Spawn of the Witch Queen (Earth-616)

The man who was known as the "Spawn of the Witch Queen" was the son of a powerful sorceress, the Witch Queen of Egypt, who studied black magic in Egypt, honing her powers with the Book of Thoth. When she died, she was mummified and placed in a tomb. Seeking to be resurrected, the Witch Queen had her son mummified as well and placed in the same tomb with instructions on how to resurrect the boy. The temple was lost to the sands of time until the 20th century. On August 5, 1924 an explorer named Thornton and his colleagues uncovered the tomb and found the Spawn's body. Following the instructions, they performed the resurrection ceremony and left the tomb. They returned again on August 12 of that year to find that the mummy had been revived as a live boy. Thornton took the boy home and christened him Lawrence Thornton and raised him as his own for the next 17 years. They returned to the tomb again in 1941, where "Lawrence" murdered his adopted father and his crew and left them in the tomb so that he could complete his mother's resurrection.

By this point Thornton was a captain in the British military and in 1942 he returned along with a join team of America and British soldiers. Recovering the Book of Thoth, he began translating it to English until an American colonel found his translations forcing Thornton to murder him. The murder gained the attention of Captain America and Bucky who began investigating the killing. Their investigation took them to the temple where they found the Spawn's old tomb with the bodies of the dead explorers and their diary. Conjuring up an spirit form of himself in his mummified form, the Spawn warned Cap and Bucky to turn away and leave. However the two heroes were not frightened and continued on. Confronting the Spawn (unable to recognize him as "Thornton" due to his costume) and his Cult of Black Magic, the Spawn had the two heroes gassed and bound up in mummy shrouds. Cap revived first and broke free and took Bucky to safety. By this point, Thornton -- along with fellow cult member Barbec, who was secretly part of British intelligence -- were there to take the boy into their care. But, when Captain America returned to the temple, both men abandoned the boy.

Resuming his costumed guise, the Spawn then attempted to hang Captain America, but he was rescued shortly thereafter by a recently revived Bucky. When the two heroes confronted the Spawn in his mother's tomb, he unleashed a crocodile onto them. However, Barbec shot the creature dead giving Captain America time enough to grab the Book of Thoth and toss it into a fire, destroying it. Confronting the Spawn, Captain America managed to kill him with a single punch, and the Spawn once more reverted to his mummified form. With the book destroyed and the Spawn dead, the temple began to crumble and only Captain America and Bucky made it out alive.^[1]

Attributes

Powers

Either through his own power or with the aid of the Book of Thoth, the Spawn of the Witch Queen appeared to have mystical powers. The exact extent is unknown as the only ability he displayed was the ability to create an illusion of himself in his mummified form. It would also seem that he could magically alter his appearance as he appeared to be an middle aged Caucasian male when he was of Egyptian nationality and likely had the physical appearance of someone in their late 20s.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

The Spawn had the Book of Thoth, a powerful and ancient book of magic.

Weapons

The Spawn used knock out gas and also had a crocodile that followed his commands.

Links and References

References

↑ Captain America Comics #20

[Captain_America_Comics_Vol_1_20-1] Captain America Comics #20

[1]

Spawn of the Witch Queen (Earth-616)

Contents

History