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Quote1 Do not despair, emperor... Destiny makes slaves of us all. Quote2
Wraith[src]

History

Origins[]

Born to the Kree scientist Sim-Del and an unnamed mother, the Kree child Zak-Del led a tragic childhood. After his father invented a powerful power source that could "light the entire galaxy", his work was banned by the merchant class of the Kree Empire. Not wishing to be further deterred in his research, Sim-Del took his family to Marxhotz in the Bennazar Rift, where he used his power source to turn the barren planet into a paradise for his family. They lived there for a time until a Kree death squad, led by an unidentified man bearing a signet ring, slaughtered Sim-Del and his wife. Meanwhile, their son Zak-Del was taken by the robot servant and launched into space aboard a protective capsule in order to escape the death squads.[2]

Drifting in space, he was eventually sucked into a wormhole, emerging in the Exoteric Latitude, "the Space of the Nameless." The Nameless were a race of Kree who had, throughout the millennia, also found themselves sucked into this realm. There, their minor wounds had been infected by a race of parasites called the Exolon, who "fed on the immortal souls of living beings." Finding this young boy in their midst, the Nameless plunged a knife into Zak-Del's chest, an opening that the Exolon then exploited, turning the boy into one of the Nameless. The bonding with the Exolon granted him enhanced strength, the ability to heal from any injury, immortality, and the ability to summon the Exolon that made up the black covering of his skin to swarm. In return, the Exolon that he could control had absorbed his soul.[2]

The "estrangement" from their souls drove the Nameless mad, causing them to inflict pain upon themselves. These acts become the only things that allow them to remember who they were. The boy that would become the Wraith held onto the murder of his parents, using it to motivate him beyond merely being another one of the Nameless. Eventually, he found the leader of the Nameless and killed him, taking his Exolon poncho, weapons, and ship for himself and leaving the Exoteric Latitude.[2]

Annihilation: Conquest[]

His quest for vengeance led him back to the Kree galaxy where he ran into the Phalanx invasion. Taken aboard one of their ships, he did something that has never been done before - he made the Phalanx afraid. The Phalanx then attempted to capture him for study, but he fought them off, eventually escaping their custody.[5]

Arriving in the city of Haroun four days later, he surveyed the plight of the Kree citizens, eventually snagging a random citizen and learning of the invasion's full scope. The man convinced him to seek out the Resistance. Meeting their leader, Ra-Venn, he asked her if she knew the man he sought. She offered to tell him the man's name for his assistance against the Phalanx, but before he could answer, the Phalanx attacked the Resistance's headquarters. Buying the Resistance time to escape, Wraith was captured and brought to the Straits of Mirador.[5]

Thrown into a cell in Mirador, he was confronted by former Kree emperor, Ronan the Accuser, who had been turned into one of the Phalanx's Selects. Also meeting the Super-Skrull there, another entity the Phalanx were attempting to turn into a Select, the man learned more about the Phalanx. Ronan was eventually instructed to break the will of the nameless man. Even after a severe beating, the man refused to speak. Growing enraged, Ronan threw the man over a balcony where he was impaled upon a giant spike. Ripping himself free, the man summoned the Exolon to heal him. Ronan was stunned by this, and referred to the man as "a ghost...a wraith." Hearing this word, the man decided to take Wraith as his name and told Ronan of his origin. Angry over not being able to break him, Ronan equipped the newly-dubbed Wraith with a device that would make him into a Select.[2]

Left to be assimilated, a vision of his father awoke Wraith and reminded him of his purpose, to seek vengeance for his dead parents. Following his father's advice to find allies, Wraith escapes from his binds and wreak havoc on the Phalanx. After freeing the Super-Skrull and Praxagora, Wraith and his allies obtain their equipment and escaped the ship to find the rebel Ra-Venn. Ra-Venn then convinced Wraith that in order to find the man he sought, he'd first need to help them defeat the Phalanx.[3]

Sometime later, Wraith was sent on a mission on Kree world Rei-Uaj to capture a Phalanx scientist, brutally killing nine Kree civilians in the process. At the rebels' headquarters, Ra-Venn furiously chastised Wraith for his actions, though Wraith pointed out the Kree willingly aligned themselves with the Phalanx and are enemies by association. Wraith clarified that he was only fulfilling the deal they made and expected that she return his efforts in equal measure when finding his family's killer. Ra-Venn then informed Wraith that she researched the signet ring of the killers and explained it belonged to a secret society made up of to Kree military aristocracy that sanctioned threats to the empire, but the society had been disbanded long ago. As Wraith listened to the rebels receiving information about a large-scale attack by the Phalanx in two hours Kirvati Pass, Wraith remarked the the rebels stands no chance of beating, but the rebels decided to intercept the Phalanx fleet. Wraith, Super-Skrull, and Paraxgora was tasked to disable the super weapon before it is deployed. They breached the flagship led by Ronan and Wraith tried to use the Exolon on the Phalanx, only to discovered that they invented ways to counteract Wraith's abilities. While Super-Skull and Paraxgora fought the Phalanx, Wraith went ahead and discovered the super weapon is a Phalanx-infected Supreme Intelligence.[6]

Supreme Intelligence revealed to Wraith that invoked Sim-Del's spirit to lure Wraith to him and summoned Sim-Del in front of Wraith as proof. While Wraith was enraged that by Supreme Intelligence and Sim-Del for their ruse, Sim-Del told his son that he and his Exolon parasites were the only things that can destroy the Phalanx for good and encouraged Wraith to be a hero to the infected people. Wraith was then ambushed by Ronan and fought him off as the weapon deployed, causing the Supreme Intelligence's soul to fire. Choosing to honor his father's wishes, Wraith absorbed the Supreme Intelligence's soul into him. Wraith's actions created a intense fear backlash from the Phalanx fleet, paralyzing all ships within range and deactivating the devices that holds the Selects enslaved Select. A free and shame-ridden Ronan begged Wraith to kill him, but Wraith stated the Kree Empire needs a leader. Although Ronan attempted to provoke Wraith to kill him, Wraith easily disarmed him and told him to seek redemption. Two day later, Wraith and Ronan reunited with Ra-Venn and the rebels, but Wraith did not reveal that to anyone that he had the Supreme Intelligence's soul in him or Ronan's plea to die. However, Wraith accepted his role of a beacon of hope for the people as he kept his distance from his allies.[6]

Upon Ronan's suggestion, Wraith and their allies traveled to Kree-Lar to get help from Ravenous. When Super-Skrull voiced that Ravenous and his Annihilation Wave were likely going to kill the group since they are enemy to Ronan and the Kree, Wraith demanded Ronan to explained his plans to the rest of them, but Ronan stated he won't in order to prevented the Phalanx from probing their minds if they are capture. When Ronan told the others to trust him, Wraith remarked that their association was unavoidable due the circumstances they were forced into, expressing his dislike of the situation. As their ship entered Kree-Lar space system, they were shot down and sent flying towards the surface.[7] While the ship was destroyed, Wraith and his allies survive the crash and quickly found the Phalanx fighting against the Annihilation Wave. When group joined the fray, Super-Skrull yelled at Wraith to end the battle quickly using his Exolon like Ronan ordered. While Wraith compiled and used the Exolon to paralyzed the Phalanx, he stressed he never agreed to support Ronan, only to help him in exchange for aid in finding his parents' killer. After encountering drones of Annihilation Wave, the drones recognized Wraith as the "anathema" to the Phalanx invaders. Wraith stood silent as Ronan bargained to explained Wraith's abilities to the drones if they took them to see Ravenous.[8] Inside the palace, Wraith watched Ronan attempt to negotiated with Ravenous. When Ravenous stepped closer to the group, Ravenous was able to tell that Wraith was not a ordinary Kree and was "living, yet not alive". With Ronan's approval, Wraith summoned his Exolon parasites and quickly subdued Ravenous with his whip. Using Ravenous as a hostage to prevent the drones from attacking, Ronan revealed a secret passage underneath the throne.[9]

Together with Praxagora and Ravenous, Wraith followed Ronan into the underground chamber to find 15,000 Kree Sentries. Using the Exolon, Wraith worked with Praxagora to make the Sentries immune to the Phalanx virus and prevent them from being taken over by them.[10] After finishing making the Sentry army "Phalanx-proof", Wraith quietly observed Ronan sending the Sentries to destroyed the Phalanx and Annihilation Wave drones outside the palace and coercing Ravenous to provide a ship for the group to head to Hala with the Sentry army to end the Phalanx.[11] As they made their way to Hala, Wraith kept an eye on the Sentries to make sure the Phalanx hadn't tried to usurp control and was ordered by Ronan to armed the Sentries to they can begin their attack. However, Wraith and the others noticed that other forces were battling the Phalanx on the surface, but Ronan refused to ceased his plans to annihilated Hala with the Phalanx. Suddenly, Ultron, the leader of the Phalanx, possessed Praxagora and had her stunned Wraith, causing the Exolon to dissipated and leave the Kree Sentries vulnerable to the their enemies. Before leaving, Ultron made Praxagora exploded, but Wraith and the rest were protected by Super-Skrull's force field and headed down to the surface to confront Ultron directly. By the time they arrived, the group, Phyla-Vell and Adam Warlock fighting against a giant-size Ultron. Wraith used his Exolon parasites to trapped Ultron in his current body, preventing him to transferring to another one if was destroyed and allowing Phyla-Vell to land a killing blow. In the aftermath, Wraith worked together with Warlock and Tyros to cure the Phalanx-infected people.[12] Afterwards, Wraith continued on his journey to find the people that killed his parents.[4]

The Final Gauntlet[]

After Gamora killed Thanos, Wraith attended Starfox's meeting to hear Thanos's testament and witnessed a recording of Thanos stating that he uploaded and implanted his consciousness in a new body before his death. Wraith quietly observed Starfox explaining his plans to recruit people to hunt down Thanos' new body and the attendees debating whether to believe Thanos's word, the gathering was attacked by the Black Order. After the Black Order used Knowhere to destroyed The Sanctuary, they opened a hole in the fabric of space, causing Wraith and everyone else to be suck into it.[13] Fortunately, Wraith and many others are saved by Gladiator and the Shi'ar and were taken abroad a Shi'ar Battlecruiser. Starfox told Wraith and the other surviving warrior that they must find Gamora, who was the most likely candidate to be Thanos' new body. Wraith questioned Starfox what was to be done with the Black Order, but Starfox assured him that the Shi'ar were searching for them. This also prompted an intrigued Rider to chat with Wraith, but due to Cosmic Ghost Rider's fiery skull reminding him of the signet ring of his family's killers, Wraith told Cosmic Ghost Rider to keep his distance from him. In order to learn Gamora's location, Nebula stated that the team should track down Richard Rider.[14]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5 3 Textless

As a member of the Dark Guardians

The team was able to locate Rider and ambushed him, wounding him enough to crash land onto a planet and cornered him, demanding him to them Gamora's location. When Rider refused to cooperate, Wraith restrained him with his whip and used his Exolon to inflicted pain on him. Wraith told Rider that he respected him and does not wish true harm on him, as Wraith remember Rider during the Annihilation Wars. However, Wraith explained that he only helping Starfox because he promised to give Wraith intel on Knull, the Exolon God, so Wraith can get rid the Exolons in his body. When Wraith threaten to kill Rider, Gladiator and the others ordered him to stop being so aggressive and let him go, giving Rider the chance to escape. On Nebula's advice, the team agreed to follow Rider, hoping that he will lead them to Gamora.[15] Wraith and the others trailed Rider to Star-Lord's ship, who had already found Gamora and had her on broad. Since Star-Lord and his team refused to hand over Gamora over, the two groups quickly clashed against each other, with Wraith battling Nova. Wraith and the other members of Starfox's team quickly overwhelmed the Guardians and gravely injured Star-Lord among the chaos.[16]

Wraith and the Dark Guardians brought Gamora to Starfox. Starfox then handed Wraith intel on Knull just like he promised. Before Gamora could be killed, Hela and the Black Order appeared and subdued the Dark Guardians. Wraith chose not to fight back as he had what he wanted and no longer saw any need to help the Dark Guardians.[17]

Confrontation with Knull and Death[]

Web of Venom Wraith Vol 1 1 Textless

Searching for a means of freeing himself from the Exolon, Zak-Del used a damaged teleportation gauntlet he'd stolen from Starfox to investigate the coordinates given to him - the first of which led him to his father's lab on Marxhotz, where he regained memories relating to his father's experiment with the Light. More confused than before, he investigated the second set of coordinates, which led him to Klyntar. Feeling his Exolon drawn to the planet, Zak-Del descended to the surface, but his exploration was cut short when he had a vision of a human named Eddie Brock.[18]

Before Zak-Del could process this vision and what his Exolon was trying to tell him, Klyntar exploded when Knull awakened. Wraith confronted Knull, who was bemused by Zak-Del's accusations of stealing his soul and remarked that he didn't know what the Exolon were. Wraith's mention of the Exoteric Latitude jogged Knull's memory and the dark god revealed that the Exolon were imperfect symbiotes he'd deemed failures and discarded there eons ago. When Wraith attempted to attack him, Knull stripped him of his Exolon and kicked him into the void of space, leaving him for dead. After Knull's departure, Zak-Del was approached by the God of Light his father had been studying, which told him to find Eddie Brock. Teleporting to Earth, Zak-Del barely managed to tell Eddie that the God of Light was coming before his body disintegrated - atomized by the damaged teleporter.[18]

Personality

Quote1 I have no name. Quote2
Wraith[src]

Before losing his parents, Zak-Del presumably had a happy and peaceful childhood, living a normal life with his loving parents. However, after witnessing the murder of his family and forcefully inducted into the Nameless Kree society, Zak-Del grew up into a cold and stoic young man. While Wraith differentiated himself from the other Nameless Kree by retaining his sense of self, Zak-Del discarded his identity and saw himself as "no one", mostly taking on the name "Wraith" out of convenience and because it described his seemingly unfeeling disposition and immunity to pain.[2] Wraith is always very serious, keeping a level-head and composed demeanor, and hardly smiles, usually sporting a hard glare and a deep frown.

His dark and cold attitude also makes him very reserved and rarely speaks, often keeping his distance from other people and preferred to keep his thoughts to himself. Due having his family exiled and killed by agents of the Kree Empire, Wraith does not possessed any loyalty to his race.[7] He also holds the Nameless Kree in contempt for forcing the Exolon into his body and considered them to be "savages" due the gruesome self-inflicting pain rituals they practiced.[9] Wraith acknowledged himself as a perpetual "outsider" and can be rather secretive, such never revealing that the absorbed the Supreme Intelligence's soul inside him.[6] When he does speaks, he displayed to be very blunt and tends to speak only when necessary, and say only what absolutely needs to be said.

Due to the traumatic murder of his family, Wraith has a intense desire to avenge his parents and it was the memory their murder that pushed Wraith to not to succumbed to the Exolon's influence on his mind. His single-minded goal to find his family's killer makes him rather apathetic to everything else around him. While initially wanting nothing to do with the war with the Phalanx, Wraith agreed to help in exchanged for aid in fulfilling his revenge and it took speaking with his father's spirit to truly motivated him in helping with the war effort.[6] While his harsh, brutal demeanor and apathy make Wraith appeared somewhat sociopathic, he demonstrated to be fully capable of emotions, such as holding an immense love for his parents, and uphold a set of morals. Wraith does not pick fights needlessly, even giving a warning to any potential opponents, and never kills unless for a good reason or related to his mission.[5] The only instants that Wraith showed strong emotions were related to his parents, such being slightly shaken seeing a thug hurting a woman, which reminded Wraith of his mother getting killed and prompted him to help her, or becoming furious at the Supreme Intelligence and his father's spirit for manipulating him.[5][6]

Attributes

Power Grid[27]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Experienced Fighter:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Regenerative:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Kree Physiology: As member of the Kree, Wraith possesses powers common of the Kree race, including superhumanoid strength and durability.

Abilities

Weapons Proficiency: With his polymorphic weapon, Wraith was shown to be skilled in wielding many types of weapons and often skillfully changing and using his weapon in the midst of battles. Wraith seems to strongly prefer using guns, blades, and a whip in battle.[5]

Expert Combatant: Wraith has no formal training, but is an experienced armed and unarmed combatant. However, Wraith favors using weapons and his Exolon to fight.[20]

Indomitable Will: Wraith has a very strong will and is able to retain his sense of self and memories through sheer force of will. As a result, Wraith doesn't lose his sense of time or sentience, unlike the rest of the Nameless Kree.[2]

Pain Threshold: Wraith can withstand immense amounts of pain, and demonstrates this by not screaming or making any form of negative reaction to pain itself. The likeliest reason for his unnaturally high tolerance to pain could have derived from the nature of the Nameless' rituals of inflicting pain on themselves in order to remember their past lives. As a result, Wraith could withstand days of torture at the Phalanx's hands.[2]

Additional Attributes

Sanity: It is possible that the "estrangement" of his soul during the bonding with the Exolon, could have driven him mad just like it had with the Nameless.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Eros' teleportation gauntlet.

Weapons

Transportation

Wraith used an ancient Kree spaceship styled like a giant motorcycle with laser cannons that he could mentally control. It is unclear if the ship protects the rider in the rigors of space or if a non-Nameless Kree can operate it.[5]

Notes

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 King in Black Handbook #1
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #2
  3. 3.0 3.1 Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #3
  4. 4.0 4.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #4
  7. 7.0 7.1 Annihilation: Conquest #1
  8. Annihilation: Conquest #2
  9. 9.0 9.1 Annihilation: Conquest #3
  10. 10.0 10.1 Annihilation: Conquest #4
  11. Annihilation: Conquest #5
  12. Annihilation: Conquest #6
  13. Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #1
  14. Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #2
  15. Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #3
  16. Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #4
  17. Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 5) #5
  18. 18.0 18.1 Web of Venom: Wraith #1
  19. Annihilation #6
  20. 20.0 20.1 Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #12
  21. 21.0 21.1 Marvel Art of Marko Djurdjevic ; Character Concepts - Wraith
  22. Cates, Donny (December 26, 2018) WRAITH Twitter. Retrieved on July 25, 2020.
  23. Forsythe, Dana (February 12, 2020) Venom Master Donny Cates Previews Eddie Brock's Future, Wraith, and... the Return of the Ultimate Universe? SYFY WIRE. Retrieved on July 25, 2020.
  24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bQX4rWjpHk&t=28s&app=desktop
  25. Haas, Pete (July 30, 2014) Minecraft Xbox 360 Receives Guardians Of The Galaxy Skin Pack This Week CinemaBlend. Retrieved on July 25, 2020.
  26. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1
  27. King in Black Handbook Vol 1 1
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