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Demon Bear (Earth-616)

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History

As a child, Danielle Moonstar's emerging psionic powers granted her a vision that appeared to show the deaths of her parents William and Peg at the hands of a bear. A week later, the vision apparently came true when Dani's parents went on a hunting trip and never returned.[1]

Years later, in the early days of her enrolment at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Dani experienced what she thought was a nightmare of the bear that had killed her parents, come to kill her as well. In her dream, she lashed out at the beast, stabbing it with her knife, but when she awoke, she discovered the blade by her bed, streaked with the bear's blood. Dani initially assumed that the experience was the product of a psychic attack carried out by Professor Xavier while he was possessed by the Brood Queen;[2] she would later endure a similar experience when Microverse tyrant Baron Karza turned her powers back on her, causing her to see another vision of the bear. [3] But in time, it transpired that the bear was a real being, who continued to haunt Dani's dreams—a fact she kept a secret from her team, the New Mutants.[4]

After the Demon Bear appeared to Dani once more, threatening that it would soon come for her,[4] she began running various Danger Room scenarios to prepare for the coming battle. This preparation gave Moonstar the confidence to confront the demon, and sp she called out to it to finally come and face her. In the following battle, she appeared to slay the beast, but as she approached its fallen body, the bear sprang back to life and mauled her, severely damaging her spine.[5] The New Mutants subsequently rushed the wounded Dani to the Mid-County Medical Center, but the bear pursued, infiltrating the hospital, planning to finish the job and possess Danielle's soul. [6] The beast transported the team to a mystical dimension named the Badlands, where they fought both it, and its minions: nurse Sharon Friedlander and Officer Tom Corsi, who had been possessed and transformed by the bear's power into demonic Native American warriors. The bear was ultimately defeated by Magik, who used her magical Soulsword to cleave its body in two. Friedlander and Corsi were freed from the bear's influence, while the two halves of the creature's dead body transformed into Dani parents, William and Peg, revealing that they had not been killed all those years ago. In actuality, they had been enslaved and transformed into the bear[7] by the evil Native American spirit known only as the Adversary.[8]

Another Demon Bear appeared after Eli Bard desecrated the corpses of Warpath's apache tribe with a dagger full of black magic. It attacked Warpath when he went to his brother's grave, but was saved by Ghost Rider. With Ghost Rider's help, Warpath was able to exorcise the Demon Bear.[9]

Another Demon Bear appeared after it was accidentally awoken by experiments conducted by Peter Parker and his partner Crystal Catawnee.[10] Its heart which took the form of a rock carved with symbols appeared to Peter, causing him to be afflicted with vivid nightmares. When Peter and Crystal activated their frequency machine, the Demon Bear appeared to Peter in the mystical plane and explained to him that the Dream Dimension had been poisoned as a result of their experiments. It told Peter that he could fix this by finding a maze, but he had only three days to do it as the Demon Bear planned to kill him.[11]

Once his time was up, the Demon Bear intercepted Peter and his friends in Joshua Tree where it proceeded to attack him.[12] Crystal was able to break out from the Demon Bear's reality freeze, and came to Spider-Man's side. They escaped the Demon Bear and its forces to the Dream Dimension where Spider-Man fought nightmares of various heroes, before finally finding the maze within the rock. He was then forced to the monstrous manifestation of his spider essence, and upon destroying Crystal was bestowed with powers similar to him. The Demon Bear again appeared before them, but this the duo knew what had to do. They went back to their lab where Crystal worked to reverse the frequency pattern in order to banish the Demon Bear, while Spider-Man fought it to keep it busy. This attempt was successful, and the Demon Bear was vanquished, fixing both the dream and real worlds.[13]

Attributes

Powers

Draws power from negative human emotion; teleportation, immense strength, transformation; corruption of human souls.

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Teleportation

Notes

  • The Adversary was not credited in-story as the evil force responsible for turning William and Peg Lonestar into the Demon Bear, with only a nameless "master" being blamed. A few months after the end of the story, the letters page of New Mutants #24 identified this evil being as the same one that appeared in Uncanny X-Men #188, which would later be named "The Adversary" in Uncanny X-Men #220.

See Also

Links and References

References

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