thanos, she makes it quite clear that she's willing to destroy them - and the world - and rebuild it from the ground up if necessary.
Lack of Empathy: Death didn't make her start caring about anyone else. If anything, it actually made her worse. She has a moment or two of real empathy, with Merlin briefly breaking through, but it doesn't last.
Lady of Black Magic: She cultivates a dotty outward appearance as Vivian Lake, but after her rejuvenation, Carol's inner monologue notes that she looks like she could have stepped off a Paris catwalk.
Man Behind the Man:
- To 'The Green Man' a.k.a. Jason Woodrue, who's revealed to be nothing more than a wannabe who knows who she is, but still doesn't quite get what he is dealing with.
- To Project Pegasus, once they made the mistake of letting her in. Unlike Woodrue, though, they at least had the excuse of having no idea who she was.
Manipulative Bitch: As part of her Woman Behind The Man shtick. She successively plays Project Pegasus (and indirectly, both SHIELD and HYDRA), Woodrue, and Gambit, albeit with a little magical help in the latter case. She always gets her own way, eventually. She tries this on Strange, with a "Reason You Suck" Speech, and it actually hits home, hard - though unlike most, she has a pretty good idea of who he is and intimate understanding of their shared background. Unfortunately for her, it backfires.
Meaningful Name: Her cover name is a significant clue to her real identity.
Motive Decay: Played With. Before she died, she was looking for an at least somewhat sympathetic case of Revenge on Uther Pendragon. Given that Uther has now been dead for 1500 years, she's apparently just out to restore her powers, no matter the cost to anyone else... though it turns out that once godhood became an option, she was out to ensure that The Magic Comes Back and put magical people in such a position that they'll never fear persecution again. On the other hand, she's not too fussed about helping those struggling to adjust to their new powers, either, other than knocking out the ones who're out of control - and if they remain that way, that's their problem.
Never Be Hurt Again: The Purge is still playing heavily on her mind, with her refrain being "We/Our people would never have burned again!"' This informs both her personal goals and her grander ones.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She blasted Peter into a case of experimental spiders, a bite from which ends up turning him into Spider-Man. That said, she had absolutely no way of knowing that would happen.
Non-Action Big Bad: Subverted. She generally avoids fights when she can, mostly for practical reasons - it's not her strongest suit and for the first half of Unfinished Business, she's far from her best. However, if she needs to fight, she's both capable and willing, even going up against Strange himself - and that after she'd jumped up and down his very biggest Berserk and Trauma Buttons.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: She's arrogant, sure, but she saves the gloating until after she pulls off her scheme, and her every decision is carefully thought out. She also has the good sense to confront Holocron!Strange as a projection, rather than in person - he might be a mere echo, but she's heard and deduced enough about him that she doesn't want to take any chances.
Not Quite Dead: Thanks to inexperience, Merlin accidentally left her as a dormant spirit on the Isle of the Blessed.
"Not So Different" Remark: She notes the similarities between her and Strange, remarking that they are kin, and Strange admits that they share many of the same aims. However, both of them ultimately feel that they're Not So Similar for differing reasons. She thinks he's just a fusty old idiot who didn't learn his lessons and maintains the status quo, while he thinks that she's a sadistic sociopath who lacks the vision to understand what he's really been doing.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Even Gambit and Carol are fooled, aside from the latter vaguely noting that there's more to her than meets the eye. That said, in Gambit's case, Nimue noticed how smart he was and took precautions.
Oh, Crap!:
- Induces a big one when she casually forces the Green Lantern Ring to her will, and a yet bigger one when her identity is revealed.
- Has one of her own, briefly, when Strange reveals that she's Out-Gambitted. Unusually, though, she rolls with it, reckoning she can still come out on top.
- Has another one when she finds out what duelling Strange really means, and how horribly outclassed she is - though she mainly just grits her teeth and intends to power through it. Though, afterwards, she resolves to ascend beyond "the limitations of squishy meat brains" and thereafter avoid Strange. Given that he made her vomit up pieces of her soul, this is quite understandable.
Older and Wiser: She lost a significant chunk of her power on her resurrection, but she definitely learned from the experience.
Older Than They Look: Even before her rejuvenation, and ignoring the 1500 years she spent as a spirit, she should still look decades older than she does.
Person of Mass Destruction: Per Strange, before dying she had as much raw magical power as he does. With the Green Lantern Ring, a rematch with Merlin would split the United States from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Then she taps into Pandora's Box and the full power of Project Pegasus - which is, essentially, the power of the Ring without the in-built regulators, meaning it's the full magical power of the Earth.
Physical God:
- After tapping into Pandora's Box and becoming the Champion of Magic. It takes Strange going pedal to the metal just to keep her busy.
- When she ramps it up a notch, it takes the Grey Twins, Wanda, the Hulk, an exceptionally powerful Helicarrier, and most of the available superheroes just to take down a piece of her soul, while another two are overpowering Mab and Titania, examples in their own right, and Nimue herself is both pumping power into her worldwide spells unleashing raw magic on the world which in turn is keeping Strange and Merlin busy, and going toe to toe with a fully powered Green Lantern Carol.
Pragmatic Villainy: She takes every practical step possible to compensate for her limitations, she doesn't kill the heroes on the grounds that a) she learned the hard way how dangerous a Roaring Rampage of Revenge can be, and b) that unconscious, they'll still serve as an effective distraction, and immediately steps up her plans. When they follow her into Pegasus, Holocron!Strange reveals that if he wasn't concealing them, she'd just have scried them and killed them.
Pride: Her Fatal Flaw, as laid out before her by Merlin, because she simply cannot accept that she might be wrong, no matter if magic itself is standing against her.
Psychopathic Womanchild: She generally holds it together pretty well, being a smooth, patient, and very intelligent operator. However, she shows a distinct lack of empathy, a tendency to toy with people out of sheer boredom (this varies from something as harmless as casually spiking her colleagues' tea with psychedelics, and something as very not harmless as casually turning people into appropriate animals), and gets easily frustrated after her ascension. The last two chapters of Unfinished Business are basically her extended tantrum at people just refusing to do the decent thing and die.
Reality Warper: With Pandora's Box and the full power of Pegasus, she's one of the most powerful versions in the series, barring only the Cosmic Entities. As chapter 8 shows, even while fully occupied duelling Strange, if she decides the Moon is full, it is, even if it wasn't a few moments ago. Separately, while locked in that duel, her powers are terraforming the Moon. And Mars. As a mere footnote. And the truly terrifying thing is that as is made abundantly clear, she's theoretically capable of far more - she's just too busy and too limited by her training to really explore and understand the full extent of it.
Really 700 Years Old: Technically, she's 1500 and counting. Granted, she's been Not Quite Dead for most of that, so she's closer to 80.
Reality Warper: After tapping into Pandora's Box, as the Champion of Magic.
"Reason You Suck" Speech: She is one of the very, very few people to manage to get under Strange's skin with one of these, partly because thanks to a few clues she manages to make a very good guess at who he really is - and has the proper context to mash every single one of his most painful Trauma Buttons. Which she does, in an attempt to throw him off and/or come round to her point of view. Unfortunately for her, this just makes him mad.
Sanity Slippage: Thanks to unfiltered powers on a scale that no one should ever have via Pandora's Box, without any of the caveats and protections that Carol has, people refusing to do the decent thing and die, and Doctor Strange gleefully fulfilling his brief of "annoying the shit out of her."
Sealed Evil in a Can: What she was before Project Pegasus unwittingly disturbed her on the Isle of the Blessed. She Came Back Wrong and they sealed their own doom.
Seers: As in canon, she's a capable seer, and competent enough to foresee Thanos, at the very least. However, Strange is distinctly contemptuous about her abilities, regarding them as mediocre at best.
The Sociopath: A textbook example, ticking every single box - even the pathological need for stimulation, flippantly remarking that she spiked her colleagues' drinks with hallucinogenics because she was bored. However, she is capable of caring about others, if only in the abstract.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: Her most sadistic moments tend to be very soft and smoothly spoken, and dripping with cruelty.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: When fighting Merlin, she develops a variation on the signature gold flash of the Old Religion, with constantly gold pupils glowing against black sclerae.
Tantrum Throwing: Chapters 9 and 10 of Unfinished Business are basically her throwing a cosmic-scale tantrum.
Taught by Experience: Being the Merlin (2008) version, it's quite clear that she's learned from her experiences with a young Merlin and Arthur - namely, not to underestimate anyone ever again. She does get caught off guard a couple of times, but mainly by factors she had no way of foreseeing - to her intense frustration.
Transflormation: In a particularly chilling and mythic example, she casually transforms Carol into a tree.
Unskilled, but Strong: In general, no. Prior to her death, she was a High Priestess of Avalon, with absolute power over life and death and a range of extraordinary abilities. However, even backed by the power of Pandora's Box, she's not a very skilled duellist, when compared to Strange. Instead, she just uses the power to survive his onslaught. Likewise, Wanda runs rings around her, with a mocking running commentary, forcing Nimue to divert her, and Merlin stands up to everything she can throw at him while grounding it out and trying to talk her down. On the other hand, as is pointed out, not many people have faced down Merlin and survived in any form, and even fewer manage to go up against Strange when he's going all out and determined to make it hurt. Additionally, a couple of pieces of her soul were dispatched to overwhelm and control Mab and Titania... and when they were recalled, they were winning.
- That being said, it's still unclear how much of the above is due to any amount of duelling skill, and how much to sheer power.
Vain Sorceress: She's not above playing down her looks as a dotty middle-aged looking witch, but one of the first things she restores when she gets the chance is her astounding good looks.
Villain Decay: Averted then Played Straight. Her powers may have been chopped back, but she's become a good deal more cunning. When she becomes borderline omnipotent, the strain of the raw power combined with the stress she's put under from all sides causes her tactical acumen to go out the window.
Villainous Breakdown: Towards the end of Unfinished Business as things really unravel, she's reduced to a screaming, impotent ghost in Strange's holocron ball.
Villainous Valour: Say what you like about her, but she's no coward, as her interactions with Strange prove.
Villain Respect: She'll give credit where it's due.
- Towards Carol, remarking a couple of times on how quick and strong-willed she is.
- She also reserves a healthy dose of respect for Merlin—given that he hit her with a Thor-level thunderstorm as a young man, this is very much justified. As her internal monologue puts it...
Once incinerated, twice shy.
- It's somewhat downplayed, but she shows a certain amount of respect towards Peter Parker for his quick mind
Weak, but Skilled: Reduced to this, initially (and only relatively), by her botched resurrection. If anything, it's actually made her more dangerous. Then she gets her powers back, and then some, via Pandora's Box.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's actually trying to ensure that The Magic Comes Back on a grand scale, both to protect Earth from Thanos, and magical people from Muggles. Strange outright admits that they share many of the same aims, and pleads with her to work with him to do it right. Unfortunately, she refuses - and her methods leave much to be desired. She's also not too compassionate towards people that she's suddenly empowered, either, knocking the ones who have difficulty controlling their powers out and if their powers are still misfiring, quite blatantly considering it not to be her problem.
Would Hurt a Child: Strange makes it clear that the only reason she didn't straight up kill the kids is that she's been Taught by Experience about the dangers of vengeful enemies and knows it's better just to leave them unconscious and vulnerable. Once they get into Pegasus, her risk calculus changes, and if it wasn't for Strange obscuring them from her scrying, she'd just kill them. She turns Carol into a tree, which should have killed her, and the others into animals - which if it hadn't been reversed, would have effectively killed them anyway via Death of Personality, then spends a lot of the final fight trying very hard to kill Carol.
World-Wrecking Wave: Unleashes a complicated variation from Pegasus that essentially floods the world with raw magic. While it creates and heals at the same time, the sheer scale of destruction beggars belief.
Xanatos Speed Chess: She has absolutely no warning of the heroes coming to her - indeed, she thought that Deadpool was working for her via Woodrue - and she certainly didn't know that one of them would be carrying the Green Lantern Ring. She adjusts terrifyingly well, and if not for Strange sending Monica in as a Spanner in the Works, she'd neatly have removed all opposition.
You Are Too Late: Takes a page out of Ozymandias' book and lampshades it to Carol.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Woodrue after he whines, then tries to posture at her. This earns him transformation into the mindless Man-Thing.

Apocalypse

The First One a.k.a. Apocalypse

Another offscreen antagonist, and one of the most dangerous mutants to ever live, who was born before recorded history began - and in this universe, Doctor Strange's first student gone rogue.

Adaptational Badass: Good lord, yes. He was easily a global threat, a legitimate Physical God, and one who took an insane number of heavyweights to finally bring down.
A God Am I: At the very least, he seems to have felt he was equal to one, despite Strange's repeated emphasis of the exact opposite.
Ambition Is Evil: Pride and Ambition were ultimately his downfall. He wasn't willing to evade credit and work from the shadows, like Strange, and wanted to rule.
Ancient Evil: He's been around for approximately eight thousand years - or at least, was. He's been Not Quite Dead for most of that. While Strange mentions that "the First One" is possibly involved in Sinister being able to evade his sight, that's the extent of his involvement.
And I Must Scream: Strange killed his body and trapped his soul in it, which is presumably where it's been for the last eight thousand years. While he's apparently figured out how to escape by possessing someone, per Word of God, Strange anticipated it and intended it, turning his soul into a yo-yo - he gets out, gets a taste of freedom, then he's yanked back, making the punishment all the worse.
Blood Knight: Infamously so, to the point where it was part of his fall from grace.
Bullying a Dragon: Turning on Strange was not his brightest idea - for while he was stronger, Strange was much, much smarter. And that's not even the beginning of the enemies he made.
The Chosen One: Subverted. He thought he was this, and it's implied that Strange initially thought this too. As it was, he fell to darkness.
Dark Messiah: He genuinely believed that he was the one to save the world from Thanos.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He killed both the Winter and Summer Queens of Faerie, beings minimally as powerful as Thor and Loki, and it's implied they weren't the only ones.
Evilutionary Biologist: He was obsessed with forcing out mutation and magic in the general population by tormenting them, and experimented on pretty much everything and everyone.
Evil Overlord: Good intentions or not, it's made clear that he was utterly evil by the end.
Evil Versus Oblivion: His whole insane creed is set on preparing Earth, under his rule, to defeat Thanos.
Face–Heel Turn: One sparked by his father's taunting and his own ego.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. His Face–Heel Turn was reportedly sealed by his father taunting him about supposedly being Strange's follower rather than a ruler and conqueror, which aggravated his desire to rule and lead rather than guide and manipulate from the shadows as Strange did.
Fate Worse than Death: Strange's revenge. His body was killed while he was vulnerable, and his soul was trapped in his decaying corpse - unable to live and unable to die. He's been in that state for the last eight thousand years.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From mutant child with magical potential and a big heart, heir to a small tribe in Stone Age Egypt, to the savage God Emperor of most of humanity and one of the greatest monsters in history, one who took Strange and a team of heavyweights (Nabu a.k.a. Doctor Fate, Black Adam, a fully powered Moon Knight, the Iron Fist, a Ghost Rider, and a Black Panther) backed by armies including humans, gods, and Eternals to finally bring down.
Genius Bruiser: A massively physical powerful mutant, and a master Science Wizard trained by Strange himself, capable of fighting his old master and winning and smart enough to be both an Evilutionary Biologist and considered by Strange himself to be potentially capable of being behind Sinister's invisibility to Strange's foresight.
God-Emperor: Installed himself as this after his Face–Heel Turn, taking over Rama-Tut/Kang's former empire.
Grand Theft Me: Like his movie counterpart, he learned how to do this, including how to assimilate powers and anything else useful after altering the body to suit. Why? His raw power was literally burning through his body.
The Ghost: He's never been seen onscreen.
He Who Fights Monsters: Originally, he was set against Rama-Tut/Kang and, ultimately, Thanos (who he still ultimately opposed in his batshit insane sort of way), as well as any number of monsters. Then, he became every bit as bad as Kang.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His own super-weapon was turned against him, and the leaders of his enemies included a significant number of people he had personally pissed off. Including his old master.
Inadequate Inheritor: Gets hit with this twice. The first is by his adopted father, who bitterly claims he is now just Strange's puppet rather than a true conquerer and practitioner of Social Darwinism (and then is rather pleased when Apocalypse kills him), which triggers his Face–Heel Turn. The second is as Strange buries him with a devastating "Reason You Suck" Speech, detailing just how unworthy he is of succeeding Strange in his mission to protect the world from Thanos.
The Juggernaut: He tore through pantheons and Faerie, and took armies of mortals and gods led by a team of prehistoric Avengers including two Sorcerers Supreme (Strange and Nabu/Fate), a Ghost Rider, an Iron Fist, the Fist of Khonshu, a Black Panther, and someone heavily implied to be Black Adam, to finally roll back his conquests and defeat him.
Like a Son to Me: He was effectively Strange's adopted son, which heavily influenced Strange's later behaviour and vicious revenge for his betrayal.
Magic Knight: He was a monstrously physically powerful warrior, like his canon counterpart, and a powerful enough mage to actually beat his old master in their first confrontation (though this was a relatively young Strange, caught by surprise, who managed a fighting retreat).
Make an Example of Them: When he performed his Face–Heel Turn, Strange declared his intention to do this in his parting curse, mixing it with a threat that he would be Unpersonned. He followed through.
"Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair."
Man Behind the Man: Possibly to Sinister. Strange suspected that either 'the First One' (Apocalypse) or 'The Conquerer' (Kang) was behind Sinister's invisibility to his foresight, and in a flashback Sinister mentions a trip to Egypt where he encountered... something.
Meaningful Name: His chosen name of Apocalypse means 'Divine Revelation' in the original context. Which he considered he both was, and was driven by.
Monster Progenitor: He experimented on the living, the dead, and 'those both living and dead', stated by Word of God to be Grey Court vampires, who he used to create the Black Court as a way of both scourging the populace and creating weapons.
My Greatest Failure: Strange seems to regard him as this - his first apprentice and, implicitly, someone he genuinely loved as an adopted child.
Necromancer: Among many other things, and a very powerful one, creating the Black Court and learning how to body-jack people and retain (and increase) his powers.
No Name Given: Strange is the only person who knows what his original name was, and so far, he's not telling. He's only referred to as 'The First One' (a.k.a. Strange's first apprentice), and later by his chosen name of 'Apocalypse', meaning 'divine judgement/revelation'.
Not Quite Dead: After what Strange did to him, he's spent the last eight thousand years as a spirit trapped inside a rotting corpse. Needless to say, Strange can really hold a grudge.
Physical God: Even as a young man, he was powerful enough to take on Strange and win, even though Strange himself was able to make a fighting retreat and pronounce a curse upon his former student before escaping. He later took several levels, to the point where he was capable of killing the Queens of both Summer and Winter (each minimally as powerful as Thor or Loki). He eventually became so powerful that he was burning through bodies, and had to learn how to body-jack new hosts.
Pride: He just had to be the centre of attention... and he thought he could outmanoeuvre his old master. Nope.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Strange actually taught him before Apocalypse turned to the dark side.
Really 700 Years Old: Eight thousand, actually, several thousand years older than canon. When he was born, the Sahara was green and modern Egypt mostly resembled savannah like the Maasai Mara in modern Kenya.
"Reason You Suck" Speech: From both his father figures. One was from his social-darwinist father who disdained him for becoming 'weak', which turned him into Apocalypse. The other was from Strange, after his defeat, which went into brutal detail about his failings as a student and a man.
Science Wizard: As a result of Strange's tutelage, he was a brilliant one.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Strange refused to kill him, either out of lingering affection or a desire to make him suffer. As a result, his soul has been sealed up in his own corpse for the last eight thousand years. It's assumed that his body is in Akkaba, though no one's exactly sure where (or all that eager to find it).
Skilled And Strong: Again, he fought Strange and won. Even if Strange was relatively young ('only' a few thousand years old) and managed a fighting retreat, that is more than literally anyone has managed up to this point. Even now, Strange considers him a genuine threat, considering that it is entirely possible that he was behind Sinister being hidden from Strange's sight.
Small Role, Big Impact: Even leaving aside potential involvement with Sinister, his impact on Strange is very clear, down to his heavy emphasis on character when it comes to who he gives power to, and his admitted willingness to Shoot the Dog with Wanda had it been necessary. More generally, his rule, following Rama-Tut's/Kang's is stated by Daniel Jackson to essentially rewrite history as everyone knows it.
Smug Snake: A very high-functioning example, one that Strange legitimately still considers to be a threat, but he ultimately turned out as this - he should have thought twice before turning on his old master.
Social Darwinism: He was brought up believing this before Strange met him, and ultimately, it stuck. See Well-Intentioned Extremist for why he thinks it's so important.
Sorcerous Overlord: Once he took over Rama-Tut/Kang's empire and brutally expanded it.
Training from Hell: It's implied that his early childhood, as in canon, was composed of this, with his adopted tribe being practitioners of Social Darwinism and Klingon Promotion and that he was pushed hardest by the chieftain, his father.
Unperson: Part of Strange's curse was that all his works would come to nothing, and he would be forgotten by history. Aside from Akkaba, his capital, which was buried in what became the desert and covered in warnings, he was thorough.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was reportedly a sweet and brave child, which is why Strange took a liking to him and picked him as his student. Unfortunately, he got a taste for blood and conquest and believed that he was The Chosen One.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He wanted paternal approval from both his father figures, but could only get it from one at a time.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His crackpot ideas about Social Darwinism and his desire for global conquest were at least in part sincerely motivated by his own take on how to prepare humanity for the coming of Thanos - which he knew of thanks to Strange.

Annihilus

Annihilus, the Beast of Annihilation

The greatest of the Negative Zone's creatures, and the leader of its vast invasion force. He is first seen in one of Harry's Norn-visions leading one such invasion, only to be thwarted and defeated by Sunniva Vésdottir, the host of the Phoenix at the time. Turns out to have later evolved into the Grandmaster when he finally appears in a major role.

Adaptational Dumbass: Possibly; in the comics, despite being extremely unstable, paranoid and aggressive, Annihilus was at least was intelligent enough to talk, speak, and think, as well as rule the Negative Zone. Here, he seems to be just another beast of the Negative Zone (albeit its most powerful and foremost) operating on pure animal instinct to devour everything he sees. Either that, or his intelligence is simply too alien to comprehend. It's later confirmed to be the latter - he's an early form of the Grandmaster, who is all of the above, as well as being significantly quirky, but certainly not stupid.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: Not only is one himself, but also leads an entire army of these. As expected from a version of Annihilus.
Eldritch Abomination: He is a creature of a parasitic dimension separate from our reality. Aside from having an overall bug-like appearance that isn't even distantly related to humanity, he is noted to be constantly shifting through colours that Harry's eyes refuse to comprehend. He evolves into a more subtle one as the Grandmaster.
Early-Bird Cameo: Despite being even more of an off-screen character than Thanos, his first appearance is, fittingly enough, in Harry's first past-vision shown to him by the Norns in Chapter 51 of Ghosts.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In The Phoenix and the Serpent, his duel with Sunniva occurs while Harry is elsewhere, dealing with other aspects of his invasion.
Physical God: Anyone who can go toe-to-toe with an Asgardian Phoenix host is this pretty much by default.
Reality Warper: Fighting on par with a host of the Phoenix Herself – who renders the laws of the universe irrelevant – gives you some serious clout in that category, not to mention that every one of your Faults into the universe tends to throw reality very out of whack. And then later on you evolve into a being that is basically an undisputed god of his realm capable of trapping a Herald of Galactus and forcing him to be your gladiator.
Red Baron: He's known as the 'Beast of Annihilation' in Midgard and as the 'Grandmaster' in Sakaar.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Downplayed; the Fault he made when he invades is sealed back up by the Phoenix when he's defeated by Sunniva. Unfortunately, it's kind of a Leaking Can of Evil, and he's the Grandmaster, who's only partly trapped.
Small Role, Big Impact: His appearance is brief, except it isn't, because he's also the Grandmaster, but his actions create - or create the opportunity - for the foundation of Sakaar, where people who fall through the cracks end up, including Hal Jordan, the Fantastic Four, Adam Brashear, the Silver Surfer, and the Lady Knight, among others.

Thanos

Another antagonist yet to directly appear, he casts a long shadow over the setting, being responsible for many travesties, including Loki's invasion of Earth and the destruction of Krypton.

Ancient Evil: Word of God says that Thanos is billions of years old.
Adaptation Species Change: Possibly. In the comics, Thanos is a Titanian Eternal born with the 'Deviant gene' (effectively a mutant Eternal). In the MCU, he's a member of an alien race called Titans. Here, Word of God says no one's entirely sure what Thanos was to begin with, let alone what he is now.
Age Lift: Thanos in the mainstream Marvel Universe has been alive for thousands of years, while the MCU version is about a thousand years old. This version has been around for billions of years.
Arch-Enemy: He's Doctor Strange's nemesis, and defeating him is the root of Strange's Purpose-Driven Immortality.
Card-Carrying Villain: Strange bluntly says that while Surtur genuinely believes he is helping people and making the universe a better place, Thanos has no such delusions.
The Corrupter: It's repeatedly stated that Loki's madness was his own, but that Thanos accelerated its progress and pointed him at Earth.
The Dreaded: For most of the universe, if Odin's speech is anything to go by. Mere mention of him is enough to silence the Council Elite of Skyfathers. Strange flat-out states that he doesn't believe anyone, including the prior Dark Phoenix manifestation a.k.a. Surtur, which ate a galaxy, is as dangerous as him.
Early-Bird Cameo: Chapter 27 of the first book gives him a few lines during Loki's flashback, and he appears in a vision Hermione has in chapter 64 of the sequel. Other than that, however, he is entirely off-screen... for now.
Evil Genius: According to Stephen Strange and Gorakhnath. In fact, according to the latter, he's every bit as smart as Strange - which is more than a little bit terrifying.
Greater-Scope Villain: Though he has yet to make an appearance, outside of a brief flashback and a vision, his actions cast a very long shadow over the story at large. He's responsible for the destruction of Krypton and contributing to Loki's madness, and Strange has dedicated his life to defeating him, bluntly stating that he is the worst and most terrible thing in the universe.
The Man Behind the Man: Was this for Loki and the Chitauri, as well as for the Dheronians, giving them the tech to destroy Krypton, is implied to have been this for Gravemoss at one point or another and Word of God has hinted that he had, and possibly still has, an association with Gorr the God Butcher.
Oh, Crap!: Elicits this reaction from everyone.
Omnicidal Maniac: As per usual, he wants to kill everything, sacrificing it to Death.
Psychic Powers: He has these on a comfortably interplanetary scale, if Loki's flashback is anything to go by.
Small Role, Big Impact: So far, he's almost been The Ghost, but he's been involved with Gravemoss and was behind both Loki's invasion of Earth and the destruction of Krypton. Furthermore, he is indirectly the cause of Taliesin becoming Doctor Strange, and thus basically everything in the story is (to one extent or another) indirectly due to him.
Villain Respect: Could see Loki's potential, even while injured, half-mad, and drifting through space, and thus had him restored to health. Of course, this was something of a mixed blessing...

The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster a.k.a. En Dwi Gast

The image of an angel is itself an angel.

The ruler of the bizarre realm of Sakaar. An Eldritch Abomination who looks like Jeff Goldblum, no one's entirely sure exactly what he is, where he comes from, or how - if anything - he relates to Annihilus. However, it has been hinted that they may well be one and the same...

Adaptational Badass: He's based on the MCU version, but his powers are much more in line with his comicbook counterpart, if not significantly greater - it takes a lengthy gauntlet of two Phoenixes, supercharged by temporarily creating a billions strong Phoenix-powered Hive Mind, Anakin Skywalker in full Chosen One mode, and Galactus to finally put him down.
Adaptational Villainy: According to Word of God, he zig-zags this with Adaptational Heroism thanks to a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality - on the one hand, he's more actively threatening, especially because he's also Annihilus, and willing to wipe out billions on a whim. On the other hand, it's not actually out of any kind of malice, with an attitude closer to a child playing with toys and collectables.
Adaptation Species Change: He's not an Elder of the Universe, but it isn't exactly clear what he is.
Affably Evil: While his morality is so skewed that it's hard to perfectly peg him as evil, he more or less fits the bill. Despite that, he's amiable, if deranged, genuinely friendly in his own warped way, and all he's doing is - in a bizarre way - about saving people from dying. However, when he gets angry, it goes out the window.
Aliens Steal Cable: He has a fascination with a different reality, and particularly with Earth, thanks to all the cracks in reality around its history, meaning it provides much of the stuff (and people) that have filtered through. He also has a bit of difficulty distinguishing between fiction and reality (as a Reality Warper, the two blend a bit for him). Harry shamelessly exploits this in his Mystery Knight disguise as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Berserk Button: Don't break his (entirely arbitrary) rules, or ruin his 'story'. And don't try and take his stuff.
Beware the Silly Ones: Like his MCU counterpart, he looks harmless and hedonistic. Unlike his MCU counterpart, not only is he the undisputed ruler of Sakaar, but Sakaar is the size of a dwarf galaxy and he's easily powerful enough to kidnap a Herald of Galactus and use him as a gladiator. Also, an earlier aspect of him was Annihilus, and it's easily one he can call upon again if he feels like it.
Bishōnen Line: He used to be an eldritch Animalistic Abomination, and now, he looks like Jeff Goldblum. No one is entirely sure why. He starts sliding down the scale again as everything goes wrong for him, briefly retakes Goldblum form when he possesses Francis Richards, then is reduced to whining goop.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Played for Drama - and for creepiness. He's wired up very differently even from your average Cosmic Entity. For instance, he sees absolutely nothing wrong with taking Johnny Storm's light-form and turning it into a fully sentient abstract art installation. Not playing along with his games? Worse, getting him dirty? Capital offence.
Body Horror: His later forms as he starts his Villainous Breakdown, thanks to being progressively worn down and losing coherence.
Bread and Circuses: Played With. He runs the Contest of Champions, but he's powerful enough that it's for his own amusement rather than controlling the population.
The Caligula: He's a godlike tyrant with the mentality of an easily bored child, rules a Crapsaccharine World of hedonistic brutality and eternal gnawing low-key despair, and he runs brutal gladiator games for fun.
Composite Character: Of the MCU version (who also composites with the Red King) and the Comics version, as well as Annihilus.
Connected All Along: It turns out that Dementors get their start as people he slowly absorbed, leaving behind empty, starving husks.
Cosmic Entity: He's powerful enough to have snatched up the Silver Surfer and subdued him as his Champion gladiator, and Sunniva (a Royal Asgardian Phoenix Host with centuries of experience) worries about the consequences of taking him on in his place of power, and when it gets to the final showdown, it takes a truly stunning array of force to finally put him down.
Dark Messiah: From his own point of view, he's saving everyone from stuff like Thanos and, you know, general entropy.
Demiurge Archetype: His creation of Sakaar is full of this, claiming mastery over all of it, and technically he controls most every atom in it... but not the thoughts, or the souls, of the people within. Those he has to devour more slowly.
The Dreaded: Quirky though he may be, in line with the MCU, even Hal Jordan quietly fears him. As is shown, there is damn good reason for this.
Eldritch Abomination: A more understated example; while he rules as the unchallenged God-King of Sakaar, he seems to just be a quirky Human Alien with significant power. However, there's a subtle sense of something profoundly wrong with him, and he rules an Eldritch Location that by all logic should not be possible. This is later confirmed - all of Sakaar is him, and all the matter and energy that falls through, people included, is slowly being devoured and absorbed. The people in particular are slowly hollowed out and stripped of identity; the bodies end up as Empty Shells (which are sometimes reanimated by the Grandmaster as puppets or turned into the Sakaaran 'Paper People' who showed up in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)), and the souls end up either as Body Snatchers or as Dementors, trying to reclaim some sense of identity. Oh, and he used to be Annihilus. His perspective underlines all of this, demonstrating an amused detachment towards/vague understanding of mortal concepts such as time and identity.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He simply doesn't get the concept of sharing, and altruism in general.
Fatal Flaw: There's a lot, but he's caught between Greed (his eyes are bigger than his stomach) and Pride - he just has to show off, and he can't really conceive of anything within his realm that can hurt him.
Faux Affably Evil: Revealed as this when things start going against him.
Hobbes Was Right: While it is extremely unlikely he thought this far, his whole concept of saving universes and the bits he likes from destruction by malevolent forces or simple entropy is based on a depraved hedonistic multiversal dictatorship with him as a literal God-Emperor. Fittingly, he's brought down by the manifestations of Rousseau Was Right writ large.
Humanoid Abomination: As Sunniva notes, he looks like a quirky male-presenting Human Alien, though he used to be Annihilus, and is in fact nothing of the sort. Under stress, he becomes considerably less humanoid.
Immortal Immaturity: Something complicated by Sakaar's very strange relationship with time - he is simultaneously unfathomably ancient and a small child, and when everything goes against him, he reacts pretty much entirely like a spoiled child.
Karmic Death: The soul-eater and corrupter of reality is himself devoured by Galactus, the universe's immune system.
Klingons Love Shakespeare: He's positively fascinated by the normal universe, which is unfortunately part of why he collects so many things - and people. This particularly applies to Earth, and apparently Aliens Steal Cable. He also has a bit of trouble distinguishing fiction from fact (unsurprising, for a Reality Warper) and will happily go along with interesting narrative... which Harry exploits in his Mystery Knight disguise as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Multiversal Conqueror: Aside from his plans to absorb the main reality, his POV sections allude to plans to extend into other 'Not-Hims', other realities, and do the same.
Mysterious Past: It's not totally clear what he is or how he ruled - even potentially created - Sakaar from the remains of most of a galaxy.
Physical God: He's a Reality Warper who controls a reality the size of a large chunk of a galaxy, made up of an impossible mixture of matter and anti-matter that exists outside of time, and is capable of wiping out billions on a whim. Indeed, he's strong enough that Sunniva - an example in her own right even without decades of experience as a Phoenix host - doesn't think she can take him on his own ground.
Planet Baron: Ruler and most probably creator of Sakaar - and 'Planet' sells it very short. 'Dwarf Galaxy Baron' would be closer.
Psychopathic Manchild: He's characterised as someone playing with action figures and dolls. Which gets especially chilling when it's some person's Empty Shell after he's slowly eaten their soul. As it all falls apart, he's left screaming, whining and pleading, complaining that no one's following his rules.
Rasputinian Death: The last part of Following Yonder Star features him being sliced in half lengthwise by a Phoenix-imbued lightsabre, atomised by an enraged Anakin in full Mortis mode, while his wider form as the dimension of Sakaar is being torn apart by what are functionally billions of Phoenix hosts guided by the targeting of Sunniva, his physical form vaporised by Harry wielding all of that supercharged Phoenix fire supercharged by billions of souls, his last spirit form caught and dismantled on the conceptual level by Sunniva. When he turns up again, possessing Francis Richards, Harry's understandable response - lampshading his own tendency to repeatedly come Back from the Dead in the process - is to exasperatedly wonder why he won't just die. After that, it finally takes a Phoenix fragment Harry implanted in Francis as a contingency measure earlier burning him up from within, Sunniva ripping him loose and striking him down, before she finally summons Galactus to devour him.
Reality Warper: With the emphasis on the 'warped' part. It also explains his tendency to blend fiction with reality.
Shapeshifter Swan Song: His forms become steadily less coherent and more Body Horror prone as he's worn down.
Soul Eating: He's doing this to everyone on Sakaar, slowly and steadily. Adam Brashear compares it to a spider wrapping up prey and injecting digestive juices to dissolve them from the inside out so they can be consumed more easily. He starts getting a bit more active about it towards the end of the arc.
Time Abyss: By one measure, he's staggeringly ancient. By another, he's childlike. Sakaar's a bizarre Timey-Wimey Ball.
Unwitting Pawn: To Kang the Conqueror, whose servant, Midnight, plays him like a piano without even saying a word, allowing Kang to claim the empty Sakaar as his new seat of power after the Grandmaster is destroyed.
Villainous Breakdown: Undergoes a severe one in the last chapter of Following Yonder Star, as everything he's built falls apart.
The Wonka: He seems no less bizarre than his MCU self, but he's got godlike powers and he's Sakaar's undisputed ruler despite the presence of some serious powers in his realm.
The Worf Effect: By Sunniva's account, the Heralds of Galactus are the equals of the Greater Gods, and specialize in passing between realms. As a consequence, the fact that he was able to capture the Silver Surfer and use him as a gladiator speak volumes about his power well before he's introduced.

Lobo

The Last Son of Czarnia. The greatest bounty-hunter in the universe. The Main Man. Toxic masculinity incarnate, Lobo is one of the most powerful beings on Sakaar, and he knows it. He's lewd, crude, and rude, and a brutal murderer - but oddly amusing for all that. Despite a quirky streak, however, he is incredibly dangerous.

Asshole Victim: He gets thoroughly beaten up and humiliated in both his appearances, and given his behaviour (and casual murder), he absolutely deserves it.
Berserk Button: In his own words, "no one disrespects the Main Man." It's the quickest way to make him drop the affable facade.
Beware the Silly Ones: He seems to be just a hammy and Laughably Evil space biker with a few quirks and a lecherous streak, who gets amusingly humiliated by Sunniva. Then he pops up again, casually murders Miek, one of the most experienced elite gladiators on Sakaar, identifies Harry for who and what he is through his disguise, came prepared to prevent Harry just tossing him around with telekinesis and nearly kills him with his first blow.
Combat Pragmatist: As shown when he fights Harry, when he's serious about killing someone he discards his usual "savage flair" and comes prepared to nullify their advantages and murder them as efficiently as possible.
Curb-Stomp Cushion: He shrugs off Sunniva's curbstomping of him remarkably easily and is mostly just angry at the effect it has on his reputation. Likewise, his skill, Healing Factor, and resilience means that he can bareknuckle with Harry while the latter is wielding Curtana as a lightsabre and be relatively evenly matched, requiring the intervention of Ben Grimm to stun him for long enough for Harry to decapitate him - and even that just inconveniences him.
Defiant to the End: When Harry has him at his mercy, Lobo tells him to just get it over with. Harry, considering him not worth killing and having comprehensively ruined his image as an invincible nightmare in front of all of Sakaar, instead opts to hammer-throw his detached head by his hair into orbit.
Faux Affably Evil: He can be amusing and superficially charming. However, any charm and friendliness goes out the window the moment he perceives that he's been 'disrespected'.
Healing Factor: He can heal from almost anything, to the point where decapitation just annoys him, and it's implied that only something like a Phoenix-imbued weapon - such as Curtana - could kill him for good. And even then, it would need to destroy his head.
Immortals Fear Death: There's very little that's even remotely capable of killing him, but when he runs up against something that could, he suddenly goes very, very quiet.
Large Ham: He tends to operate at maximum volume at all times, making sure to make a dramatic entrance wherever possible.
Laughably Evil: He's vile and vicious, and distinctly unpleasant, but he's so over-exaggerated that he's also quite funny. Until matters get serious.
Let's Get Dangerous!: On his second appearance, he absolutely means business, killing Miek just to make that clear. He then gives Harry a fairly brutal fight despite the latter's advantages, requiring Ben Grimm's intervention to distract him for long enough for Harry to get in a decisive blow.
Lightning Bruiser: He's immensely strong and he's very nearly as fast as a telekinetically boosted Harry, who in turn is capable of Flash Steps that make a young Superman blink - fast enough that even once Harry has his measure, he can only just stay out of his grasp, and if he slips up for even a second, Lobo can and does catch him.
Mysterious Past: No one has any idea how old he is, or how long he's been killing for.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If he's gone quiet, things are serious - he's either genuinely furious, or genuinely frightened.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: While he's undeniably very dangerous and described as such, entering the gladiator games for fun, he's also fairly Laughably Evil in his first appearance. When he pops up again, he retains elements of this, but he's suddenly got much more serious - and demonstrates it by casually and brutally murdering Miek just to make that point when Harry snarks at him.
Oh, Crap!:
- Inspires this in a group of gladiators including Beta Ray Bill, Kilowog, and Ben Grimm when he emerges.
- While he knows what Sunniva and by extension Harry is, he doesn't realise what that could mean for him until Harry seems on the verge of destroying his head with Curtana in lightsabre mode, which, due to its nature as a weapon imbued with Phoenix fire, could kill him. After that, he goes very quiet indeed.
Strong and Skilled: It's made clear that he's a very, very good fighter, and that Harry's sole advantage in the arena is his sabre, Curtana, currently acting as a lightsabre - and without it, Lobo would have him for lunch.
Tranquil Fury: He's relatively calm when he pops up for his second appearance, but only because he's so furious about the way Sunniva humiliated him in the first one.
Villainous Crush: He has the hots for Sunniva, and blatantly propositions her, considering it just as fun as the alternative. Sunniva is not amused, either by his interest, or his attitude.
The Worf Effect:
- He turns up, gets a description that hypes up his capabilities... and after he hits on her, Sunniva first transmutes his clothes into silk lingerie, and wallops him into orbit with his own bike, before turning it to scrap.
- He brutally murders Miek, a veteran elite gladiator in Sakaar's arena, with the laser-whip equivalent of an Offhand Backhand just to make a point.
- Harry, despite being functionally limited to enhanced physical abilities and telekinesis by his Obi-Wan Kenobi disguise, carves him up in the arena after a brutal fight, decapitates him, and hurls the head into orbit.
World's Strongest Man: He's a very strong contender for this on Sakaar after the Grandmaster himself, and the Silver Surfer (who is enslaved by the Grandmaster in any case), until Sunniva and Harry turn up. Hal Jordan is justifiably wary of him. He revels in this and abuses it to enter the gladiator games for fun, lording his power over people and enjoying how they fear him. Both Sunniva and Harry end up cutting him down to size.

Spoilers for The Phoenix and the Serpent

Midnight

An individual of unknown origin and background, and an elite agent of none other than Kang the Conqueror. It is implied that the Lady Knight has some idea of who they might be, but given how much time travel is involved in their origin and role, that is less than helpful as it may simply give her misleading assumptions - even their gender is unconfirmed. All we do know is that they are extremely powerful, and if they are revealing themself, it's for a reason...

The Ace: Disguised as Darth Revan, they're capable of simultaneously duelling Harry in Kenobi disguise and Anakin composited with Johnny, each a Master Swordsman (or near enough) with raw power easily rivalling a Herald of Galactus, with speed and reflexes that are nigh impossible even by those standards, and using a Psychic Link to flawlessly coordinate their moves at once. They make it look easy, and Julie makes it very clear that they're toying with them, something demonstrated when they run Harry through and vanish effortlessly, with even the Grandmaster uncertain of what's happened.
Ambiguous Gender Identity: They're wearing baggy clothing and armour, a mask, a hood, and they're exclusively referred to with 'they/them' pronouns.
Batman Gambit: Strongly implied to have manipulated the Grandmaster into putting them into the ring with Harry, and by 'killing' him, forcing him into a position where he would discover just how to screw over the Grandmaster to the fullest, leaving Sakaar bare and free for Kang to shape to his own design.
Black Knight: Mixes a Darth Revan themed disguise with shadow manipulation powers (at the very least).
Casting a Shadow: Can apparently teleport through shadows.
Combat Pragmatist: They won't hesitate to stab someone in the back, either literally or figuratively, the moment it becomes convenient.
Disney Villain Death: Actually exploits it, falling into the waters of the battlefield and taking it as an opportunity to vanish before reappearing at the worst possible moment.
The Dragon: To Kang, at least for the time being, though they also operate as The Heavy during Following Yonder Star. Whether they have an agenda of their own is unclear.
The Dreaded: When they turn up, even the perpetually cool and controlled Julie gets seriously worried. We quickly see why.
Dual Wielding: Wields two lightsabres with deadly skill, and is noted to be Just Toying with Them when facing Harry and Anakin.
Enigmatic Minion: They work for Kang, they're incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous, they have a warped sense of humour, and they severely worry Julie. Beyond that, we know absolutely nothing about them.
Evil Counterpart: In Following Yonder Star, they serve as this and a Foil to Harry - they both disguise themselves as Star Wars themed Mystery Knights to engage the Grandmaster's interest, they both enter with another goal in mind, at behest of someone else (Kang and Sunniva, respectively), they both wield vast Psychic Powers, they're both Master Swordsmen, and they both manipulate the Grandmaster's sense of drama to bring about his defeat.
Just Toying with Them: Julie explicitly notes that they're just playing with Harry and Anakin in their duel.
Laser Blade: Wields two lightsabres, one red, one purple. The red one is destroyed by Harry and Anakin, while the purple one is ostentatiously dropped after running Harry through, as if to underline the point that it's no longer needed..
Malevolent Masked Man: In their Revan disguise, which conveniently confuses anyone trying to detect their gender, let alone their face.
Master Swordsman: They can simultaneously fight off two other examples, Anakin and Harry, while they're engaged in a Psychic Link and fighting flawlessly, devoting one blade to each at the same time. The other two are described as making no mistakes, it's just that Midnight is that good.
Nonchalant Dodge: They effortlessly stay ahead of Harry and Anakin, with only the very edge of their robes sometimes getting clipped by two cosmically powerful master swordsmen.
Physical God: As implied by their showing against Anakin and Harry, with Anakin remarking that their powers are not dissimilar to Harry's but are notably greater, and Julie's statement that they could rip a Beetle in half. And then there's the small question of how the hell they survived Harry unleashing the Phoenix fire of billions in the scouring of Sakaar.
Pop-Cultured Badass: They're familiar enough with Star Wars to pick Darth Revan as an apposite disguise when they're entering as a Mystery Knight.
Psychic Powers: Strong enough to match a passively Phoenix boosted Harry and Anakin at full throttle, and even overwhelm them.
Silent Snarker: Mockingly salutes Anakin after running Harry through, and it's implied that their Revan disguise is a sign of their own warped sense of humour.
Teleporters and Transporters: Teleports through shadows, though that could just be an affectation.
The Quiet One: At a contrast to the very chatty protagonists, they say exactly two words, and otherwise don't speak at all. However, like the Beetles, they can make themselves understood when they feel like it, going by the Grandmaster, and it's not clear if - for the most part - they can't talk, or just won't. The evidence suggests the latter.

Kang (SPOILERS)

Kang the Conqueror

Here, I can build.

The Ghost for a very long time, alluded to as a powerful and mysterious background figure, he finally makes an appearance in The Phoenix and the Serpent. His aim? To conquer. His threat? Very few people have ever survived going up against Stephen Strange. Even fewer of them have ever got the better of him. He is one of them.

Needless to say, much of what he does is a spoiler.

The Ageless: Thanks to his powers as a Time Master, reigning in prehistoric Egypt and carving out a multi-continental Empire over the course of a century without ageing a day.
Arch-Enemy: His is Doctor Strange, the Lord of Time. Strange, meanwhile, is focused on Thanos and Mordred was this back when he was Taliesin... but Word of God has strongly implied that these days, Kang is second only to Thanos.
Batman Gambit: Runs one on the Grandmaster and the heroes by proxy in Following Yonder Star, playing them off against each other and scouring Sakaar to be reshaped into something he can use.
Combat Pragmatist: In the comics, and most adaptations, Kang believes in something approximating a fair fight. This version emphatically does not (though that could be because people who try and get in a fair fight with Doctor Strange end up regretting it very quickly).
Conqueror from the Future: The Trope Codifier, as in canon, and historically somewhat more successful - for one thing, it takes the machinations of someone empowered by the Time Stone itself to outmatch him.
The Dreaded: He's barely spoken of, but mostly because no one really wants to name him. Heck, even Strange simply alludes to him as 'The Conqueror'. When you see what he's capable of and the sort of beings that serve him, you can kind of understand why.
Evil Counterpart: To Doctor Strange, with his temporal manipulations showing some signs of just how scary a truly malevolent Strange could be.
The Ghost: He's first mentioned in passing in Forever Red, when a half-crazed Strange speculates that he's the Man Behind the Man for Sinister and the reason why Strange's senses can't pick him up, then alluded to towards the end of Ghosts of the Past in relation to Apocalypse's history.
Greater-Scope Villain: For Forever Red, by implication, with Sinister's actions made possible either by him or Apocalypse using his technology, and for Following Yonder Star. More generally, he was a key factor in turning Apocalypse into what he was and causing the war that followed. Per Word of God, he's being set up as the Big Bad of the next book - Time War.
Hijacked by Ganon: Pulls this on the Grandmaster without anyone even realising it, neatly playing both sides against each other to gain a scoured Sakaar as a new base.
I Have Many Names: The Conqueror, the Eternal Emperor, and, of course, Kang.
Man Behind the Man: Might have been this to Sinister. Strange recognises his hand in events and pinpoints two candidates for Sinister's patron - either 'the First One' (Apocalypse, who nicked Kang's stuff) or 'the Conqueror' (Kang himself). He's also definitely this to Midnight, who acts as The Heavy.
Older Than They Look: He's past a century, at least.
Small Role, Big Impact: That we know of. He's only made one onscreen appearance, but it was his technology that gave Apocalypse his big break and directly or indirectly concealed Sinister from Strange's senses, making him responsible for all the ripple-effects Sinister has had. In turn, his empire in the distant past was a large part of why Strange picked the young Apocalypse to train and raise as his first apprentice, and the temptations of that empire and bloodshed were why Apocalypse turned on Strange. That, in turn, indirectly led to the creation of the Black Court of Vampires and the Helm of Nabu. Oh, and by all appearances, he orchestrated a lot of the events related to Sakaar.
The Spook: As was originally the case, it's not clear who he originally was.
Time Master: When you can go up against Doctor Strange and survive in temporal combat, let alone actually get the better of him a couple of times, you know you qualify. On a more mundane level, Daniel Jackson translates several accounts of his powers, including the ability to age and de-age people at will.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Indirectly was a major part in Apocalypse's fall from grace.

Characters / Child of the Storm: Non-Aligned Villains

Doctor Victor Von Doom

Chthon

Malekith the Accursed

Nicodemus Archleone

Doctor Nathaniel Essex a.k.a. Doctor Nathan Milbury a.k.a. Sinister

Lord Gellert Grindelwald

Doctor Robert Reynolds a.k.a. the Parasite a.k.a. the Void

Spirit of the Fortress

The Dark Phoenix

Doctor Vivian Lake a.k.a. Nimue

The First One a.k.a. Apocalypse

Annihilus, the Beast of Annihilation

Thanos

The Grandmaster a.k.a. En Dwi Gast

Lobo

Midnight

Kang the Conqueror

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Child of the Storm: Non-Aligned Villains

Edit Locked

Doctor Victor Von Doom

Chthon

Malekith the Accursed

Nicodemus Archleone

Doctor Nathaniel Essex a.k.a. Doctor Nathan Milbury a.k.a. Sinister

Lord Gellert Grindelwald

Doctor Robert Reynolds a.k.a. the Parasite a.k.a. the Void

Spirit of the Fortress

The Dark Phoenix

Doctor Vivian Lake a.k.a. Nimue

The First One a.k.a. Apocalypse

Annihilus, the Beast of Annihilation

Thanos

The Grandmaster a.k.a. En Dwi Gast

Lobo

Midnight

Kang the Conqueror

Previous

Index

Next