Origin
Elsa was born the daughter of Ulysses and Elise Bloodstone. A couple of years after her birth, Ulysses distanced himself from her and his wife Elise. Elise then moved to England with her baby, Elsa, where she grew up without knowing anything about her father, including the exploits of his monster hunting career. There, Elsa also began having dreams about monsters and vampires. Before Ulysses died, he entrusted Adam (a Frankenstein-like being that works as Ulysses’ handyman) to give Elsa his choker, containing a piece of the Bloodgem, that grants her enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and agility as well as invulnerability to physical harm. Elsa also gained possession of a lamp containing an enslaved genie that glows when supernatural trouble is occurring and can transport her to its location if she wishes.
Creation
Elsa Bloodstone was created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and first appeared in Bloodstone issue 1 (2001).
Character Evolution
Elsa was created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning in a very lighthearted, fun mini-series in 2001, right around the time that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show was at the heights of its popularity. The similarities are quite evident: her sharp dialog, references to pop culture, and, of course, supernatural monster hunting. Not to mention the contrast of her appearance as a bubbly, attractive young blonde but secretly being a kick-ass fighting heroine. However, in interviews, the authors denied any plagiarism, stating that they were trying not to watch the show while writing the character.
Elsa next appeared in 2006 in Nextwave: Agents of HATE, a series created by Warren Ellis with the intention of being out of continuity, so that he could have essentially free-reign to write as crazy and hilarious a story as he wanted. Elsa is now a no-nonsense, violent, somewhat arrogant, manic superhero. Elsa’s appearance accordingly changes from mildly cheesecake in the Bloodstone series to a new, older version. She now has red hair and wears a big trench-coat. The popularity of the series somehow led to it awkwardly being inserted into mainstream Marvel continuity.
Elsa’s orange haired look and stand-off-ish personality are now a part of Marvel canon. Ulysses was less distant in her backstory now, which is filled with traumatic training exercises from her monster obsessed father.
Major Story Arcs
Bloodstone
When Elsa and Elise find out about Ulysses’ death, they fly out to his estate in Boston. They arrive at the Bloodstone mansion and are given a tour by Charles Barnabas (secretly a good pure-blood vampire), who is the lawyer and executor of the estate. When Elsa explores the grounds, against her mother’s wishes, she finds a hidden chamber. There, Adam explains Elsa’s legacy and heritage to her and gives her the choker. A genie lamp in the chamber starts flashing and Elsa rubs it. She is then transported to Bosnia right in front of Dracula who is seemingly being pursued by some sort of special-ops soldiers. Dracula recognizes the Bloodgem and starts to close in on Elsa. The Bloodgem blasts Dracula away and Dracula is staked and caught by the soldiers, who are actually servants of Nosferatu (another vampire). Adam arrives and brings Elsa back to the estate.
Elsa accepts the mantle her father left for her and so Elsa turns into a monster hunter, but she has to keep it a secret from her mother. Adam designs a costume for Elsa tailored like her father’s (but seemingly to maximize upon her already impressive cleavage, much to Adam’s delight). The lamp flashes again and Elsa and Adam begin another mission. This time the lamp teleports them to Egypt where they meet N’Kantu, the Living Mummy. They enter the pyramid to stop whatever is happening, leaving N’Kantu behind to keep guard, and giving N’Kantu the gifts of modern slang. Elsa and Adam figure out that Nosferatu had captured Dracula and was trying to become powerful by sacrificing Dracula and other powerful “pure blood” vampires including their own Barnabas. Elsa confronts Nosferatu and battles him, but Nosferatu is able to bite Elsa in the neck. However, the Bloodgem energy in her blood hurts him and while Nosferatu is reeling from the pain, Dracula and Adam open a hatch in the roof to expose Nosferatu to sunlight, killing him.
Elsa moves to the Bloodstone estate with her mother and Adam. Elsa begins blogging about the monsters she has hunted and makes an encyclopedia about all the monsters she kills in the Marvel Universe. Her first series of adventures ends with them setting out to combat a kraken.
Nextwave
Elsa would later join H.A.T.E. as part of their Nextwave squad, claiming that she comes from a long line of near immortal monster hunters (she later clarifies she is “second in a long line” of monster hunters referring to her father’s extended life). When she talks about her past, it appears to differ radically from previous accounts, for example, she claims that she was trained by her father when she was young, such as dropping her into a pit with a monster as a toddler armed only with a spoon and that when her parents were absent she was trained by a robot/torture device called “Hate Mother.” Civil War: Damage Report states that this discrepancy is because the memories and personalities of Nextwave members were altered by H.A.T.E. and the Beyond Corporation. It is later learned that the adventures of Nextwave took place in alternate timeline, although the members were all from Earth-616. Her costume is now different, she has a much more no nonsense character and her hair color is changed from blonde to red.
Elsa seems to have a strong rapport with Nextwave teammate The Captain, though whether this is just a friendly bond or anything more is open to interpretation. The team travel across the country destroying Bizarre or Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction. These are mainly copies or strangely similar imitations of well-known Marvel villains, like a clone of Fin Fang Foom, Mac Mangel – a man infected with a metal-eating organism, Rorkannu, ruler of the ‘Dank Dimension’ and his Mindless Ones, Beyond’s illusionist Forbush Man and finally a (cloned?) Devil Dinosaur.
Sometime later, Elsa gets together with her teammate Boom Boom and they talk about their love lives and the men they have dated, leading to an encounter with one of Elsa’s ex-boyfriends, Franken’s Teen, who Boom Boom blows into pieces. After that, Boom Boom and Elsa continue to hang out and talk about what it would be like to be super-villains.
Other Adventures
After her exploits with Nextwave, Elsa returns to her monster hunting ways. She hunts down the Children of Goram, offspring of a monster her father fought years before, in Prague. She is impregnated by one of the monsters, but the Bloodgem kills the offspring while it’s inside her and she pukes it up. She is able to kill all the Children of Goram and in the end vows to kill all monsters before she dies (also vowing to be the last of the Bloodstone line, never to have a child).
Before the events of World War Hulks, Elsa fights alongside Robert Hellsgaard and her Nextwave teammates when a group of werewolves attack a town.
After the events of Siege, Steve Rogers, now the head “cop” of the Marvel Universe, writes a journal cataloging the main heroes of the world and discusses what makes them heroes. Elsa is said to be untrained and untested, but he sees potential in her. He also says that she still needs to be “watched closely, and hopefully she can retain her humanity in a very ugly line of work.”
In between her monster hunting, Elsa becomes a staff member of the Braddock Academy, which is named after its headmaster, Brian Braddock (aka Captain Britain), and is “staffed by Britain’s mightiest heroes.” She along with others such as Meggan, Spitfire, and Union Jack hope to “make heroes out of Britain’s best and brightest,” which includes her relative Cullen Bloodstone.
Legion of Monsters
Sometime later, Elsa joins the Legion of Monsters in regaining a piece of the Bloodgem from Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, when he is viewed as being controlled by the gem’s “super demon.” At the time, Frank is in the final stages of trying to return to his normal human appearance by using the Bloodgem fragment. Although she is beaten by him in combat, she is saved by Werewolf by Night before the final blow is struck. Frank is then talked into giving the gem back to Elsa.
Sometime later while investigating the murders of teenagers in Chipperfield, Hertfordshire, England, Elsa comes across a monster that has been infected with a virus that causes monsters to go into violent rages. This again leads her to help the Legion of Monsters find the source of the virus and destroy it once and for all. It turns out Morbius himself was responsible for the release of the virus. It was created by his (now dead) vampire lover, Susanna, who had somehow secretly implanted it in Morbius. The team release Farkas, the Dimensional Man from jail so he can absorb it, but he goes on a crazy rampage himself until the Legion can bring him down.
Meeting Wolverine
When a being known as the Dreaming Maiden started dreaming again, Elsa is drawn to track her down, due to her father being a member of The Covenant, a group that tried to kill the Maiden years ago but did not succeed in doing so, due to deception by the assassin they hired, Wolverine. This led her to search out the Maiden to finish her father’s work which brought her into contact with Wolverine in the present day. It also brought her into direct confrontation with Covenant members Murderous Lion, Jefferson Chambers, Wyatt Crowley, and a new female version of The Menace. After the Maiden had been killed, Vanessa Baker, another previous member of The Covenant, brought her and the other members together to “get back to business.”
Fearless Defenders
Misty Knight and the Fearless Defenders call in Elsa for help with a ‘Monster’ problem in Chinatown. A gang had been using monster eggs about to hatch for assassinations. Elsa tracked one of these creatures through the sewer and found scientists and ninjas bio-engineering a race of Brood that don’t need human bodies to incubate.
After they destroyed the eggs, Elsa stuck around with Valkyries’ Defenders while Caroline Le Fey tried to replace her Doom Maidens with a team made up of female supervillains.
Avengers
After the Inversion Spell cast by the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom to transform the Red Onslaught back into the Red Skull backfired and accidentally affected those heroes and villains gathered on Genosha, no one was truly sure who was working for ‘good’ or ‘evil’ anymore. Many Avengers, including the Scarlet Witch, had begun to take on more violent and villainous characteristics, while several villains, including Doctor Doom, had begun to do good.
Doom knew that the now vengeful Scarlet Witch would come after him for what he did to her years ago. He prepared a special contraption that would entrap the Witch and allow him to tap into her powers. His intent was to use her powers to effect good changes in the world. He charged his goddaughter, Valeria Richards, with the task of putting together a very specific roster of new Avengers that would help him take on the Scarlet Witch.
Elsa, who was currently working on shooting a reality TV show about monster-hunting, was visited by Valeria, given an Avengers ID card, and became the first to be recruited. Her recruitment was followed by that of Valkyrie, 3-D Man, U.S. Agent, and Stingray. Valeria went to Maria Hill for help initially, and the Director of SHIELD sent Agent Phil Coulson to aid Valeria and Doom’s Avengers. Valeria, in a battle suit made by Doom, led the Avengers into battle against their enemy … the Scarlet Witch! The Witch conjured up dozens of android soldiers resembling the Vision to battle the ‘cavalry’ while she sought out Doom.
Monsters Unleashed
While most of the world’s superhumans were fighting giant monsters raining from the sky, Elsa was tracking a prophecy through grimoires and hieroglyphics about a “king” to rule all monsters.
The existence of a particular symbol brought Elsa to Missouri and a young boy with Inhuman DNA named Kid Kaiju. He had the powers to draw monsters and make them come alive. According to the Inhuman prophecy, he was destined to stop the invading Leviathans. Elsa kidnapped him and rounded up the heroes so that they could defend his location while he manifests new kaiju warriors to battle the invaders.
As a show of solidarity, the Inhuman Royal Family built Kid Kaiju’s family a new home away from civilization where his kaiju creations could be comfortable, and Elsa Bloodstone agreed to be his bodyguard between monster hunts, protecting him when he heads to a Leviathan sighting.
Damnation
Las Vegas was destroyed during Secret Empire. When Doctor Strange attempted to revive it, he accidentally brought Mephisto with it. Mephisto took over the city, allowing people to gamble their souls and locking up Strange so he couldn’t stop it. Elsa was one of many mystic superheroes recruited by Wong for a new Midnight Sons team to rescue Strange.
She fought alongside the likes of Blade, Iron Fist, and Moon Knight to keep Mephisto’s goons busy, while Ghost Rider attempts to dethrone Mephisto.
Monster Island
When Monster Island claimed Staten Island as their new home based on an centuries old legal land claim, a man named Blaylock hired Elsa to kill the King of Monsters. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only person he hired. Deadpool beat her to the island, and while they competed to kill the king, Deadpool proved successful. Per the rules of Monster Island, this made him the new King of the Monsters, a role he gladly took, putting him in both Blaylock and Elsa’s crosshairs.
However, Elsa found a sense of nobility in Deadpool’s commitment to not just protecting his people from the outside world but protecting the outside world from his people, as well. So, she asked Deadpool to help her find a cure to an infection she caught while fighting Bone Beasts in their own dimension. When he did, her respect for him turned into romantic feelings.
Curse of the Ebony Blade
Elsa was investigating the deaths of historians who were killed with bloodstones. Her investigation led her to Garrett Castle, the home of Dane Whitman, the Black Knight. After a brief scuffle, they compared notes with a history student, Jackie Chopra, determining that Mordred had been collecting all of the Ebony items.
Elsa combined her bloodstone powers with Dane’s Ebony Blade to turn it into a homing beacon so they could retrieve the Ebony Chalice before Mordred did. Mordred already had the Ebony Dagger and Ebony Shield, which he used to confront them at the site of the Chalice.
With Mordred was a bloodfae he referred to as Redcap. He was powered by the bloodgem that Elsa was looking for. When Mordred saw the opportunity to get rid of Elsa by giving her what she wanted, he sacrificed Redcap to give her the gem. Distracted by the chance of resurrecting her father with the new gem, Elsa walked away from the fight but eventually had a change of heart. She came back to help Jackie fight off Mordred, sacrificing the bloodgem in the process.
With Mordred defeated and the Ebony items under Dane’s protection, Elsa wished them luck and stole his atomic steed.
Death of Doctor Strange
After Doctor Strange is killed in his own home, the barrier from his world to other mystical planes weakens, allowing a number of different entities to escape. One such entity is Elsa’s long lost sister, Lyra, who their father had sacrificed ages ago to imprison a rival.
Due to her being imprisoned away, she gained a hunger for magic and started draining artifacts of their energy to the chagrin of Cullen. She was able to fend off Cullen’s monster form and attempted to reason with Elsa, blaming sorcerers not monsters for the ills of the world.
Just then, they are attacked by Krakkan the Jailer, the being she was sacrificed to imprison. Elsa and Cullen joined forces to keep Lyra safe. After fighting off Krakkan and his goons, they combine their bloodgems with Lyra’s nullgem to create the Domain Defilia, a void where magic is nullified. They were even successful in banishing Cullen’s monster form there.
Reuniting with Jack
After hearing that a young girl named Charlotte had been kidnapped by Doktor Nekromantik, Elsa travelled to his castle in the hopes of freeing her before midnight, which she thought was the time Nekromantik’s ritual needed to occur. Upon arriving, she found her former flame, Jack Russel, had the same idea. Together, they teamed up, but Doktor Nekromantik had already killed the girl and was about to channel spirit of King Khabarian into her body.
Doktor Nekromantik then captured Elsa and Jack, intending to use their bodies as hosts for more beings. Together, the duo managed to manipulate King Khabarian into believing that Doktor Nekormantik had betrayed him. When King Khabarian confronted Doktor Nekromantik, he admitted to using Khabarian to open the gateway and had intended to use superhumans for Khabarian’s brethren. He also revealed that he rigged the castle with explosives. King Khabarian killed him before targeting Elsa and Jack.
Elsa and Jack managed to escape the castle before it exploded, killing King Khabarian and Doktor Nekromantik’s other allies. Sad to have failed Charlotte but happy to have seen each other, Elsa and Jack parted ways yet again.
Powers
Bloodgem: She has enhanced strength, stamina, speed and durability, and an enhanced healing factor thanks to a Bloodgem Choker she wears around her neck
- Vampire immunity: Some of her abilities are genetic from her father’s exposure to his bloodgem. Her blood is toxic to vampires, and she is immune to the curse.
- Immortality: It is not yet known if she is immortal like her father.
Hunter: Elsa was trained by her father to take over the family business as a monster hunter.
- Weaponry: Elsa carries big guns. She owns some of the magic artifacts collected by her father, such as a genie’s lamp
Character Profile
- Height: 5’9″
- Weight: 120 lbs
- Eye Color: Blue
- Hair Color: Red (originally Blonde)
- Citizenship: Dual British and American
- Place of Birth: Boston, MA
- Marital Status: Single
- Occupation: Monster hunter
- Known Relatives: Ulysses Bloodstone (father), Elise Bloodstone (mother), Cullen Bloodstone (brother) Lyra Bloodstone (long lost half-sister)
Alternate Realities
Earth-TRN891
In Dark Ages 2, Elsa teamed up with Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Blade, and Scout to fight against some Werewolves.
Earth 22791 –
Elsa is the mother of twin daughters, Maya and Aztec, who inherited her powers and legacy of monster hunting. She ends up being kidnapped and imprisoned by Mephisto which leads to her daughters orchestrating a rescue mission.
Earth 80734 (Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas) –
Elsa is an archaeologist who helps unearth a giant statue of a dragon. After selling the statue, she later travels to Las Vegas to investigate why lizards suddenly swarm the city after it is placed there as the centerpiece for a new casino. While there, she contacts and sees Tony Stark, whose father worked with her father, about the ties between the two events. When Elsa goes to the casino’s grand opening with Stark, the statue comes to life as the monster Fin Fang Foom.
Forbush Vision Realm –
Elsa Bloodstone is one of a few hundred humans left alive on the planet. Operating under a self imposed Exile in Britain, she hunts the monsters the way her father did. Unlike her Father, Elsa only hunted monsters who threatened humanity directly. However, her Father hunted monsters with determination because he was breaking apart breeding pairs. It wasn’t until the Cryptozoological Wars when Elsa realized the monsters weren’t stupid, they forced nuclear states to attempt to sterilize their countries, and performed organized attacks on major cities. Now Elsa spends her final days killing the monsters in Britain.
Battleworld
On Battleworld, Elsa was a member of the Hel-Riders, committed protecting the Shield, a wall surrounding the three most dangerous areas of Battleworld.
One day, she found herself teleported into the middle of one of the three areas, The Deadlands. There, she found a young girl with amnesia, who she protected from the endless zombies. Unknown to Elsa, she was being drawn to an alternate version of her father. He had been trapping members of the Bloodstone family from across reality to combine the powers of all the bloodstones for himself.
When Elsa realized the young girl was the personification of her lost childhood thanks to her father, she was able to distract Ulysses long enough for the girl to shoot him dead. Now, Elsa was able to absorb all the bloodstone energy for herself and use it to merge with the young girl, destroy the zombie horde completely, and resurrect her father so that he can have a second chance to do what’s right.
Other Media
Film
Special Presentation: Werewolf by Night
Elsa Bloodstone appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Halloween Special short film on Disney+, Werewolf By Night. The short film is shot in black and white as a homage to old monster movies, especially the classic Universal monster movies.
She shows up unannounced to her father’s will reading, which happened to be a ceremonial hunt among other monster hunters competing for their chance at Elsa’s birthright, her father’s bloodstone.
She is played by Laura Donnelly
Games
Marvel Future Fight
Elsa is a playable character in the game. She is a speed type, and her description in the game says: Beautiful and feisty Elsa Bloodstone is the daughter of famous monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone. Though ignorant of her father’s career, she was plagued by dreams about vampires and other creatures of the night. Shortly after Elsa’s 18th birthday, Ulysses died and left his Boston home (the Bloodstone House) to Elsa and her pregnant mother, along with all of its contents, accumulated during his millennia of adventures. Adam, the caretaker of the house helped indocrinate Elsa into her true heritage, offering her the mystic Bloodstone Choker which bonded with and empowered Elsa. Elsa and her mother elected to remain at Bloodstone House, turning it into a curiosity shop run by her mother while Elsa continues exploring the family vocation of monster hunting.
She has different uniforms:
- Elsa Bloodstone – Modern
- Elsa Bloodstone – Secret Wars: Marvel Zombies
- Elsa Bloodstone – Monsters Unleashed!
Marvel Avengers Alliance
Elsa is a playable character in the game, and can be recruited by purchasing her with regular command points.
Her bio in the game says: Elsa Bloodstone was only a toddler when her father abandoned her with her mother. Elsa didn’t learn why until many years later when she heard of his death and came to settle his estate. Learning that her father was a nearly immortal monster-hunter, Elsa inherited a choker with a portion of her father’s Bloodgem, which granted both Elsa and her father with incredible powers which she used to train and take on her father’s mantle as a monster-hunter. Elsa is now the expert when it comes to the supernatural and the things that go bump in the night. Curiously, a recent run-in with the Beyond Corporation has caused Elsa to question the truth about her own past.
Marvel: War of Heroes
Elsa appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:
- [Daddy’s Little Girl] Bloodstone
- [Monster Hunter] Bloodstone
Avengers Academy
Elsa is a playable character in the game, she debuted in the “Monsters Unleashed” Event, and her recruiment task is task is “Get Elsa Bloodstone!” She is voiced by Jeni Dean.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Elsa Bloodstone appears as a playable character in the third Ultimate Alliance game, marking her first appearance in the series. She’s voiced by Kari Wahlgren.
Merchandise
- Elsa Bloodstone was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
- Elsa Bloodstone was included in the Marvel Legends A-Force box set from Hasbro.