History
Origin[]
Having grown bored with the mundanity of suffering, Mephisto created Bagra-ghul with the sole purpose of making art out of punishment and death by killing and erecting bloody monuments to honor him. When a pair of occultists wished to conceive a child to serve as a vessel for Mephisto, he grafted Bagra-ghul onto their unborn child. When the child, Bram Straub, was born, Bagra-ghul possessed him into killing his parents and the hospital staff, and erected his first monument to Mephisto from their corpses.[1]
Bram was placed in a New York orphanage but was bounced between foster homes and repeatedly returned due to his murder sprees and continuation of Bagra-ghul's rituals with his victims. Although Bram was never implicated, his link to the murders gave him bad reputation and many social workers refused to work with him until Ada Flores took his case. Believing that he was a mutant, Flores took Bram to the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but Bagra-ghul's presence was picked up by Wolverine and Professor X, who told them to leave the premises. Devastated about being returned back to the orphanage again, Bram killed the other orphans before constructing another monument with their corpses, and returned back to the X-Mansion, where he had Bagra-ghul possess a bear into attacking the X-Men until he was driven away by Wolverine. Wolverine gave chase but encountered Ghost Rider, who had also been alerted by Bagra-ghul's demonic presence; the two mistook each other the demon and briefly fought while Bram escaped from them before getting picked up on the road by Ada.[2][3]
Feeling sympathetic for the boy's plight, Ada secretly raised Bram as her own and helped him state his bloodlust by having him target the homeless, addicts, runaways and terminally ill people for his rituals, using her status as a social worker to gain access to victims. This continued for years until Bram reached adulthood and was approached by Father Pike to join the Hellfire Program, which would give him more access to victims. Although Bram refused, Bagra-ghul accepted and against Bram's wishes, he killed Ada for another ritual to prove himself to Father Pike.[2][1]
Weapons of Vengeance[]
During the Fall of X, Father Pike had Bram hunt down mutants to kill for Bagra-ghul's rituals. The carnage left in their wake caught Wolverine's and Ghost Rider's attention and the two teamed up to put an end to the murders.[1] The two tracked Bram's activities to the Hellfire Program's base in Utah, but were captured and had Weapon Plus helmets attached onto them by Pike. As it turned out, Pike had Bram carry out the mutant killings to bait Wolverine, whom Pike wanted to use as Bagra-Ghul's host as Bram wanted to be free of him. Through a satanic ritual, Pike transferred Bagra-Ghul onto Wolverine, turning him into Hellverine and forced him to continue carrying out more mutant slayings.[3]
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Bagra-ghul while possessing Bram Straub
Under Pike's programming, Hellverine took Ghost Rider's Hell Cycle to embark on his killing spree. He killed a mutant couple with his Hellfire claws and erected a monument from their corpses but stopped short of killing their infant child and began resisting Pike. Pike then directed Hellverine to destroy nearby mutant enclave. Hellverine started resisting again when Jeff Bannister destroyed one of Pike's computers just as Pike teleported himself and Bram to reclaim Bagara-ghul, as Bram felt empty without him. Bram pleaded with Bagra-Ghul to return to him and just as Pike was transferring Bagra-Ghul from Hellverine to Bram, Ghost Rider, who had been freed by Bannister and Talia Warroad, attempted to interrupt the transfer to finish his and Wolverine's mission to exorcise Bagara-ghul. During their fight, Bagara-ghul spoke through Hellverine and threatened to kill him to appease Mephisto before subduing him with his own Hellfire chains. Pike attempted to transfer the demon again but Hellverine used the last of Bagra-Ghul's power to kill him; Bram quickly reclaimed Bagra-Ghul and attempted to kill Wolverine but Ghost Rider was able to free himself and hit Bram and Bagra-Ghul with a Penance Stare, trapping them both in a stone structure that resembled one of their monuments.[1]