Origin
On her 18th birthday Nina Price inherited her mother’s family’s curse. Like her uncle, Werewolf By Night, during the full moon she would turn into a werewolf and was unable to control herself. Using her wealthy father’s money she traveled to Europe in hopes of removing the curse. While in the Carpathian Mountains, she was bitten by a vampire who hoped to make her his bride. As a result of this she now has a mixture of vampire & werewolf powers, she also now remembers everything that happens while she is in her wolf form.
Creation
Vampire by Night was created by Jeff Parker and Federica Manfredi and first appeared in Amazing Fantasy Volume 2 issue 10 (2005).
Major Story Arcs
Howling Commando
Nina was recruited to SHIELD‘s new Howling Commandos, a brainchild of Dum Dum Dugan that he eventually pawned off on a reluctant Clay Quartermain. The idea was to use monster agents to fight back against monster threats, based out of Area 13 base. While checking over the files of his new team, Clay wrote Nina off as just a “spoiled rich kid.” This didn’t stop Clay from sending Nina on an undercover mission with Lilith. He needed them to keep an eye on the English town that Merlin had taken over and used to amass an army.
Unfortunately, Merlin had an enchantment which allowed him to absorb Nina’s knowledge of her mission and the existence of her team. As punishment, she was tied in a trap to wait for the sun, which Merlin didn’t realize has no effect on her vampirism thanks to her multiple curses. He then used her knowledge to mount an attack on her squad.
She was eventually freed by a fairy who claimed the fairy folk were ready to turn on Merlin for a price. Nina agreed to put in a good word and then reunited with her team, who had pushed Merlin’s forces back through their teleportation portal. Together, they beat Merlin’s forces and forced Merlin to retreat entirely.
Agent of S.T.A.K.E.
When the Howling Commandos were finally put on the books, they were given a new division name, S.T.A.K.E. (Special Threat Assessment for Known Extranormalities). Dugan had returned to take leadership of his previous project, but the agents were deemed so dangerous that they were kept in special containment units. Nina was the only previous Howling Commando who stayed on as an agent.
After they lost an Egyptian artifact, a seemingly unrelated investigation into a missing subway car led them to a young superhuman named Glyph, who could summon Egyptian spirits. Dugan believed these incidents were connected and eventually discovered The Sphinx‘s plans to raise an undead army from museum mummies. Dugan rounds up the team to protect the museum. Nina was on hostage duty with Hit-Monkey, but this caused her to cross paths with Sphinx first.
She fought him off long enough for Hit-Monkey to steal and use the Egyptian artifact Sphinx was attempting to steal against him.
Monster War
Dracula was planning a war against monster-kind. Using his vast psychic influence on vampires, he lured Nina, with a number of other vampires, to his Romanian castle. She was eventually tracked down by her STAKE team and Wolverine (who was looking for Jubilee). However, Dracula’s influence was too strong and Nina commanded her fellow vampires to kill her friends.
It wasn’t until Wolverine cut Dracula’s head off that Nina finally snapped out of it.
Character Profile
- Height: 5’5″
- Weight: 119 lbs
- Eye Color: Blue (no pupils when a vampire)
- Hair Color: Blonde
- Citizenship: American
- Place of Birth: Hollywood, California
- Marital Status: Single
- Occupation: Media empire heiress; formerly Agent of S.T.A.K.E. and location scout
- Known Relatives: Lissa Russell Price (mother), Jack Russell/Werewolf by Night (uncle)
Powers
Monster Hybridization: Nina has both lycanthropic and vampiric abilities.
- Lycanthropy: Nina suffers from her family’s werewolf curse. She has superhuman strength, speed, and healing. Under a full moon, she would transform into a wolf-humanoid but not since being bitten by a vampire. Instead, the full moon causes her to become uncontrollably blood-thirsty.
- Vampirism: She casts no reflection and is unable to be captured on film. Nina also has the ability to hypnotize people with her stare and often uses this to capture the criminals on which she feeds. Unlike most vampires sunlight has no effect on her.
- Shapeshifter: She can now change into an actual wolf at will after sundown.
Other Media
Film
Marvel’s Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell
Nina Price appears in the Marvel Halloween special “Marvel’s Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell.” It shares continuity with the Disney XD Marvel Universe which included Avengers Assembled, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Hulk: Agents of SMASH.
Nina is a member of the Howling Commandos and are recruited by Doctor Strange to protect the sleeping bodies of himself and Hulk from monster goons as they enter the Dream Dimension to take on Nightmare.
She is voiced by Chiara Zanni
Games
Marvel: War of Heroes
Vampire by Night appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:
- [Darkhold Curse] Vampire by Night
Marvel Avengers Academy
Vampire by night is a playable character. She was released during the Avengers Halloween Event 2017. She is voiced by Julie Shields.