OLIVIER STOKER
OLIVIER STOKER
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Demon (Class Two);
possibly a fallen Angel
Occupation: Demon, businessman
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Cerberuses, Sybil,
Wormwood, various demons and
zombies, various mobsters;
formerly Katrina/Black Kat
Enemies: Anielle, Father Miguel Bonavita, Gambit, Katrina, Brother Marcelo
Known Relatives: Sybil (daughter), Lailah (partner), Raziel (mother), Beleth (father), Shaitan and Moloch (parents-in-law), Rudiger (grandparent)
Aliases: The Devil, Sword of Darkness and Depths
Base of Operations: Mobile;
operated a club (or perhaps several clubs) in New York City;
formerly Heaven
First Appearance: Gambit II#1 (September, 1997)
Powers/Abilities: Stoker has a number of magical abilities, including illusion casting, generating and controlling fire, teleporting himself and others, speaking through others (or at least through Wormwood), and transforming people into demonic thralls, altering their appearance and enhancing their physical abilities. He also appeared to be able to reanimate and control the dead as zombie servants. He has enhanced longevity and is likely resistant (if not immune) to aging and disease. Stoker did not demonstrate superhuman strength, though he may be able to fortify his body with mystical energies. He generally avoids direct battles himself, using Sybil, the Cerberuses, and his other demons and zombies to as weapons.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 178 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History:
(Gambit II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Stoker allegedly fell from Heaven long ago, injuring
himself in the process and necessitating the use of a cane to counteract a limp.
(Gambit II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Like many other demons and fallen angels, Stoker was believed by many to be the Devil himself.
(Gambit II#1 (fb) - BTS) - As Olivier Stoker, he presided over a business that existed on the edge of human depravity and immorality: all things lust-filled and violent fell within his domain. Days and nights filled with debauchery were his only distraction and his only satisfaction.
(Gambit II#1) - From one of his decadent clubs in New York City, Olivier Stoker watched with a smile as the Ephemera Anielle fell to Earth like unto a falling star, noting, "Another? Perhaps this one will be mine."
(Gambit II#1 - BTS) - Stoker mistook Anielle for Hanael, a disputed archangel who was the prince of the choir of virtues.
(Gambit II#1 - BTS) - Stoker traveled to Miami.
(Gambit II#1) - Stoker enlisted the services of the criminal
Ramon (one of the mobsters from whom Gambit had stolen the Cross of Redemption),
and he and his agents fired on Gambit as he encountered Anielle. Gambit picked up Anielle
and fled, fighting off the mobsters with an exploding card. Stoker noted that
Gambit was exactly what he needed to recover the goods: resourceful and of
questionable moral composition. Realizing that the gangsters would never subdue
him but that they might injure Anielle in the process, he sent his daughter, the monstrous Sybil,
after them.
When the mobsters cornered Gambit and Anielle and then fired
on them, Gambit took several bullets and fell into the ocean, while Anielle
vanished (soon recovering Gambit). When Stoker reminded the mobsters he wanted
both targets alive, one of them said they worked for Santana, who wanted Gambit
dead. Stoker's face appeared in the sky above the mobsters, and told them
Santana was nothing, that they worked for him, that he needed Gambit in his plot
to attain the fallen angel, and that the mobsters should pray that Gambit lived
or their torment would be unending. The terrified gangsters fired futilely upon
the image of his face.
(Gambit II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Stoker apparently converted the gangsters into zombie-like servants under his (or Sybil's) command.
(Gambit II#2) - Gambit was recovered and treated by Brother
Marcelo and the young novitiate Katrina who took him to Our Lady of Sorrows
church.
Sybil and her army of zombie-like mobster servants arrived and attacked Katrina, Gambit &
Marcello, then followed Gambit to Anielle, but Gambit took Anielle and fled back into the church, and Sybil was apparently
unable to follow them into the church's sanctuary where Katrina was preparing
candles.
Stoker himself, along with his servant Wormwood and his hound,
Cerberus, appeared.
(Gambit II#3) - Gambit fled with Anielle out of the sanctuary,
then prepared to go back for Katrina, only to find his pathway blocked by
Cerberus. Sybil then attacked anew, but Gambit blasted off her wings and fled
with Anielle anew. Katrina set the church afire and told Gambit to take Anielle to the Vatican where
Father Bonavita (of the Grigori) could get her back to where she came from.
Gambit grabbed Katrina and tried to escape with Anielle and her, but Stoker teleported Katrina back into the church. Feeling Anielle was the priority,
Gambit continued his escape, vainly hoping Katrina would get away on her own.
Unphased by the flames, Stoker told Katrina of the value of "the one you call Anielle," the influence of whom
might turn the tides in the wars to come. He weaved grains of truth into his
lies, telling her how God and Gambit had betrayed her, and duping her into
thinking that Marcelo had fallen under his influence. As doubt creeped into her
heart, Stoker's power and very nature soon began to corrupt Katrina.
Gambit took Anielle on a flight to Europe. On a train to
Rome, they
were again confronted and assaulted by Sybil (who had apparently learned their
travel route from a contact in Paris). Cerberus got between Gambit and Anielle, while Sybil unleashed a plague of locusts against Gambit.
(Gambit II#4) - Katrina fell under Stoker's influence, removing her habit and approaching him nakedly.
(Gambit II#4 - BTS) - Stoker mutated Katrina into monstrous form and renamed her Black Kat.
(Gambit II#4) - Gambit fought futilely against Sybil and
Cerberus, but was on the verge of being overpowered when Anielle spoke again, "I
AM THE LIGHT," and the energy she released apparently shattered Sybil.
In Vatican city, Gambit prepared to sneak Anielle into the Vatican, but was confronted by Stoker
himself and Cerberus, and Stoker unleashed an army of demons against them. As
Gambit fought against the demons, Black Kat then appeared. Bonavita opened
the door to the Vatican and tried to reach Katrina, but she grabbed him by the
neck and threatened to kill him. Stoker ordered Gambit to hand over Anielle in
exchange for Katrina and Bonavita, and Anielle smiled and walked directly to
Stoker herself. Stoker announced his plans to mate with her to father a force
that would lead the next millennium, but a powerful lightning bolt struck the
pair, and they both vanished.
Bonavita noted with pleasure that Anielle had served her
purpose, saving the souls of Gambit and Katrina and then sacrificing herself to
take out Stoker.
Freed of Stoker's influence, Katrina regained her mind and
human appearance. Her face scarred, she turned away from becoming a nun, but
remained a religious woman, of even greater conviction than before.
Comments: Created by Howard Mackie & Klaus Janson.
Definitely a story that was hard to follow.
It seemed to me that Anielle perished, and that she took out Stoker along with her. As she embraces Stoker, a lightning bolt strikes them both and he is cut off in mid-sentence, Bonavita noted that she had taken him with her. But it's not 100% clear.
Stoker has an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#10, and will also be in the OHotMU hardcovers, sometime in 2009.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
The Cerberuses should not be confused with:
Wormwood has no known connection to:
Cerberus is the name for each of the legions of Hellhounds serving Stoker. They are an ancient lineage, "more pure and true then your own mongrel breed" Stoker told Gambit.
One accompanied Stoker in confronting Gambit and Anielle in the Our Lady of Sorrows church. Another accompanied Sybil in confronting Gambit and Anielle atop a train bound for Rome, swiftly getting between Gambit and Anielle to prevent Gambit from escaping with her. It attacked Gambit savagely and threatened to overwhelm him, but apparently was destroyed by Anielle's energies. Yet another accompanied Stoker to Vatican City and confronted Gambit and Anielle as they approached the Vatican. After Stoker's apparent destruction, Wormwood rode that Cerberus out of town.
The Cerberuses have greater strength, speed, and durability than a normal dog.
--Gambit III#2 (3-4
See also the straight-on image at the top of the page.
Stoker summoned a legion of demons to Vatican City to prevent Gambit and Anielle from getting into the Vatican. Gambit attacked them, but they overwhelmed him by strength of numbers.
--Gambit III#4
An enigmatic, dwarven, misshapen figure that accompanied Stoker, often sitting on his shoulder and either parroting or punctuating Stoker's speech. He was present when Stoker confronted Gambit and Anielle in the Our Lady of Sorrows church and when Stoker took control of Katrina. He was also present atop Black Kat's shoulder as she appeared in Vatican City. He was devastated when Stoker was apparently destroyed by Anielle. He rode a Cerberus out of town after telling Gambit, "In the end-times, as the light fails, all will turn to the dark for its familiar comfort...you don't get to choose."
--Gambit III#2, (identified) 3 (2-4
See also the image at the top of the page.
These appeared to be Miami mobsters slain
and placed under Stoker's control.
They accompanied Sybil in confronting Gambit, Marcelo, and
Katrina in the Our Lady of Sorrows church. When they fired upon Gambit and
Marcelo and wounded Marcelo, Sybil tore some of them apart, after which Gambit
took out the rest of them.
They carried automatic weapons.
--Gambit III#2
images: (without ads)
Gambit III#2, last page - with Wormwood and Cerberus
#3, p, panel (zombies)
#4, p, panel (Cerberus)
p, panel (demons)
p, panel (Wormwood)
Appearances:
Gambit II#1 (September, 1997) - Howard Mackie (writer), Klaus Janson (art),
Kelly Corvese (editor)
Gambit II#2-4 (October-December, 1997) - Howard Mackie & Terry Kavanaugh
(writers), Klaus Janson (art), Kelly Corvese (editor)
First Posted: 11/13/2008
Last updated: 11/13/2008
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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