The Demon Bear is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

appearing in

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s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. The character has been featured in the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series ''

The New Mutants ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' and ''

X-Force X-Force is a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team first appeared in ''New Mutants#New Muta ...

''. The Demon Bear appeared as the secondary antagonist of the 2020 film ''

''.

Publication History

Chris Claremont first teased the concept of the Demon Bear in ''The New Mutants'' #3, but it did not fully appear until issue #18. The antagonist once again appeared in ''X-Force'' vol. 3 #8. The last appearance of the Demon Bear was in ''Uncanny X-Force'' vol. 2 #15, when the beast is tamed by

Psylocke Psylocke is the name of two connected fictional Mutant (Marvel Comics), mutant superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The first character to use the Psylocke moniker, Betsy Braddoc ...

Fictional character biography

As a child,

Danielle Moonstar Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, originally codenamed Psyche and later Mirage, is a fictional Northern Cheyenne superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in the graphic novel ''The New Mutants'' (Sept. ...

unintentionally used her emergent psychic powers to foresee the deaths of her parents, William and Peg Moonstar, in a vision that showed them being slain by a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

. When the couple disappeared on a hunting trip a week later, Dani believed her vision had come true. It was later revealed, however, that Dani's vision had been metaphorical; in truth, her parents had been captured and transformed into a demonic bear spirit. The identity of the being responsible for this transformation was never revealed in story, but the

letters page A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), o ...

of ''The New Mutants'' #24 would state that it was the ancient mystical entity the

Adversary An adversary is generally considered to be a person, group, or force that opposes and/or attacks. Adversary may also refer to: * Satan ("adversary" in Hebrew), in Judeo-Christian religion Entertainment Fiction * Adversary (comics), villain fro ...

. In the early days of her time as a member of the New Mutants, as depicted in ''The New Mutants'' #3, Dani experienced a vision of the Demon Bear. Initially, she believed it was simply a nightmare, born of the childhood fear that the bear which had killed her parents would one day come to kill her too, but when she attacked the bear with her hunting knife, she drew blood and realized that the bear was both real, and no mere animal. Increasingly troubled by her dreams of the Demon Bear, Moonstar ran various Danger Room scenarios against bears and then confronted the demon alone; it mauled her and severely damaged her spine. The New Mutants rushed her to the Mid-County Medical Center. The Demon Bear infiltrated the hospital, transported the team to the Badlands, and turned nurse

Sharon Friedlander Sharon Friedlander is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character most often appears in X-Men stories in the Marvel Universe. Sharon first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #19 (1984). She was crea ...

and officer Tom Corsi into demonic Native American warriors under his control. They later reverted to normal humans but still kept the appearance of Native Americans. Here, the New Mutants fought and defeated the Demon Bear, disrupting it with Magik's

Soulsword Magik (Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina) (Russian: Ильяна Николаевна Распутина) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted most often in relation to the ...

. Danielle's parents leaped from its body, returning them to normal.''The New Mutants'' #19-20. Marvel Comics.

member

Warpath Warpath may refer to: *Great Indian Warpath, a network of trails in eastern North America used by Native Americans Games * ''Warpath'' (video game), a 2006 FPS video game by Digital Extremes for the PC and Xbox *'' Warpath: Jurassic Park'', a 199 ...

encountered a Demon Bear of his own while on his way to visit his brother

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

's grave and would have been killed were it not for the intervention of

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

who offered his assistance against the demon. Defeating this bear, they discovered it was the corrupted form of the Apaches' animal spirits, who had been driven mad by

Eli Bard Nakia Bahadir Nakia Bahadir is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a Turkish girl and friend of Kamala Khan. Nakia Bahadir in other media Nakia Bahadir appears in ''Ms. Marvel'', portrayed ...

, who used a dagger full of black magic to do so. The Demon Bear later appears in possession of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, before being driven out by

. Once Bishop is freed, Psylocke takes on the now docile bear as a companion.

Powers and abilities

The Demon Bear draws power from negative human emotion. It is capable of teleportation, high invulnerability, healing factor, superhuman strength, transformation, and corruption of human souls.

In other media

Demon Bear is the secondary antagonist of ''

''. This version of Demon Bear is implied to be a creation of Danielle Moonstar's, following her abilities manifesting. It creates a storm that destroys Dani's Cheyenne reservation and spends the movie chasing her down. In the end, Dani overcomes her fear of the Demon Bear and calms it down and tells it to rest, allowing the Demon Bear to dissipate in peace.

References

{{X-Men characters Comics characters introduced in 1983 Comics characters introduced in 1984 Marvel Comics supervillains Fictional bears Fictional demons and devils Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Characters created by Chris Claremont X-Men supporting characters Marvel Comics demons Marvel Comics characters who can teleport