Blood Brothers (comics)

The Blood Brothers are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The Blood Brothers first appeared in Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973) and were created by Jim Starlin.

Following their debut, the Blood Brothers returned in a Starlin/Friedrich story in Marvel Feature #12 (Nov. 1973), again fighting the superhero Iron Man, here teamed with Fantastic Four member The Thing. The Blood Brothers continued as Iron Man antagonists in Iron Man #89-91 (Aug.-Oct. 1976), then disappeared from publication for several years before resurfacing to battle the titular superhero team in The Avengers #252-253 (Jan.-Feb. 1990). Following appearances in Quasar #12 (July 1990), and X-Men vol. 2, #107 (Dec. 2000), they temporarily switched alliances to aid Earth's superheroes against a common threat in the three-issue miniseries Maximum Security (Dec. 2000 - Jan. 2001; first two issues released same month). They were next seen as interplanetary prison-escapees on Earth in the four-issue miniseries Drax the Destroyer #1-4 (Nov. 2005 - Feb. 2006), where one Blood Brother died.

They are unrelated to the high-tech motorcycle gang the "Blood Brothers", seen in X-51 #10-12 (May–July 2000).

Fictional character biography

The Blood Brothers are large twin ape-like aliens originally in the service of the Titan Thanos, acting as the guardians of his first base on Earth.^[1] Pursued by Drax the Destroyer, the duo battle the superheroes Iron Man and the Thing in a bid to stop them from interfering in Thanos' plans. When they fail to do so, Thanos teleports the Blood Brothers to an unrevealed location.^[2]

They reappear years later in the service of the villain the Controller, and battle Iron Man once more. Iron Man defeats them both with the aid of the hero Daredevil.^[3] Sometime later, the United States military discovers Thanos' old Earth base in Arizona, and after activating some of the machinery accidentally teleport in the Blood Brothers. The two battle the Avengers and are eventually depowered by Thanos' brother, Eros.^[4]

The Blood Brothers are imprisoned, but are later released by the hero Quasar and left on the planet Mars.^[5] They later attempt to stop Rogue of the X-Men from rescuing a mutant extraterrestrial of the Skrull race.^[6] The brothers later fight alongside Earth's metahumans against an invasion by Ego the Living Planet, but are later imprisoned with alien criminals Paibok the Power Skrull and Lunatik.^[7] The pair eventually escape and crash-land on Earth. They help enslave a small Alaskan town in an attempt to craft a space-worthy ship. This fails, due to the intervention of Drax the Destroyer, where one brother is apparently killed.^[8] The second brother, however survives, and is later seen escaping the Raft, a floating prison for supervillains.^[9]

The surviving Blood Brother later joins the Hood and his criminal empire,^[10] and helps fight the alien shape-shifting race the Skrulls during the Skrull invasion of Earth.^[11] He joins with the Hood's gang in an attack on the New Avengers, who were expecting the Dark Avengers instead.^[12] When Jonas Harrow, one of the many members of Hood's syndicate, develops a power drainer, the surviving Brother is part of the splinter group that forms and rebels against Norman Osborn's power structure. Most of this confrontation takes place in New York City's Times Square.^[13] This ends when Harrow is killed by the Hood.

Once again under command of Norman Osborn, the Blood Brother is part of the many villainous forces sent in as part of Siege of Asgard, a plan which ends with the sibling's severe wounding.^[14]

In the crossover series The Black Vortex, the Blood Brother is shown to be wasting away without his brother's life force to sustain him. Mister Knife exposes him to the titular artefact, which transforms him into a new, more powerful form (which Knife christens Brother Blood), and inducts him into his Slaughter Lords, other beings who have been exposed to the Vortex's energies.^[15]

During the Avengers: Standoff! storyline, the Blood Brothers were inmates of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D. They attempt to kill S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Avril Kincaid at the Day Care Center, only to be defeated by Sam Wilson, the current Captain America, and the Winter Soldier.^[16]

Powers and abilities

Each Blood Brother's tremendous strength and durability is dependent on his proximity to his twin. When standing together, the two have a high degree of superhuman strength, but if separated weaken to below even normal human levels. The Brothers also drain the blood of victims in the manner of a vampire, although it is unclear as to whether they totally rely on blood for sustenance.

In other media

Television

• The Blood Brothers appear in the Avengers Assemble episode "Hulked Out Heroes", voiced by David Kaye and Liam O'Brien. They ambush Hulk at the top of Stark Tower until Captain America, Falcon, Hawkeye, and Iron Man arrive. When the Blood Brothers have Hulk pinned down, they attach a device to Hulk's back that siphons Hulk's gamma energy which caused some of the Avengers to be infected with an unstable gamma energy virus. The Blood Brothers contact Red Skull to tell them that their mission was a success. Red Skull cuts off the call from the Blood Brothers when they start to ask about their payment.

References

External links

• Blood Brothers at Marvel.com
• Blood Brothers at the Marvel Database
• Blood Brother(s) at the Comic Book DB