Rune (Ultraverse)

Rune is a male comic supervillain who features in Malibu Comics.

Biography

Rune in Rune v1 #1.

Rune was originally a humanoid being from the alien world of Darkur. (Giant-Size Rune v1 #1) It was noted that his people were slaughtered by A'Charr leaving Rune as the sole survivor and fleeing the murderer who buried him and left him for dead. (Rune: Hearts of Darkness v1 #2) After killing a dragon, he consumed its flesh in hopes of gaining its strength. He then made his way to a giant carved idol containing a large jewel that was the Eye of the Infinite which gave him a vision of his future as a vampire warlord. He then destroyed the jewel, which exploded into numerous Star Stones. The living being that made up the Eye of the Infinite passed on to another plane, and at the same time passed its curse onto Rune, granting him virtual immortality and cursing him to a vampiric existence. (Giant-Size Rune v1 #1) At some unspecified moment in the past, Rune destroyed the Dilhaabi race of the Godwheel who worshipped Adam Warlock. Rune then fought Warlock, and finally managed to skewer him through the chest with his sword. However, Adam formed a cocoon around himself, preventing Rune from taking his soul or consuming his form. (Ultraverse Unlimited v1 #1) In the countless millennia before the dawn of mankind, Rune raged among the stars, an imperious warlord whose insatiable lust for carnage destroyed entire races and cultures among the galaxies. His victims numbering in the billions, he was known by many names among the thousands of empires he destroyed: Prince of Blood, as his savagery in battle was but a prelude to his hedonistic rituals of eviscerating many of his victims and gorging on their flesh; Prince of Void, so called for the utter devastation left in his wake; and the Dark Lord. (Origins v1 #1) In a variety of forms, Rune slaughtered various cultures and races across many planes. Wearing his black armor, Rune fell to Earth-616 during the Hyborian Age in Turan, in the dunes beyond Agrapur. He seemed to have been weakened due to a recent battle. A bedouin encampment found him and nursed him back to health. For 100 days he recovered, and soon the bedouins came to see him as a god. However, he suddenly bit the head off and fed on a young female worshipper, Issa, and he then started preying on the Turanians. (Conan vs Rune v1 #1)

Later, Rune goes on a cross-country quest to save a woman from a cult that calls her 'Pandora'. Rune's true goal is to protect the cult's plan from raising the mad god 'Argus' from the woman's murder. In issue nine, Rune fails and Argus arises.

Overview

Powers and abilities

Rune derives his power from the Star Stones, which he wears around his neck. These absorb the souls and life-force of his victims, and he uses them to power various feats of magic. He has vampire-like abilities, including bat-like wings allowing him to fly, great strength, speed and durability, and is nearly impossible to kill, even by decapitation; however exposure to a nuclear explosion in 1952 has given him cancer and greatly weakened his powers. Even in this state, he is capable of performing magic spells such as teleporting people across a continent and creating illusions to disguise himself as human. He also possesses certain psychic powers, such as precognition, psychometry, and clairvoyance. By consuming the life-force of an Ultra, he can temporarily boost his powers tremendously.

Notes

• Rune was created by Chris Ulm and Barry Windsor-Smith where he made his first appearance in Sludge v1 #1 (October, 1993).

Appearances

• Sludge v1: (1993)
• Ultraforce:
• Thanos v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.