Cullen Bloodstone

Bloodstone (Cullen Bloodstone) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Bloodstone
Cullen Bloodstone as depicted in Avengers Arena #6 (May 2013). Art by Kev Walker.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Avengers Arena #1 (December 2012)
Created by	Dennis Hopeless Kev Walker
In-story information
Full name	Cullen Bloodstone
Species	Human mutate
Team affiliations	Braddock Academy
Abilities	Superhuman strength Healing factor Glartrox transformation

Publication history

Bloodstone first appeared in issue #1 of the Avengers Arena series as part of the Marvel NOW! event, and was created by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker.^[1]

Cullen Bloodstone appears as one of the main characters in Avengers Undercover beginning in 2014.^[2]

Fictional character biography

Cullen Bloodstone is the son of Ulysses Bloodstone and the younger brother of Elsa Bloodstone. When Cullen is 10, Ulysses takes him to another dimension and leaves him there to prove his worth as a Bloodstone. Ulysses plans to retrieve Cullen the next day, but is killed by the Conspirators, resulting in Cullen being trapped in the dimension for over two years. Cullen returns to Earth and is found by Elsa. She gives Cullen a Bloodstone ring to supress the Glartrox, an otherdimensional creature which has possessed him, and takes him to Braddock Academy to attend high school.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

In Avengers Arena, Cullen is one of sixteen teenagers kidnapped by Arcade, who forces them to fight to the death in Murderworld.^[9] He is part of the Braddock Academy group (consisting of Apex, Kid Briton, Anachronism, and Nara) which is joined by Death Locket despite death threats from Kid Briton and Nara. Death Locket bonds with Apex as she introduces her to the rest of the Braddock Academy.^[10] There is discord in the Braddock Academy's ranks as Anachronism and Kid Briton get into an argument. An earthquake separates Cullen and Anachronism from Apex, Nara, Kid Briton, and Death Locket.^[11] Nara, Anachronism, and Cullen survive falling into the chasm and come to the conclusion that Apex is manipulating Death Locket and Kid Briton to her own ends. Arcade teleports the three to a supply cache at Quadrant 2 as Apex, Death Locket, and Kid Briton arrive. Nara and Apex start arguing and Apex confirms that she ordered Death Locket to attack Nara. Kid Briton tries to intervene as Nara calls him a "weak puppet". Kid Briton attempts to kill Nara for insulting him, only to be killed by Anachronism.^[12]

After being injured by Apex, Nico Minoru sacrifices herself by staying behind to get the other survivors to safety.^[13] The remaining teenage heroes catch up to Reptil and Hazmat and are invited to have shark steaks with them. Cullen confronts Reptil about their camping out on the beach while a war is going off elsewhere. Cammi interjects to agree with Cullen before saying she is heading out to either find Nico or avenge her. Reptil heads back to shake Hazmat out of her funk. Everyone agrees to go back out into Murderworld.^[14]

Bloodstone, Cammi, Anachronism, and Nara soon get separated from Reptil, Hazmat, and X-23. He soon lashes out at Anachronism and Cammi. When Anachronism and Nara leave Bloodstone revealed his past to Cammi. Anachronism and Nara are then seen being attacked by a feral X-23, during the time when Nara reveals to Anachronism that she believes Cullen is gay and in love with him. Cullen decides to take off his ring and fight X-23 in his unstable form, leaving Anachronism, Nara and Cammi in the middle.^[3] Cullen successfully defeats X-23, but is now wild and out of control. Nara retrieves the ring and returns Cullen to normal, but is mortally wounded and dies in Anachronism's arms.^[15] When Cullen approaches Anachronism to offer sympathy, Anachronism attacks him in a fit of rage, with Cammi having to break up the fight.^[16]

In Avengers Undercover, Cullen heads to Bagalia to infiltrate the Masters of Evil and find Arcade, and Death Locket, Chase Stein, Hazmat, Cammi, and Anachronism follow him there.^[17] Once they find Bloodstone, he reveals that he enjoys life among the villains, and the others, minus Cammi, start to enjoy it as well. When Cammi tries to tell the others to leave, Bloodstone instead has Daimon Hellstrom teleport the group to Arcade's party so they can kill him.^[18] While escaping Arcade's mansion, the team is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., but "rescued" by Hellstrom and return to Bagalia, where Helmut Zemo invites the teens to join the Masters of Evil.^[19] Cullen willingly accepts Zemo's offer.^[20] Hellstrom uses a Hellfire Halo to control Cullen's Glartrox form into fighting Anachronism.^[21] However, Cullen resists Hellstrom's control and kisses Anachronism, to the latter's surprise.^[22]

In the 2021 event The Death of Doctor Strange, Elsa and Lysa Bloodstone exorcise the Glartrox from Cullen, freeing him from its influence.^[23]

In Excalibur (vol. 4), Cullen Bloodstone buys the Warwolves from the zoo where they were imprisoned and enlists the members of Excalibur to kill them.^[24][25][26] The group successfully kills the Warwolves, but Betsy Braddock discovers that one of the Warwolves had a young pup, which she gives to Rachel Summers as a pet.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Powers and abilities

Cullen Bloodstone's abilities are derived from the Bloodstone ring, which gives him a healing factor and superhuman strength, durability, and agility. The ring also prevents Cullen from transforming into a Glartrox, an otherdimensional creature that feeds on its host's soul and emotions. With help from Daimon Hellstrom and Anachronism, Cullen gains the ability to suppress the Glartrox with his willpower and partially transform at will.^[18][22]