Miles Blackgar

Miles Blackgar was a minor villain featured in the Werewolf by Night family of titles. He was created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Mike Ploog and was introduced in Marvel Spotlight, Volume 1 #4. His final appearance was in Werewolf by Night, Volume 1 #1. Mile Blackgar was a mad scientist and a foe of werewolf Jack Russell.

Biography
Doctor Miles Blackgar was a successful scientist in the realm of genetics until his wife died during childbirth. It seemed that their daughter's mutant abilities had surfaced upon birth, transforming her mother into stone, accidently killing her. This drove Miles Blackgar mad and he raised his daughter all the while seeking to rid her of her mutant powers. To this end he purchased Castle Russoff from Jack Russell's stepfather, Philip, after the death of his mother. He proceeded to move the entire castle stone by stone to his own personal island off the coast of California.

In his castle he performed ungodly experiments on unwilling subjects, transforming them into horribly misshapen monsters or accidently killed them all in a bid to find a cure for his daughter. Russell located the island in a bid to locate the Darkhold which was supposed to be in the castle and he hoped would hold the secrets to his own transformations into the Werewolf. Russell was captured by Blackgar's henchman, Strug, and imprisoned within the castle, meant to be another subject to experiment upon. Blackgar, however, was unaware of Russell's own affliction and he transformed into the Werewolf upon the rising of the full moon. The Werewolf attacked the mad scientist upon the pleas of Marlene herself, who hated her mad father and feared for her own life. The Werewolf faced the scientist and knocked him out of the window to die.

Blackgar survived, however, and he and his daughter reconciled as she sought to help him back to health through the magics of the Darkhold herself. Blackgar had sustained a crushed spine and was confined to a wheelchair as a result of his run-in with the Werewolf. Russell had taken the Darkhold amid all of the confusion, and the pair along with their servant Strug sought him out. They captured Russell along with his sister and friend Buck Cowen. Jack was able to escape before the dawning of the full moon, in order to prevent his friend or sister from seeing what he had become. After he again became the Werewolf he returned and fought Strug who was slain by a stray bullet from Marlene. She thus tried to destroy the Werewolf by removing her glasses and turning him to stone. Instead she looked directly into a mirror, turning both her and her father into stone.

Powers
Doctor Miles Blackgar did not possess any superhuman capabilities.

Skills

 * Genetics: Miles Blackgar was a learned scientist, specializing in the field of genetics. He concentrated his efforts towards the creation of a subrace of mutated, malformed freaks.


 * Occultism: Miles Blackgar possessed a working knowledge of the occult and was familiar with some elements of occult lore, mysticism and ritualism.

Weaknesses
After being thrown through a window by the werewolf, Mile Blackgar was crippled and confined to a wheelchair. The fall also appears to have caused partial paralysis of the upper body and rendered him mute.

Notes & Trivia



 * Another character named Miles who requires the use of a wheelchair is Miles Hawkins from the M.A.N.T.I.S. TV series. Like Blackgar, he too is a scientist.

Appearances

 * Marvel Spotlight, Volume 1 #4 (First appearance)
 * Werewolf by Night, Volume 1 #1 (Final appearance)
 * Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #9 (Flashback)
 * Essential Werewolf by Night, Volume 1 (Reprint)