Thule was a Marvel supervillain and enemy of Cloak and Dagger.
History[]
During World War II, Nazi scientists conducted extensive experiments. What Thule believed to be possibly a "specific combination of certain minds, that could only have been gathered under the Nazi regime" created the Darkdoor, an interface with the Schwarzraum.
These men had definitely found a source of incredible energy, but all attempts to control it proved fatal. An entire youth regimen, including the future Thule, had the privilege of being chosen to explore this new frontier; "Thule" was the last one left. However, when the arrival of the allied invaders proved imminent, Project: Darkdoor was dismantled hastily, and young "Thule" realized that he had been chosen for an even greater responsibility. In the ensuing chaos, "Thule" managed to pass himself off as one of the valuable scientists and was relocated to America to work with the U.S. government. From there he easily escaped, and no one noticed that he had taken the uncatalogued Darkdoor file with him. He knew that technology would one day catch up with the scientists' discovery and he would finally be able to...(explanation interrupted and never continued).
In reality, the realm was merely a portal to Mephisto's realm of Hell. Combining popular science-fiction notions and the deluded would-be dictator's preconceived racist dogma, Mephisto led Thule to the conclusion that the "Vril" in the "Schwarzraum" were actually an alien species that had originally populated Earth with their "master race" eons ago. Mephisto manipulated Thule to sacrifice the necessary lives to open the Darkdoor for "the Vril." Thule's facist "Reign of Terror" in New York was his own idea.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) found the body of David - a homeless teen who hadn't been seen in weeks after taking off with friends - impaled on a black lance lodged in a building in downtown Manhattan. A few feet away they found an "Eye of Force" medallion (A Swastika with an eye in the center).
Later, a sextet of Eye of Force Neo-Nazis assaulted Solly, an elderly Jewish man who had survived Nazi concentration camps. Cloak pulled the Neo-Nazis into his dark dimension and held them there for a time, driving them mad, but Solly died despite receiving Dagger's light. Due to Cloak's treatment of the men, the police were unable to question them about the Eye of Force. Dagger went out on the streets as Tandy Bowen to learn more from the kids on the street, and she made a connection with another Neo-Nazi, Erich Hennig, who took her to a skinhead bar, Ballistyx. Tandy impressed Erich by holding her own in a "battledance," so Erich took her down to show her a "program of power like nothing you've ever dreamed of." Cloak followed, staying in the shadows, and Erich brought Tandy to the site of a battle between a pair of the Neo-Nazi cultists—one representing fire and the other ice—atop an Eye of Force symbol. The two cultists had been lovers until a recent breakup, and Erich matched them in the ritual because he knew they would bring their emotions to the fight. When the woman struck a deathblow, the man's death somehow activated the Eye of Force, which discharged a massive burst of flame, which shot through the ceiling and into the club. Many of the club's patrons escaped, but Cloak teleported out Dagger and those stuck behind. The flame continued up, out of the club and into the sky.
Another young adult suddenly appeared, skewered by a black lance lodged in the wall of one of the upper floors of an Upper East Side skyscraper in Manhattan. Cloak retrieved the body, but when he touched the lance he and the body were teleported into the mysterious apartment across from Phillip Carlisle's apartment.
Erich Hennig—who had been attempting to lose himself in alcohol for the three days since the disaster during the Eye of Force ceremony—was suddenly confronted by Thule, who appeared in his room. Thule told him that the Eye of Force was always on Erich, shielding him from peril and shielding his superiors from Erich's mistakes. Thule told him that the ritual had ended in death before, but never with such immense energies being released from the Eye of Force. Thule asked Erich if there had been anyone special attending that ritual. When Erich told him about Tandy, Thule suspected that she might be one of the new race (the Vril) and told him to bring her to Schamballah for evaluation; Thule told him that he would be honored if he had found a true Vrilian.
Erich got word to Tandy via some Neo-Nazi pretenders that he was looking for her. When they met up he offered to take her to where he really lived...if she thought she was strong enough to accept a whole new vision of the world. After some consideration she agreed to go with him, and she had Cloak sneak along with her. They took a private jet and arrived in Schamballah, the fortress of the Neo-Nazis, where they studied and taught the forces that would change the destiny of mankind. General Berglund inspected Tandy and agreed that she might well be one of the Vril, but at that point the crew discovered Tyrone (the powered-down Cloak) within the jet's cargo hold. Tandy proved herself to the Neo-Nazis by throwing Tyrone out, and then Berglund sent a Brigade to finish him off. Tyrone became Cloak and pulled his pursuers into his cloak, then returning them and leaving them paralyzed on the ground in abject terror. Upon their discovering, Berglund sentenced them all to "Ride the Lance," a death sentence for their weakness.
Dagger returned with the others to Schamballa.
Thule and his inner circle took Dagger to an antechamber in the depths of Schamballah where they prepared to initiate her as a new believer.
At dusk, Cloak entered Schamballa, using his darkness to cause fear in the guards to force them to tell him where to find Tandy. He then explored Schamballah's depths, finding Dagger in the antechamber. Thule told Tandy that the Vril welcomed the great potential these sensed in her, and he called her by her full name, despite the fact that she had never told them her last name. Thule said that if Dagger were truly one of the Vril, she would know the truth when she heard it. Thule began to tell of his origins, but just after mentioning his escape from the U.S. scientists, he sensed the presence of Cloak hiding within the chamber. Generating the "Light of the Vril" (Which no one could hide from), Thule forced Cloak to emerge from the shadows. Thule's light then struck Cloak, causing him to vanish screaming from the antechamber and to reappear, powerless, in the apartment across from Phillip Carlisle's. There he was confronted by Avandalia, who made him susceptible to her future commands.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in New York, Spider-Man was swinging across the city when he came across one of the lances and subsequently found a portal in space that carried him six miles across the city. Spider-Man then overheard Tyrone talking to Detectives Brigid O'Reilly (formerly Mayhem) and Rebecca "Rusty" Nales talking about the lance.
Thule then brought the inner circle and Tandy to the Eye of Force where he prepared to sacrifice the cadets who had failed to capture Cloak; by monitoring their journey through the Schwarzraum he intended to further his knowledge of its mysterious wonders, and soon he and the circle would have finished charting a course for their saviors. As Thule primed the Eye of Force, Tandy tried to save the intended victims, but Erich threw off her aim by trying to restrain her. A sort-of electrostatic charge built up between Dagger's light and the dark energy of the lance, which pulled her (and Erich) with the lance as it was fired. The lance skewered the three victims and then passed through the Eye and into the Schwarzraum. There Dagger used her light to fight off the darkness and despair, passing by a manifestation of D'Spayre himself in the process. D'Spayre told her that she would know him soon enough, but until that time she could pass safely.
Back in Manhattan, Dagger's light knives passed out through Cloak's body, driving his darkness out of control. The lance, still holding its three victims, plus Dagger and Erich, then emerged from the darkness and began hurtling towards the streets below. Spider-Man stopped the lance from hitting anyone and rescued Dagger and Erich. The Detectives arrested Erich as an accessory to murder, but Dagger told Cloak, who had regained control of himself, that they needed to return to Schamballah and bring it crashing to the ground.
Cloak transported himself, Dagger, and Spider-Man back to Schamballah, but Cloak's out-of-control powers caused him to vanish along the way, leaving Spider-Man and Dagger to go flying within Schamballah, where they secretly hid in the main chamber. Cloak re-formed, but only by maintaining his existence via the shadows on the walls.
Thule was notified by General Berglund that the Eye was primed, and he dismissed Berglund and the rest, because only he could communicate directly with the Vril. Thule scanned New York and realized that the lance had not materialized at any of his pre-programmed locations for his "reign of terror" in New York City. Thule approached the Eye, noting that "You are almost here. And the perfect race you birthed long ago welcomes you back to our humble planet. With but one more death...the Vril shall inherit the Earth."
The black energy from Thule caused Spider-Man's spider-sense to generate an excruciatingly painful warning, while Cloak was only caused greater pain when Dagger tried to feed him light energy, as it ate away at the very darkness sustaining him.
Thule continued, "All of the final mysteries will soon be resolved—the Vril are so close now that I can hear them. According to my arcane calculations, the Schwarzraum will effectively become a controlled black hole, connecting our realm and theirs...with the sacrifice of only one more inferior life-energy. A woman, Anna (actually Cloak's long-lost twin sister), was bound to the manacles in front of the Eye of Force.
From out of the Schwarzraum reached a hand that held an energy pistol that fired an energy blast that exposed Dagger and Spider-Man. Spider-Man unplugged the power source to the Eye of Force, but Thule called in his soldiers. Spider-Man fought off Berglund and the soldiers while Dagger finally succeeded in restoring Cloak, and they stunned the remaining troops, but then a new contingent, armed with more advanced weaponry, arrived
Back in New York, Erich refused to answer the Detectives' questions. After they left, a guard gave Johann, one of Erich's imprisoned cultists, a key to his cell. Johann freed Erich, and they escaped.
In Schamballah, Spider-Man tore the lance from the launching device and used it against the soldiers. Thule fired another of the launching devices, but Dagger threw light knives that knocked it off target, and it only severed Anna's manacles, freeing her. Cloak closed on Thule, but the revived Berglund began firing at him, distracting him. However, when Berglund rushed to Thule's side, Thule launched another lance, which skewered Berglund and passed into the eye, providing the last of the needed life force to open the Schwarzraum.
The Vril poured through the open portal, wearing armor and wielding energy pistols and firing on the heroes, but Cloak pulled them all into his cloak. He returned them, stripped of their armor and weapons, but otherwise unaffected by Cloak's darkness. The Vril then began firing energy blasts from their eyes and hands, while Anna tackled Thule and attempted to brain him with a rock. He knocked the rock from her hands and the two began fighting savagely while Cloak & Dagger and Spider-Man fought the Vril. Suddenly, huge tremors began to tear Schamballah apart. The combatants all fell through the floor and, as a giant hand reached out to scoop them up, Thule proclaimed, "Thank God!" The hand's owner, Mephisto, replied, "Not exactly."
Mephisto ate Thule alive, making his abdomen and stomach transparent so that the others could watch him be digested. Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) then arrived, having been drawn through one of the Darkdoor's dimensional warps by the blood of Thule's teenage victims. The "Vril" were revealed as Mephisto's demon elite, and Mephisto explained how he had manipulated Thule and his allies.
Mephisto was temporarily called away by Thanos (Infinity Gauntlet crossover), and the others battled his demons (Ghost Rider used his motorcycle to send Anna back to the surface), eventually defeating them. Mephisto returned and consumed Cloak & Dagger, while Ghost Rider took Spider-Man back to the surface. However, Cloak merged again with his darkform, restoring his powers and dark nature, and Mephisto—sensing the taste of another demon's prior claim—spat them both out. Cloak teleported Dagger and himself away, and, after they accessed some "Otherdark" realm associated with Cloak, they followed a point of light, emerging back in that mysterious apartment across from Phillip Carlisle's apartment. They were greeted by D'Spayre and Avandalia, who held Det. Nales and Phillip captive and had transformed O'Reilly back into Mayhem. D'Spayre and Avandalia welcomed their honored guests to their last meal.
Erich, meanwhile, had returned to Schamballah and found the weakened Anna as she had been brought to the surface. Though he knew what Thule would have him do to a black woman, he instead helped her until Spider-Man and Ghost Rider arrived.
"The Awesome Conclusion to the 'Eye of Force" Saga" - Nothing connected to the Eye of Force happened. Avandalia remained a mystery and Mayhem seemingly destroyed her. D'Spayre revealed how he had manipulated Cloak & Dagger right from the start, and the Darkform and Lightform he had imbued in them had been the source of much of their recent and past power instabilities. D'Spayre withdrew and consumed Dagger's Lightform, but found its purity weakened him. Dagger's powers increased without her Lightform constantly draining her power. Cloak held onto this Darkform, resisting D'Spayre's attempts to reclaim it, and Cloak enveloped D'Spayre within his cloak, where the Darkform—in its own realm and consisting of a piece of D'Spayre's own soul and possessing his equal in strength—attacked him. D'Spayre and the Darkform seemingly consumed each other in a massive explosion. The restored Cloak & Dagger then set about destroying D'Spayre's D-Lite drug operation.
Powers / Abilities[]
Thule could sense certain energies of light or darkness, and he could also project light that proved capable of teleporting others away from him (perhaps via the Schwarzraum). He was exceptionally strong and fit for his age, perhaps supernaturally so.
Thule preached about racial purity, about raising oneself above fear and pity, and about expunging all vulnerabilities until only the strong remained.
Thule could access the energies of the Schwarzraum via the Eye of Force.