| Demon Bear | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Information | |
| Real name: | Demon Bear |
| Alias(es): | Demon Bear |
| First Appearance: | New Mutants Vol 1 3 |
| Created by: | Bill Sienkiewicz Chris Claremont |
| Affiliations: | None |
| Powers/Abilities: | See: Powers |
| Portrayed by: | |
History[]
Origin[]
The Demon Bear was a mysterious entity that occupied the world with different origins. Some claimed it was a mystical spirit being that was deeply tied to the Native American beliefs with it being considered the sacred symbol of courage and integrity. It was believed to be a demonic entity that was as ancient as the world and was an evil unlike any other seen on the planet. In the modern age, a young Dani Moonstar when she reached puberty had her X-Gene activated leading to her experiencing a vision. This vision showed her parents William Lonestar and Peg Lonestar being killed by a demonic bear. The Lonestar's would journey into the mountains only to meet an unknown individual who used occult magic to transform the pair into the Demon Bear. This was a corrupted version of the sacred symbols of the Cheyenne tribe and Dani Moonstar was meant to join them. However, it was Lonestar's parent Black Eagle that quickly cast a spell to protect his granddaughter and would also come to look after her following the disappearance of her parents. The Demon Bear would lose sight of Moonstar after she moved away from the mountain and would begin to torment her in her dreams. Over the years, Moonstar would grow up to believe that the Demon Bear had murdered her parents and blamed herself. She thought that her spirit-sending forced the Lonestar's to journey into the mountain's to confront the beast in order to protect their daughter leading to their death. Thus, she would retain a special fear of the spirit bear that she believed had killed her parents.
Nightmare[]
The Demon Bear preys on Dani Moonstar.
Moonstar would eventually join the ranks of the New Mutants who stayed at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in order to be trained in the use of their powers. During one night, Dani experienced a dark nightmare where she saw an intruder enter the mansion and kill her friends before attempting to kill her. This vivid and realistic dream saw her remove the hood of the phantom spirit creature to show it was the Demon Bear which she stabbed with a knife. She would wake from the nightmare but was suspicious at the encounter as she saw her knife had the blood of the bear on it. Initially, Dani assumed that the nightmare was brought on by Professor Charles Xavier's possession by the Brood Queen where he began attacking his students in order to implant them with Brood embryos. Despite this chain of events, Danielle believed that her nightmare was in fact real but kept the dreams a secret from her fellow team mates on the New Mutants. She would continue her training in the Danger Room against various projections of bears in preparation for a future confrontation. In time, Dani became confident in her skill and she decided to challenge the Bear as a true Cheyenne warrior.
Moving into the snow covered woods, she summoned forth the killer of her parents and the Demon Bear responded. During the battle, Moontar called forth a spirit version of herself to distract the beast allowing her to shoot several arrows into it. After a short battle, she managed to fell the creature that collapsed to the ground following an arrow to his face. Dani believed she had slain the beast that killed her parents but in her overconfidence she did not notice the trap as the Demon Bear damaged her spine with a claw strike. The badly wounded Cheyenne warrior was left in the snow but her pain was felt by her team mate Rahne Sinclair who called forth the rest of the New Mutants to find Moonstar unconscious in the snow. They would rush her to the Mid-County Medical Center near Salem Center at New York. The Demon Bear would later arrive at the hospital whilst surgery was being performed to save the life of Danielle Moonstar. This spirit beast later struck at Officer Tom Corsi and Nurse Sharon Friedlander as it continued to pursue his prey. It would later attack the New Mutant Sunspot and swatted him aside before attacking Illyana Rasputin where it wounded her but she managed to force the beast to retreat with a strike from her Soulsword.
It would later manifest again where it started striking against the wards Illyana had placed around the hospital thus wounding her. The Demon Bear would attack Rasputin directly but it's strikes only shredded her costume leaving a mysterious strange armor beneath her uniform. Unable to defeat the New Mutants, it would teleport them to its own territory where it held Officer Corsi and Nurse Friedlander within it as hostages. It would strike at the souls of its captives with its claws and turned them into demons to fight the New Mutants. These attacks allowed it the opportunity to open a tear in space in order to strike at the unconscious Moonstar in the operating theatre. It would later turn Magma into a demonic servant until she was freed by Illyana who had Amara shoot a jet of flame that left the beast's hide on fire. This distraction was all Rasputin needed to cut down the Demon Bear with her Soulsword thus banishing it and freeing all those claimed by it. Whilst the corrupted individuals were returned as humans they were transformed into Red Indians in the process. In addition, the Lonestar's were freed from their imprisonment in the Demon Bear and revealed the truth of the creature's origins but did not know who was responsible for the occult transformation.
Old Ghosts[]
A corrupted Demon Bear manifests.
At Camp Verde, Eli Bard was noted to had arrived at the site of the tribal burial ground of the Apache where he intended to use the Techno-Organic Virus to resurrect Caliban and Thunderbird. His arrival, however, awoke the spirits of the tribe that arose to protect their charges. Despite this resistance, Bard attacked them and used Selene's demon blade to corrupt the land where the spirits became tainted and took the form of the Demon Bear. This corrupted creature whilst powerful and feral was actually in deep pain caused by the knife still stuck to its hide. Ghost Rider commented that the spirit reeked of dark magic so thick that he could not discern its true nature. When Warpath travelling to the burial site, he was ambushed by the Demon Bear and nearly killed but the travelling Ghost Rider managed to save him. Proudstar lacked the skills to truly fight the enraged spirit but the Ghost Rider taught him the arts of shamans by teaching him the Ghost Dance. Together, the pair fought the true form of the Demon Bear though still struggled to kill the beast. During the battle, the Ghost Rider managed to see the black knife stuck within the Demon Bear's fur and discerned that he was actually in pain. This led to Proudstar removing the blade and the creatures spirit form burst into white light as the native spirits returned to their pure state. These freed spirit deities later provided a vision to Proudstar showing them the history and threat posed by Eli Bard.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Demonising : through it's claws, the Demon Bear was able to attack the soul of its target and transform them into twisted demons to serve its will with these individuals being turned into Red Indians as part of the process.
- Healing Factor : though capable of being injured, it was able to heal itself in time and survive its wounds.
- Teleportation : it was capable of casting a spell allowing him to teleport between sites.
Notes[]
- Coming Soon
Trivia[]
- Coming Soon