Elizabeth Frankenstein (wife and adoptive sister of Victor; monster victim)

frankenstein-elizabeth-mof1-face frankenstein-elizabeth-mof3-main ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN

Real Name: Elizabeth Frankenstein (nee Lavenza)

Identity/Class: Human;
possible citizen of Italy (at least formerly) and/or Switzerland;
18^th century

Occupation: Unrevealed, if any

Group Membership: The von Frankenstein Family (not a team, but a grouping);

Affiliations: Henry Clerval, Justine Moritz

Known Relatives: Mr. and Mrs. Lavenza (parents, presumably deceased; see comments);
    Victor Frankenstein (husband and adoptive brother, presumably deceased);
    Ernst von Frankenstein, William von Frankenstein (adoptive brothers and brother-in-laws, deceased);
    Alphonse Frankenstein (adoptive father and father-in-law, deceased), Caroline Frankenstein (nee Beaufort, adoptive mother and mother-in-law, although deceased prior to Elizabeth's marriage to Victor);
    Konrad Dippel (aka Baron von Frankenstein; paternal grandfather-in-law, deceased); Anna Catharina Muller (paternal grandmother-in-law, deceased);
       two paternal uncle by marriage (all presumably deceased), five paternal aunts by marriage (all presumably deceased) - see Konrad Dippel's profile for possible identifications of these relatives;
    Anna Eleonora Munchmeyer (paternal great-grandmother-in-law, deceased), Johann Philip Dippel (paternal great-grandfather-in-law, deceased);
    see the profiles for Alphonse Frankenstein for other subsequent relations by marriage that aren't really relevant for Elizabeth

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly the Frankenstein home in Geneva, Switzerland;
presumably born in Italy (see comments)

First Appearance: Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818);
(Marvel) (The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (January, 1973) frankenstein_alphonse-victor&elizabeth

Powers/Abilities: Elizabeth had no superhuman powers.

She did not demonstrate any special abilities during her limited appearances, but she was a devoted and loving fiancee and (briefly) wife.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'8")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 135 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (shown only as dark; likely brown)
Hair: Blonde

History:
(Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#37 (fb) - BTS) - In 1760, during a journey to Naples, Alphonse's wife, Caroline, gave birth to Victor, the first of their three children.

(Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus) - Alphonse and Caroline had two other sons together, Ernest and William. They also adopted Elizabeth Lavenza, and they took in Justine Mortiz as a ward.

(Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus) - His marriage and subsequent family led Alphonse to leave his job as a public official for the Swiss government to focus on being a good husband and father.

Alphonse educated his children, including teaching them Latin and English. His unforced teaching methods helped them appreciate the goals they were trying to reach.

(Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus) - After the Elizabeth contracted Scarlet Fever, Caroline contracted the disease and died from it. frankenstein-elizabeth-mof1-hugvic

    Caroline died when Victor was seventeen, right before he left for the university.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb) - BTS) - Victor became engaged to Elizabeth.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb)) - As Victor prepared to depart for the University of Geneva (see comments), he told Elizabeth that he would miss her. At his query, Elizabeth promised to write every day, and she told him to take care and wished him Godspeed. Victor subsequently departed in a horse drawn coach, his spirit soaring with the hope that sparked men to greatness.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb) - BTS) - At the end of his third year, Victor dropped out of school and focused on his goal of creating life.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb) - BTS) - From sewn together corpses, Victor created a creature, which he brought to life. Horrified by what he perceived as a monster, Victor swiftly decided that the creature must be destroyed, but he ultimately fled into the rainy night and collapsed in exhaustion.

    Seeking Victor, the monster slew young William Frankenstein and framed his caretaker, a ward of the family named June Mortiz.

    Elizabeth sent a letter to Alphonse's friend Henry Clerval, informing him of the fates of William and June, which Clerval shared with Victor when he revived many weeks later.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb) - BTS) - Victor accompanied Clerval back to Geneva to be with his family, although all along he wondered about the monster, correctly suspecting that it had murdered William and framed Justine.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb)) - Both Elizabeth and Alphonse could not have believed Justine to be guilty, and Victor embraced Elizabeth, noting his agreement. However, Alphonse noted how Justine had been found clutching William's pendant, a few feet from where William had been murdered.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (fb) - BTS) - With Victor unwilling to incriminate himself by revealing the monster's existence, June was hanged.

    The following morning, Victor packed and departed into the mountains, where he was captured by the monster.

(The Monster of) Frankenstein#2 (fb) - BTS) - The monster forced Victor to create a bride for him out of various corpses, but the horrified Victor slew this creation seconds after her awakening and fled.

Soon after discovering his slain would-be-bride, the monster slew Henry Clerval, for which Victor was framed.

((The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (fb) - BTS) - Months after Victor had been convicted, imprisoned and dwelled in a maddened state, Alphonse discovered evidence to free him.

The night before Victor's release, the monster shattered the wall of his prison cell and confronted him, warning him that he would punish him for slaying his bride in the same fashion. Before departing, the monster warned that he would be with him on his his wedding night. frankenstein-elizabeth-mof3-chalet

((The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (fb)) - After returning home with his father, Victor's melancholy lifted upon being reunited with Elizabeth. Alphonse told Victor he had not seen him so happy in years, and and Victor replied that it was "the powers of the magic elixir called love." Before retiring for the evening, Alphonse told them that he prayed that they would have glad tidings for him on the morrow.

    Elizabeth told Victor that his father was right and that the time had come for them to be together, which was what Alphonse had always dreamed of and what she had anticipated as well. Perhaps seeing the shock and fear on Victor's face (relating to the monster's threat), Elizabeth told him that if he had changed his mind about her, he need only say so. Victor assured her that the thought of her what was had kept him existing for the past years, that he loved her more than life itself and that they would be married, no matter what.

    As Victor embraced Elizabeth and they set a wedding date, neither of them was aware that the monster stood outside the window and watched them. Victor hoped against hope that he could escape the monster's threat.

    A few days later, Elizabeth and Victor were married, and they departed by ship to a tiny village miles away, accessible only by sea.

That evening, Victor was overcome by a sense of grim foreboding. Having changed into her nightgown, Elizabeth asked what made him seem so preoccupied, and he told her that he was just concerned with the security, and that he was going to check the house while she prepared to retire.

However, while Victor searched for his creation, armed with pistol and candelabra, the monster, having swum the entire distance, emerged some distance upshore, approached the chalet and gazed through the window at Elizabeth. As she looked in the mirror to make sure she looked just right, the monster considered that she was innocent and that to kill her would make him no better than the beast others presumed him to be. frankenstein-elizabeth-mof3-suff

However, recalling the murder of his own bride-to-be, the monster was overcome with hatred and shattered the window into her room. As she screamed in terror, the monster lunged across the room and covered her mouth and nose in an effort to stop the screaming.

((The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (fb) - BTS) - While the creature's mind went blank, Elizabeth suffocated under his grasp.

((The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (fb)) - Minutes later, Elizabeth was already dead when the monster regained his wits. Disturbed by this murder, the monster fled moments before Victor's return.

   Having been relieved that he ruled out any threat, Victor was distraught to find her still form. Praying she had merely fallen asleep, he rushed to her side. His worst fears confirmed, he craded her head and rocked back and forth before crying out like a wounded animal.

    Watching from outside another window, the monster felt sympathy rather than triumph, and he fled into the night, overcome with revulsion for the act he had committed.

((The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (fb) - BTS) - After Elizabeth's burial, Victor stayed by her grave for nearly three days. Devastated by the news of Elizabeth's death, Alphonse fell ill.

     Victor learned of this upon returning to Geneva, and he stayed by his father's bedside until he died three days later.

     Shortly after Alphonse's funeral, Victor was placed in an asylum for an indefinite for several months, but he recovered with the goal of destroying the monster.

Comments: Created by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
adapted to Marvel by Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog.

In the original story, Victor left Geneva and studied at the University of Ingolstadt, which is in Bavaria, Germany. (Monster of) Frankenstein#1 had Victor studying at University of Geneva. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry on Frankenstein's notes Victor to have attended the University of Ingolstadt.

Elizabeth Frankenstein originally was covered within the von Frankensteins profile, first posted 01/06/2002. The von Frankensteins profile attempted to be all-encompassing, but it is limited in terms of breadth and depth. Hopefully profiling each of the Frankensteins individually will allow superior coverage...

The von Frankenstein family sold their castle to the state in 1662. In 1732, Konrad Dippel received the title to Castle Frankenstein, founding a new dynasty of von Frankensteins. Thus, the von Frankensteins from which Victor is descended are not directly related to: Arbogast von Frankenstein, Frank von Frankenstein, Georg von Frankenstein, Hans von Frankenstein, or any of this line's descendants. As a family member by both adoption and marriage, Elizabeth is not a blood relative to any the Frankensteins.

This regular test is mostly limited to that which has been included in Marvel stories. As I have not read the Frankenstein novel, I have supplemented the Marvel information from the original stories in italics, based on checking a few websites, such as study.com, the Mary Shelley Wiki and Wikipedia.

Per study.com

Elizabeth is beautiful and intelligent, although many descriptions are superficial.

Growing up in the family Frankstein, Elizabeth was repeatedly stated asa good fit as Victor's bride one day, especially by Caroline, the family's matriarch. Elizabeth takes on many motherly duties after the death of Caroline from disease. The transition shows her loving and caring personality.

Per the Mary Shelley Wiki

Fond of her from the start, Victor describes Elizabeth as "docile and good tempered, yet gay and playful as a summer insect," as well as "lively and animated," but with an uncommonly affectionate disposition and feelings that are strong and deep. She seems to him to be perhaps be "the most fragile creature in the world"

Per Wikipedia

Born in Italy, Elizabeth Lavenza was adopted by Victor's family.

In the first edition (1818), she is the daughter of Victor's aunt and her Italian husband. After her mother's death, Elizabeth's father—intending to remarry—writes to Victor's father and asks if he and his wife would like to adopt the child and spare her being raised by a stepmother (as Mary Shelley had unhappily been). In the original novel, then, Victor and Elizabeth are cousins.

In the revised third edition (1831), Victor's parents, during a stay on Lake Como, find Elizabeth being raised by a foster family after her German mother's death and the disappearance of her Italian father.

In the abridged version of Great Illustrated Classics intended for younger audiences, there is a fourth revision, where the Frankensteins and Lavenzas had been longtime friends. After the death of Elizabeth's parents in an avalanche, Victor's parents become Elizabeth's legal guardian and are pleased to include a girl in their family of all sons. Thus, in the revised edition she is unrelated to Victor, who still describes her as "my more than sister." Victor describes her as his perfect woman: young, beautiful, and completely devoted to him. Elizabeth continually writes letters to Victor, encouraging him and acting as a positive force against his guilt at creating the monster.

The Wikipedia page also discusses the various movie incarnations, which are interesting, but not particularly relevant to Elizabeth Frankenstein-616.
If you want to know more, Google her.

    If you have read the novel and can provide any corrections or supplemental information, please share.
    We don't know any more about Elizabeth Lavenza-616 other than that she was Victor's fiancee.
    It is important to note that if it was not included in the Marvel stories, it is not confirmed as having happened in Reality-616.

You can get more detail from reading the original novel

The cover of comics says "The Monster of Frankenstein," but the indicia says only "Frankenstein," so that is the actual title of the comic.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Elizabeth Frankenstein should be distinguished from:

"BRIDE of FRANKENSTEIN" - the creature assembled by Victor and the monster to be the monster's bride but slain immediately after awakening by Victor--Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus; (Marvel) (The Monster of) Frankenstein#2
other "Elizabeth" or "Frankenstein" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

images: (without ads)
(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1, pg. 7, panel 1 (face as Victor departs);
       pg. 14, panel 2 (hugging Victor);
    #3, pg. 8, panel 6 (with Victor and Alphonse);
        pg. 9, panel 5 (just married);
          panel 7 (arriving at chalet);
       pg. 10, panel 1 (full, nightgown);
       pg. 11, panel 1 (mostly full, looking in mirror);
          panel 5 (smothered by monster);
       pg. 12, panel 5 (Victor with corpse);
          panel 8 (grave)

Appearances:
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818) - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (writer)
(The Monster of) Frankenstein#1 (January, 1973) - Gary Friedrich (writer), Mike Ploog (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
(The Monster of) Frankenstein#3 (May, 1973) - Gary Friedrich (writer), Mike Ploog (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#37 (January, 1992) - Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy & Dan Thomas (writers), Geof Isherwood (artist), Mike Rockwitz (editor)

First posted: (Briefly covered within the von Frankenstein profile): 01/06/2002
(as full profile): 05/16/2025
Last updated: 05/16/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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