Hannibal King

Hannibal King
Aliases:	Henry Keagle Henry Kagel
Continuity:	Marvel Universe
Notability:	Supporting character
Type:	Private investigator
Gender:	Male
Race:	Vampire
Location:	Milwaukee, Wisconsin London, England Boston, Massachusetts
Associations:	Nightstalkers
Status:	Formerly deceased
First:	Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 #25
Actor:	Ryan Reynolds

Hannibal King is a fictional vampire and a supporting character in two important Marvel Comics titles, Tomb of Dracula and Nightstalkers. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan, Hannibal King was first presented as a New York private investigator in the pages of Tomb of Dracula #25. Although he was later revealed to be a vampire, Hannibal King was set apart from other vampires in that he maintained a close hold to his humanity and was committed towards never taking a human life.

Biography

Hannibal King was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As an adult, he earned a living as a private investigator. Many years ago, a vampire by the name of Deacon Frost attacked Hannibal and drank his blood, leaving him for dead. Hannibal awakened in a morgue three days later and discovered that he too was now one of the living dead. Hannibal refused to drink human blood however, and satisfied his unnatural craving by dining on the blood of animals or from plasma bags stolen from blood banks. King continued to work as a private detective and opened up an office in London, England. Committed toward never succumbing to the evil nature of being a vampire, he focused his energy and abilities on cases involving the supernatural.

One such case involved a woman named Adrianne Brown Walters. Walters hired King to investigate the murder of her husband, Fred Walters. King's investigation led him to Walters' employers, Wyandanch Limited, many of whom were servants of the vampire lord known as Dracula. Dracula had been controlling Wyandanch's shipping interests so that he could export his coffins to different locales undetected. The two fought one another, but Hannibal was fortunate to survive their first encounter.

Sometime later, Hannibal King encountered the vampire hunter known as Blade during an adventure that involved Dracula's attempt to overcome the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. Blade was immune to the powers of a vampire and hated all things supernatural. However, he recognized that King was a good man and that he had never taken a human life. They both shared a common villain - Deacon Frost. An uneasy truce was formed between the two and they began to value one another as allies in their struggle against the forces of the undead.

Abilities

• Vampirism: Vampirism is the act of turning a human being or animal into a vampire. Despite its roots in European folklore, vampirism exists in nature, and there are many such creatures who are actually born as vampires. Pathologically, vampirism is likened to a virus, carried in the saliva of predators. The vampire enzyme is carried through a victim's bloodstream and within seventy-two hours, mutates the subject's physiology, creating new parasitic organs. By and large, this action can only be perpetuated by a vampire himself, but there has been occasion when a human has been turned into a vampire through an act of black magic such as a curse. The creation of the very first vampire, Varnae, was conducted in such a fashion when the sorcerer Thulsa Doom cursed him more than 20,000 years ago. Early traditions held that vampire could turn a human into a vampire by drinking their blood to the point of death, at which point, the victim would then be forced to consume an unspecified volume of the vampire's blood. In three days time, they would then rise as a vampire themselves. As vampires continued to evolve over the years however, the rate at which the process takes place has evolved as well. Newly made vampires possess all of the same abilities as the one who turned them, but at significantly lower power levels. At the onset, young vampires are almost always subservient to the whims of their master, but as they age and grow more powerful, the vampire becomes more independent, sometimes even turning against the one who made them.

• Immortality: Vampires are immortal creatures whose bodies cease to physically age beyond a certain point. Theoretically, a vampire can live forever providing that it continues to gain nourishment through the act of drinking blood and it is not destroyed.

• Shape-shifting: Vampires can transform into a variety of animals through an act of will. The most common forms are that of a bat, which enables a vampire to easily evade weaponry and provides them with a means of escaping a dangerous situation. They can also transform into a wolf, which also has numerous advantages. Some vampires can also become immaterial, shifting into the form of a fine mist. This also allows them to move about undetected and renders them impervious to traditional weaponry. In both bat and animal forms, a vampire maintains his intellect, while also possessing the characteristics and advantages of each animal.

• Flight: In bat form, a vampire is capable of winged flight. This is not an ability they normally possess in their human form.
• Echolocation: In bat form, a vampire has full mastery over his normal senses, but can also use sonar like a bat for navigation in darkened areas.
• Claws: In wolf form, vampires possess sharpened claws. Many also possess this in human form.

• Superhuman strength: Most vampires possess superhuman physical strength anywhere from 10 to 20 times greater than they possessed in their mortal lives. The vast majority of known and recorded vampires are capable of lifting from 1,000 lbs to 4,000 lbs. A vampire's enhanced strength also enables them to perform other superhuman feats such as leaping great distances. Supplementing their strength, vampires are naturally heartier than normal humans and can withstand severe physical exertion with no ill effects. It is unknown if vampire strength levels differ between pure bloods and turned vampires.

• Superhuman durability: With the exception of certain restrictions, vampires are essentially invulnerable to most forms of bodily harm, including the effects of disease, and the natural cellular mitosis that comes with aging. Vampires are not living creatures, and as such, they do not require oxygen to breathe. Vampires can exist without undue stress in oxygen free environments such as being submerged under water or buried beneath the earth. Excessive force will cause physical damage to a vampire, but their bodies will regenerate damaged tissue providing they can supplement themselves with regular supplies of blood.

• Superhuman reflexes: A vampire's reflexes, agility and reaction time are many times greater than a normal human being. At maximum optimal capacity, a vampire can move more quickly than the human eye can perceive.

• Claws: Many vampires possess sharpened claws upon being turned into a vampire. Their claws are extremely strong and durable and their effectiveness is in proportion to the strength and power level of the vampire.

• Fangs: Vampires possess two pairs of upper and lower fangs. These fangs are as much a tool as they are a weapon for a vampire uses them to pierce the throat of their victims so that they may then excise the blood from their veins for consumption.

Weaponry

• Incendiary handgun: Hannibal King originally just carried a small caliber handgun. In later years however, as he began encountering more and more vampires, he began loading his gun with incendiary bullets.

Notes & Trivia

• The character of Hannibal King was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan.

• A version of Hannibal King also appeared in the 2004 film Blade: Trinity. Played by actor Ryan Reynolds, this version of King bore the same basic origin as his comic book counterpart, but had a radically different personality. The movie version of King was a former vampire prone to intense acts of violence and profane wisecracking.

• Hannibal King has a head-shot spot illustration under the Vampires entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Deluxe Edition: Book of the Dead #20.

Appearances

Hannibal King was introduced in issue #25 of the original Tomb of Dracula series. He didn't appear again until issue #44, but became a regular supporting cast member in the series from that point onward, making ten more appearances in the title up until issue #53. During the mid-1980s, he made several appearances in Doctor Strange, Volume 2 in a storyline that ultimately did away with all vampires in the Marvel Universe thanks to the Montesi Formula. He appeared in #58-62 and #67. In 1992, Hannibal, along with former Tomb of Dracula co-stars Blade and Frank Drake reunited to form the Nightstalkers - a team of supernatural investigators that was published under Marvel's "Midnight Sons" imprint. The book lasted only 18 issues, but the character's storylines crossed over into other Midnight Sons titles such as Ghost Rider, Volume 3, Morbius, the Living Vampires, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins and Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance. The character lapsed into obscurity following his apparent demise in Nightstalkers #18, but returned in 2006 in the pages of Blade, Volume 6. Hannibal King appeared in issues #8-12 of the series where he was again seemingly killed off, only to be resurrected later.

• Tomb of Dracula 45

See also

Media

Dracula Dracula pages Dracula images

Dracula films Dracula comics Dracula novels

The World of Dracula

Dracula characters Dracula locations

Dracula organizations Dracula miscellaneous

External Links

• Hannibal King at MDP
• Hannibal King at Wikipedia
• Hannibal King at Comic Vine
• Hannibal King at Marvel.com
• Hannibal King at the Marvel Directory