WRAITH

Real Name: Brian DeWolff

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Vigilante; former cult leader, policeman

Group Membership: The Hood's Deadly Dozen (Basilisk/Basil Elks, Bird-Man/Achille DiBacco, Black Abbott, Blue Streak/Don Thomas, Cheetah/Esteban Carracus, Cyclone/André Gerard, Death Adder/Roland Burroughs, Firebrand/Gary Gilbert, Hijacker/Howard Mitchell, Human Fly/Richard Deacon, Lascivious/Davida DeVito, Letha/Helen Feliciano, Megatak/Gregory Nettles, Mind-Wave/Erik Gelden, Miracle Man/Joshua Ayers, Mirage/Desmond Charne, Turner D. Century/Clifford F. Michaels); formerly Vampire's Lair, Maggia (Big M/Frank Farnum, Whiplash/Mark Scarlotti, others), Scourge victims, NYPD

Affiliations: Emerson Bale, Jean DeWolff, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Guardian (Michael O'Brian), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Jack of Hearts (Jack Hart), Madame Masque (Giulietta Nefaria), Eddie March, Moondragon (Heather Douglas), Matt Murdock, Professor X (Charles Xavier), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Nick Fury, Jasper Sitwell, others), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Tim, Mandy Tyler, Yellowjacket (Henry Pym);
formerly Karl Bonn, Phillip DeWolff, Max Vorster, Whiplash (Mark Scarlotti)

Enemies: Karl Bonn, Deathlok (Michael Collins), Iron Man armors (Midas' mechanoids), Mordecai Midas and his elite guard, Dr. Michael Morbius, NYPD, Punisher (Frank Castle), Henry Russo, Scourge of the Underworld, Max Vorster, Whiplash (Mark Scarlotti);
formerly Jean DeWolff, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Stark International

Known Relatives: Phillip DeWolff (father), Celia Weatherby (formerly DeWolff; mother; see comments), Jean DeWolff (sister, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile in New York City, New York;
   formerly Bartlett Warehouse on 3rd and B (Vampire's Lair club);
   formerly somewhere in California;
   formerly a Maggia mansion in the New Jersey Palisades;
   formerly DeWolff family crypt in Calvary Cemetery, New York City;
   place of birth New York City, New York

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#48 (August, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: The Wraith possessed a variety of psionic powers that increased in strength when his physical form died and he survived as a purely psionic being able to possess other humans. He could read thoughts, and control the minds of several victims at once. He could cast illusions indiscernible from reality into multiple minds; he frequently employed this to make himself appear invisible, to override Spider-Man's spider-sense and to induce mental pain to simulate physical injuries caused by illusions. He could telekinetically levitate smaller objects. In the past he used a smoke pistol of unrevealed origin.

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Reddish blond

History:
(Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#107 (fb) - BTS) - Phillip got custody over Brian after his divorce from Celia when Brian's sister Jean was only six months old.

(Marvel Team-Up I#49 (fb)) - Brian followed in his father's footsteps and became a police officer, graduating from the police academy with the highest grades in history. Police Commissioner Brian DeWolff was proud of his son.

   One night Brian and his partner Tim were called to a disturbance near South Street Seaport, which turned out to be a trap. Their patrol car was hit by two other cars from a side street and Tim died in the accident. Brian defended himself against the five gangsters and shot four of them, but missed once.

(Marvel Team-Up I#50 (fb)) - Brian was shot by the fifth gangster, but his father arrived on the scene after hearing about the attack on his son's police car on the police monitor and shot the gangster only a moment later. Philip removed Brian's body from the scene and took him home. Brian's linkage between his mind and nervous system had been severed, but his father knew people that could help him. He called landlord Max Vorster and banker Karl Bonn and told them that he wanted to restore Brian to life, but keep it secret so he could go after criminals protected by the law.

(Marvel Team-Up I#49 (fb) - BTS) - Brian's sister Jean became assistant detective and was put in charge of the investigation of his disappearance, but the case remained unsolved and after two years Brian was believed dead.

(Marvel Team-Up I#50 (fb)) - Vorster and Boon financed a tunnel network that linked the DeWolff's home to their family's crypt and an electromagnetic revitalizer that could heal Brian. When it was clear that the machine would work Vorster and Bonn turned on Philip and tried to force him to make Brian their pawn for their criminal endeavors. They struggled with Philip, who was hit by the machine's beam at the same time as his son, which linked their minds. Vorster and Bonn fled the scene. Philip soon realized that he could control his son's comatose body's every movement like a puppet from this moment on with a mere thought. At the same time he gained control over Brian's vast mental powers.

(Marvel Team-Up I#50 (fb) - BTS) - Phillip went insane due to the revitalizer's effects.

(Marvel Team-Up I#50 (fb)) - Phillip used Brian to get his revenge against Vorster and Bonn.

(Marvel Team-Up I#48 (fb)) - Wraith blew up the home of Max Vorster in Westchester, New York with a bomb dropped from a toy plane. When the police arrived he watched as they and a TV newsman discovered the toy plane, which blew up and killed two police officers. He used his psychic powers to make everyone forget that he was there.

   Wraith blew up the Cosmopolitan Bank & Trust in Manhattan with a toy plane bomb. Fifteen people were killed and twenty-two got injured. Wraith smashed the camera recording him upon leaving the bank. Once again he made everyone forget that he was there in the first place.

(Marvel Team-Up I#48 (fb) - BTS) - Wraith committed three more bombings under his father's control.

(Marvel Team-Up I#48 - BTS) - Wraith sent a toy plane to drop a bomb that blew up a Stark International Fuel tank. Spider-Man, who was incidentally nearby, and the toy plane were tossed over Long Island City to Calvary Cemetery by the explosion. Iron Man saved Spider-Man from falling to his death.

(Marvel Team-Up I#48) - Wraith watched Spider-Man, Iron Man and his sister Captain Jean DeWolff at the cemetery discuss the bomb threat letters sent by his father before the five bombings. The booby-trapped toy plane blew up, destroying all evidence, and Wraith returned to his family crypt while his sister, Spider-Man and Iron Man joined forces to investigate the bombings.

(Marvel Team-Up I#49 (fb) - BTS) - A fire-bomb was tossed through the front door of the police station by Wraith to keep the police occupied.

(Marvel Team-Up I#48) - From a roof across the street Wraith watched his sister show Spider-Man and Iron Man all the available evidence in the bombings, including video recordings and the letters, which were made from scraps of the Gazette, a trade newspaper catering to the NYPD, and official police stationary paper. He tossed one of his toy planes with a bomb across the street through the window, but Iron Man made sure to get rid of the bomb by taking it outside. Meanwhile Spider-Man jumped across the street to a ledge, which was destroyed by a shot from Wraith's weapon. Spider-Man made his way to the roof, but wasn't warned by his Spider-Sense before Wraith grabbed him by the wrists. Spider-Man was unable to break free and was sure he was going to die.

(Marvel Team-Up I#49) - Wraith kept reading and influencing Spider-Man's mind and even told him what he did but it didn't change the fact that Spider-Man believed that Wraith was strong enough to break his wrists or that the building they were standing on had suddenly disappeared. As a warning Wraith made Spider-Man believe that he dropped him from the building to his death, but Jean DeWolff shot at him, which distracted Wraith long enough for Spider-Man to break free and kick Wraith in the face. Wraith seemingly teleported out of the way of Spider-Man's attacks and then forced Jean DeWolff to shoot Spider-Man, but Iron Man blocked her bullets. Wraith again seemingly disappeared when Spider-Man and Iron Man attacked him and then shot them with a smoke pistol to blind them and mask his true escape.

   Shortly after the attack Jean's father Phillip DeWolff visited her in her office to show her a letter that he had received earlier that day. The letter was allegedly written by her dead brother and revealed him to be the Wraith, who demanded to get Jean's current position at the NYPD, which was a sentiment Phillip shared with his son because he didn't believe Jean deserved her position as Captain. Phillip left and Jean explained to Spider-Man and Iron Man that she never had a rivalry with her brother and that it was only her father in the past that was dismissive of her.

(Marvel Team-Up I#50) - Wraith returned to the DeWolff family crypt, which was filled with machinery and toy planes hanging from the ceiling. He stopped and remained in a catatonic state under a beam of light as Phillip emerged from the shadows and told Wraith to take off his mask because they were done for the night. At that moment Jean DeWolff, who suspected her father to be the Wraith, came down the stairs of the crypt, but to her surprise she was welcomed by her father, who gloated that he was not the man behind the mask and had manipulated her the whole time so she would think it was him. Wraith then took off his mask to reveal that he was indeed Jean's brother Brian DeWolff, which made Jean faint. Phillip then watched on a security camera the arrival of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man at the crypt after they had also come to the conclusion that Phillip was the culprit, but they were quickly overpowered by Wraith's psychic powers and brought before his father and placed under a paralysis-beam.

   Phillip explained to the heroes and his daughter how Brian became the Wraith and was under Phillip's complete mental control due to a psychic link. The explanation took so long that Spider-Man and Doctor Strange were able to free themselves, but Phillip was ready for them and used the Wraith's psychic powers against them only for Jean to interfere. As revenge for her interference Phillip used Wraith in an attempt to destroy her mind, but Iron Man arrived just in time to interrupt them. Phillip unleashed Wraith's psychic blast against Iron Man, but the hero avoided it and after Spider-Man blinded the Wraith with his webbing, Iron Man managed to place a transistorized alpha-jammer helmet on Phillip to sever the psychic connection between Phillip and Brian. Without Phillip to control his body the Wraith collapsed and returned to his catatonic state.

(Marvel Team-Up I#51 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Strange promised Jean to find a cure for Brian DeWolff.

(Marvel Team-Up I#51) - Brian and Phillip were put on trial for the murders committed by the Wraith. They were represented by defense attorney Emerson Bale. Iron Man made sure the alpha-jammer was still blocking Phillip's control over Brian; Doctor Strange assured Bale that Brian's psychic powers were no threat as long as his father couldn't control him. The trial started and Phillip managed to force a S.H.I.E.L.D. technician that watched over his helmet to unplug it and free Phillip's mind to gain control over Brian again. Controlled by Phillip DeWolff the Wraith assaulted the minds of everyone in court with his psychic powers, but when the Wraith stepped on the unplugged wire the electricity ripped through him and Phillip. Phillip gained the same psychic powers as his son when Brian's mind flooded through him and vice versa. While Spider-Man fought the Wraith, Iron Man knocked out Phillip, but to everybody's surprise the Wraith remained standing because Phillip's mind now co-inhabited his mind and directly controlled him. Phillip, as the Wraith, attacked Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Jean DeWolff with his psychic powers and made them believe that the courtroom floor had turned into a monster. Jean tried to reason with Brian, but couldn't get through to him because Phillip was in control. Iron Man managed to knock out the Wraith and while Phillip's own body awakened and chastised the heroes for hurting his son, Doctor Strange used his magic powers to surgically rejoin Brian's neuro-linkages and remove the bullet that had been lodged in his spine for two years. Brian awakened screaming, which nearly ruined Doctor Strange's attempt to remove the bullet, but Brian's own psychic powers protected his brain and Doctor Strange was able to remove the bullet and heal Brian. As soon as he awakened he was reunited with his sister. The trial continued and in the end Phillip DeWolff was found guilty for the murder and not Brian, who was found innocent of any crimes he committed while under Phillip 's control.

(Iron Man I#105 (fb) - BTS) - Jean DeWolff received a call from Nick Fury and was joined by her brother to put together a team of operatives that wanted to help Iron Man because he had saved their lives.

(Iron Man I#104 - BTS, 105) - Wraith watched Jack of Hearts fly above Manhattan, read his mind and created a mental image of Iron Man...

(Iron Man I#105) - ...that led Jack of Hearts through a window to an apartment where Jean DeWolff, Eddie March and Michael O'Brian were already waiting. Wraith soon joined them and revealed that it was him that led Jack there because he read Jack's mind and saw his desire to help Iron Man. Nick Fury and Jasper Sitwell joined them and asked them to convince Iron Man to something about Mordecai Midas taking over Stark International and turning it into Midas International. Wraith and the others agreed to help. Jean DeWolff took off in her car with Eddie and her brother while Guardian and Jack of Hearts took to the sky.

   They soon arrived at Stark's Southampton Estate were he currently resided with Madame Masque. Wraith and Guardian watched Iron Man and Masque through a window and Wraith learned that Iron Man was Tony Stark by reading his mind. He then used his powers to create a mental image in Iron Man's mind that the portraits of his parents were trying to convince him to fight back against Midas. Guardian took a more direct approach and attacked Iron Man while calling him a coward. He got blasted through the window by Iron Man and flew by Wraith and Jack, who asked Iron Man where Stark was. Wraith realized that Stark just wanted to be left alone with the woman he loved, but knew that they had to convince him to get back his corporation for national security. Everyone was shocked when Jasper Sitwell arrived and threatened to imprison his former lover Masque if Stark didn't comply.

(Iron Man I#106) - Wraith watched as Iron Man gave in to Sitwell's demands. Guardian and Jack of Hearts followed Iron Man to Midas International through the sky while Jean drove there with her brother, Masque and March. Laser cannons fired at Jean's car until Sitwell used stun blasts from his flying car to knock out the gun crew. Other elite guards firing at the car had their aim thrown off by Wraith's mental powers before they were knocked out as well. Wraith joined the fight at Midas International where they were attacked by Midas' Iron Man mechanoids. They got knocked out by the Iron Man mechanoids that were rigged to explode.

(Iron Man I#107 - BTS) - Mordecai Midas used his golden touch to turn Iron Man and his allies to gold and had them placed above the southgate of Midas International. Jack (due to his mutation) and Iron Man (because only his armor got turned to gold and he put together a new one from the remains of the Iron Man mechanoids) escaped their predicament and defeated Midas.

(Iron Man I#108) - Wraith and Stark's other allies were still paralyzed in gold form, but Yellowjacket was going to use Stark's Enervator with Jack of Hearts as power source to revert them to human form.

(Iron Man I#109 - BTS) - A Tony Stark LMD thanked Iron Man's allies for the help. They left shortly after.

(Marvel Team-Up I#72 (fb) - BTS) - His mental powers drove Brian mad and he vanished and turned to crime. The Maggia found him and used his knowledge as a police officer to plan robberies. Big M made Wraith a section leader in New Jersey.

(Marvel Team-Up I#72 - BTS) - Whiplash worked under Wraith and with other Maggia members committed a number of robberies. While robbing furs from a warehouse they were surprised by Spider-Man, but Whiplash, who was waiting in a back-up van, knocked him out with his electrified whip. The police arrived but Whiplash and his crew escaped, but only after Spider-Man placed a Spider-Tracer on Whiplash's back. Whiplash and his crew returned to a mansion in New Jersey where Wraith was already waiting for them.

(Marvel Team-Up I#72) - Wraith read Whiplash's mind before he entered the study and already knew that he had failed to kill Spider-Man. Wraith confronted Whiplash about his mistake, which angered Whiplash. Wraith was not afraid of him and was ready to take him out, but the gate alarm went off when Spider-Man, Jean DeWolff and Iron Man arrived after following the Spider-Tracer. Wraith ordered Whiplash to lure them into the mansion and kill them. Wraith used his psychic powers against Spider-Man, who believed he was attacked by spiders that bit him. The carpet then seemingly came to life as a snake and attacked him. Spider-Man soon realized that the spider bites were actually venom darts that weakened him for Wraith's mental assault. Jean DeWolff, who shielded her mind from Wraith, confronted her brother, but as soon as he got the chance to look into her eyes tried to force her to shoot herself in the head while Spider-Man believed the floor was attacking him. Spider-Man accidentally tackled Whiplash, who was tossed against Wraith. The distraction broke his control over his sister, who was shocked that her brother would've actually killed her. Whiplash took Jean's gun and suggested to use her as a hostage so he and Wraith could escape the heroes, but Jean slapped Wraith, pulled off his mask and confronted him about his mad behavior. Whiplash finally realized how weak Wraith was and threatened to tell Big M about Wraith's failure. After Whiplash hit Jean's head with his whip, Brian turned on his former underling and used his mental powers to force Whiplash to see his whip as a giant snake attacking him. The police arrived to arrest the Maggia henchmen and Whiplash, who had been driven mad by Brian. Jean asked Brian not to use his mental powers again because he couldn't handle them and Brian promised not to use them again.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#278 (fb) - BTS) - Brian was in California when his sister got killed by the Sin-Eater. After learning of his sister's death he returned to New York City.

(Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#108 - BTS) - Brian attended his sister's funeral.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#278 (fb) - BTS) - After Sin-Eater was revealed as police detective Stan Carter, Brian swore to take revenge on the police for his sister's death.

(Captain America I#318 - BTS) - Gary Gilbert (Firebrand) showed Don Thomas (Blue Streak) a few newspaper clips, reporting on the deaths of costumed criminals, including the Wraith. Gilbert was sure a single killer was behind the murders. (see comments)

(Captain America I#319 - BTS) - Wraith was listed by Gary Gilbert during the meeting with 19 other costumed criminals as one of the victims of Scourge. Moments later the bartender killed everyone with automatic weapons because he was actually the Scourge of the Underworld. (see comments)

(Amazing Spider-Man I#278) - Brian watched the police station (37th Precinct according to way back in Marvel Team-Up I#49) where his sister had worked before her death from a nearby building and got mad that she was not mourned anymore. He remembered how his sister's killer and his criminal, abusive father had both been cops. He put on his Wraith costume and was going to get revenge for his sister's death by going after the police.

   Wraith approached the police station and felt panic, confusion and fear from the people inside the building. He was ready to take his revenge and started by using a psychic attack against a cop who was just standing in front of the backdoor while blaming the police for his sister's death. Moments later the Scourge, posing as a cop, stepped through the backdoor and recognized Wraith, who didn't know who he was. The "cop" revealed that he was Scourge and then shot Wraith dead.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#19 (fb)) - Though his body had died, Brian survived as a psionic being and soon found a new host body in the leader of the Vampire's Lair cult. He not only took over his body, but also gained all the knowledge of the man's former life and continued his life as the leader of the Vampire's Lair.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#18 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Mandy Tyler met the leader of the Vampire's Lair.

   Wraith sent two of his followers, one with psychic powers (presumably given to him by Wraith), to abduct a specific police officer in the subway. They caught Deathlok's attention, but escaped him when the one with psychic powers forced him to damage the subway train they were on. The two teenagers escaped with the mind-controlled police officer named Kenny.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#18) - Mandy Tyler brought her colleague Morbius to the Vampire's Lair and introduced him not only to Brian, but also the other cultists, who adored Morbius because he was a vampire. Brian claimed that he was a licensed physician and made sure that the members of the Vampire's Lair could live out their fetish of drinking blood without risk of infection or disease. When he felt how much his followers gravitated to Morbius, even offering him to drink their blood, Brian used his psychic powers to let Morbius see the Vampire's Lair members as monsters. Morbius quickly left even though Mandy asked him to give Brian a chance. Brian on the other hand was glad that he was gone because he couldn't risk losing any of his followers as he needed all of them to take revenge on the NYPD for his sister's death.

   When Brian left the club he was secretly followed by Morbius, who saw Brian put on a mask. He watched Brian watch from an alley as the police, led by Captain Stacy, who tried to talk down two men from jumping from a building to their deaths. Brian influenced a cop to shoot one of the suicidal men. He was quickly apprehended by his colleagues, while Morbius saved both men when they jumped from the building. The incident caused the crowd to riot against the police, which was Wraith's plan. He watched the riot from the sidelines and asked Morbius if he enjoyed it. Morbius tackled Wraith into a wall, but decided against killing him because it was more important to stop the riot. He encountered Deathlok, who had been tracking down the psychic energy he felt in one of the teenagers in the subway, but he quickly fell under Wraith's control and attacked Morbius with a pole. A deadly fight broke out between them.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#19) - Wraith was unable to force Deathlok to kill Morbius because the cyborg had a "no killing" parameter. He tried to cast an illusion in Deathlok's mind to make him see Morbius as a monster, but it only worked for a moment until Deathlok's computer showed him the truth. Deathlok repelled Wraith's control and the villain ran away though he still planned to go forward with his war against the police despite Morbius' survival.

   The next evening Wraith held a meeting at the Bartlett Warehouse on third and B with the Vampire's Lair club and was a bit disappointed at the turnout. He sent those attending into the city to aid him in destroying the police one precinct at a time. Not everyone agreed with his plan so Wraith ordered Vampire's Lair member Choi to dispose of those. The corpses were later found by the police.

   Wraith took his loyal followers to a police precinct and ordered them to place smaller bombs on the squad cars and the rest inside the precinct. Wraith then influenced the criminals inside the building to show the police real fear. Morbius and Deathlok tracked down Wraith and arrived just as the squad cars blew up. Deathlok sent Morbius into the alley where Wraith was while he went inside the precinct to save it. Wraith used his psychic powers against Morbius to cause him massive pain and explained to him that some of his followers had to die because they wanted Morbius as their leader and he couldn't risk losing all of them when he needed the cult to avenge his sister's death. Morbius fought back, but Wraith created illusory selves and hit Morbius with a phantom scythe. Morbius fought back again and used his own psychic powers to force Wraith to obey him and allow him to drink his blood. Morbius killed Wraith's host to end his threat once again.

(Punisher VIII#5) - Aided by Dormammu's dark magic, the Hood resurrected Wraith along with several other Scourge victims to fight the Punisher.

(Punisher VIII#6 - BTS) - The Hood addressed the assembled resurrected villains, warning them that failure to kill the Punisher would leave them dead again after 30 days, but lying to them that it was the Punisher disguised as Scourge who had killed them. The Wraith was presumably present, but was not at the table.

(Punisher VIII#7 (fb) - BTS) - Wraith went out on his own and was quickly tracked down by Henry Russo for the Punisher. At first he thought Wraith was just a copycat, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites' could read DNA and revealed that Wraith was actually the long diseased Brian DeWolff.

(Punisher VIII#7) - Wraith was running over the rooftops of the city and thought about taking revenge on his city and the law for his sister's death. He stopped at a gargoyle and was shot in the heart by the Punisher with an arrow. Wraith dropped dead from the building.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito.

Skippy on the Scourge I killing Wraith paradox:

Now, we all know about the massacre of the Bar With No Name, Medina County, Ohio. Went like this:

1. Captain America I#318: Gary Gilbert, Firebrand, is trying to create an underground network to find and eliminate the serial killer of supervillains. (see left, while recruiting others)
2. Captain America I#319: The Scourge interrupts the meeting of Gilbert's network by killing everyone there - some 19 people killed at once. (see right, right before the massacre)
3. Amazing Spider-Man I#278: The radio reports the massacre. Someone (let's say Scourge II) hears about it, goes to a NYPD precinct to kill Flash Thompson, and ends ups shooting Brian DeWolff, the Wraith.

The Wraith cannot have been killed *before* the Ohio massacre, because the press reports the deaths at the Bar With No Name during the events *leading* to the Wraith's death.

Maybe Scourge killed two people called Wraith, one we didn't know about prior to the bar massacre, and later Brian DeWolff. Gilbert and maybe the newspaper are referring to the former, never seen character. And though there's little other evidence to support this, it's not that improbable. We've got multiple characters using that codename, albeit all the others we know of are post-DeWolff, so one more we never got to meet isn't hard to believe in. Coincidence that Scourge killed two people using the same codename? Sure, but not massively so.
--Loki

I came up with the following theory to explain it away to my own satisfaction. Despite being mentally unstable, Brian DeWolff was a trained investigator and he recognized the pattern in the killings of the costumed villains earlier than some others. Having become paranoid following his sister's murder, Brian decided to go into hiding by faking his death. Using information about the murders, Brian used his psionic ability to cast illusions into the minds of others to cause a small group of people to collectively "witness" the Wraith being killed by a "mystery assailant" in a manner similar to how the other victims had been killed. Since the newspaper clipping did not include a photo of the dead body, I would assume that Brian created a scenario in which something happened to the illusionary Wraith's body before it could be recovered by police and examined. Perhaps the faked murder occurred on a bridge over a river into which the "body" fell after being shot? Anyway, now feeling safe from his perceived enemies, Brian planned his assault on the NYPD but, in a startling coincidence, was killed by the very murderous vigilante he had framed for his faked death.
--Donald Campbell

Other stuff:
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#107 (October, 1985) retconned the death of Celia DeWolff. Instead of dying during Jean's birth, she got divorced from Phillip when Jean was six months old. Celia got custody of her daughter while Brian remained with their father. Celia married patrolman Carl Weatherby four years later, but Jean kept her last name DeWolff.

When Captain America captured Scourge in Captain America I#320, he told Cap about how his career started and Wraith's head was seen among the many victims of Scourge. This Scourge was shot by another Scourge shortly after and his backstory as the brother of the Enforcer was called into question since then because the other members of the Scourge organization lied about their past as well. The thing is that the Scourge talking to Cap was almost certainly not the Scourge that killed DeWolff.

Henry Russo called Wraith a cop killer, but AFAIK he never even got the chance to kill a cop while he was alive. It seemed like he got killed by Scourge right at the start of his crusade against the NYPD. The cop he attacked at the precinct even survived or else he would not have been able to tell others that Wraith blamed them for his sister's death. He became a cop killer later when he possessed someone else, but only Deathlok and Morbius should've known that Brian DeWolff was the one pulling the strings. Maybe Deathlok reported the incident and Brian's involvement to S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Morbius story, but Henry clearly referred to his death at the hands of Scourge and not his encounter with Morbius and Deathlok.

Wraith received a one page profile as one of "Spider-Man's Forgotten Foes!" in Web of Spider-Man Annual I#3 (1987).

Wraith received handbook profiles in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20 (February, 1988), Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#30 (1993), Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook (July, 2006) and All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC#13 (May, 2010).

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Wraith (Brian DeWolff) has no known connection to:

images (without ads)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC#13, Wraith profile (main, slightly altered version of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20 (see right), Wraith profile)
Marvel Team-Up I#51, p1, pan2 (head shot)
Marvel Team-Up I#49, p11, pan1 (original costume)
Marvel Team-Up I#50, p14, pan3 (controlled by Phillip DeWolff)
Amazing Spider-Man I#278, p20, pan4 (killed by Scourge)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#19, p8, pan4 (psychic form)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#18, p21, pan5 (black mask)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#19, p9, pan3 (possessing Vampire's Lair leader)
Punisher VIII#7, p18, pan4 (killed by Punisher)
Captain America I#318, p9, pan1 (newspaper clip, report on Wraith's killing)
Captain America I#319, p17, pan2 (Gilbert mentions Wraith as a past victim)
Amazing Spider-Man I#278, p2, pan2 (report on massacre before Wraith's death)

Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#48 (August, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#49-51 (September-November, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#104-106 (November, 1977 - January, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#107 (February, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#108 (March, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#109 (April, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#72 (August, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Mooney (artist), Bob Hall (editor)
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#107 (October, 1985) - Peter David (writer), Rich Buckler (pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Jim Owsley (editor)
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man I#108 (November, 1985) - Peter David (writer), Rich Buckler (pencils), Brett Breeding, Josef Rubinstein, Kyle Baker & Pat Redding (inks), Jim Owsley (editor)
Captain America I#318 (June, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Dennis Janke (inks), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#319 (July, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mike Carlin (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#278 (July, 1986) - Tom DeFalco (plot), Peter David & Jo Duffy (script), Mike Harris (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Jim Owsley (editor)
Captain America I#320 (August, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Dennis Janke (inks), Mike Carlin (editor)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#3 (1987) - Roger Stern (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#18 (February, 1994) - Gregory Wright (writer), Isaac Cordova (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#19 (March, 1994) - Gregory Wright (writer), Nick Napolitano (pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Punisher VIII#5 (July, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opeña (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Punisher VIII#6-7 (August-September, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Tan Eng Huat (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)

First Posted: 09/02/2026
Last updated: 09/23/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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