JONAS
RAVENCROFT
JONAS
RAVENCROFT
Real Name: Jonas Ravencroft
Identity/Class: Human;
active from 1899 (and
presumably at least 20-25 years before that)-1945
A.D. (including late
19th century; 1900-1929;
1930-1945)
Occupation: Former owner/director of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane
Group Membership: Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane
Affiliations: Bucky (James Barnes), Captain America
(Steve Rogers), Claudia
Russell;
on some level, the Unwanted, as he freed them to
assault Baron Blood, Dracula, Thorton, and the forces with whom they had
worked;
formerly Nathaniel Essex (later Mr. Sinister);
Enemies: Baron
Blood (John Falsworth), Silas Burr (later Cyber), Al Capone, Vlad
Dracula, Nathaniel Essex, Loki Laufeyson, Skin Walker, Andre
Thorton (aka Professor)
indirectly Mephisto,
apparently the Black
Knight (Sir Percy, if that was really him) considered him an enemy
for keeping him restrained;
formerly the Unwanted (including William
"Bud" Adams);
many of those contained there likely considered him
an enemy
Known Relatives: Molly
Ravencroft (ancestor, deceased; see
comments)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally
Insane, Westchester County, New York
First Appearance: (Mentioned; journal)
Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage#1 (March, 2020);
Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (March, 2020)
Powers/Abilities: Jonas Ravencroft had a genuine
desire to help the mentally ill, but he was easily manipulated by
strong-willed beings and/or government agencies. Initially too weak and
afraid to oppose these individuals, he ultimately was able to do so as
part of his last act.
Jonas wore corrective eyeglasses,
although his specific limitation was not identified. 
History:
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb)) <1899 A.D.> - Seeking to
address the lack of health care in the area, Jonas Ravencroft bought the
West Chester land on which his ancestor, Molly Ravencroft, had been
slain by her maddened lover, Cortland Kasady circa 1644 A.D. Numerous
other supernatural and/or alien encounters over the centuries had caused
the land to be unwanted, and so Jonas obtained it at a low price.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb) - BTS) -
Protesters not wanting a facility of this type so close to them picketed
the site, which once "accidentally" caught on fire.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb) - BTS) - A worker
-- who claimed Mephisto had told him to do so -- caved in the head of
the construction site's foreman with a hammer.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage#1 - BTS) - Jonas
Ravencroft kept a journal, within which he detailed the history around the
land under which Ravencroft would eventually be built, with entries dating
back to local natives fearing the land and the cannibalistic creatures
within back in the early 1400s; the arrival and fates of the Giovanni de
Verrazzano's men who entered that land circa 1524 A.D.; and the arrival
and fates of his ancestor Molly Ravencroft and her lover, Cortland Kasady.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb) - BTS) - Jonas' journal related additional local events, such as the apparent final battle of Captain America of the Revolutionary War circa 1783 A.D.; the cult of Shuma-Gorath circa 1804 A.D.; the Spirit of Vengeance in the form of a Headless Horseman circa 1820 A.D.; the invasion by Tyrannus and his Tyrannoid Subterraneans circa 1862 A.D.; and a Skrull invasion circa 1891 A.D. during which a Skrull apparently impersonated Teddy Roosevelt.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb)) - Despite the troubles, Jonas stood proudly outside the constructed building, and he felt it was all worth it when the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane was officially born.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Nathaniel Essex was employed at the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1
(fb) - BTS) - Victor Creed was employed at the
Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, serving as an orderly
under Essex.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1
(fb) - BTS) - Dr. Claudia Russell was employed at the Ravencroft
Institute for the Criminally Insane. It was unknown to any present that
she was secretly a werewolf.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1
(fb) - BTS) - Jonas heard Russell discuss returning to and practicing in
her native Romania on more than one occasion.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1
(fb) - BTS) - Creed found the apparently incapacitated James
Howlett/Logan (who had been there under unrevealed circumstances) at the
site of the third grisly murder credited to the Knickerbocker Knifer
(although it was really Russell when out of control under the effects of
a full moon). Recognizing Logan from previous experience, Creed
nonetheless brought him to the Ravencroft Institute, where Essex began
to experiment on him. He was apparently either brain damaged from his
initial injury or Essex lobotomized him.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (fb)) <1909 A.D.>
- Jonas was present as a man at least claiming to be the Black Knight
(Sir Percy; see comments) of
Camelot (and garbed in his costume) was pushed on a gurney in
restraints. Sir Percy demanded his attention, revealing his identity and
stating that the witch Morgan Le Fay had sent him there for some unknown
diabolical purpose. He swore that if he was not released immediately, he
would hunt down and murder all present. Jonas assured the irate,
restrained man that he would get the help the needed there, but the man
warned Jonas that he would be the one to need help after he regained his
blade.
As the man was taken away, Dr. Claudia Russell
arrived alongside Dr. Nathaniel Essex, and she suggested that perhaps
they should release him as he demanded, because what if he was telling
the truth. Jonas suggested she was being ridiculous, but Claudia
countered that they had all heard the fascinating stories that had
circulated around Ravencroft for centuries. Essex dismissed this with
comparison to stories of Santa Claus, and the matter was apparently
dropped.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1
(fb) - BTS) - Essex had a note written to Jonas Ravencroft from Claudia
in her handwriting and wording: Her resignation, which detailed her
desire to practice back in Romania. Despite this fitting with previous
discussions of her plans, Jonas suspected that something was off, that
something bad had happened to her and that Essex was involved. He never
trusted Essex again and resolved to end his free reign over the
Ravencroft Institute.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - Essex
left Ravencroft shortly thereafter. Ravencroft heard that he had gone to
Germany, and he did not know whether to believe the information he had
heard regarding Essex's activities, but he also did not care that much; he
was more than content to never see Essex again.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS)
<1919 A.D.> - The Ravencroft Institute a man claiming to be the
Master of the World, although Jones concluded that the man was closer to
40-years-old despite his claims of being 40,000 years-old.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) <1923 A.D.> - A young Al Capone and Silas Burr, institutionalized under unrevealed circumstances, jointly escaped.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) <1932 A.D.> - A mysterious and monstrous being known only as the Skin Walker arrived at the Ravencroft Institute.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) <1919 A.D.> - Asgardian god Loki was kept in a straight jacket in a padded cell. When Jonas and another staff member visited, they refused his instruction to release him. Jonas told Loki that he hoped he understood that they were only trying to help him, but when Loki asked him to look at his reflection in the window, he and his associate found themselves in straight jackets while an unencumbered Loki waved to them from outside the building.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - US
government forces came to Ravencroft, with their own doctors, scientists,
and programs, allegedly all in the name of the war effort; this included
setting up a laboratory for Andre Thorton (aka the Professor). Working
alongside Baron Blood (John Falsworth), who was in turn working with
Dracula, Thorton was conscripted to develop a cure for vampiric
vulnerabilities.
Although Jonas soon realized that the projects were more than just for the war effort, he apparently was too intimidated by those who had taken over his facility to stop them.
In turn, Thorton and the others tolerated Ravencroft
because they had no other choice.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 - BTS) <1945>
- As Blood and Dracula berated Thorton for his lack of swift success,
Captain America and Bucky broke in, seeking Rogers' childhood friend,
William "Bud" Adams.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1) - Jonas considered
that the corruption within Ravencroft had grown like a cancer, which he
resolved to remove. 
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) -
Presumably at or shortly before this point, Jonas wrote in his journal how
he had realized how much harm his facility had brought, the madness he had
let into his institution, and that his earnest intentions had done nothing
but hinder the healing of these patients. He refused to allow the monsters
created in his name to be his legacy any longer, and he noted that he
would end this on his terms.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - Jonas
released the Unwanted, a number of monstrous beings who had been
discarded/hidden away (many of them following scientific experimentation)
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1) - After Baron
Blood and Dracula had gotten the upper hand on Captain America, Jonas
confronted them, noting that it was perhaps not farewell for Cap. Thorton
told Ravencroft to leave before he decided that his tolerance had come to
an end, but Jonas refused, noting that he had been quiet too long and
allowed too much to happen there. Jonas continued that he was no longer
weak and afraid and that if Thorton and his government goons wanted more
experiments, he could have "these," at which point the Unwanted rushed out
around him.
As chaos ensured, Jonas picked up a gun from a fallen
government agent and confronted Thorton, aiming the gun at him. Telling
Thorton to be grateful he (Jonas) was not like him (Thorton), Jonas put
the gun up against his own head and fired, apparently killing himself. His
journal dropped to the ground in a pool of blood.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage#1 - BTS) - The
journal of Jonas Ravencroft was found. It was taken by Misty Knight to
prevent Wilson Fisk from taking advantage of it.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 - BTS) - Arriving
on the scene, the Winter Soldier briefly claimed the journal before noting
that he did not need to see the journal to tell him about the Unwanted, as
he had been there to encounter them.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (fb) - BTS) - John
Jameson and Misty Knight read the journal's discussion of Jonas' fate.
(Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 - BTS) - John and
Misty discussed Ravencroft's fate and wondered about how the Unwanted had
been returned to their cell.
(Ravencroft#5 (fb) - BTS) - Norman Osborn stole the journal from
Jameson's possession during Hyde's assassination attempt.
(Ravencroft#5) - Bud Adams captured John Jameson and Norman Osborn,
threatening to destroy the Ravencroft Institute if he did not tell him
where Jonas' journal was. Norman feigned ignorance.
After Bud's defeat, Norman delivered the journal to
the J.A.N.U.S. organization (G.W. Bridge, Malcolm Colcord, Valentina
Allegra de Fontaine, James MacDonald Hudson, Monica Rappaccini, and Madame
Viper). They noted that neither Jameson nor the others realized the
true power that the book represents.
Comments: Created by Frank Tieri and Guillermo Sanna.
I am
unaware of whether the man in restraints in Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 was truly Sir Percy or just a crazy person
claiming to be him. However, given the lack of ready access to
information, such as the internet, it seems unlikely that the real
name of the Black Knight of Camelot would be known by someone in
1909 A.D.
Sir Percy has blue eyes, and the man in the story
appeared to have brown eyes, but that could be art error/license, or
it could certainly be that Percy's spirit was cast into another
man's body...possibly someone of common ancestry?
Maybe it will be confirmed at some point...you
just never know, do you?
The 1945
Ruins of Ravencroft appearance has to take place in early 1945, as
the Germans were noted to be in the process of getting their butts
kicked , and Germany surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, 1945. I
don't think we know the exact date on which Captain America and
Bucky's encounter with Zemo -- which concluded with their falling
into the frozen waters -- but it should have been shortly before
that date. And Captain America is specifically called Steve, and he
recalls his history with Bud Adams, who was a childhood friend of
Steve Rogers.
I think Roy Thomas established that Cap was frozen before Hitler's death
in What If...? #4, and I think Mark Waid established that Cap was frozen
after FDR's death in Cap: Sentinel of Liberty (#12?). So, Cap was
frozen after April 12 and before April 30.
--Daron Jensen
They fell into the sea off England on April 17th or 18th 1945. The
Invaders were informed of their loss in a Top Secret dispatch dated April
18th, per What If? I#4. Since the events took place on a US base and were
witnessed by US troops a report on their loss would have been done
very shortly afterwards, though the Invaders weren't informed until after
Hitler's demise (April 30th).
A slight spanner in the works for this is that The
Twelve#1 depicts Cap among the Allied heroes attacking Berlin on 25th
April; this was after the date set by What If?#4 but before Spirit of '76
took up the mantle:
Twelve: Spearhead starts with Phantom
Reporter doing a diary entry dated April 11th 1945. That night he
crashes a briefing given by Cap, and ends up joining a raid that takes
place shortly thereafter - no specifics given as to how long after,
but it's at night and given it was an urgent raid, it's likely either
the same night or the next one. So we're talking the 11th going
into 12th or 12th going into 13th. Immediately afterwards we are told or
shown that (a) Human Torch's new assignment is to get Hitler; (b) Cap
has been reassigned and we see him falling from the drone plane,
confirming that's where he has gone; and (c) that they want Phantom
Reporter to write up the raid to get the minds of the folks at home off
Roosevelt's death (which took place April 12th). So Spearhead confirms
Cap had left Germany before the scene where he seems to appear joining
other heroes storming Berlin in The Twelve#1; maybe the US used ringers
for Cap and Bucky to hide the fact that the real ones were no longer in
Germany - good for boosting morale among Allied troops and scaring the
Nazis defending Berlin, plenty of real heroes to pick up the slack, and
reports of Cap in action in Berlin while Private Rogers is in England
would help keep Steve's identity secret from his fellow soldiers.
--Loki
Despite Bucky's notation that Bud Adams hadn't made it (presumably meaning he had died, with the implication that Bucky had killed Adams as Adams had asked him to do), Bud survived and continued to exist within Ravencroft into the modern era.
I'm not sure what was the true power that the journal represented...perhaps the final resting place of Cortland Kasady?
Descendants of Molly and Cortland
They were lovers who
traveled to New York around 1664.
There is no indication that they were married.
I believe that they encountered the “Others” (later known as the Cult of
Knull) while living together…was “living in sin” completely unheard of at
the time?
Cortland went cuckoo-for-coco-puffs after that encounter and slew Molly
before fleeing into the wilderness.
Jonas Ravencroft lists himself as the descendant of Molly. If so, she
either had children out of wedlock, or was married to Cortland and had
children before dying.
OR “descendant” was used when they really had common ancestry…maybe some
of her family came over with her, and Jonas was descended from them?
Similarly, Cletus is supposed to be the descendant of Cortland. I believe
that’s confirmed?
Is Molly and/or Jonas Ravencroft part of Cletus Kasady’s ancestry?
This profile was
completed 09/17/2023, but its publication was delayed as it was intended
for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Jonas Ravencroft should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage#1 (March, 2020) - Frank Tieri
(writer), Guillermo Sanna (flashback artist), Danny Khazem (assistant
editor), Devin Lewis (editor)
Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth#1 (March, 2020) - Frank Tieri (writer),
Guillermo Sanna (flashback artist), Danny Khazem (assistant editor), Devin
Lewis (editor)
Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula#1 (March, 2020) - Frank Tieri (writer),
Stefano Landini (flashback artist), Danny Khazem (assistant editor), Devin
Lewis (editor)
First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 09/17/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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should check out the real thing!
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