THULE
THULE
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human, magic-user?;
World War
II and modern eras (and likely in between)
Occupation: Cult leader, demon pawn
Group Membership: Leader of the Eye of Force
Neo-Nazis/"Thule Society";
formerly the
Nazi
party
Affiliations: General Roderick Berglund, Erich Hennig, Mephisto, Vril
Enemies: Cloak, Dagger, David, Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale), Anna Johnson, Mephisto, Spider-Man, numerous others sacrificed
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Presumably Mephisto's realm of
Hell;
formerly Schamballah, Northern Rocky
Mountains, Colorado;
formerly a U.S. government facility immediately after World
War II;
formerly Nazi Germany during World War II
First Appearance:
(BTS) Cloak and Dagger III#14 (October, 1990);
(Seen) Cloak and Dagger III#15 (December, 1990)
Powers/Abilities: Thule could sense certain energies of light or darkness, and he could also project light that proved capable of teleporting others away from him (perhaps via the Schwarzraum). He was exceptionally strong and fit for his age, perhaps supernaturally so.
Thule preached about racial purity, about raising oneself above fear and pity, and about expunging all vulnerabilities until only the strong remained.
Thule could access the energies of the Schwarzraum via the Eye of Force.
History:
(Cloak and Dagger III#16 (fb)) - During World War II, Nazi scientists conducted
extensive experiments. What Thule believed to be possibly a "specific
combination of certain minds, that could only have been gathered under the Nazi
regime" created the Darkdoor, an interface with the Schwarzraum.
(Cloak and Dagger III#16 (fb)) - These men had definitely found a source of incredible energy, but all attempts to control it proved fatal. An entire youth regimen, including the future Thule, had the privilege of being chosen to explore this new frontier; "Thule" was the last one left. However, when the arrival of the allied invaders proved imminent, Project: Darkdoor was dismantled hastily, and young "Thule" realized that he had been chosen for an even greater responsibility. In the ensuing chaos, "Thule" managed to pass himself off as one of the valuable scientists and was relocated to America to work with the U.S. government. From there he easily escaped, and no one noticed that he had taken the uncatalogued Darkdoor file with him. He knew that technology would one day catch up with the scientists' discovery and he would finally be able to...(explanation interrupted and never continued).
(Cloak and Dagger III#18 (fb) - BTS) - In reality, the realm was merely a portal to Mephisto's realm of Hell. Combining popular science-fiction notions and the deluded would-be dictator's preconceived racist dogma, Mephisto led Thule to the conclusion that the "Vril" in the "Schwarzraum" were actually an alien species that had originally populated Earth with their "master race" eons ago. Mephisto manipulated Thule to sacrifice the necessary lives to open the Darkdoor for "the Vril." Thule's facist "Reign of Terror" in New York was his own idea.
(Cloak and Dagger III#15 (fb) - BTS) - Thule established Schamballah.
(Cloak and Dagger III#14 - BTS) - The New York Police Department (NYPD) found
the body of David - a homeless teen who hadn't been seen in weeks after taking
off with friends - impaled on a black lance lodged in a building in downtown
Manhattan. A few feet away they found an "Eye of Force" medallion (A Swastika
with an eye in the center).
Later, a sextet of Eye of Force Neo-Nazis assaulted Solly, an
elderly Jewish man who had survived Nazi concentration camps. Cloak pulled the
Neo-Nazis into his dark dimension and held them there for a time, driving them
mad, but Solly died despite receiving Dagger's light. Due to Cloak's treatment
of the men, the police were unable to question them about the Eye of Force.
Dagger went out on the streets as Tandy Bowen to learn more from the kids on the
street, and she made a connection with another Neo-Nazi, Erich Hennig, who took
her to a skinhead bar, Ballistyx. Tandy impressed Erich by holding her own in a
"battledance," so Erich took her down to show her a "program of power like
nothing you've ever dreamed of." Cloak followed, staying in the shadows, and
Erich brought Tandy to the site of a battle between a pair of the Neo-Nazi
cultists--one representing fire and the other ice--atop an Eye of Force symbol.
The two cultists had been lovers until a recent breakup, and Erich matched them
in the ritual because he knew they would bring their emotions to the fight. When
the woman struck a deathblow, the man's death somehow activated the Eye of
Force, which discharged a massive burst of flame, which shot through the ceiling
and into the club. Many of the club's patrons escaped, but Cloak teleported out
Dagger and those stuck behind. The flame continued up, out of the club and into
the sky.
(Cloak and Dagger III#15 - BTS) - Another young adult suddenly appeared, skewered by a black lance lodged in the wall of one of the upper floors of an Upper East Side skyscraper in Manhattan. Cloak retrieved the body, but when he touched the lance he and the body were teleported into the mysterious apartment across from Phillip Carlisle's apartment.
(Cloak and Dagger III#15) - Erich Hennig--who had been
attempting to lose himself in alcohol for the three days since the disaster
during the Eye of Force ceremony--was suddenly confronted by Thule, who appeared
in his room. Thule told him that the Eye of Force was always on Erich, shielding
him from peril and shielding his superiors from Erich's mistakes. Thule told him
that the ritual had ended in death before, but never with such immense energies
being released from the Eye of Force. Thule asked Erich if there had been anyone
special attending that ritual. When Erich told him about Tandy, Thule suspected
that she might be one of the new race (the Vril) and told him to bring her to
Schamballah for evaluation; Thule told him that he would be honored if he had
found a true Vrilian.
Erich got word to Tandy via some Neo-Nazi pretenders that he
was looking for her. When they met up he offered to take her to where he really
lived...if she thought she was strong enough to accept a whole new vision of the
world. After some consideration she agreed to go with him, and she had Cloak
sneak along with her. They took a private jet and arrived in Schamballah, the
fortress of the Neo-Nazis, where they studied and taught the forces that would
change the destiny of mankind. General Berglund inspected Tandy and agreed that
she might well be one of the Vril, but at that point the crew discovered Tyrone
(the powered-down Cloak) within the jet's cargo hold. Tandy proved herself to
the Neo-Nazis by throwing Tyrone out, and then Berglund sent a Brigade to finish
him off. Tyrone became Cloak and pulled his pursuers into his cloak, then
returning them and leaving them paralyzed on the ground in abject terror. Upon
their discovering, Berglund sentenced them all to "Ride the Lance," a death
sentence for their weakness.
Dagger returned with the others to Schamballa.
(Cloak and Dagger III#16 (fb) - BTS) - Thule and his inner circle took Dagger to an antechamber in the depths of Schamballah where they prepared to initiate her as a new believer.
(Cloak and Dagger III#16) - At dusk, Cloak entered Schamballa,
using his darkness to cause fear in the guards to force them to tell him where
to find Tandy. He then explored Schamballah's depths, finding Dagger in the
antechamber. Thule told Tandy that the Vril welcomed the great potential these
sensed in her, and he called her by her full name, despite the fact that she had
never told them her last name. Thule said that if Dagger were truly one of the
Vril, she would know the truth when she heard it. Thule began to tell of his
origins, but just after mentioning his escape from the U.S. scientists, he
sensed the presence of Cloak hiding within the chamber. Generating the "Light of
the Vril" (Which no one could hide from), Thule forced Cloak to emerge from the
shadows. Thule's light then struck Cloak, causing him to vanish screaming from
the antechamber and to reappear, powerless, in the apartment across from Phillip
Carlisle's. There he was confronted by Avandalia, who made him susceptible to
her future commands.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in New York, Spider-Man was swinging
across the city when he came across one of the lances and subsequently found a
portal in space that carried him six miles across the city. Spider-Man then
overheard Tyrone talking to Detectives Brigid O'Rielly (formerly Mayhem) and
Rebecca "Rusty" Nales talking about the lance.
Thule then brought the inner circle and Tandy to the Eye of
Force where he prepared to sacrifice the cadets who had failed to capture Cloak;
by monitoring their journey through the Schwarzraum he intended to further his
knowledge of its mysterious wonders, and soon he and the circle would have
finished charting a course for their saviors. As Thule primed the Eye of Force,
Tandy tried to save the intended victims, but Erich threw off her aim by trying
to restrain her. A sort-of electrostatic charge built up between Dagger's light
and the dark energy of the lance, which pulled her (and Erich) with the lance as
it was fired. The lance skewered the three victims and then passed through the
Eye and into the Schwarzraum. There Dagger used her light to fight off the
darkness and despair, passing by a manifestation of D'Spayre himself in the
process. D'Spayre told her that she would know him soon enough, but until
that time she could pass safely.
Back in Manhattan, Dagger's light knives passed out through
Cloak's body, driving his darkness out of control. The lance, still holding its
three victims, plus Dagger and Erich, then emerged from the darkness and began
hurtling towards the streets below. Spider-Man stopped the lance from hitting
anyone and rescued Dagger and Erich. The Detectives arrested Erich as an
accessory to murder, but Dagger told Cloak, who had regained control of himself,
that they needed to return to Schamballah and bring it crashing to the ground.
(Cloak and Dagger III#17) - Cloak transported himself, Dagger,
and Spider-Man back to Schamballah, but Cloak's out-of-control powers caused him
to vanish along the way, leaving Spider-Man and Dagger to go flying within
Schamballah, where they secretly hid in the main chamber. Cloak re-formed, but
only by maintaining his existence via the shadows on the walls.
Thule was notified by General Berglund that the Eye was
primed, and he dismissed Berglund and the rest, because only he could
communicate directly with the Vril. Thule scanned New York and realized that the
lance had not materialized at any of his pre-programmed locations for his "reign
of terror" in New York City. Thule approached the Eye, noting that "You are
almost here. And the perfect race you birthed long ago welcomes you back to our
humble planet. With but one more death...the Vril shall inherit the Earth."
The black energy from Thule caused Spider-Man's spider-sense
to generate an excruciatingly painful warning, while Cloak was only caused
greater pain when Dagger tried to feed him light energy, as it ate away at the
very darkness sustaining him.
Thule continued, "All of the final mysteries will soon be
resolved--the Vril are so close now that I can hear them. According to my arcane
calculations, the Schwarzraum will effectively become a controlled black hole,
connecting our realm and theirs...with the sacrifice of only one more inferior
life-energy. A woman, Anna (actually Cloak's long-lost twin sister), was bound
to the manacles in front of the Eye of Force.
From out of the Schwarzraum reached a hand that held an
energy pistol that fired an energy blast that exposed Dagger and Spider-Man.
Spider-Man unplugged the power source to the Eye of Force, but Thule called in
his soldiers. Spider-Man fought off Berglund and the soldiers while Dagger
finally succeeded in restoring Cloak, and they stunned the remaining troops, but
then a new contingent, armed with more advanced weaponry, arrived
Back in New York, Erich refused to answer the Detectives'
questions. After they left, a guard gave Johann, one of Erich's imprisoned
cultists, a key to his cell. Johann freed Erich, and they escaped.
In Schamballah, Spider-Man tore the lance from the launching
device and used it against the soldiers. Thule fired another of the launching
devices, but Dagger threw light knives that knocked it off target, and it only
severed Anna's manacles, freeing her. Cloak closed on Thule, but the revived
Berglund began firing at him, distracting him. However, when Berglund rushed to
Thule's side, Thule launched another lance, which skewered Berglund and passed
into the eye, providing the last of the needed life force to open the
Schwarzraum.
The Vril poured through the open portal, wearing armor and
wielding energy pistols and firing on the heroes, but Cloak pulled them all into
his cloak. He returned them, stripped of their armor and weapons, but otherwise
unaffected by Cloak's darkness. The Vril then began firing energy blasts from
their eyes and hands, while Anna tackled Thule and attempted to brain him with a
rock. He knocked the rock from her hands and the two began fighting savagely
while Cloak & Dagger and Spider-Man fought the Vril. Suddenly, huge tremors
began to tear Schamballah apart. The combatants all fell through the floor and,
as a giant hand reached out to scoop them up, Thule proclaimed, "Thank God!" The
hand's owner, Mephisto, replied, "Not exactly."
(Cloak and Dagger III#18) - Mephisto ate Thule alive, making
his abdomen and stomach transparent so that the others could watch him be
digested. Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) then arrived, having been drawn through one of
the Darkdoor's dimensional warps by the blood of Thule's teenage victims. The "Vril"
were revealed as Mephisto's demon elite, and Mephisto explained how he had
manipulated Thule and his allies.
Mephisto was temporarily called away by Thanos (Infinity
Gauntlet crossover), and the others battled his demons (Ghost Rider used his
motorcycle to send Anna back to the surface), eventually defeating them.
Mephisto returned and consumed Cloak & Dagger, while Ghost Rider took Spider-Man
back to the surface. However, Cloak merged again with his darkform, restoring
his powers and dark nature, and Mephisto--sensing the taste of another demon's
prior claim--spat them both out. Cloak teleported Dagger and himself away, and,
after they accessed some "Otherdark" realm associated with Cloak, they followed
a point of light, emerging back in that mysterious apartment across from Phillip
Carlisle's apartment. They were greeted by D'Spayre and Avandalia, who held Det.
Nales and Phillip captive and had transformed O'Reilly back into Mayhem.
D'Spayre and Avandalia welcomed their honored guests to their last meal.
Erich, meanwhile, had returned to Schamballah and found the
weakened Anna as she had been brought to the surface. Though he knew what Thule
would have him do to a black woman, he instead helped her until Spider-Man and
Ghost Rider arrived.
(Cloak and Dagger III#19) - "The Awesome Conclusion to the 'Eye of Force" Saga" - Nothing connected to the Eye of Force happened. Avandalia remained a mystery and Mayhem seemingly destroyed her. D'Spayre revealed how he had manipulated Cloak & Dagger right from the start, and the Darkform and Lightform he had imbued in them had been the source of much of their recent and past power instabilities. D'Spayre withdrew and consumed Dagger's Lightform, but found its purity weakened him. Dagger's powers increased without her Lightform constantly draining her power. Cloak held onto this Darkform, resisting D'Spayre's attempts to reclaim it, and Cloak enveloped D'Spayre within his cloak, where the Darkform--in its own realm and consisting of a piece of D'Spayre's own soul and possessing his equal in strength--attacked him. D'Spayre and the Darkform seemingly consumed each other in a massive explosion. The restored Cloak & Dagger then set about destroying D'Spayre's D-Lite drug operation.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Rick Leonardi, and
Al Williamson.
Gerber wrote #14-15, and did the plot for #16 (with Terry
Kavanaugh doing the script), but Kavanaugh did #17-19 without Gerber, so I doubt
we'll ever know what he had intended. It was pretty cool up to #16...
Basically, the more I understand something, the less I write about it. See the summaries above...that was me trying to figure it out as I went along! The ending wraps it all up, but I got the impression that Gerber might have had a different ending planned. If you know how to contact him, please let me know.
The historical Thule Society served as
an occult group which had members who went on to join the NSDAP. A man using the
alias Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorf became an important force in the Thule
group, with ideas similar to the mystic Blavatsky. Basically, they dreamed of an
ancient land called Thule and a great culture as part of the hollow Earth
legend. They thought of an advanced or mystical culture living in subterranean
areas of Earth.
The NSDAP (Nazi Party) broke the society up upon achieving
power. NDSAP party founder Anton Drexler, ironically, seems to have started the
NSDAP as the German Workers' Party at the behest of the Thule Society to get
workers interested in their broad anti-liberal programs. The Thule Society also
espoused various strands of Nietzchian philosophy and occult ideas, but one
should note that Hitler never ascribed to such ideas, but rather followed
childish Pauline intolerance, often mocking followers of the occult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke in his book The Occult Roots of
Nazism gives a balanced, unsensationalized account of the Thule Society.
Also: Thule was a country to the north of Valusia, the kingdom ruled by Kull. An article in Savage Sword of
Conan#40 speculated that the Hyborian Age people, the Vanir and Aesir of Nordheim may descended from the people of Thule.
--Definitely Per Degaton
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
The Eye of Force has no known connection to:
Schamballah likely takes its name from one of the first two definitions
The Vril have no known connection to:
General
Roderick Berglund
Military commander of Schamballah, he was essentially second-in-command to Thule. He ordered the hunting of Tyrone and participated in some of the rituals and the attacks on Cloak & Dagger and Spider-Man. Ultimately Thule sacrificed him to complete the final death needed to allow the Vril access to Earth.
--Cloak and Dagger III#15 (16-18
Erich
Hennig
Part of the Eye of Force Neo-Nazis, he led a cult in New York and introduced Tandy to his allies in Schamballah. He tried to stop Dagger from interfering with a ritual sacrifice, and he was pulled through the Schwarzraum alongside her. Back in New York, he was arrested as an accessory to murder, but he was freed by a cult member who, in turn, had been freed by a prison guard loyal to Thule. He returned to Schamballah, but turned against everything he had been trained by helping Anna, a black woman. His fate after encountering Ghost Rider and Spider-Man is unknown, but he still should have been sent back to prison for his previous actions.
--Cloak and Dagger III#14 (15-18
Eye
of Force
This was pretty much the main Darkdoor through which Thule and his followers accessed the Schwarzraum and the energies it contained. Eye of Force medallions, etc., were worn by the Neo-Nazi followers of Thule and Erich Hennig. During a ritual battle over an Eye of Force, the blood from the death of one of the combatants unleashed a pillar of flames that consumed the bar, Ballistyx, over top of it, and continued on into the sky. At the main Eye of Force in Schamballah, Thule regularly sacrificed "impure races" and even his own followers when they failed to live up to his ideals. The Eye was charged with certain energies via certain machinery, and the sacrifice victims placed in front of the eye, held in place on an altar if need be. Black lances were then fired through the victims, killing them and driving them into the Eye, which sent them through the Schwarzraum, ending up lodged in a building in New York as part of Thule's "Reign of Terror" on New York. The lances themselves were charged with dark energy that had a certain affinity for the energies of Cloak and Dagger (or perhaps the Dark and Light forms that D'Spayre had instilled within them. The journey of the victims gave Thule and his followers information about how to locate the Vril, and the sacrifices added up to eventually open a portal to the realm of the Vril.
The main Eye was destroyed when Mephisto leveled Schamballah after the portal to Earth opened up.
Other Darkdoors were present in New York, allowing teleportation of the lances from the Schwarzraum to various locations in Manhattan. What happened to these following the destruction of Schamballah is unknown, but they were presumably closed.
I'm not sure what stopped from Mephisto and his followers from accessing the portal to Earth as they had originally intended, and why he even messed with the heroes anyway. I guess the portal was destroyed when the tunnel to Earth collapsed right after Ghost Rider led Spider-Man out of Mephisto's realm.
One of the black lances can be seen loaded in the machine on the right, towards the top
--Cloak and Dagger III#14 (15-17
The Colorado Rockies base of Thule and his Eye of Force Neo-Nazi followers. It was a survivalist outpost, stocked with an arsenal of conventional weaponry, a weight room, and classrooms, bunk rooms, and classrooms where they taught about the Spear of Destiny, the Schwarzraum, and the New Race, the Vril. It housed an immense cavern containing the Eye of Force, an altar, and the lance mechanism, as well as an antechamber to conduct initiations.
Mephisto leveled Schamballah after the portal to Earth opened up.
--Cloak and Dagger III#15 (15(fb) - BT, 15-18
A realm of darkness (literally "Black Area," according to Babelfish), it was accessed via the Darkdoors and was to lead Thule and his followers to the Vril. It was actually a realm associated with Mephisto's Hell.
It also had some connection to the dark dimension of Cloak, and it could be accessed by D'Spayre
--Cloak and Dagger III#15 - BTS, 16 (16(fb), 16-17
Mephisto duped Thule and his ilk into believing in the Vril, who were supposed to be an alien species that had originally populated Earth with their "master race" eons ago. Mephisto manipulated Thule to sacrifice the necessary lives to open the Darkdoor for "the Vril." Thule came to believe that some of the Vril existed on Earth, and he wondered if Dagger might be one of them due to her energy powers and their affinity for the energies of the Schwarzraum.
In reality, the "Vril" were merely the demon elite of Mephisto, and Mephisto was leading Thule and his followers to sacrifice people in order to open a portal through which they might invade Earth. The demons were defeated by the combined power of Cloak & Dagger and Ghost Rider and Spider-Man
--Cloak and Dagger III#15 - BTS, 17 (16 (fb) - BTS, [14-16 - BTS], 17-18
images:
Cloak and Dagger III#14, p16, panel 1 (Erich body)
p18, panel 2 (Erich face)
p19, panel 2 (fire & ice ritual)
#15, p8, panel 1 (Thule standing)
p17, panel 1 (Schamballah)
panel 3 + 5
(Berglund back + face)
#16, p5, Eye of Force
p6, panel 4 (Thule face, glowing)
#17, p5, panel 2 (Thule face, normal)
Appearances:
Cloak and Dagger III#14-15 (October-November, 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Rick Leonardi (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Cloak and Dagger III#16 (February, 1991) - Steve Gerber & Terry Kavanagh (writers), Rick Leonardi (pencils), Al Williamson, Keith Williams & Joe Rosas (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Cloak and Dagger III#17-18 (April-June, 1991) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Dave Ross (pencils), Keith Williams (#17), Chris Ivy (#17) & Sam DeLaRosa (#18) (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Cloak and Dagger III#19 (August, 1991) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Chris Ivy (pencils), Don Hudon (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Last updated: 10/17/13
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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