Brother Blood

Brother Blood
Art by George Pérez
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(1980s) New Teen Titans vol. 1, #21 (1982) (2000s) Outsiders vol. 3, #6 (January 2004)
Created by	Marv Wolfman George Pérez
In-story information
Full name	(2000s & 1980s) Sebastian Blood*
Team affiliations	(Both) Church of Blood (2000s) Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities	(1980s) Hypnosis Sorcery Longevity Immunity to Raven's soul-self (2000s) Vampirism Enhanced Strength Adept hand-to-hand combatant

Brother Blood is the name of two fictional comic book characters in the DC Comics universe.

Publication history

The first Brother Blood debuted in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #21(1982), and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.^[1]

Fictional character biography

First Blood

The first Brother Blood encountered by the Titans was the eighth to bear the title. Seven hundred years earlier, a priest in the fictional nation of Zandia named Brother Sebastian killed another priest to gain possession of what he believed to be Christ's prayer shawl. The shawl gave him invulnerability and reduced his aging, but the priest he killed cursed him to be slain by his son before his hundredth birthday. Upon doing so, his son became the second Brother Blood. He, in turn was killed by his son, and this continued for seven centuries.^[1]

The eighth Brother Blood was, seemingly, the first who wished to extend the Church of Blood beyond Zandia. He wanted the Church to be a world power. The Church of Blood began operating in America, and the Titans were called to investigate when an ex-girlfriend of Cyborg attempted to escape this cult. Because of the Church of Blood's influence, the Titans found moving against him difficult, especially when public opinion was turned against them by Bethany Snow, a reporter who was a member of the Church.

Brother Blood brainwashed Nightwing and attempted to take control of Raven's power. She defeated him, and his mind was seemingly destroyed.^[2] Brother Blood's wife, Mother Mayhem, later birthed a girl, suggesting the curse was over.

Second Blood

The second Brother Blood.
Art by Tony Daniel.

Some time later, in Outsiders (vol. 3), Brother Blood returned to villainy.^[3] Shortly after recreating his cult, he was killed by a young boy, Sebastian, claiming to be the new Brother Blood.^[4] This version reappeared in Teen Titans vol. 3.

This teenaged Brother Blood seemingly based all his decisions on advice from Mother Mayhem, but this was actually a female cultist chosen at random and killed if the advice was not what he wanted to hear. He also exhibited vampiric abilities.

He revealed that the Cult of Blood was based on the worship of Trigon the Terrible. It was for this reason that the new Bride of Blood was to be Raven. The Titans were able to save Raven, but the Church of Blood continued. Brother Blood later appeared in Teen Titans #30 a member of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains, where he claimed an undead Lilith Clay to be his mother. He also summoned the first Hawk and Dove, Phantasm, Kole, and Aquagirl from the dead to be his own Teen Titans. Brother Blood was stopped by Kid Eternity and sent to the eighth level of Hell, but not before he summoned the past Brother Bloods, all of which took out their anger and hatred on Sebastian.

In the aftermath of the "Reign In Hell" miniseries, Blood, now an adult, escaped from his incarceration, and was opposed by Kid Eternity. The fight between the two brought them to Titans Tower, where Blood fought the Titans. After draining Red Devil's powers, Blood realised that he had tainted himself with Neron's influence, and fled the battle. He was later seen approaching an unknown woman, looking to make her his new Mother.^[5]

Some time later, the Secret Six were hired to infiltrate one of Blood's cults and rescue a wealthy teenager who had been forced into the group against his will. After the team's cover was blown, they proceeded to kill a number of the church's members and ultimately destroy their compound.^[6]

The New 52

The Cult of Blood (once again as Trigon's pawns) makes their post-Flashpoint debut in issue one of the Phantom Stranger, as a part of the Third Wave of The New 52 reboot of the DC Comics universe.^[7] Brother Blood himself appears in Ravagers.^[8] Blood kidnaps the team intending to use Beast Boy's powers in a ritual to travel in The Red's dimension. The Ravagers manage to interrupt the ritual as Terra buries him alive.^[9] He survives and returns in Animal Man, where it is revealed his obsession with The Red came from being their first option for champion before Buddy Baker was chosen.^[10]

Powers and abilities

The first Blood is a formidable opponent who is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers. He is an expert manipulator who feeds off of the faith of his members. He ages at a much slower rate than normal humans. Brother Blood is immune to Raven's soul-self due to his shawl's powers. He is also nigh invulnerable and has supernatural physical strength.

The second Blood's powers work in a manner similar to those of a vampire: he gains strength from blood, and can take on the abilities of anyone whose blood he has sampled. Like the first Blood, he is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers.

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Brother Blood is mentioned by his former student, Jason Todd, as being a developing drug lord.^[11]

In other media

Television

Animated

Brother Blood as he appears in the Teen Titans animated series.

• Brother Blood appears as the main antagonist of the third season of the Teen Titans cartoon series, voiced by John DiMaggio. In the show, Brother Blood is the charismatic - and sadistic - Headmaster of the H.I.V.E. Academy. His powers are very different from his comic book incarnation, a powerful psychic who mind controls his students to keep them under his thrall. He is shown using his psychic powers for a variety of other purposes as well, such as producing deadly force bolts, teleportation, energy shields, telekinesis, or altering perception, and also has a photographic memory. In his first appearance, he displayed the ability to make Cyborg believe he transformed Cyborg's metal hand into flesh, though this only fooled the organic side of his brain; Cyborg's mechanical sensors saw through the trick. In addition, Brother Blood displays formidable fighting skills. Because Cyborg was immune to his mind control, Brother Blood developed something of a rivalry with the Teen Titan, even though he easily defeated Cyborg in most of their fights since he knew all of Cyborg's weakspots. Brother Blood's first appearance in the episode "Deception" in which a disguised Cyborg is spying on the H.I.V.E., however, Brother Blood is aware of Cyborg and offers to make into human if Cyborg serves him. In the end. Cyborg shows immunity to Brother Blood's mind control because half of his brain is mechanical, and destroys the entire H.I.V.E. Academy thanks to a power upgrade provided by Brother Blood. However, the H.I.V.E had downloaded Cyborg's blueprints when the latter hacked into the H.I.V.E computers, allowing Brother Blood to know Cyborg's weaknesses; in the episode "Wavelength", Brother Blood has utilized Cyborg's sonic cannon schematics to build a massive underwater sonic resonator strong enough to wipe out Jump City. Although the plot is foiled and Cyborg's blueprints are taken back, Brother Blood later reveals that he possesses a photographic memory, thus, he remembers every detail of the blueprints. Brother Blood's final appearance is in the two-part episode "Titans East"; he takes control over the minds of Aqualad, Bumblebee, Más y Menos and Speedy, and has them re-build the Titans East tower into his new headquarters. Brother Blood also converts himself into a cyborg to enhance his mental abilities and plans to turn the Titans East into cyborgs as well so he can control them completely. Brother Blood confronts Cyborg in a final fight. Even though Brother Blood smashes both of his arms and legs, he is ultimately defeated by Cyborg when the hero reveals that it is actually his human spirit that is what defied Brother Blood's control. Cyborg also manages to tap into Brother Blood's mental powers, repairing the damage the villain had inflicted on him in their fight. Producer/writer David Slack stated saying: "In the end, we tried to make him the anti-Slade. Where Slade hides in the shadows, Brother Blood loves the spotlight. Slade always has some ulterior motive, Brother Blood will tell you what he's planning right away. So there's some contrast there. We weren't even sure we'd get to use that name. I think what was important that we kept was that he was the leader of a cult. We kept that role and drew inspiration from cult leaders we read about. They are very charming seeming people. From that, we gave him this sort of 'power of temptation' - this ability to control people's perceptions. And the power of persuasion. We didn't get too deep into the character from the comics, because so much of it was so outside of what we'd be able to do. He's definitely one where we've strayed more." ^[12]
• Brother Blood also makes an appearance in Teen Titans Go!, voiced again by John DiMaggio. In the episode "Waffles", he plans to gain access to the Titans Tower's weapon arsenal. In order to succeed, he kidnaps the Teen Titans (excluding Beast Boy and Cyborg) and forces to give them their voice passwords to get access. However, his plan failed when he gets annoyed by the Titans constantly saying 'waffles". In "Little Buddies", Brother Blood uses Pain Bot in order to attack the Titans. The Teen Titans managed to destroy the remote control to Pain Bot and defeat Brother Blood. In "I See You", a flashback showed Brother Blood eating at a restaurant when Beast Boy and Cyborg were attempting a stakeout on him. In the episode "A-Farce," Brother Blood prosecutes the Teen Titans for the damages caused in their crimefighting at a trial where Brain is the judge.

Live action

• Kevin Alejandro portrays Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood on The CW's Arrow. By day, Sebastian Blood is a charismatic former alderman and mayoral candidate for Starling City, and a personal friend to Oliver Queen. By night he is the leader of a "Blood cult" inherited from a man named Father Trigon under the name Brother Blood, and is in league with Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Sebastian is a very motivated political speaker who isn't afraid to take life-threatening risks for the people of Starling, but as Brother Blood he wears a skull mask with a voice modifier, operating mostly in secret. Blood is first referenced in the season two premiere, "City of Heroes", where signs can be seen reading "Blood for Mayor". Blood makes his first appearance in "Identity", where he is protesting Oliver Queen's lack of involvement in the restoration of the Glades. Later, Blood visits Oliver's office to discuss the situation and Oliver agrees to throw a fundraiser. When Oliver doesn't attend, due to his duties as the Arrow, Sebastian publicly ridicules him. In "Crucible", Sebastian attends a party of Oliver's with Laurel Lance, where the two decide to set up a "guns for cash" fundraiser for people affected by both the earthquake, and gun violence in the Glades. The event is interrupted by gun trafficker, Xavier "The Mayor" Reed, attacks and almost kills Sebastian, who is rescued by Oliver. Later, when Reed is defeated by the Arrow and Canary, Blood has Reed transferred to his underground facility and injects him with a serum called Mirakuru. Reed violently shakes and oozes blood from his eyes, before perishing. In "State v. Queen", Sebastian arranges for Count Vertigo to hold the city to ransom with the Vertigo drug and lure the Arrow in to kill him, but the Arrow ultimately kills the Count. Blood has his first successful injection with Cyrus Gold, who proclaims to be "stronger". In "The Scientist", Sebastian is revealed to have also injected Max Stanton with the serum, killing him, which lures the attention of Roy Harper and Sin. Blood has Gold steal state of the art technology from Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences division, in order to mass-produce the serum. In "Three Ghosts", Blood has Roy abducted when he is gets too close to his operation and injects him with the serum. The Arrow arrives and tries to apprehend Blood, but Gold engages him long enough for him to flee. In "Blast Radius", Sebastian seems to take a liking to Laurel and reveals that he has known Cyrus Gold since childhood, as they were at the same orphanage, which makes Laurel suspicious. It is also revealed that his mother killed his father who was abusive and almost killed them both. He also has an aunt named Maya Resik who is in a mental home. When Laurel visits Maya at the hospital she reveals that it was actually Sebastian who killed his father and that Maya is actually his mother. Later, Sebastian holds a community talk despite the bomb threats of Shrapnel/Mark Scheffer. He gets a visit from the Arrow, who tries to convince him to call it off. Sebastian is almost killed by one of Shrapnel's bombs but the Arrow saves him, again. Later, the Arrow meets with Sebastian who proposes an alliance, seeing that together they can save the city. The Arrow accepts. In "Blind Spot", Sebastian visits his mother and kills her, after discovering her visit with Laurel. Laurel is convinced that Sebastian is a criminal and hands over evidence of connections to Max Stanton and Cyrus Gold to the Arrow. Blood is visited by Slade who has the file on Sebastian's father's murder, which the Arrow tried to obtain, and threateningly orders him to fix the mess before Laurel discovers the truth. Sebastian has one of his followers, take the fall by wearing his costume. He is killed by Laurel. Slade is still annoyed at the cost and he kills Blood's bodyguards and threatens to kill him next. In "Heir to the Demon", Oliver calls Sebastian to tell him that he needs to end his support for his campaign as he is now supporting his mother Moira. At the same time Sebastian visits Moira and warns her to get out, but she refuses. Afterwards he meets with Slade, who informs him he will be handling Moira Queen personally. In "Deathstroke", Slade has Blood abduct Thea and who then takes her to a warehouse. Before he partakes in an annual political debate between him and Moira, Laurel makes peace with him about her earlier accusations. The debate is interrupted by Slade's broadcast message of Thea's capture. The abduction was actually all a diversion to hijack prisoners and to force Oliver to hand Queen Consolidated over to Isabel Rochev. Though Slade and Isabel's plans succeed Sebastian becomes frustrated as the voting polls are shown in Moira's favor. He blames Slade for the set back, but vows to hold up his end of the deal. In "City of Blood", Sebastian becomes the mayor of Starling City in the wake of Moira Queen's murder. Laurel hacks his computer and finds out that he wrote Moira's obituary the day before she was killed, causing her to realize he is working with Slade. Laurel goes to Oliver with this information and Team Arrow sets out to stop Blood before he can unleash the Mirukuru army on the city. Oliver reveals his true identity to Sebastian, who then reveals his plan to rebuild the damaged city in his own image. Brother Blood stands before the army, giving them final orders and a speech, before sending them out to wreak havoc. In "Streets of Fire", when one of Deathstroke's soldiers massacres his entire staff, Sebastian comes to the realization he has no intention of calling off the attack and leaving a city for him to rule. Thus, out of fear and pressure, he gives Oliver the cure for the Mirakuru and is later killed by Ravager/Isabel for his betrayal.

However, in the tie-in comic book Arrow 2.5, issue #2, Brother Blood is shown to be very much alive and leading his newly founded Church of Blood. Though it is not known whether or not this is actually Sebastian. In issue #3, it is revealed that Clinton Hogue, Sebastian's aid, has taken up his moniker and is now the man under the skull mask. In issue #4, it is revealed, through flashbacks, that Hogue is a devout theologian and humbly serves an unnamed deity. Later, Hogue is shown to be present when Sebastian is murdered, believing his death to be a sign that the mantle now belonged to him. In the present, he has a profiler draw up sketches of the two people responsible for his capture and interrogation, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. He holds Felicity captive, but Oliver rescues her and Roy Harper kicks Hogue off of the building they are on, causing him to fall to his death.^[13]

Video games

• Brother Blood appears in DC Universe Online. Brother Blood and his cult attempt to bring Trigon to Earth by raising the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins. Brother Blood is defeated by the players and the Sentinels of Magic. He is served by Clerics, Minions of Envy, Minions of Gluttony, Minions of Greed, Minions of Lust, Minions of Sloth, Minions of Wrath, Paladins, Priests, an Exarch of Gluttony, and an Exarch of Wrath.

References

1. Greenberger, Robert (2008). "Brother Blood". In Dougall, Alastair. The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 62. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5.
2. Teen Titans vol. 2 #31
3. Outsiders (vol. 3) #4 (November 2003)
4. Outsiders (vol. 3) #6 (January 2004)
5. Teen Titans (vol. 3) #67
6. Secret Six (vol. 3) #19
7. Phantom Stranger #1
8. Ravagers Vol 1 #3 (September 2012)
9. Ravagers Vol 1 #4 (October 2012)
10. Animal Man Vol 2 #23 (October 2013)
11. Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #2 (July 2011)
12. Teen Titans: Characters Archived April 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
13. Zalben, Alex (September 1, 2014). "'Arrow' Producers Reveal Huge Secrets In 'Season 2.5′". MTV. Retrieved September 11, 2014.

External links

• DCU Guide: Brother Blood II-VII
• DCU Guide: Brother Blood IX