Merge:Wendigo

The Wendigo is the result of an ancient curse laid down by Elder Gods of Canadian folklore that transforms any person who eats the flesh of another human being in the Canadian wilderness into a massive, fur-covered humanoid beast.

In the first modern documented case of the Wendigo, three Canadians, Paul Cartier, Georges Baptiste and Henri Cluzot, were hunting in the Canadian North Woods when wolves attacked them. Cluzot was mortally wounded, and his friends took him inside a cave for shelter. As the man began to starve, Cluzot died. Cartier, on the verge of insanity, resorted to eating the dead man's flesh. In doing so, he fell victim to the curse that transformed him into the Wendigo. Ultimately, Baptiste and Cartier's sister Marie attempted to transfer the curse to the Hulk, with whom Cartier had clashed several times as the Wendigo. Marie transquilized the Hulk, then summoned the Wendigo. But before she could begin the necessary ritual, the Hulk awoke and attacked the Wendigo. In midst of their battle, they were confronted by Wolverine, who had been sent vy the Canadian government to subdue the Hulk.

Wolverine and the Hulk together took down Wendigo, but fought each other as Marie prepared the Wendigo for the transferral process. She then gassed the two combatants, reverting the Hulk to his human form of Dr. Bruce Banner. Seeing Banner, Baptise lost all resolve to help Marie transfer the curse to the Hulk. Marie tried to move Banner, but he reverted back to the Hulk and renewed his fight with Wolverine. Unseen, Baptise snuck into the cave in which the Wendigo lay and completed the ritual, which transferred the curse from Cartier to himself, transforming him into the Wendigo.

The Wendigo was next seen attacking campers around Hudson Bay. Aided by Wolverine and Nightcrawler, Alpha Flight narrowly defeated the Wendigo. Shaman cast a spell that removed the curse, freeing Baptiste. In its most recent incarnation, the Wendigo attacked Wolverine and the medieval French cannibal Mauvais as the pair did battle in Canada. After feasting on the Wendigo's heart, Mauvais transferred the curse onto himself. He was confronted by Wolverine and Alpha Flight, and ultimately defeated by the Elder Gods of the North, who trapped him in the dimension of the ancient Great Beasts.(Galactus)