Dweller-in-Darkness

For the collection of short stories by August Derleth, seeDwellers in Darkness.

He Who Dwells in Darkness,or simply theDweller-in-Darkness,is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic bookspublished byMarvel Comics.He is a demon, one of theFear Lords,who has clashed withDoctor Strange.

Dweller-in-Darkness
The Dweller in Darkness as depicted inDoctor StrangeVol. 3 #30. Art byGeof Isherwood.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Thor#229 (Nov. 1974, mentioned) Doctor StrangeVol. 3 #30 (Aug. 1978, revealed)
Created by	Gerry ConwayandRich Buckler Roger SternandTom Sutton
In-story information
Species	Demon
Team affiliations	Fear Lords
Notable aliases	He Who Dwells in Darkness
Abilities	Fear generation Immortality Superhuman strength

The character made its film debut in the 2021Marvel Cinematic UniversefilmShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,voiced byFala Chen.

Publication history

The Dweller-in-Darkness was first mentioned inThor#229-230 (Nov.–Dec. 1974), byGerry ConwayandRich Buckler.The character is first fully revealed inDoctor Strange#30 (Aug. 1978), byRoger SternandTom Sutton.

The character subsequently appears inDoctor Strange#32-33 (Dec. 1978, Feb. 1979), #35-37 (June–Oct. 1979),Fantastic FourAnnual #23 (1990),Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#31-33 (July–Sept. 1991), #38-40 (Jan.–March 1992), andAdventures of the X-Men#11-12 (Feb.–March 1997).

The Dweller-in-Darkness received an entry inThe Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Horror#1 (2005).

Fictional character biography

The Dweller-in-Darkness is a demon allegedly sired byCthulhu,from the dimension Everinnye, like the demonNightmare.The Dweller became shunned by his people for following "The Way of the Shamblu". Like Nightmare, the Dweller feeds on the fear of living beings; fear both increases his powers and keeps him alive.

In the universe which existed before the current reality, the Dweller caused a fracture in theM'Kraan Crystalin order to bring about the destruction of the universe and absorb the fear this would cause in every being that existed. Just before the crystal shattered, however, thePhoenix Forcetelepathically reached out to the minds of all life and united them in peace, foiling the Dweller's scheme. As the universe came to an end, the currentMarvel Universewas born.

In this new universe, when he first came to Earth, the Dweller-in-Darkness fed upon the fears created by the war between the humans ofAtlantisand theDeviantsofLemuria.The Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na discovered the existence of the Dweller and banished him with the help of Agamotto and the Atlantean god Valka. When Atlantis sank, the Dweller absorbed the fear of the inhabitants and used it to createD'Spayreand ordered him to kill Zhered-Na in revenge. D'Spayre manipulated a tribesman to kill Zhered-Na and Zhered-Na's student,Dakimh the Enchanterwould battle D'Spayre over the next millennia, while D'Spayre tried to generate enough fear on Earth to free his creator. During this time the Dweller would create other beings with a similar purpose, including the demoness Spite.D'Spayre would remain his most powerful creation though.

In the 20th century, the Dweller appeared in the dreams of many humans and told them that they would gain eternal life if they died. These humans would then kill themselves but turn into Shade Thralls, powerful creatures who served the Dweller, but were vulnerable to light. His plan was stopped by the godsThorandHerculeswho fought the Shade Thralls and destroyed them.He also inspired Zoltan Drago to become the firstMister Fear.

The Dweller would create new Shade Thralls. These Shade Thralls were destroyed byDoctor StrangeandClea,but not before the Dweller finally freed himself from his prison. The Dweller witnessed the destruction of his Shade Thralls by Strange and Clea and determined that they were the largest threat to him on Earth. Over the next few months he tried to kill Strange using servants like theDream-Weaverand several demons, but Strange defeated them all. Still, Strange's resolve was sapped by the Dweller's servants and he was overcome with fear. The Dweller decided that he had defeated Strange and stopped his attacks.

Months later, the Dweller gathered theFear Lordsand told them about his plans to create the Great Fear: a terror which would engulf humanity. In fact, the Dweller hoped that the other Fear Lords would be destroyed during this plan by Doctor Strange. Most of the Fear Lords agreed, but theStraw Man,who was benevolent to humanity, disagreed with their plan and warned Strange. The Fear Lords destroyed the Straw Man before he could tell Strange too much, but they only killed one of the Straw Man's many bodies. The Great Fear started out as the Dweller had planned; several of the Fear Lords were destroyed by Strange and his allies, but D'Spayre told Nightmare about the Dweller's true plans. Nightmare and the Dweller fought, but during their battle they generated so much fear that humanity stopped fearing and started to despair. The two were unable to feed upon this despair, but D'Spayre was and he became more powerful than the two of them. Realizing that D'Spayre had manipulated them, the Dweller attacked him, but D'Spayre destroyed the Dweller's robotic body. His head, the only living part of the Dweller, escaped.

HawkeyeandBlack Widowbecame involved in a mission against some of the servants of the Dweller-in-Darkness on behalf of theSecret Avengers.

Powers and abilities

The Dweller has the ability to generate fear in other living beings. This fear in turn sustains and empowers the Dweller, allowing him to generate even more fear. He also has other undefined mystical powers: he can create independent creatures out of fear like D'spayre and he can turn humans who die under his influence into Shade Thralls, beings made of shadow with superhuman strength. Strong light can kill or banish these thralls.

The Dweller is immortal, does not age, and even the sorceress Zhered-Na, assisted by powerful beings like Agamotto and Valka, could only banish him, not destroy him.

The "Way of the Shamblu", the Dweller's chosen path in life, involved a ritual where the Dweller removed his head from his own body. His body died, but his head lived on, now as a corporeal being, whereas the other inhabitants of Everinnye are more ethereal. The Dweller's head is attached to a robotic body, which possesses superhuman strength, but it can detach and move with the tentacles near its mouth in case of emergency.

Other versions

Secret Wars 2099

During theSecret Warsstoryline in theBattleworlddomain of 2099, Martin Hargood (the 2099 version ofBaron Mordo) usedAlchemax's virtual unreality laboratory to summon the Dweller-in-Darkness. Meanwhile,Miguel O'Haracalled in the Avengers to defend the city from the Dweller-in-Darkness allowing the Defenders to intervene without being arrested. While Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Roman the Sub-Mariner, andHulkconfronted the Dweller-in-Darkness, the rest of both teams confronted Hargood. After Hargood was knocked out, Strange was able to reverse the effects of the portal that brought the Dweller-in-Darkness and brought it back to where it came from.

In other media

Film

• The Dweller-in-Darkness appears in theMarvel Cinematic UniversefilmShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings(2021).This version is awyvern-like, soul-consuming demon kept imprisoned for thousands of years by the people ofTa Lo.The Dweller uses its powers to convinceXu Wenwuthat it is Wenwu's deceased wife Ying Li (portrayed byFala Chen), having attempted a similar trick a number of times before with other people, and manipulates Wenwu into using hisTen Ringsto release him. The Dweller kills Wenwu and has its minions killDeath Dealerand many others after being freed, but is defeated byShang-Chi,Katy,Xialing,and theGreat Protector.

Video games

• The Dweller-in-Darkness appears as a Boss inMarvel Avengers Academy.
• The Dweller-in-Darkness appears as a Boss inMarvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.This version is a pet and minion ofLady Hellbender.

External links

• Dweller-in-DarknessonMarvel
• Dweller-in-Darknessat the Marvel Database
• Dweller-in-Darknessat The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Dweller-in-Darknessat theGrand Comics Database
• Dweller-in-Darknessat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)