One frequently compares two characters from separate planets and their skills and abilities in the world of superhero films and comic books. There are also lots of discussions regarding whether two completely different characters are similar, whether one was influenced by the other, etc.
One such figure is “The Shroud,” who has been dubbed Marvel’s Batman imitator. Shroud, a character created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe, made his comic book debut in 1976’s “Super Villain Team-Up.”
The Shroud is a really impressive character on his own, despite the fact that his background and appearance somewhat resemble those of Batman. He was abandoned when he was very young, and a cult’s ritual caused him to lose his sight.
Despite being blinded, Shroud did not give up easily and kept up the fight against crime. He possesses a variety of distinctive qualities, and Shroud constantly moves forward regardless of the situation. Let us investigate his beginnings and look at his very first comic book appearance.
The first comic book appearance and origins explored
Shroud, who was born Maximillian Coleridge, experienced hardships throughout his entire existence. When he was only ten years old, his parents were murdered in front of him, and this event had a significant effect on him as he grew up.
He made the decision to turn vigilante and spent the rest of his life pursuing justice. Max Coleridge then enrolled in college and shortly earned a law degree. He then joined ‘Cult of Kali,’ a temple where he could receive training in all forms of martial arts and become a skilled fighter.
He stayed here for around seven years and trained himself to become an undefeatable fighter. When it was time to leave the temple, his skin was branded with a red-hot iron with the ‘Kiss of Kali’ mark. He then realized that this ceremony caused him to lose his eyesight, and he was soon hospitalized to recover from the pain from the ceremonial branding. After making a full recovery, Max assumed the identity of Shroud, a blind vigilante who was determined to fight crime.
Shroud first appeared in the ‘Super Villain Team Up’ Comics [#5] issue titled ‘…And Be A Villain!’ The comic begins with Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four, operating on some heavy machinery when a loud crash disrupts his work. Richards investigates the source of this noise and finds ‘Namor’ crashing through his lab’s window. Namor appears to be drowning in the air, and he needs water to survive.
He asks Richards for help, and the superhero concludes that Namor’s bodysuit that helps him survive outside water must have malfunctioned. Richards decides to put Namor in a water tank to help him recover, while the rest of the Fantastic Four show up in the lab.
Once the sub-mariner regains his consciousness, Namor rises out of the water and wishes to speak to Richards. It appears that Namor had joined forces with the super villain ‘Dr.Doom,’ but their alliances did not work out. Dr.Doom sought revenge on Namor by messing with his suit, making it impossible for Namor to stay out of the water anymore. The doctor then offered him a serum to help Namor stay alive even outside water. Though the serum helped Namor breathe in air, its effects would wear off every twenty-four hours, and Namor needed to get his suit fixed before the deadline. Also, Dr. Doom gave him this serum only on the condition that Namor must return to work for him in case he cannot repair the suit.
Namor requests Richards to save him and repair the suit at any cost, while Dr.Doom shows up as a hologram to make fun of the superheroes. The Fantastic Four get to work right away and are determined to find a way to cure Namor.
In the meantime, the ‘Human Torch’ notices a strange figure lurking on a rooftop across the street and spying on their lab. He decides not to tell Richards about it and sets out on his own to look into this intruder. Human Torch suspects that Dr. Doom must have sent someone to keep an eye on them, but he is surprised to find a man in a superhero costume. He asks the man about his identity, and the man replies by saying, ‘I am the Shroud!
That is all you need to know!’. Human Torch tries to know more about him, but Shroud lunges into an attack on him, catching him off-guard. Shroud did not wish to be seen, and he intended to come and leave as silently as a shadow. While the two fight each other, Human Torch notices that Shroud’s costume covers his eye, and he wonders what is wrong with the Shroud’s eyes. He even uses his fireballs, but Shroud manages to deflect all his attacks and cannot be beaten so easily. Shroud boasts about his powers and says,’ I’ve devoted my life to my calling! That’s given me plenty of time to refine the factors on which my life depends’.
He also talks about his coat which is lined with asbestos and is fire-proof, which makes him resistant to the Human Torch’s attacks. Shroud then takes his leave and flies away while the Human Torch follows him and demands to know his relation with Dr.Doom. Upon hearing Doom’s name, Shroud attacks the Human Torch and then says that he will soon attack Doom in the same way. While Torch regains his balance, Shroud flies away and is nowhere to be found.
In the meantime, Richards tries his best to repair Namor’s suit as the twenty-four-hour mark approaches its deadline. Richards is almost done fixing the suit, but Namor loses his patience and breaks out of the water tank. However, he starts suffocating in the air, and Dr.Doom uses his powers to teleport Namor to his headquarters in Latveria. The Fantastic Four are determined to save Namor, and they decide to follow Namor and free him from serving under Dr.Doom.
In the next issue, the Fantastic Four make their way to Latveria while Dr.Doom picks up signals of their Fantasticar. He prepares to confront the superhero team and sends an army of soldiers to prevent the Fantastic Four from entering his castle. While the superhero team struggles to overpower the soldiers, Namor helplessly watches their fight from his cell in the castle.
As he looks out the window, his eyes fall on Shroud, who uses the commotion as an opportunity to break into the place undetected. Shroud plans to wait until nightfall and then find a way to break into Dr. Doom’s castle to kill him. Though we don’t know Shroud’s reasons for killing Dr. Doom, he is pretty determined to cause Doom’s downfall.
In the meantime, the Fantastic Four defeat all the soldiers and are on the verge of breaking into the castle. Dr.Doom asks Namor to stop them from entering the place and warns him that he must obey his orders if he wishes to get his next dose of serum. Namor has no choice but to fight against his friends, but the Fantastic Four easily defeat him and finally enter the castle. However, they are stopped by ‘Henry Kissinger’, Secretary of States. He had just signed a peace agreement between the U.S.A. and Latveria, and the Fantastic Four were left with no option but to leave.
As the superheroes leave Latveria, Shroud watches from afar and decides that it’s for the best that the Fantastic Four had to depart. He talks to himself and promises that he will soon kill Doom. It appears that he shares a history with Doom, and the doctor isn’t aware that the Shroud is still alive.
Some major events involving the Shroud
Shroud has been a part of many storyline arcs, such as ‘Avengers and the Night Shift,’ and ‘Civil War and the Initiative’ and so on. Initially, Shroud worked as a crime lord in L.A., where he brought together the ‘Night Shift.’ Though Shroud was a gang leader, he secretly helped the Avengers, such as Captain America and Ms. Marvel by passing on information about the crime scene in L.A.
He created the ‘Night Shift,’ a team of superhuman criminals who believed that Shroud was fighting crime to decrease his competition. The Night Shift sometimes worked alongside the Avengers and helped them bring down other criminals. In one such instance, the Night Shift uncovered the crime organization Power Broker’s plans to create super soldiers with some aid from the government. However, the Night Shift soon stopped working for Shroud, as they learned that he was not a criminal but rather a vigilante who supported the Avengers. Shroud then left L.A. and moved to New York in order to leave his past behind.
Over the next few years, Shroud developed a relationship with ‘Arachne,’ who was a former Avenger known as ‘Julia Carpenter’. They met when Julia needed help regaining her powers, and Shroud made sure she regained them by hiring a team of scientists to create a formula for her powers. The two ended up getting very close, and Arachne began working for ‘The Initiative.’ The Initiative captured any beings who violated the Superhuman Registration Act by hiding their superpowers. While Arachne worked for the Initiative on the surface, she and Shroud secretly helped the captured offenders escape from the organization.
Soon after, Arachne was exposed to the Initiative, and Shroud sacrificed himself to make sure she escaped any criminal charges. Though Shroud had many criminal offenses on his name, he was cleared of all charges with some help from Tony Stark. He then moved to Canada with Arachne and took up the role of leading the superhero team ‘Omega Flight.’
After a few years, the Superhuman Registration Act was abolished, and it was safe for Shroud to return to New York. He then worked alongside the police forces to fight crime and was also in charge of investigating murders in Shadowland. Shadowland was a city block in New York, where around 107 people were victims of an explosion caused by ‘Bullseye.’ Shroud worked alongside Daredevil to solve this case, and later worked on many such crime investigations.
What makes him so unique and powerful?
The Shroud has many unique abilities, but what sets him apart is his ability to summon ‘Darkforce.’ Darkforce is a type of negative energy which is summoned by opening a portal to the Darkforce Dimension. No amount of light or illumination can penetrate through the Darkforce, as it is the total negation of any light. This energy can have various effects, and it depends on the summoner to use it to his advantage.
Though we don’t know just how much of this dark energy the Shroud can summon, we do know that he can control the darkness for an unlimited amount of time. Shroud can cast clouds of darkness that are capable of filling an entire room with darkness in a matter of seconds.
He can even project the dark energy to create hazy, deformed shapes of darkness. Moreover, Shroud can disguise the darkness as his shadow, which helps him catch his opponents off-guard as the space fills up with dark energy. Shroud can only draw energy from the Darkforce Dimension, and he cannot actually travel to the dimension.
Shroud possesses ‘psychic perception,’ which helps him see through the Darkforce energy by using his mind. The psychic energy even gives Shroud a clear idea of everything that surrounds him up to a radius of 100 meters, and he can mentally perceive humans as well as objects in his vicinity. Though he has lost his ability to see, Shroud’s psychic powers more than make up for his blindness, and he has no trouble navigating the world.
While training at the ‘Cult of Kali,’ Shroud has received intense training in combat and has mastered many martial forms. He has excellent fighting skills, as well as the intelligence to devise elaborate plans to defeat his opponents.
Conclusion
Though there are many vigilantes in the Marvel Universe, Shroud’s unique set of powers and his persistence in fighting crime make him quite an interesting character. He has lived a grim life, and he could have been a darker character if Marvel had explored his story in more depth. Shroud is quite a formidable character, and we hope to see him written into some storylines in future projects!