HEART DEVOURER

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Vampire; magic-user;
    likely mid 19^th century to the early 20^th century;
    possibly Russian

Occupation: Predator

Group Membership: Vampires of Earth

Affiliations: Presumably the vampire that vampirized him

Enemies: Unidentified rabbit, unidentified woodsman;
    formerly the vampire that vampirized him

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Presumably Russia (see comments)

First Appearance: Vampire Tales#8/3 (December, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: The vampire presumably had superhuman strength (likely lifting around 1000 lbs.) and required regular blood meals to survive. When fully fed, he could likely heal rapidly from non-fatal wounds. 

    Further, feeding on a human victim would turn that victim into a vampire, depending on the extent of the feeding and other circumstances. Those he vampirized may or may not have been subservient to him.

    Via unrevealed means, but presumably via some mystic spell, the Heart Devourer could replace a man's heart with that of another animal, such as a rabbit. While the victim could still function normally physically, he or she would then behave more like prey than predator, fearing and/or fleeing from conflicts.

    He likely had the other standard vampire vulnerabilities, including sunlight, a wooden stake through the heart, religious icons, garlic, and/or silver. However, it is possible that his mystic training allowed him to circumvent some or all of these as well.

    He may or may not have been able to mesmerize others with a gaze and/or transform into a bat (normal or human-sized), a wolf or into mist.

History:
(Vampire Tales#8 (fb) - BTS) - Vampirized under unrevealed circumstances, he either previously possessed or subsequently gained some level of mystic knowledge. 

Comments: Created by unknown parties.
    adapted to Marvel by Tony Isabella and Ernie Chua.

    The story was allegedly adapted from Russian folklore. Preliminary searches didn't get me much, so I don't know where or when it was supposed to have taken place. However, given that it was Russian folklore, it presumably took place in Russia or someplace not too far away, either somewhere in what would be and was the USSR, or Turkey, etc. Additionally, based on the relatively modern clothing with belts and flies on pants, I would think that it could be anywhere from the 19^th to the early 20^th century. 

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Heart Devourer should be distinguished from:

• H. E. A. R. T. (Luz Delgado, Mei Lin, Fiona McCormick, Tyler Meagher, Denika Trevani) - mercenaries, most killed by Ghost Rider--Ghost Rider III#8
• Heart of Ahriman - magic item circa 13000 B. C., used by Xaltotun--Giant-Size Conan#1
• Heart of Athena - creation of Zeus, amplifies power sent through it--Hercules: Heart of Chaos#1
• Heart of Darkness - fell to Earth 20000 years ago, used by the Yin and then Mandarin--Iron Man I#309
• Heart of the Elephant - magical gem circa the Hyborian era--Conan the Barbarian I#4
• Heart of Forever - temporal power item, reshaped by Immortus into the Forever Crystal--Avengers Forever#3
• Heart of Heaven - union of the Seven Cities of Heaven formed every 88 years for the contest of the immortal weapons--Immortal Iron Fist#8
• Heart of the Infinite - virtually unlimited power source, used by the Celestial Order--Marvel Universe: The End#2
• Heart of Pele - mystic power source, stolen by Vanisher--X-Force I#81
• Heart of Tammuz - magic item, absorbed by Fafner Hellhand--Conan the Barbarian I#30
• Heart of the Universe - another name for the Heart of the Infinite--Marvel Universe: The End#4
• Heart Attack (Tyler Meagher) - former member & sole survivor of H. E. A. R. T--Ghost Rider III#8
• Heartbreak Kid (Daniel Atherton Shepard) - mental powers, used self as martyr to draw hatred off of a town. Absorb hate-filled emotions and heartbreak of others --Defenders I#140
• Heartbreaker of Earth-928 circa 2099 A.D. - former exotic dancer Maggie Megaton--Ghost Rider 2099#15
• Heartbreak Hotel (Kate, Link, Lucy, Poltergeist, etc.) - Californian shelter for mutants--Beauty & the Beast I#1
• Heart-Like-Fire of the Old West - Kisani, ancestor of Puma (Thomas Firehart), encountered Brett Sabre's troops (from Fort Rango) and Acoma tribe--Marvel Westerns: Western Legends#1/2
• Heartstar of the Place Between Galaxies - granted to Captain by aliens Spa-Fon and Squa-Tront. Infused its wearer with the Messianic-Siddha complex, granting super-strength, durability, flight, and vision--Nextwave#4
• other "Heart" or "Devourer" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places
  

(Vampire Tales#8 (fb)) - At an unidentified tavern, a woodsman boisterously bragged of his courage.  Observing this from a table in the tavern, an unidentified vampire was disgusted and offended by his behavior.      The vampire waited until the woodsman left the local tavern and then attacked him in the vacant streets.     Rather than just consuming the woodman's blood, the vampire actually chewed through his chest and devoured his heart.     Wishing to punish the woodsman for his arrogance, the vampire then took the heart of a rabbit and placed it in the woodsman's chest. (Vampire Tales#8 (fb) - BTS) - The woodsman survived, unharmed physically, but the courage of which he was so proud was forever gone. --Vampire Tales#8

Seeking to punish a woodsman who boisterously bragged of his courage, an unidentified vampire ambushed the woodsman outside of the tavern, devoured his heart, and then took the heart of a rabbit and placed it in the man's chest. Although the man survived, he was now timid and feared and fled from conflicts. --Vampire Tales#8 Note: The image showed the vampire with the live rabbit, so presumably he left the tavern and caught it before confronting the woodsman.

Appearances:
Vampire Tales#8 inside cover: "The Heart Devourer"(December, 1974) - Carla & Gerry Conway (writers), Alfredo Alcala (artist), Marv Wolfman (editor), Tony Isabella (consulting editor)

First posted: 01/22/2023
Last updated: 01/22/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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