Werewolves and Vampires and Zombies. Oh My!

It’s October. Which means one of my favorite holidays is right around the corner, Halloween. I love Halloween. The costumes, the candy, and a little good old fashioned scariness all come together to make for a great season (because seriously it’s more than just one day). With spookiness and supernatural roots being part of the core of the season, what better time to highlight some of the greater supernatural characters in comics. I tried to steer clear of characters that dealt specifically with magic (John Constantine, Dr. Strange, Zatanna, etc.) and those who are the product of science experiments gone wrong (Swamp Thing, Morbius the Living Vampire), and instead focused on those that have more true supernatural origins and abilities. Let’s take a look at some of the characters that go bump in the night.

Spawn (Image)

Arguably the most popular character on the list, especially at his peak. When Al Simmons dies and is sent to Hell for his sins, he was granted powers from Malebolgia (essentially Satan) with the intent on him becoming his greatest weapon against Heaven. Simmons rebels against Malebolgia and becomes a very violent anti-hero instead.

Blade (Marvel)

Marvel’s half-human/half-vampire. After his pregnant mother was bitten by a vampire, he was gifted with the strength, speed, and stamina of a vampire (but also the hunger for human blood), without the weaknesses against daylight, garlic, and holy water. Blade decides to use his abilities to rid the world of vampires.

The Spectre (DC)

Chosen as the Spirit of Vengeance after his brutal death during a robbery, Jim Corrigan is one of the more powerful beings in all of DC Comics. He is for all intents and purposes omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent with the ability to change reality. One of the few characters uneffected by DC’s multiple continuity resets, retaining knowledge of all of the realities that existed before.

Werewolf By Night (Marvel)

As the name would suggest, Jack Russell, due to a family curse, transforms into a mindless werewolf during a full moon. However, he can also voluntarily transform outside of the full moon, and during these times he retains his human intellect. Much like Blade, Werewolf By Night uses his abilities to defend mankind by fighting against the forces of darkness.

Solomon Grundy (DC)

DC Comic’s resident zombie. When Cyrus Gold was murdered in a swamp, he was reborn as a monstrous, almost mindless undead creature. Taking on the name Solomon Grundy after the nursery rhyme, he returns to the life of crime he had lived before his death. Mostly an enemy to the Green Lantern, he has also been a major villain in the Batman comics as well.

Ghost Rider (Marvel)

Stunt-rider Johnny Blaze is fused with the demon Zarathos after a deal with hell dimension ruler Mephisto goes wrong. Blaze transforms into a skeleton wreathed in flame when in the presence of evil. Cursed to punish the wicked, he is one of the more violent and merciless anti-heroes Marvel Comics has to offer.

Deadman (DC)

When trapeze artist Boston Brand is murdered during a performance, his spirit is imparted the ability to possess the body of any sentient being by the Hindu god Rama Kushna in order to seek justice. After doing so, he continues on as a force for good among the dark. When in ghost form he is able to become invisible, intangible, and can fly.

Moon Knight (Marvel)

After being betrayed and left for dead in the Egyptian desert by his parter, mercenary Marc Spector is given the chance to survive from the Egyptian god Khonshu by becoming his avatar on Earth. He takes the opportunity, avenges his attempted murder, and begins fighting crime as the vigilante Moon Knight. With his sanity connected inseparably to the moon and its phases, the fuller the moon, the more violent and erratic he becomes.

100 Greatest Comic Characters of All-Time – Part 8

65. Colossus

The Russian mutant with skin of living steel. When Colossus was first introduced into the X-Men universe, he definitely had one of the more interesting powers. Piotr Rasputin has been in the middle of some of the biggest storylines throughout the X-Comics run. While he has spent of most of his time as a member of the X-Men, he has also been one of Magneto’s Acolytes. One of the more intriguing stories with Colossus was in the Age of Apocalypse mini-series, where, fearing for the life of his sister, he goes on a rampage and kills his friend Iceman and Shadowcat (his future wife in the proper timeline) in the process.

64. Ra’s al Ghul

One of Batman’s greatest foes. The leader of the ancient criminal organization The League of Assassins, Ra’s is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant, has a genius level intellect, is a master strategist, and with the help of his Lazarus Pit, is ,for all intents and purposes, immortal. They can heal him of any wound and slow his aging down to a crawl. The downside of the use of those Pits is that once he emerges, it throws him into fits of utter madness that last a little longer each time. He has had many storied run-ins with the Dark Knight, but he has great respect for Batman and the work he is trying to do. Ra’s al Ghul is also the grandfather of Bruce Wayne’s son Damian.

63. Spawn

Probably Todd McFarlane’s most popular creation and the character that blew the doors open for the creator-owned properties movement of the early 90’s After CIA operative Al Simmons dies and is sent to Hell for the deaths of innocents caused by his work, he cuts a deal with Hell lord Malebolgia to get his soul back. In doing so, he becomes Spawn. Intended to be a weapon against the forces of Heaven, Simmons refuses and commits to use his abilities to help others. His intentions may be pure (mostly), but his methods are brutal and gruesome. This dichotomy paired with the off-the-charts cool factor of his costume has made Spawn one of the most popular characters in all of comics.

62. Marv

Another brutal anti-hero with noble intent. After spending a night with a prostitute (unpaid), and waking to find her lying dead next to him in the morning with police already outside the door, he escapes and on goes on a hunt for the people responsible. His search leaves a trail of blood and bodies. His sense of justice for those that were kind to him in a cruel, unforgiving town like Basin City, and his willingness to take any amount of abuse and punishment to make sure that that justice is served has turned Marv into one of the most compelling and endearing characters to come of Frank Miller’s noir series, Sin City.

61. Iron Fist

The resident Kung Fu master of Marvel Comics. Aside from being a nearly unmatched martial artist, Danny Rand also possesses the ability to “focus his chi” into his fists making them hard as iron and impervious to pain or inward to heal himself. While he has never been quite as popular with the mainstream as some of Marvel’s other properties, Iron Fist has been an integral part of some of the company’s biggest stories, most notably the Marvel Civil War, where he served as Captain America’s second-in-command. Look for that popularity to spike in the near future with a Netflix series of his own right around the corner.