| Nightmare | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Strange Tales #110 (July 1963)[1] |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Demon |
| Team affiliations | The Fear Lords |
| Abilities |
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Nightmare is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. He first appeared inStrange Tales #110 and was created byStan Lee andSteve Ditko.[2] The character is depicted most commonly as a major enemy ofDoctor Strange andGhost Rider.[3] Nightmare is the ruler of a Dream Dimension and he is one of the Fear Lords. He is also part of the group called The Six Fingered Hand. He can drain the psychic energies from the subconscious minds of dreaming beings.
Nightmare first appeared inStrange Tales #110 (the first appearance of his enemy, Dr. Strange) and was created byStan Lee andSteve Ditko.
Nightmare is the evil ruler of the "Dream Dimension", where tormented humans are brought during their sleep. He roams this realm on his demonic black horned horse, Dreamstalker. In physical form, he appears as a chalk-white man with wild green hair, a green suit, and a ragged cape. He was the first foe met byDoctor Strange when a man who was having troubling dreams went to Strange for help, though it turned out to be repressed guilt for an act ofmurder. Nightmare then traps Strange in his realm and tries to feed on his power. However, Strange escapes the Dream Dimension after tricking Nightmare with an illusion of his enemies.[4]
Nightmare is a demon from the dimension "Everinnye", like his "cousin", theDweller-in-Darkness. Despite his villainy, Nightmare is a necessary part of human existence; without him to regulatefear through dreaming, humans would slowly be driven insane. At one point, Strange was forced to aid his enemy to prevent the latter's death from an inability to create new dreams.[5] Nightmare has encounteredSpider-Man,Captain America,Ghost Rider,Dazzler,Wolverine, theHulk, andSquirrel Girl on different occasions.
Nightmare also served underShuma-Gorath and warned Strange that the demon would be a force that even the Sorcerer Supreme would have trouble defeating, and he once joinedthe Fear Lords, a group of supernatural creatures who fed on fear, to attack Dr. Strange together. Their plans were undone whenD'Spayre tricks him into competing with the Dweller-in-Darkness over who could frighten humanity more; recognizing that this would only allow D'Spayre to surpass them both in power, the two entities called a truce.[6]
Nightmare is the father of theDreamqueen, a similar being who rules her own "dream dimension". She was conceived when Nightmare impregnated a succubus named Zhilla Char.[7]
Nightmare's realm is not part of the Mindscape, but theSleepwalkers are aware of him and consider him an enemy. Because Sleepwalkers do not have to sleep, Nightmare has never been able to affect or dominate them. He sought to do this through the hero Sleepwalker, who had been connected into the brain of the human Rick Sheridan. Nightmare sent Sleepwalker back to his own realm, with a monitor to assure the hero Rick was not being tormented. Rick was being tormented, with the intent of driving Sleepwalker mad and thus giving Nightmare access to the minds of Sleepwalker's people. The hero was not fooled and sacrificed his return home to stop Nightmare.[8]
Later, Nightmare was able to access human minds through the concept of the 'American dream'. Many people who were deeply patriotic or had achieved a degree of success through hard work were going on violent rampages. Nightmare was soon stopped by the combined forces of Captain America,Sharon Carter, andS.H.I.E.L.D.[9]
In theTempest Fugit storyline ofThe Incredible Hulk, it is revealed that Nightmare has been plaguing the Hulk for years with hallucinations, misdirections, and manipulations of reality, by empowering himself.[10] His second, more benevolent, daughter Daydream is also introduced in this story arc. Nightmare here claimed that this daughter was conceived by forcibly entering the mind of the Hulk's late wife,Betty Ross, raping her in her sleep, and is temporarily killed by the Hulk in retaliation.[10]
When Hercules and theGod Squad needs to make their way to theSkrull gods' realm during theSecret Invasion storyline, they require a map of theDreamtime, and barter with Nightmare for it. Nightmare agrees, in exchange for access to the fears of the five gods; however, he actually intends to use these divine fears to conquer the world. Hercules and the others escape his realm, having stolen the map via trickery as Mikaboshi had created a shadow duplicate of himself to fool Nightmare. Nightmare summons up an army of monsters to attack them, but they escape.[11]
Nightmare later attempts to revenge himself on Hercules by manipulating the supervillainArcade into trapping Hercules andDeadpool in a labyrinth they constructed. The ploy fails, and Nightmare withdraws.[12]
He later plots to conquer the entirety of fiction, adding it to his realm of nightmares, but was defeated by theFantastic Four.[13]
In "Dark Reign", it was revealed thatTrauma is Nightmare's son and inherited his powers.[14] He later manifests on Earth and battles the Avengers Resistance and the Initiative.[15]
During theChaos War storyline,Amatsu-Mikaboshi (now adopting the title of Chaos King) has amassed an army of alien slave gods and is attempting to destroy absolutely everything and become the only being in the Universe once more. He travels to Nightmare's realm while they are trying to torment Hercules with visions of Amatsu-Mikaboshi and quickly defeats the demon. Nightmare attempts to join Amatsu-Mikaboshi's forces, but he is not tricked by his begging and kills him.[16]
WhenSerpent, the Asgardian god of fear, is released from his prison and launched the Serpent War,Mephisto goes to The Infinite Embassy to learn what the other gods plan on doing about the Serpent, he visits several gods and locations, his last stop being Nightmare's chamber. Still unclear how Nightmare survived the Chaos King, Nightmare explains to Mephisto that the Serpent is starving him by taking all the fear. Nightmare wants to fight the Serpent, but Mephisto talks him out of it, citing that he will lose all respect from the other evil gods. Then, when Nightmare talks of joining the Serpent, Mephisto argues against it, claiming that the Serpent will keep starving him and he will die. Nightmare, unsure of what to do, listens to Mephisto when he advises for him to do what everyone else is doing: stay neutral, and wait for something else to happen.
Nightmare was later seen tormenting Loki as part of a plan to garner greater powers inThe Terrorism Myth storyline. However he was unable to use Loki's own nightmares against him and Loki challenged him to a duel to the death, where the loser would give up their immortality, to which Nightmare accepted. Loki beat Nightmare and killed him.[17]
Following the death of Doctor Strange, several mystical threats were able to freely move into position to try and doom the world of man, including Nightmare, who quickly finds himself in New York where he confrontsCyclops,Jean Grey andX-23 during their sleep. However, Jean managed to break free from the nightmares and confronting Nightmare on equal footing is able to call out Nightmare for his attempts to feed on the minds of others.
Nightmare is a virtually omnipotent entity who rules the Dream Dimension and can draw power from psychic energy in subconscious minds. As long as there are beings thatdream, Nightmare will exist.[18]
An alternate universe variant of Nightmare from Earth-1610 appears inUltimate Marvel.[19][20]
Nightmare appears inHulk: Where Monsters Dwell, voiced by Matthew Waterson.[22]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)| Sorcerer Supremes | |||||||
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