The Marvel Universe might best be known for its high-flying, web-slinging superheroes, but there are just as many superpowered figures who would rather spend their time lurking in the shadows. This isn’t exactly any surprise, as the likes of Blade and Dracula have long been a part of the same world as the other Marvel mainstays. In fact, the former has become only more prominent in recent years thanks to the rise of the Vampire Nation – Vampyrsk. Unfortunately, things in Dracula’s budding nation are already off to a rocky start, and the potential return of the most perfect vampire of all time could see the Vampire Nation crumble to dust.
1993’s Nightstalkers #16 (by Frank Lovece and Bill Wylie) found the eponymous team of Blade, Frank Drake, and Hannibal King hard at work against the threat posed by Hydra’s Department of Occult Armaments. After one of the D.O.A.’s lieutenants managed to steal away some of Dracula’s own blood, the organization set out to craft its own army of unstoppable vampire soldiers. While the D.O.A. was largely unsuccessful in terms of developing an entire fighting force of Dracula clones, the specimen which made it to fruition proved to be infinitely more than they had bargained for.
Bloodstorm One was a More Powerful Vampire Than Dracula
Rather than being corralled and controlled by any of his creators, Bloodstorm One emerged only to immediately turn on the people who brought him into the world. This was primarily due to being under the monstrous vampire Varnae’s influence at the time, though there was certainly an air of retribution to Bloodstorm One’s fury. After unleashing a torrent of brutal fury on the surrounding Hydra agents with his own two hands, Bloodstorm One took up Frank Drake’s iconic Exorcist Gun to continue the slaughter before making his escape. In the battles that followed, both Varnae and Bloodstorm One were defeated, though only the latter was apparently destroyed for good.
Of course, there aren’t many superpowered figures from the Marvel Universe for whom death is the end, and Bloodstorm One isn’t likely to be one of the exceptions to that rule. Despite being created after Doctor Strange and Blade used the Montesi Formula to rid the world of vampires altogether, Bloodstorm One’s demise came before every vampire Blade had slain was resurrected by his unwitting father, Lucas Cross. This could easily provide a means by which Bloodstorm One is able to return and challenge the rule and power of Dracula himself.
Bloodstorm One Could Easily Take Over Vampyrsk
Apart from Bloodstorm One’s vampiric abilities inherited from Dracula, he was created with a proficiency for all things mechanical and technological. This doesn’t mean that he was ever any sort of genius, but it did lend him an edge over his more traditional brethren as a vampire who didn’t have any inherent struggles in regard to the modern marvels all around him. If anything, this gave him something of a killer edge over the likes of Dracula, who has long struggled to reconcile his archaic ways with the modern world. This was just another reason for Dracula to found the Vampire Nation as we know it now, as well as another reason for someone else to take it all away from him.
The Vampire Nation has already seen to be floundering in terms of its citizenry and morale, with ground-level vampires being culled at a rate that requires active recruitment on the part of Vampyrsk’s government. Even more troubling, the nation has recently been embroiled in various political and terroristic attacks, including at least one attempted assassination of its leader. So far, all of these attempts have failed, but it is only a matter of time before someone gets close enough to drive a stake through Dracula’s undead heart. Assuming Bloodstorm One is still out there, he might just be the one to do so if and when that time finally comes.
