kodo-raizo-vampire-fullkodo-raizo-vampire-suf-face-red RAIZO KODO

Real Name: Raizo Kodo 

Identity/Class: Human vampire;
    active from the 16th century A.D. and the present, and presumably all time periods in between; notably World War II and 1957 A.D.);
    former citizen of Japan (see comments);

Occupation: Adventurer, teacher, protector of the innocent;
    former soldier

Group Membership: Forgiven (Ghost Blade/Sanjay, Inka, Night Eyes/Eliza, Quickshot, Visigoth), Vampires of Earth;
    formerly Clan Kodo, the vampire Krieger sect (and possibly the Klaw sect)

Affiliations: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Hulk (Bruce Banner), Jubilee (Jubilation Lee), Moksha vampire sect seer, Red Hulk (Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Sun Tzu (allegedly; see comments), Charles Xavier (later Professor X), X-Men (Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Domino/Neena Thurman, Psylocke/Elizabeth Braddock, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Warpath/James Proudstar), Zawadi; unidentified Kenyan vampire group who fed on animals;
    at least formerly Deadpool (Jack/"Wade Wilson");
    formerly/briefly allied with Dracula (Vlad Tepes Dracula) and his armies, Janus, etc. ;
    formerly Redblood (Corey Leach), Suzume, the vampiric Klaw and Krieger sects;
    possibly any he vampirized (if he did that at all);

kodo-raizo-vampire-face-eyeglowEnemies: New Orleans' Assassins Guild (notably Marcus Fifolet), Black Axe, Bruiser, Clan Kodo, Dracula, Geiomar (aka Bobby Quench), Jakkaru and his soldiers, Klaw vampire sect, Lord and "Lady"/Mrs. Kodo, Ryuhei Kodo, Krieger vampire sect, Lady Bullseye (at least alias Maki Matsumoto), a modern Legate of the Krieger sect, Lord Deathstrike (Kazuo Oyama), Mystikos vampire sect (notably Brad), Nul-possessed Hulk, Redblood, Russian (Svetlana) and the rest of her mercenary squad, Salomé (Semiramis), Scorpion (Mac Gargan), Siren vampire sect (notably Alyssa), Suzume, Thorn, Gustavo and Rigo Zapata;
    briefly Deadpool (he came to collect the bounty but instead allied with the X-Men when Domino agreed to go on a date with him);
    formerly the Red Hulk;
    apparently Doc Samson (Leonard Samson);
    possibly an unidentified dragon creature circa World War II;
    possibly previous victims (before he learned to control his vampiric hunger, although he may have ever fed on a person)

Known Relatives: Ryuhei Kodo (brother, deceased), Lord Kodo (father, deceased), Mrs./"Lady" Kodo (mother, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly mobile amongst numerous bases, including:
    formerly a base in New York City, New York;
    formerly an abandoned missile base on an island in the South China Sea;
    formerly a house somewhere in eastern Europe;
    formerly an unidentified Japanese base circa World War II;
    formerly Clan Kodo's village in an unidentified location in 16th century Japan

First Appearance: Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (June, 2011)

Powers/Abilities: As a vampire, Raizo had superhuman strength (likely lifting 1000-4000 lbs.) and speed, and he required regular blood meals to survive.

    Further, feeding on a human victim would turn that victim into a vampire, depending on the extent of the feeding and other circumstances. However, there is not evidence that Raizo fed on or transformed people. However, if he did, those he vampirized may or may not have been subservient to him.

    When fully fed, he could likely heal rapidly from non-fatal wounds. kodo-raizo-vampire-suf-lb

    He presumably has the standard vampire vulnerabilities, including sunlight, religious icons (such as the Judeo-Christian cross) and to the Montesi Formula, garlic, a wooden stake through the heart, and silver.

    In recent years, he wore a lightbender amulet/pendant that protected him from the sun's rays.

    He was able to enter Castle Dracula uninvited, although it is unrevealed whether the limitations preventing vampires from doing so applies to the homes of other vampires.

    There is not evidence that he could mesmerize others with a gaze (the fact that he considered the Klaw sect's mesmerism skills so rare and difficult to master would seem to indicate that he likely lacked this power).  

    It is similarly unrevealed whether he could transform into a bat or wolf or into mist.

kodo-raizo-vampire-dracheight    Raizo lives by his own code, a sense of honor and duty learned in his human life. 

    He is educated in the customs, cultures, and abilities of multiple vampire sects (including the Klaw and Krieger), at least.

    Raizo is an excellent combatant, able to easily overcome trained military warriors/guards unarmed, and he is especially skilled with the sword and with wooden stakes.

    He is also a highly-skilled tactician, patiently pouring over all known data before formulating the plan most likely to succeed.

Height: Unrevealed (he was a few inches shorter than the 6'5" Dracula, so likely close to 6')
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Red; (pre-vampire) brown
Hair: Black
Other distinguishing features: Pointed ears and enlarged maxillary canine teeth;
    he sometimes wore a red-painted strip on his forehead

   


kodo-raizo-vampire-face-humankodo-raizo-vampire-soldier.jpgHistory:
(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) <1565 A.D.> -When one of Lord Kodo's warlord friends perished along with the rest of his family except his daughter Suzume, Lord Kodo took in Suzume as his ward. It was unspoken but generally understood that she would someday become the bride of Lord Kodo's elder son, Raizo.

(Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (fb) - BTS) - Lord Kodo told Raizo that sometimes when skill failed, karma prevailed.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) <1585> - Raizo and his younger brother, Ryuhei, were sent by their father, Lord Kodo, to assassinate the enemy warlord Jakkaru who had defeated the armies of five other warlords before threatening Clan Kodo.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb)) - Disguised as peasants, Raizo and Ryuhei entered Jakkaru's base and took out a quartet of guards before confronting Jakkaru.

    As the warlord swiftly demonstrated his superior speed and strength, Raizo wildly threw his sword to distract Jakkaru and then grabbed his sword arm, allowing Ryuhei to stab him through the chest. 

    However, when Ryuhei attempted to find some personal token to show their father, Jakkaru swiftly spun and bit Ryuhei in the neck.

    Unwittingly grabbing a wood practice sword, Raizo found that it pained Jakkaru more than steel, after which he decapitated the warlord.kodo-raizo-vampire-vamped

    Raizo then stole a horse and helped the weakened Ryuhei back to their home, where many suspected magical forces to be involved, although their father refused to accept this.

    When Ryuhei regained his strength but became hostile, Raizo resolved to travel to Jakkaru's castle, which was a three-day ride away. 

    There he learned of how Jakkaru had become monstrous after seemingly developing an infection after meeting with a Dutchman. Raizo refused the sole survivor's request to kill him, choosing to leave him for the sport of the restless yurei (ghosts) that haunted that castle.

    As he neared his village, Raizo resolved that he might need to kill his family and the others, and he prepared a number of wooden stakes and then donned his armor. Confronted by his clearly affected parents, he staked them both and then set their home afire. 

    When Suzume rushed to Raizo and feigned terror, he pulled her into his embrace, unwittingly allowing her to bite his neck. 

    Raizo decapitated Suzume and then began slaughtering the rest of the infected villagers, although he could already feel Suzume's bite affecting him. 

    Finally, he confronted Ryuhei, whose superior strength and speed soon put him at the disadvantage. However, burning logs then fell atop Ryuhei, and Raizo decapitated him as he tried to climb out. kodo-raizo-vampire-transformed

    Raizo then sat down under a tree and prepared to stake himself to finish his task.

    Hesitating, however, he felt a fog envelop his mind, and he soon realized he made the transformation.

    Appreciating his newfound power, Raizo wondered if it was destiny that spared him his family's fate, and he considered that he had both a gift and an obligation to take the rest of eternity to live up to this destiny.

   

   

kodo-raizo-vampire-xiii11-appearances

kodo-raizo-vampire-suf-wwii(X-Men III#11 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo lived for centuries, enduring inner conflict, searching and wishing to understand his true nature.

 

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo had a history of conflict with Dracula lasting centuries.

(Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (fb) - BTS) <point in time unrevealed> - On the night before Raizo Kodo was to be sworn in as Legate of Krieger sect, Raizo Kodo told his origins to Dracula. The next day, however, Kodo refused the title and left Krieger.

(Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (fb) - BTS / X-Men III#26 (fb) - BTS) <Approximately two centuries ago> - Raizo Kodo joined the Klaw sect, mastering their skills. When confronted (about his intentions?), he fled. A Klaw envoy sought Dracula's permission to execute Kodo as a deserter; Dracula granted permission but doubted that Klaw would succeed.

(Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Dracula banished Raizo.

 

(Spider-Man: Unforgiven (fb) - BTS) - During World War II, Raizo was based out of Japan, focusing solely on his students and keeping them from succumbing to the nature, despite the war raging around them.

    Observing Captain America in action, Raizo appreciated that his power also came from his blood but that he was using his powers to help people and to fight oppression. Inspired, Raizo and at least some of his student joined Captain America in combat, possibly battling some sort of dragon creature.

 

(X-Men III#26 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo allegedly advised the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, "No battleplan ever survives contact with the enemy" (see comments).

   

kodo-raizo-vampire-xiii11-fullish(X-Men III#11 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Razo relocated to Kenya, Africa.

(X-Men III#11 (fb) - BTS) <1957 - see comments> - A group of vampires lived in seclusion in this region, apparently feeding off of animals. However, they apparently attracted attention when they captured and drained the blood from a bull elephant, which they left suspended from a series of posts.

    The local Maasai called it the work of night demons, and a French tourist took a picture, which found its way into National Geographic.

   As a young man, Charles Xavier was intrigued by these reports and traveled to investigate.

   A mercenary group, including the Russian (Svetlana) and Thorn, were either hired to investigate or independently thought to do so.

    Realizing that these mercenaries threatened to expose this group of vampires, Raizo began laying a false trail, buying time for this group to relocate and to avoid bloodshed. He eventually made a similar suspension system containing a slain gorilla, zebra and rhinoceros, leading them hundreds of miles in a different direction.kodo-raizo-vampire-hii51-penpool

(X-Men III#11 (fb) - BTS) - Xavier followed the Russian's group to this site, but he was discovered and overwhelmed by multiple attackers .

(X-Men III#11 (fb)) - To save Xavier, Raizo assaulted the mercenaries, striking Svetlana's trigger hand with a shuriken (throwing star) and swiftly dropping Thorn with a kick to the abdomen and a blow to the back of his head with his bo staff. Having moved too quickly to be spotted, as the two armed African men searched for him, Raizo dropped them with kicks to the back and the head. He advised Svetlana to retire from this encounter, but she drew her dagger and charged him, forcing him to block the knife before knocking her out with bo strikes to the chip and neck; he was annoyed that his bo had broken on the latter strike, as it had been a good walking staff.

    After Xavier expressed his appreciation and interest in learning further details, Raizo revealed that he knew his identity and what had drawn him there. Xavier then tried to read his mind, and Raizo, though possessing the means to resist this, allowed Xavier to appreciate his past and true nature. Raizo then explained what he had been trying to do, and he hinted that Xavier could erase the mercenaries' memories of this encounter and instill in them a desire to go home and see their families, which Xavier performed.

    Raizo was gone when Xavier turned back to see him.

(X-Men III#25 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo relocated frequently, moving to various temporary bases across the planet.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Raizo began gathering other vampires, training them not to feed on people.

(Hulk III#51 (fb)) - Seeking to show the source of eternal life and power that it was not their master and that they could stop drinking the blood of man, Raizo and the Forgiven traveled to the Penance Pool in the Pyrenees Mountains. Although it was a pool of baptism and thus on some level holy water, which could destroy them, they immersed themselves in it and emerged in the final stage of their journey, the bloodlust beaten: "We came to place of judgment, and were forgiven."

(X-Men III#11 - BTS) - In recent years, Xavier told the recently-vampirized Jubilee (Jubilation Lee) of his encounter with Raizo Kodo, who could control his vampiric urges, giving her hope for herself.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - After the Nul-possessed Hulk assaulted the Carpathian foothills in Transylvania and slaughtered any opposition Dracula's forces provided, Raizo led the Forgiven to enter Castle Dracula uninvited.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1) - As Dracula discussed the matter with sect leaders and advisors (including Janus and Legate), Raizo suddenly appeared, taking out a couple guards and mocking Dracula for his concern and his lax-as-ever security. The Forgiven made their presence known shortly thereafter. 

    As the Krieger Sect's Legate began to instruct the sect leaders to prepare for a conflict, Dracula told all of them to stand down, noting that if Raizo and the Forgiven had wanted a fight, they would already be bleeding. Raizo informed Dracula that they had come to fight at his side, but Dracula -- considering Raizo to be consistently disrespectful and disobedient -- ordered him and his allies to be placed in the dungeon to impress upon them that Dracula was ruler. Futilely trying to convince Dracula that there could neither be escape nor victory without pooling their strength, Raizo ultimately complied and allowed himself and the Forgiven to be imprisoned.

    While it was obvious they could escape at any point, Raizo had  Ghost Blade explain to the others that they were at the beginning of negotiations with complex power structures and that they must be patient.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#2 (fb) - BTS) - After Dracula's monster assault on Nul-Hulk failed, Janus convinced him to bring Raizo and the Forgiven in to discuss other options.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#2) - Raizo demanded every scrap of information on the Hulk, and Dracula ordered his agents to comply. After Raizo noted that each of the hammers affecting the Worthy had been meant for each wielder, Dracula questioned the use of the information and asked how they might stall the Hulk while the Legate gathered his forces. Raizo noted that his self-trained team could buy the needed the time, Dracula approved sending them in.
kodo-raizo-vampire-upper
    As the Forgiven met with limited success against Nul-Hulk, Legate questioned the value of Kodo's involvement and assessment, and Kodo broke Legate's finger to illustrate Legate's effect on his own concentration. Legate complained to Dracula, who suggested Legate allow Raizo to concentrate. Raizo ultimately concluded that no force they could muster nor any military maneuver could defeat the Hulk, after which he departed.

(Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#3) - Piloting a helicopter to Pasnic, Kodo rendezvoused with Inka, telling her she had an hour to master the Klaw sect trick she had been working on (which she had thought would take her a year to master). As they departed, he told Quickshot (and Visigoth) to stall the Hulk and get him every second they could.

    After Dracula's forces had led the Nul-Hulk into the walled city of St. Sebastian, Dracula ended up at the Hulk's mercy until Kodo arrived with Inka, who had mastered the Klaw technique of mesmerism allowing her to take the appearance of Betty Banner. As Betty, Inka was able to reach Bruce Banner, allowing him to throw off Nul's influence and revert to human form.

    Dracula attempted to capitalize on this and slay Banner, but Banner reverted back into the Hulk. After Kodo explained the necessity of the deception, the Hulk departed. Dracula then confronted Kodo, telling him that their temporary alliance had reached its end, but that for his aid he would not throw him in prison: Nonetheless, the banishment of Kodo and his associates remained in effect. Dracula further noted that if they ever entered his domain again, it would be decapitations for all of them.

    After Dracula departed, Raizo and the Forgiven agreed to sneak back into Dracula's castle that night and steal the hammer of Nul that Dracula's forces had claimed.

(X-Men III#23 (fb) - BTS / X-Men III#24 (fb) - BTS) - Having heard of Jubilee's vampirization by Xarus, Raizo and the Unforgiven monitored her, seeking to teach her their way. Raizo researched her, learning of her history and who she was as a person.

(X-Men III#23) - After Jubilee -- having been on a mission to prevent Puternicstan's Governor Strelonivich from sending Sentinels from assaulting Symkaria -- rode a crashing Sentinel to the ground, Raizo, alongside at least Nighteyes, Quickshot and Visigoth, greeted her, telling her that they had been watching her and wanted to help her: "We want to show you a whole new world."

(X-Men III#24 (fb) - BTS) - Jubilee accepted Raizo's offer to learn to control her vampiric impulses, and she accompanied him back to his eastern European bunker. Jubilee was confined to a cell while she was trained, although she refused to drink the offered pig blood.

(X-Men III#24) - Raizo brought Jubilee sheep's blood, which she also refused. He advised her that vampires could survive on any warm mammal blood (see comments). She attacked him, but weakened as she was, he easily defeated her. After Inka had failed to get through to Jubilee, Raizo tried again, explaining that she craved human blood due to an instinct to recapture her lost humanity. After putting off her desperate attempt to seduce him, Raizo discussed how she had been exemplary person and that Xarus had changed what she was but not who she was.

    Having failed to get through to Jubilee, Raizo sent the youngest Forgiven, Quickshot, to try to get through to her.kodo-raizo-vampire-xiii25-squat

(X-Men III#24 - BTS) - Jubilee ambushed Quickshot and escaped.

(X-Men III#24) - Learning of this, Raizo advised the rest of the Forgiven that she would come back, much to their disbelief.

(X-Men III#24 - BTS) - Traveling to a nearby village, Jubilee prepared to vampirize a villager, but seeing her own lack of image in a mirror caused her to stop and return to the Forgiven's base.

(X-Men III#24) - Jubilee collapsed after telling Raizo what had happened, asking her to help him, and he carried her back upstairs.

(X-Men III#24 - BTS) - Meanwhile, searching for Jubilee, the X-Men (Colossus, Domino, Psylocke, Storm and Warpath) located, attacked and destroyed three vampire nest in their search for Jubilee.

(X-Men III#25 (fb) - BTS) - Accepting Raizo's teachings, Jubilee learned from him about her new nature and how to control her vampiric urges.

(X-Men III#25 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Forgiven and Jubilee relocated to another base in an abandoned missile base on an island in the South China Sea.

(X-Men III#25 (fb) - BTS / X-Men III#27 (fb) - BTS) - The Mystikos vampire Brad (who had previously allied with and then betrayed Janus after Xarus had temporarily destroyed Dracula) allied with Alyssa of the Siren vampire sect, putting a bounty on Raizo, leading numerous mercenaries, etc. to seek him out.

(X-Men III#25 - BTS) <approximately three weeks after Jubilee had departed with the Forgiven> - After the X-Men had destroyed multiple other vampire covens, Madison Jeffries provided them with the trail from Jubilee's last known location, and he sent them to find her at her current location in the South China Sea (technically within the boundaries of the People's Republic).

(X-Men III#25 (fb) - BTS) - The Forgiven detected the X-Men's approach, and Jubilee agreed to stay out of site while Raizo and the Forgiven attempted to defuse the situation.

(X-Men III#25) - After the X-Men (Domino, Psylocke, Storm and Warpath) entered their base, Raizo and the Forgiven confronted them. Raizo told them they needed to talk as everything was not as it seemed. However, whether biased by their recent vampire experiences or just desperate to recover Jubilee, Storm ordered the X-Men to attack. Raizo deflected a Warpath-hurled stake with his sword, after which Psylocke engaged him -- despite his query, "Must we really?" -- and the rest of the X-Men similarly engaged the Forgiven. As they fought, Psylocke praised Raizo's disciplined mind and excellent swordplay, and he appreciated that she would break through his mental defenses, given the chance. Fighting to distract her to prevent this, Raizo told her it was a pleasure speaking with her, as it was always nice to battle someone with good manners.

    Eventually, Jubilee stopped the conflict, explaining the situation to her skeptical X-Men teammates, and Raizo asked Storm to believe that he and the Forgiven had Jubilee's welfare in mind and that they had been showing her that a different path was possible for vampires.

    Further discussion was interrupted when Colossus arrived, carrying the defeated Zapata Brothers and relating that they had told him that they come to collect a bounty on Raizo Kodo. Under duress, Gustavo Zapata explained that there was an open contract with a huge bounty, and that many costumed killers were going to come running.

    After Raizo stated that this was why they kept their base of operations mobile, Nighteyes noted the approach of numerous murder-for-money types: Black Axe, Bruiser, Deadpool, Lady Bullseye, Marcus Fifolet and the New Orleans Assassins Guild, Scorpion,

(X-Men III#26) - Knowing that as they were in the center of an island that there were multiple points from which they could be attacked, Raizo advised sending Colossus, Domino, Warpath, Ghost Blade, Inka, Quickshot and Visigoth out to confront each of the various attackers in their various locations while he, Jubilee, Nighteyes, Psylocke and Storm remained at the command center to defend against any who made it to them.

(X-Men III#26) - While Domino recruited Domino to oppose the other mercenaries/assassins, Raizo and Storm argued over leadership until Jubilee convinced Storm to cooperate with Raizo. As the forces battled, Raizo considered that while Klaw sect had been after him for two centuries, this assault was "too clumsy" for them, and he correctly suspected that this was some sort of ruse.

    Soon after, Nighteyes noted that someone had gotten inside their base, and Lord Deathstrike dropped Psylocke with some sort of psionic white noise generator that subsequently unleashed a blast that incapacitated Nighteyes. He then hurled a bola around Storm's neck, taking her down.

(X-Men III#26 / X-Men III#27 (fb) - BTS) - Lord Deathstrike then staked Raizo from behind, knicking his heart. kodo-raizo-vampire-hii51-stabrh

(X-Men III#26) - The agonized Raizo futilely questioned the taciturn Lord Deathstrike, but before he could finish off Raizo, Jubilee confronted him with a sword.

(X-Men III#27) - Crippled by his injury, Raizo watched as Jubilee battled Lord Deathstrike, ultimately leaping to intercept his sword through her abdomen, paining but not incapacitating her, and she stunned him with a headbutt and a series of punches. When her vampiric urges overcame her and she prepared to drink his blood, Raizo and Storm convinced her to stop: "You may not be human, but you can still save your humanity."

    After the revived Lord Deathstrike teleported away, Jubilee pulled the stake out of Raizo, and she ultimately decided to stay with the Forgiven to continue learning to control her vampirism.

(X-Men III#27 - BTS) - Brad of the Mystikos met with Alyssa of the Sirens, stating that the botched assassination attempt would be blamed on and damage the credibility of the Klaw sect, and that their two sects would ultimately benefit and that vampires would rule the world..

(Hulk II#51 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo and the Forgiven gained Mystikos-created Lightbender pendants/amulets, allowing them to resist the sun's rays.

(Hulk II#51 (fb) - BTS) - Plagued by various ghosts, the Red Hulk was instructed to bathe in the waters of the Penance Pool within the Pyrenees mountains in Catalonia.

(Hulk II#51 (fb) - BTS) - Apparently the spirit of Doc Samson (Leonard Samson) enlisted a Moksha seer to summon Raizo Kodo and the Forgiven to send them to the Penance Pool to confront the Red Hulk. Samson's spirit apparently sent the ghosts to plague the Red Hulk as well.

(Hulk II#51) - Raizo and the Forgiven visited the hidden fortress of the Moksha vampire sect in Europe's Basque region. A Moksha seer advised Raizo them that the Red Hulk was heading to Penance Pool and would end its power so that no other vampires would be able to follow their path the way they had.

    They traveled to the Pyranese Mountains and followed the Red Hulk's trail, encountering the guardian Ross had slain. They subsequently engaged the Red Hulk, and when the Hulk leapt at Quickshot, Raizo stabbed him in the back. As the Hulk fell the ground, Raizo instructed his team to attack him collectively; they may or may not have been aware that the ghosts were simultaneously attacking Ross.

    Raizo advised the others to keep wearing him down and to bite him if they needed to do but to spit out the blood they extracted. Nonetheless, the Red Hulk threw them off of him and then leapt into the Penance Pool, which purged him of the ghostly hauntings but did not harm the pool.

    Appreciating that he had been misled by some dark force that was hunting Ross, Raizo offered a favor in return for their transgression: "Should you need to battle it (the dark force) or another worthy foe, call upon the Forgiven." As they departed, Ross replied, "Yeah, thanks. I'll just get right on the vampire phone and do that."

(X-Men: Unforgiven#1 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo regularly checked in with Captain America.

(Captain America: Unforgiven#1 - BTS) - Captain America asked Raizo if he had ever used his powers to "fix" any of the Forgiven, and Raizo replied that control implied that he was better than them. He instead said that he was a guide, and that he couldn't reach out a hand if he was too far above someone. He never controlled any of the Forgiven but rather had been going through the process with them, fighting in this war side by side.

(Spider-Man: Unforgiven#1 (fb) - BTS) - Raizo and the rest of the Forgiven took in the vampire Corey Leach, unaware that she was secretly a pawn of Geiomar (aka Bobby Quench)

(Spider-Man: Unforgiven#1) - The Forgiven trained Corey in combatting the various vampire sects. Based on her performance, Raizo gave Corey her "night name," Redblood in honor of Captain America, and welcomed her into the Forgiven. He nonetheless advised her that she a cursed vampire and that she must fighter harder than other heroes because for her the light was so much farther away.

kodo-raizo-vampire-suf-burn    After Salome' invaded the base of Zawadi and overwhelmed her would-be defender Spider-Man, the Forgiven arrived and engaged Salome'. Ensorceled by Salome', Spider-Man assaulted the Forgiven. As Spider-Man began choking Raizo, Raizo used his psychic powers to make Spider-Man see various friends and relatives, including Mary Jane and his aunt May Parker. Having gained his attention, Raizo helped Spider-Man see that he was being controlled and that he wouldn't kill like that, allowing him to throw off Salome's influence. Zawadi ultimately defeated Salome', causing her to flee, after which Zawadi had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital, and Raizo sent the rest of the Forgiven except Redblood along with her.

    After Spider-Man departed following some bonding, Raizo gave Redblood a lesson, telling her that despite their nature, it was they who controlled when we they called theirselves Forgiven. Apologizing, Redblood then tore Raizo's lightbender amulet from his chest, causing him to burst into flames under the sun's rays. He recognized as she spoke worlds in Stygian, the words of Chthon, specifically the Hex of the Uncreator. His flesh was soon consumed in flames, and he was cast into the forever dark, with no road back.

    The rest of the Forgiven later returned to find Raizo's remains, and they realized Redblood was to blame.

(Spider-Man: Unforgiven#1 (fb) - BTS) - Corey subsequently returned to to the Quench Institute, where Bobby Quench agreed to see her.

(X-Men: Unforgiven#1 - BTS) - The Forgiven considered that Raizo had used his psychic powers to influence Spider-Man, and they wondered whether he had been controlling them all along. This made them doubt that they could control their impulses without him, and Nighteyes bit into the brain and drank the blood of the Curator (Roy Powell).

    After having not heard from Raizo, Captain America investigated their base, where he found and saved the repentant Redblood from Quench's agent Janice Leach.

(Captain America: Unforgiven#1 - BTS) - Captain America sought out Nighteyes, who had retreated into seclusion and become more feral, and he shared how Raizo had assured him that he had never controlled any of the Forgiven.

    After Redblood had departed to confront Quench, Captain America, presumably having shared the same information with the rest of the Forgiven, told them that if Raizo had thought Corey should be saved, that was good enough for him. He continued that he owed Raizo that, and that he thought the rest of the Forgiven did, too.

    Captain America and the Forgiven rescued Redblood and apparently destroyed Quench, whom Zawadi had revealed to be Geiomar, Chthon's would-be successor; however, Quench's destruction came at the apparent sacrifice of Inka. The Forgiven subsequently convinced Quench's former students/followers to seek to follow their footsteps, and Zawadi took over as the Forgiven's mentor.

   

Comments: Created by Victor Gischler, Ryan Stegman, and Mike Babinski.

Per Loki:
     As I understand it, Japan became a single nation centuries before the turn of the first millennium A.D. (exactly when I'm not sure), but in 1467 a prolonged civil war broke out which splintered the country. I don't think Japan was ever officially broken up, but different parts of the country were ruled by rival warlords and it wasn't effectively a unified nation again until 1590. So if they were born in 1565 or so, they might strictly speaking have been born in one of the regions ruled by a rival warlord, but would have been a citizen of a united Japan by the time they grew up.     
     Also, of course, they'd not call it Japan, since that's the English version of the country's name, and wouldn't be in widespread use at this time since Europeans had only come to Japan for the first time in 1543.

    The standard vampiric transition involves dying from the blood loss (a single non-fatal bite would not typically cause someone to transform) and then reviving three days later. However, there are numerous cases of much more rapid transformation as seen with Raizo, Ryuhei and others. Perhaps the vampire that bit Jakkaru was from a variant sect.

    In X-Men III#24, Raizo states that vampires can survive on any mammal blood, while in X-Men: Unforgiven, we see the Forgiven feed on chickens...so avian blood works, too, apparently.

    The flashback story in X-Men III#11 was dated as occurring in 1957. No problem for Raizo, who was unaging, and Xavier has been shown to be active in the aftermath of World War II, and he has been de-aged, cloned, etc. on multiple occasions, but all of the latter things occurred during the modern/heroic age, and so the sliding timescale puts the Fantastic Four-empowering space flight no more than 15 years before the current stories (and X-Men I#1 several months if not a year after that). At the time of this profile's publication in 2026, that's 2011, which would mean if Xavier was even only 20 in the 1957 flashback, that would make him at least 74-years-old at the time of X-Men I#1. I know Magneto has World War II ties, and so that's how it is, and mutants may age more slowly than other people, but we also have their non-powered friends and associates from those older stories
    Anyway, I guess 1957 is OK...as long as everyone is OK with Xavier being 100 years old when 2037 A.D. gets here...
    To which Loki replied:

Patrick Stewart, age 44 in 1984
https://i.redd.it/patrick-stewart-was-only-44-when-he-played-gurney-halleck

Patrick Stewart, age 85 in 2025
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    And he's not even a mutant in real life (as far as we know). The sliding timescale will inevitably make it harder and harder to reconcile virtually any non-immortal/cryogenically frozen character with ties with a given past era, but Xavier still has some wiggle room left.

    X-Men III#26 has Raizo stating that he had advised Sun Tzu. While I'm not an expert on world history, some quick internet research says that Sun Tzu lived from 554-496 B.C.
    Raizo was born around 1560 A.D., so there would have had to have been some time travel shenanigans for that to have happened, which is quite possible.

    This profile was completed 5/22/2022, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event to represent Dracula's 2010s characters and stories.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Raizo Kodo should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood#1, pg. 16, panel 2 (face, pre-vamp);
        pg. 24, panel 2 (soldier; armor);
        pg. 26, panel 1 (bitten);
        pg. 33, panel 1 (transformed);
X-Men III#11, pg. 17 (full, bo across shoulders);
        pg. 20, panel 1 (appearances over the centuries);
Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1, pg. 13, panel 1 (full, slight oblique);
        pg. 15, panel 3 (face; eye glow);
        pg. 16, panel 1 (face-to-face with Dracula);
    #3, last page, last panel (upper; straight-on);
Hulk III#51, pg. 13, panel 1 (stabbing Red Hulk);
        pg. 17, panel 4 (emerging from the Penance Pool)
Spider-Man: Unforgiven#1, pg. 6, panel 6 (with Captain America);
       pg. 19, panel 5 (face, red-painted forehead);
       pg. 24, panel 4 (lightbender amulet);
       pg. 25, panel 6 (incinerated)

Appearances:
Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood (June, 2011) - Victor Gischler (writer), Goran Parlov (penciler), Dalibor Talajic (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men III#11 (July, 2011) - Victor Gischler (writer), Al Barrionuevo (penciler), Michael Lacombe (inker), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#1-2 (November, 2011) - Victor Gischler (writer), Ryan Stegman (penciler), Mike Babinski (inker), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula#3 (December, 2011) - Victor Gischler (writer), Ryan Stegman (penciler), Mike Babinski & Rick Magyar (inkers), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men III#23 (March, 2012) - Victor Gischler (writer), Will Conrad (artist), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
X-Men III#24 (April, 2012) - Victor Gischler (writer), Al Barrionuevo (penciler), Michael Lacombe & Cam Smith (inkers), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Jeanine Schaeffer (editor)
X-Men III#25-26 (April-May, 2012) - Victor Gischler (writer), Jorge Molina (artist), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Jeanine Schaeffer (editor)
X-Men III#27 (June, 2012) - Victor Gischler (writer), Jorge Molina & Salva Espin (pencilers), Lorenzo Ruggiero & Salva Espin (inkers), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Jeanine Schaeffer (editor)
Hulk II#51 (July, 2012) - Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayab (penciler), Jason Paz (inker), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Spider-Man: Unforgiven#1 (May, 2023) - Tim Seeley (writer), Sid Kotian (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Annalise Bissa (editor)
X-Men: Unforgiven#1 (May, 2023) - Tim Seeley (writer), Sid Kotian (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Annalise Bissa (editor)
Captain America: Unforgiven#1 (June, 2023) - Tim Seeley (writer), Sid Kotian (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Annalise Bissa (editor)

First posted: 09/24/2026
Last updated: 06/21/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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