Name

Aliases

Family Origin[]

Victoria Montesi was the apparent daughter ofVittorio Montesi, a priest assigned to work in the Occult Archives in Vatican City. The Montesi priests were given special permission to marry and have children (a papal decree by Pope Eugene III in the 12th century A.D.) due to their strong resistance to the corruption of theDarkhold, a collection of scrolls (later bound together by the church and given the moniker "The Book of Sins") penned by theElder God,Chthon.^[2] The Montesi family was instrumental in finding what came to be known as theMontesi Formula, a page in the Darkhold which could destroy all vampires.^[3]

Her father was sterile,^{[4][5][verification needed]} but judging that an heir was needed more than ever to continue the family's fight against evil, he gave in to the corruption of the Darkhold and made a bargain with Chthon for a daughter,^{[citation needed]} using aspell of fertility from the Darkhold. Instead of impregnating her mother with Vittorio Montesi's seed, Chthon used the spell to birth his own daughter into the world. Victoria consequently sensed the Darkhold pages being used, as she was one with their power.^{[4][5][verification needed]} Chthon's plan was to use her as a means to be reborn into Earth's dimension and make a mockery of her family's mission.^[6]

Early Life[]

She grew up inItaly unaware of her true nature. She rejected her father's teachings about theChurch and theDarkhold, while he in turn rejected her for being a woman and a lesbian, unfit in his eyes to carry on the Montesi name. Vicki became a doctor, but faced further discrimination for being a "mongrel" with an American mother. Assassins were sent byLilith (Mother of Demons) to kill her, for Victoria was one of the fatedNine who would oppose Lilith.

Victoria's loverNash Salvato was seriously wounded in a bomb blast meant for Victoria, leaving her paralyzed for life. After her own injuries, Vicki found she experienced visions of the Darkhold whenever its pages were being used. Realizing her father's teachings were true, she decided to oppose the Darkhold.^[7]

Darkhold Redeemers[]

Victoria formed theDarkhold Redeemers withLouise Hastings and bodyguardSam Buchanan. They were further assisted byModred the Mystic during his periods of clarity. However, they were unhappy with his self-centered goals and moments of being untrustworthy.^[8]

Victoria eventually learned the facts that she was not a Montesi, her father being sterile, and her true origin as theDaughter of Chthon.^[4][5] Worse still, when Lilith and her Lilin attacked, Victoria suddenly realized she was pregnant.Doctor Strange deduced that this was Chthon's plan all along, to be reborn on Earth. Strange placed Victoria into stasis in order to prevent her pregnancy from coming to full term.^[6]

Chthon's forces came for Victoria and brought her out of stasis. She began to deliver the baby. However, by attempting to take the form of Victoria's baby Chthon left himself vulnerable. Doctor Strange was able to stop the powerful Elder God, showing him that there was purity within even Victoria, a being made from his dark essence. The Midwife also assisted Strange as her duty to preserve life was greater than serving Chthon.^[9]

Children of the Midnight Sun[]

Now able to live a normal life, Victoria was believed to have returned to Italy. At some point Victoria joined theChildren of the Midnight Sun, an organization dedicated to opposing theDarkhold Cult. When the cult attacked a village inPunjab,India, Victoria rescued a young boy namedYuvraj Singh, who became her close friend and ally for several decades.^[10]

When she received word that theDarkhold had resurfaced and been acquired by thesymbiote-powered serial killerCarnage, who had been altered and empowered by it. Getting in touch withClaire Dixon, the FBI agent formerly in charge of the operation to capture Carnage, Victoria offered to sponsor her team's efforts.^[11] When Claire was captured by Carnage and bonded to a Darkhold-corrupted symbiote, Victoria assumed direct leadership of the team, though the other members expressed doubts over her mysterious past.^[12]

The team was soon joined byJubulile van Scotter, a young woman who assisted Kasady on her boat when she found him adrift, unaware he was a homicidal lunatic. Jubulile had also been merged to a symbiote in a failed attempt from Carnage to control her before she escaped from him.^[13] Jubulile's symbiote also caused her to share a psychic bond with Carnage.^[14]

• The Montesi family was believed to be uniquely incorruptible when faced with the Darkhold. Victoria demonstrated the additional abilities of being able to sense when spells were cast by the Darkhold,^[7] and was invisible to the N'Garai demons summoned from the book.^[17]

• However, Victoria's abilities were actually derived from her heritage as the Daughter of Chthon. Her body acted as a gateway through which Chthon's power was being channeled to the Darkhold, allowing non-mystically trained individuals to use the pages. The N'Garai ignored her because they considered her Chthonspawn as well, not because she was invisible or protected.^[4]

• Victoria Montesi bears a few similarities to subjects developed in theCthulhu Mythos:
  • Her origin is similar toWilbur Whateley who was also born of a human mother and aneldritch monster father in the taleThe Dunwich Horror.
  • Victoria being pregnant with her fatherChthon, inDoctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #61 (January, 1994), might be a reference toCthylla (created byBrian Lumley inThe Transition of Titus Crow; 1975), the daughter ofCthulhu (created byH.P. Lovecraft inThe Call of Cthulhu;Weird Tales; February, 1928), who would also give birth to her father, after his death.
• Victoria is the very first lesbian character to appear in Marvel Comics.

• Fantasy
• Sci-fi
• Marvel