Nightmare | |
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Cover art for Incredible Hercules #118. Art by John Romita, Jr. |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Strange Tales #110 (July, 1963) |
Created by | Stan Lee and Steve Ditko |
In-story information | |
Species | Demon |
Nightmare is a fictional character, a supernatural being who has appeared in many Marvel Comics stories, most commonly as one of Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider's major enemies.
Contents |
Publication history
The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in Strange Tales #110 (July 1963), the very same issue where the Master of the Mystic Arts first appeared.
Fictional character biography
He is the evil ruler of a 'dream dimension', where tormented humans are brought during their sleep. He roams this realm on his black unicorn, Dreamstalker. He appears as a chalk-white man with wild green hair, a green bodysuit, and a ragged cape.
Nightmare is a demon from the dimension Everinnye, like his "cousin", the Dweller-in-Darkness. Nightmare is dependent on the human race's need to dream. Without this ability, Nightmare would cease to exist, but humanity would go insane. At one point Strange and Nightmare had to join forces to prevent that from happening.[1] Nightmare has run afoul of Spider-Man, Captain America, Ghost Rider, Dazzler, Wolverine, and the Hulk on different occasions. Nightmare also served under Shuma-Gorath and warned Strange that the demon would be a force that even the Sorcerer Supreme would have trouble defeating, and he once joined the Fear Lords, a group of supernatural creatures who fed on fear, to attack Dr. Strange together. Their plans were undone when D'spayre tricks him into competing with the Dweller-in-Darkness over who could frighten humanity more.[2]
Nightmare is the father of the Dreamqueen, a similar being who rules her own "dream dimension". She was conceived when Nightmare raped a succubus named Zhilla Char.[3]
Nightmare's realm is not part of The Mindscape, but the Sleepwalkers are aware of him and consider him an enemy. Because Sleepwalkers do not have to sleep, Nightmare has never been able to affect or dominate them. He sought to do this through the hero Sleepwalker, who had been connected into the brain of the human Rick Sheridan. Nightmare sent Sleepwalker back to his own realm, with a monitor to assure the hero Rick was not being tormented. Rick was being tormented, with the intent of driving Sleepwalker mad and thus giving Nightmare access to the minds of Sleepwalker's people. The hero was not fooled and sacrificed his return home in order to stop Nightmare.
Later, Nightmare was able to access human minds through the concept of the 'American dream'. Many people who were deeply patriotic or had achieved a degree of success through hard work were going on violent rampages. Nightmare was soon stopped by the combined forces of Captain America, Sharon Carter, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the Tempest Fugit storyline of The Incredible Hulk it is revealed that Nightmare has been plaguing the Hulk for years with hallucinations, misdirections, and manipulations of reality, by empowering himself from the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[4] His second, more benevolent, daughter Daydream is also introduced in this storyarc. Nightmare here claimed that this daughter was conceived by forcibly entering the mind of the Hulk's late wife, Betty Ross Banner, and is temporarily killed by the Hulk in retaliation.
Nightmare appeared in in the Secret Invasion arc of The Incredible Hercules. Hercules and the God Squad, making their way to the Skrull gods' realm, require a map of the Dreamtime, and barter with Nightmare for it. Nightmare agrees, in exchange for access to the fears of the five gods; however, he actually intends to use these divine fears to conquer the world. Hercules and the others escape his realm, having stolen the map via trickery. He later attempts to revenge himself on Hercules by manipulating the supervillain Arcade into trapping Hercules and Deadpool in a labyrinth they constructed. The ploy fails, and Nightmare withdraws.[5]
He later plots to conquer the entirety of fiction, adding it to his realm of nightmares, but was defeated by the Fantastic Four.[6]
In the Avengers: The Initiative Special, it was revealed that Nightmare is Trauma's father, which explains Trauma's fear powers.[7] He later manifests on Earth and proves to be a problem for the Avengers Resistance and the Initiative.[8]
Other versions
Ultimate Nightmare
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Nightmare appeared as a demon who entered Doctor Strange's mind and plagued it with nightmares. When Spider-Man entered the building, Nightmare moved to Spider-Man's mind and plagued him with nightmares. Doctor Strange eventually entered Spider-Man's mind via a spell and vanquished the demon Nightmare. Nightmare can shape shift into different forms based on the victim's memories. His main appearance was as a half-rotted, grey corpse.[9]
During the events of Ultimatum, Nightmare escaped Dr. Strange's Sanctonum after the Ultimatum wave broke the building's seal. Nightmare then possessed Dr. Strange's body before confronting Spider-Man and the Hulk. Nightmare attacked them both, plaguing the Hulk with nightmares of hundreds of dead bodies, and Peter with the various villains he fought in the past as well as a decayed Uncle Ben. However, upon solidifying into a young looking purple being, the Hulk attacked him in response to the nightmares, causing Nightmare to jump into Dr. Strange's Orb of Acmantata. The Hulk attacked the orb resulting in a large explosion.[10]
References
External links
- Nightmare at Marvel.com
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