Shroud (Marvel)

Latest revision as of 04:09, 9 July 2024

The Shroud is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Maximillian Quincy Coleridge was a male human born as the son of Quincy III and Julia Rose. His father Quincy ran the family business of importing items from the Far East, something Max's grandfather Quincy Jr. and great-grandfather Quincy Sr. had done. Max was raised in the family estate, Coleridge House, which had been in business for over 100 years, and which contained the artifacts of nearly 200 years of exploring and acquiring. In front of a sign reading Coleridge Explorers & Importers, Est. 1813, Quincy gave Max a lecture about the family business. Quincy hoped Max would take over one day. (Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #14)

He was only 10 years old when his parents were gunned down right before his eyes. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #7) Quincy and Julia were badly wounded where they were rushed home with Matt. Quincy had promised Matt they would both be okay, but he and Julia soon died from their wounds. Justin was there remembering how life had gone on after Max's grandfather Quincy Coleridge II had died. Max later came to attend the funeral for his parents. (Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #14) This led to him deciding to dedicate his life to fighting crime. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #7) The family attorney, Justin Meagher, took over Max's upbringing. Justin pressured Max to do well in his studies so that he could one day run the family business from the same chair in the same study that his father and ancestors had always used to do, but Max felt intimidated by the chair and what it represented. (Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #14)

As he grew up, Max became an expert in criminology as well as a master scientist, and he trained his body to peak athletic perfection. As he watched the world fill with super-heroes, Max grew determined to become the same. He received a Bachelor of Science in Law at college. Upon graduation from college, he joined the mysterious temple called the Cult of Kali, where he studied various styles of martial arts. After seven years of intense training, he graduated from that temple. During the celebration ceremony, he was branded with the 'Kiss of Kali' that was a red-hot iron. Following a period of intense pain and hospitalization, he realized that his eyesight had been replaced by a mystic extrasensory perception. Traveling back to the United States, he adopted the masked identity of the Shroud. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #7)

Shroud

As the Shroud, he encountered the Human Torch when he spied on the superhero. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #5)

Shroud flew a specially equipped plane to Latveria, following the Fantastic Four. He arrived there in four hours, then hid his plane. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #8) Within Doom's castle, Shroud watched Doom ally with an American diplomat, Henry Kissinger, who then ordered the Fantastic Four not to act against Doom. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #6) The Shroud approached Namor, explaining his origins to the sea-king before telling him of his plans to defeat Doom. Shroud found Doom tormenting the civilian Gretchen, so he attacked Doom, using his cloak to defend from Doom's blasts then tossing a bomb-a-rang at Doom, though the villain evaded it. Shroud then used his paralysing Parallo-Mist and a Titanium net to ensnare Doom, but Doom swiftly broke free only to discover a magnesium bomb on his chest plate. Ripping the plate free, Doom was then accosted by wolves and hounds and knocked off a cliff. Believing Doom dead, Shroud kissed Gretchen, then he went back to get Namor, boasting of his victory. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #7) Shroud got Namor back to water, but Namor complained he'd still been poisoned and only had a day to live. Shroud promised to get the hero back to New York to find a cure, but the Latverian peasants had discovered Shroud's plane and were destroying it. A guard dog attacked Shroud and Namor, and the two fled from the mob of peasants, crossing a narrow bridge to safety, then crashing it behind them. They soon came upon a circus tent and discovered the Circus of Crime inside. Namor asked Ringmaster for help, but the villain refused, and sent the Great Gambonnos, the Human Cannonball, and the elephant-riding Rajah against Namor and Shroud. After Namor overwhelmed the circus, the villains let Namor and Shroud hide among them, with Shroud disguised as a roustabout. They soon went to perform for Doctor Doom himself and Shroud was shocked the man was still alive. Namor accused Shroud of lying, and Shroud punched Namor down, then Doom's soldiers closed in. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #8) Doctor Doom let the Circus of Crime leave after learning the true identities of Namor and Shroud. Doom administered the antidote to the Sub-Mariner then revealed that he was really Prince Rudolfo, disguised as Doom and prepared to lead a rebel force to take over Latveria. Shroud chose to team up with Rudolfo, but Sub-Mariner flew away, refusing to be involved. Shroud put on his costume and prepared for revolution. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #9) With Prince Rudolfo, Shroud stormed Doom's castle, fighting off the guards, with Shroud using a bomb-arang against some. They found the Red Skull sitting on the throne, and the Skull seemingly shot Rudolfo dead. Skull told Shroud that Doctor Doom was still alive and on his way back to Latveria. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #10)

Shroud sparred with Red Skull until one of his henchmen hit Shroud in the head with a wrench. Red Skull showed Shroud on a video monitor that Doctor Doom was alive and with Captain America aboard a ship. As Shroud cried out, Red Skull fired at the ship, then he boasted about his world domination plans. Namor returned to confront the Red Skull, but Shroud inspired Namor to remember his heroism. Soon, Captain America and Doctor Doom joined the fight against Red Skull, and Shroud leapt into the fight, first fighting the Skull and then Doctor Doom. Captain America knocked Shroud back, telling him to leave Doom alone, Rudolfo, barely alive, forced Red Skull to teleport away, then Shroud begged the others to help the rebel prince. From afar, Red Skull prepared to activate his deadly Hypno-Ray. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #11) Shroud went with Doom into space and donned a space-suit to shut down the Hypno-Ray, while Doom rushed to the moon to confront the Red Skull. Reminding himself that he wanted to be a hero, Shroud used a rocket-powered Magna-Rang to affix to the ray's ship, but the ray went off and Shroud was hit. Captain America pulled Shroud aboard his own ship with a tractor beam and worried that the ray would drive Shroud insane. Soon, Red Skull was defeated. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #12)

Shroud sparred with Red Skull until one of his henchmen hit Shroud in the head with a wrench. Red Skull showed Shroud on a video monitor that Doctor Doom was alive and with Captain America aboard a ship. As Shroud cried out, Red Skull fired at the ship, then he boasted about his world domination plans. Namor returned to confront the Red Skull, but Shroud who held the seemingly lifeless body of Rudolfo inspired Namor to remember his heroism. Soon, Captain America and Doctor Doom joined the fight against Red Skull, and Shroud leapt into the fight, first fighting the Skull and then Doctor Doom. Captain America knocked Shroud back, telling him to leave Doom alone, Rudolfo, barely alive, forced Red Skull to teleport away, then Shroud begged the others to help the rebel prince. From afar, Red Skull prepared to activate his deadly Hypno-Ray. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #11) Shroud went with Doom into space and donned a space-suit to shut down the Hypno-Ray, while Doom rushed to the moon to confront the Red Skull. Reminding himself that he wanted to be a hero, Shroud used a rocket-powered Magna-Rang to affix to the ray's ship, but the ray went off and Shroud was hit. Captain America pulled Shroud aboard his own ship with a tractor beam and worried that the ray would drive Shroud insane. Soon afterwards, the Red Skull came to be defeated. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #12) While recovering in the hospital, Shroud talked to Captain America about pursuing a new path to heroism by getting super-villains to trust him, establishing himself as a criminal in the underworld to achieve good. (Captain America v1 #330)

Returning to San Francisco

Vengeance of the Moon Knight

The Fist of Khonshu in Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #1.

Following the death of Marc Spector, the Shroud looked to honor his legacy and claimed the mantle of Moon Knight wearing a variation of the Fist of Khonshu's costume. (Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #4) He was hostile to the tenants of the Midnight Mission, demanding them to leave their base to let him takeover. However, he came to be rejected by the House of Shadows which served as the team's base of operations. He relented, leaving them the mission as long as they stayed out of his way. Unfortunately, the aggressiveness with which he went after petty criminals put a target on the mission as well as the community members who had taken residence inside. Marc’s team could no longer ignore Shroud’s behavior and decided to confront him. (Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #1)

After coming into conflict with Spector's allies running his Midnight Mission, he was eventually unmasked and revealed to be the Shroud. (Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #4) Shroud admitted that he had ruined the reputation of his previous superhero identity and needed a new one. He also admitted that Marc was the only one who ever understood him, so his actions were part of a desperate attempt to honor Moon Knight. Tigra revealed that Marc was under similar circumstances and was trying to rebuild his reputation after betraying the Avengers and had nearly succeeded. Inspired, Shroud began to calm down and seemed ready to accept their help. After Tigra and Hunter's Moon talk him down, Shroud loses control of his Darkforce abilities as he emits darkness alongside the other Darkforce users which was used to block out the Sun. (Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #5) This was all part of the preparation for an upcoming vampire uprising orchestrated by the Structure who transformed Shroud and other Darkforce users into portals which proceeded to cover the entire Earth. With sunlight blocked from reaching Earth, the vampires were free to spread worldwide and prey on the human population. (Blood Hunt v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Captain America was noted for being his personal hero. (Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #11)

Powers and abilities

He once created two discs that covered Captain America's eyes, preventing him from seeing anything or becoming hypnotized, yet so small that they were indistinguishable from the pupils of his eyes. (Captain America v1 #330)

His mystic senses can even enable him to detect the internal hardware components of a computer. (Spider-Woman v1 #15)

The Shroud possesses the mystical ability to summon Darkforce by opening a mystical portal into the Darkforce Dimension and drawing its thick, inky atmosphere in various quantities into Earth's dimension. This darkness is not simply the absence of light, but the negation of it. No illumination can penetrate it. It is unknown how much of this darkness the Shroud can summon at once. He can blanket a small auditorium in darkness within several seconds. The darkness he projects does not fill a volume instantly: it is possible to see its hazy boundary move like thick, black smoke in the air. There appears to be no limit to the length of time the Shroud can maintain the darkness. However, if the Shroud is rendered unconscious the darkness seems to be naturally drawn through the portal from whence it came. The Shroud has control over the darkness so as to create hazy-edged, featureless black shapes with it, the complexity of which is limited only by his imagination. He frequently forms the darkness into his own shadow in order to serve as a decoy. Unlike Darkstar's Darkforce, the darkness possesses no mass, and unlike Cloak, the Shroud was unable to travel into or out of the dimension from which he draws his darkness.

After Marc Spectors death, the Shroud looked to honor him by adopting the mantle of Moon Knight. In this role, he came to wear a version of the Fist of Khonshu costume though the colours were inverted with them being all black instead. (Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2 #5)

Notes

• The Shroud was created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe where he made his first appearance in Super-Villain Team-Up v1 #5 (April, 1976).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Video games

Appearances

• Super-Villain Team-Up v1: (1976)
• Shroud v1: (1994)
• Vengeance of the Moon Knight v2:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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