'Blood Hunt,' Marvel Comics' Next Crossover Event, Revealed

[MichaelC]

Which is exactly the deal of vampires in the Marvel Universe? Are they humans with a weird disease, like Marvel Zombies, or a new species, like mutants? Is there a difference between "boss" vampires like Dracula and the average guy that the horde of vampires bite and turn into a vampire? Are they magical or biological?

They are magical beings. They have the powers of weather-control(Dracula has summoned a hurricane so potent it erased an entire city), shapeshifting(including into an intangible, nigh invulnerable mistform), hypnotism, control over swarms of predators and vermin(no small ability in places like New York with its huge rat population), incredibly fast regenerative abilities, superhuman strength and superhuman speed.

[Frontier]

They are magical beings. They have the powers of weather-control(Dracula has summoned a hurricane so potent it erased an entire city), shapeshifting(including into an intangible, nigh invulnerable mistform), hypnotism, control over swarms of predators and vermin(no small ability in places like New York with its huge rat population), incredibly fast regenerative abilities, superhuman strength and superhuman speed.

Very inconsistent magic powers.

[Huntsman Spider]

Which is exactly the deal of vampires in the Marvel Universe? Are they humans with a weird disease, like Marvel Zombies, or a new species, like mutants? Is there a difference between "boss" vampires like Dracula and the average guy that the horde of vampires bite and turn into a vampire? Are they magical or biological?

They are magical beings. They have the powers of weather-control(Dracula has summoned a hurricane so potent it erased an entire city), shapeshifting(including into an intangible, nigh invulnerable mistform), hypnotism, control over swarms of predators and vermin(no small ability in places like New York with its huge rat population), incredibly fast regenerative abilities, superhuman strength and superhuman speed.

Very inconsistent magic powers.

All of this, plus the tidbit that most "boss" vampires tend to be longer-lived --- as in centuries instead of decades --- and since vampires in pretty much every take get stronger with age, the "boss" vampires are the ones who lasted long enough to unlock more potent aspects of their vampirism. The ones who go down in droves to skilled vampire hunters tend to be on the younger side, relatively speaking, and thus much weaker compared to the "boss" vampires. In a superhero universe like Marvel's, they're rather underpowered in comparison, though with Blood Hunt, the hierarchy of power --- to quote Dwayne Johnson when hyping Black Adam --- has clearly changed.

[kcekada]

They are magical beings. They have the powers of weather-control(Dracula has summoned a hurricane so potent it erased an entire city), shapeshifting(including into an intangible, nigh invulnerable mistform), hypnotism, control over swarms of predators and vermin(no small ability in places like New York with its huge rat population), incredibly fast regenerative abilities, superhuman strength and superhuman speed.

Most vampires don't have the upper-level abilities to control weather, predators and vermin. I recall an old issue of the Tomb of Dracula magazine where there where a group of his followers didn't seem to have any special abilities -- not sure about the transformation power. The level of abilities vary -- and some are just basically the same as they were when alive -- except that they'll live forever as long as they avoid sunlight and are sustained by blood. Probably has something to do with the vampire who bit them -- and their station in life -- intelligence, will power, etc.

[Wildling]

Very inconsistent magic powers.

A part I liked from a recent vampire movie, Abigail (which might as well have been called Dracula's Daughter), where the titular character is the kidnapped child ballerina daughter of an underground millionaire where both turn out to be centuries old vampires, is that she said, when schooling a recently turned vampire, the good vampire tricks, like mindcontrolling other turned vampires, take time to be learned.

I see Huntsman Spider already brought up more or less the same point.

[Tracks]

Great video explaining how marvel vampires work: https://youtu.be/6idhO_aPLQQ?si=vnBcMRFHOeuXnzQw

[Devaishwarya]

Those covers for Blood Hunt 04 are FIYAH!!!

[Tracks]

Avengers got their get back

[Rzerox21xx]

Avengers got their get back

yeah they sure did, the Blood Coven had to retreat. I was expecting what happened to Miles being vamped too in the end since he met up with Blade before the Avengers trap in issue 1. Noticed the difference of the Red brand and the normal with the Mom and 2 kids fate. Red band, Mom gets killed and eaten by vamps but kids get saved by Bloodline. normal. Mom and 2 kids get all saved by Bloodline. also Strange body being possessed on how it look. Also its even more clear as the Coven mention that Blade is a vassal that he's possessed by most likely Varnea.

[Tracks]

Yea, Jed is laying that on heavy. Blade's mentioned Atlantis in nearly every interaction he's had

[Frontier]

Figures in an event with a brainwashed Blade as the Big Bad his newfound daughter would also have a major role...teaming-up with his Archenemy who just recently mentored him. Comics, amirite?

Has Miles really not been to the Sanctum Sanctorum before? Though I guess he's been possessed by vampires, so...but I like how he tried to connect with Hunter's Moon as a kind of legacy character like he is.

I love how much Tigra we're getting in this event.

The Avengers win the rematch! And Carol gets a big "bring the sun back" moment, which was cool.

[scribbleMind]

Felt like a lull to me. The Avengers beat all the new villains, which is realistic given their experience, but also completely stripped these villains of any agency for me, and we're only on the second issue. They still look cool, but now...ehhh. The rest was, "Let's all go to Strange's house."

A set-up issue is a set-up issue, and that's fine, but I feel unless this is a four-issue event issue two should still be raising the stakes, not diminishing the stakes they just set in issue 1.

[Tracks]

Figures in an event with a brainwashed Blade as the Big Bad his newfound daughter would also have a major role...teaming-up with his Archenemy who just recently mentored him. Comics, amirite?

Has Miles really not been to the Sanctum Sanctorum before? Though I guess he's been possessed by vampires, so...but I like how he tried to connect with Hunter's Moon as a kind of legacy character like he is.

I love how much Tigra we're getting in this event.

The Avengers win the rematch! And Carol gets a big "bring the sun back" moment, which was cool.

Yea there was a mini arc in his book where he fought a vampire with Bloodline. It was her first appearance outside of her own mini series.

[Tracks]

Felt like a lull to me. The Avengers beat all the new villains, which is realistic given their experience, but also completely stripped these villains of any agency for me, and we're only on the second issue. They still look cool, but now...ehhh. The rest was, "Let's all go to Strange's house."

A set-up issue is a set-up issue, and that's fine, but I feel unless this is a four-issue event issue two should still be raising the stakes, not diminishing the stakes they just set in issue 1.

I kinda felt the same, especially after reading all the tie-ins. Felt a bit like all of the action between issue one and two was in the tie-ins. (Blade fighting Clea to escape, Dracula finding Bloodline). A lot of the tie-ins are completely unrelated though. Just other vampire stories going on.

[Tien Long]

Felt like a lull to me. The Avengers beat all the new villains, which is realistic given their experience, but also completely stripped these villains of any agency for me, and we're only on the second issue. They still look cool, but now...ehhh. The rest was, "Let's all go to Strange's house."

A set-up issue is a set-up issue, and that's fine, but I feel unless this is a four-issue event issue two should still be raising the stakes, not diminishing the stakes they just set in issue 1.

I'm of mixed feelings concerning this issue. I lean more towards the positive (which I'll get to later) but I'll get to the concerns, primarily what you just mentioned. Initially, I was surprised at how easily the remaining Avengers were able to beat the Bloodcoven. The member who could control minds was eliminated fairly quickly. Iron Man pulled off some new tricks with oscillating magnetic fields. Vision amped up with solar energy. Captain Marvel cut through the darkness with her powers.

Part of me felt deja vu because this was basically how the Avengers beat the Ashen Combine in McKay's early story run. They are seemingly on the ropes, but somehow (and suddenly) pull out new powers or think of new strategies to beat their seemingly strange and badass foes.

Moreover, there were other instances that gave me pause. How can Vision lift someone in his arms? When in flight, he's supposed to be intangible, right? Can Vision fly through the darkness? Can Carol's energy blasts cut through the darkness? Isn't this darkness supposed to be infinite or something? I remember when Monica Rambeau was trapped in the Dark Dimension and expelled her light only to be consumed by the dark again. Did I read something wrong? And oh yeah, how could Dracula withstand direct sunlight?!

BUT

Thinking it over, y'know, I like McKay always showing the Avengers getting their asses kick, but coming back to kick ass. They're underdogs, yes. But adaptive underdogs who are quite powerful when you think about it. Them drawing that line in the sand against the weird, mysterious, and scary Bloodcoven shows the experience of the Avengers. It reminds me of the team fighting in Kree-Skrull Wars, against Korvac, against Ultron, and countless other battles. And a quick search shows that Dracula drank some of Wolverine's blood which gave him regenerative powers that allow him to withstand the sun. Okay, that makes sense.

So, the Avengers are powerful and crafty. However, that reveal at the end shows that Blade (who is probably possessed by Varnae, it's an open secret right about now), has to be crafty too.

So, the issue was mixed, but leaned more towards the positive.