Modred the Mystic is a fictional magician appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has alternated between being an anti-hero and an outright supervillain.
Publication history
Modred the Mystic first appeared in Marvel Chillers #1 and was created by Bill Mantlo, Yong Montano and Marv Wolfman.
Fictional character biography
Modred was born outside London, England in the 6th century. He was a sorcerer who served as an apprentice in magic to the wizard Gervasse. Modred was engaged to Gervasse's daughter, Janice, and was set to become the apprentice of the wizard Merlin. However, Merlin had been replaced by an imposter (who would later go by the names of the Mad Merlin, the Maha Yogi, and Merlin Demonspawn), and Modred and Gervasse knew that "Merlin" needed to be stopped. In order to gain the power necessary for this feat, Modred sought out to master the mystic tome called the Darkhold, the book of black magic created by the Elder God Chthon, in order to use its power for good. The Other, an emissary or avatar of Chthon, offered Modred great power at the cost of his soul. Modred refused until the Other targeted Janice; in order to protect her, Modred offered himself up to Chthon. His soul was corrupted, and Gervasse placed him in suspended animation, where he lay for centuries.
Modred was awakened in the modern day by archaeologists Janet Lyton and Grant Whitaker, who led him to London. There, he was shot by the police and then attacked by the Other, which he defeated. However, he was unwittingly possessed by Chthon. He later assisted the superheroes Spider-Woman and the Thing in battling creations of the false Merlin, who was also active in the modern day. Modred, Thing, and Spider-Woman battled elementals at Stonehenge. At some point afterwards, Modred's mind and soul fell under Chthon's influence again. He took the Scarlet Witch to Chthon's prison under Mount Wundagore under the pretext of revealing her origins to her, for she had been exposed to Chthon's chaos magic upon her birth at Wundagore. Upon reaching Wundagore, Modred subdued the Scarlet Witch and used her as an Earthly host for Chthon. Modred was defeated and his master was exorcised, but only at the cost of the life of the Witch's adoptive father, Django Maximoff. Modred battled the Avengers at Wundagore Mountain, and with Chthon's defeat Modred was mentally damaged by the battle, and was left with the intellect of a child. He lost his sanity and knowledge of magic, and was left in the care of the High Evolutionary's servant Bova, the cow-woman. He later regained his magical powers, and reduced the Thing and the Puppet Master, who were visiting Transia, to doll-size and attacked them with animated toys.
Modred witnessed Magneto's destruction of Bova's cottage. When Bova was injured, Modred wandered away, subconsciously seeking his native England. As he approached his homeland, his mind and power returned, as did his desire to defeat Merlin. Not knowing that the Merlin that he had sought to overthrow was an imposter, he instead targeted the real Merlin's servant on Earth: Captain Britain. He defeated the hero, donned his costume, and then used the costume's power in combination with his own to defeat the visiting Captain America. The two Captains defeated Modred, who was taken to the Otherworld by Merlin. Modred later escaped from Merlin and psychically dominated Phoenix, Captain Britain's teammate in Excalibur, and used her to battle Quasar and Excalibur. Modred and the possessed Phoenix were defeated by Excalibur and Quasar, and Modred was hurled into another dimension by Widget.
After the battle, Modred was exiled from the Earth's dimension, but he eventually regained his self-control and returned to Earth in order to confront Chthon and regain his soul. Back on Earth, he observed the Darkhold Redeemers, a group of normal humans and mystics who were seeking out fragments of the Darkhold. He joined them as their "leader", and defended the group from actual and potential foes, including the N'Garai demons, the Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange bound Modred to the island of Maui during their battle, leaving him unable to protect his teammates from the Darkhold's "Demogorge" spell. The spell was used by Blade, who was transformed into the Switchblade, a killer of mystical heroes and monsters alike. Switchblade killed Modred, among others, but his victims were restored when the Darkhold Redeemer Louise Hastings cast the Demogorge's counter-spell from the Darkhold and returned Blade to normal.