Elsa Bloodstone
(Profile #2 - Nextwave)
Context
Elsa Bloodstone is a minor Marvel Comics character. She’s a superhuman explorer and huntress of monsters.
There’s more backstory than you might expect, so for a full monster-hunting experience we recommend you read the articles in this sequence :
- Ulysses Bloodstone.
- The Conspiracy.
- Elsa Bloodstone profile #1 – Bloodstone Limited Series by Abnett and Lanning.
- Elsa Bloodstone profile #2 – Nextwave – this here writeup.
- Elsa Bloodstone profile #3.
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Background
- Real Name: Elsa Bloodstone (occasionally called “Ellie”).
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Elise Bloodstone (mother), Ulysses Bloodstone (father, deceased), half-brother (first name unrevealed, Elise’s son).
- Group Affiliation: Nextwave Squad.
- Base Of Operations: A manor in the Boston Metro Area.
- Height: 5’9” Weight: 120 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue-green Hair: Blonde, dyed orange-red
Powers and Abilities
Elsa is visibly stronger, faster and more agile at this point — and way more durable. She also has upped her firepower in order to blow things up harder, because blowing things right up is important in life.
Our interpretation — the continuity is too loose for anything else — is that H.A.T.E. chemically enhanced her, somehow boosting her powers during her service as a Nextwave Squad operative. As well as making her nuts.
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History
A few years into her career as the new eternal monster hunter, Elsa joined H.A.T.E.. The Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort was a secretive law enforcement organisation that was assembling a super-hero squad, called Nextwave.
Nextwave members included :
- Photon (Monica Rambeau).
- The Captain.
- Meltdown (Tabitha Smith).
- Aaron Stack (Machine Man).
However the kleptomaniac Smith stole secret H.A.T.E. documents, and reading those led to the Nextwave agents rebelling.
The stolen documents revealed that H.AT.E. was actually an emanation of the terrorist cell S.I.L.E.N.T.. Both were owned by the sinister corporate entity, the Beyond Corporation©.
The renegade Nextwave unit soon found itself waging war against Beyond’s project to cultivate Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction (UWMD). This suited Elsa just fine, as she was in an exceptionally hostile mood.
The now pirate-ish Nextwave Squad stopped a Fin Fang Foom clone, a corrupt cop implanted with an Ultra Samurai Seed, that sort of things. In the end, the Nextwave Squad destroyed H.A.T.E., and S.I.L.E.N.T., and the Beyond Corporation©. Elsa got to shoot and kill and blow up tons of opponents, such as broccoli men too.
One step beyond – handling the continuity status of Nextwave
The Nextwave Limited Series was not intended to be in continuity. This allowed Warren Ellis to do whatever he wanted, with appropriately scary results. Then the usual problem happens, and editorial mentions that Nextwave becomes sort of, kinda in continuity.
Other writers happily re-use their favourite Nextwave bits in other books (such as Machine Man’s appearances in Ms. Marvel). And soon everyone is left scratching their head at what the frack this all can possibly mean for the Marvel Universe.
Policy of truthiness
The best approach at this point, building from various Marvel elements, seems to be:
- The events more or less, roughly happened as they did in the books. As long as you stick to the general outline. This is what is implied in an official Civil War sourcebook.
- I would suggest, as a No-Prize Hypothesis , that the Beyond Corporation™ was a recent arrival on Earth. Look at our profile of Hexus, the Living Corporation, to see how an enormous entity like Beyond™ could have appeared within mere years and never played a role before.
- It has been repeatedly established that all the creatures encountered by the Nextwave agents (such as, say, Fin Fang Foom the Underpants-Wearing Dragon) were clones of the genuine articles. And not very good ones, at that. It is possible that the Nextwave team were the *only* agents of H.A.T.E. that were actual persons and not bad clones or constructs.
- It has been repeatedly suggested that the Nextwave members had been drugged and mentally tampered with as agents of H.A.T.E.. The intent was to turn them into compliant, unquestioning operatives. Nextwave members continued to have low-key hallucinations, mood swings, irrational episodes and altered perceptions during their whole campaign against H.A.T.E. and its masters.
For instance, Elsa’s memories about her father are obviously a delirium. If only because they can’t possibly have happened. Ditto for Monica Rambeau’s childhood memories, which are manifestly impossible, or her warped recollections of Captain America.
In both cases, the “memories” seem to have been neurotic, drugs-fuelled re-imaginings. Presumably, everybody has since been detoxed – though they likely remember everything.
- In the specific case of Monica Rambeau, it is likely (but not certain) that the person present with Nextwave was her Earth-A impostor. This has been confirmed as being the point of view of writer Dan Slott at a convention. Howbeit, fans disagree whether that is the best use of Earth-A Monica Rambeau and there is no Marvel stance on the matter.
- In the specific case of Machine Man, he may have suffered from psychological trauma (given how human-like his psyche is) before joining Nextwave, when the Celestials cast him away. Digging through the script for Nextwave #1 also reveals that Machine Man had altered himself so he could enjoy the effects of alcohol and experience more of humanity.
Note that both explanations stack pretty well (he he, “stack” – get it ?).
Description
Elsa no longer wears the “She-Bloodstone” outfit prepared by the Monster of Frankenstein. But she wears trousers in the same style.
She let her hair grow into a huge, flowing mane reaching her mid-thighs (but held in a sort of topknot so it doesn’t get in her face) and started dyeing them red.
One of her favourite T-shirts sports a modified European Union flag, with a prominent € symbol.
Somehow, her eyes are now blue-green or green. Perhaps it was a side effect of the H.A.T.E. enhancements to her strength. Sometimes they’re blue instead.
Personality
As a Nextwave Squad member, Elsa’s personality is warped. She’s a complete nutbar who is chiefly interested in :
- Letting off immense amounts of steam.
- Hitting stuff.
- Shooting stuff.
- Blowing stuff up.
- Acting out on her frustrations.
She’s snarky and unpleasant. She also makes it very clear that she’s annoyed by everything, and possesses a staggering sense of aristocratic superiority and confidence.
Like the rest of the Squad she’s hyper. In her case this also manifests as relentlessly playing up her Englishness and bashing American nationalism.
She still occasionally makes genre media references. But those are more likely to be somewhat deranged yelling of titles, slogans and lines she likes. Very loudly and enthusiastically.
On a rampage
Bloodstone is catty toward women and cranky toward men. As a result, Tabitha and Monica usually call her “the English bitch”. The rest of the team doesn’t call her if they can help it. And the bloody stupid robot (who’s rubbish) keeps blatantly ogling at her baps.
In this altered mood, Elsa particularly likes triggering large explosions. And getting involved in over-the-top violence with slow-mo acrobatics and maximum badassness on her part. Also, guns.
As part of her raging Englishness schtick, she tends to call people “darling” when she’s not busy calling them stupid. And drink lots of tea.
Quotes
“If I have to beat up a lot of terrible little American proles today, I’m absolutely going to need more tea, darling.”
Elsa: “Damnit, Monica. Lizard pants is still wrecking the place. Your robot’s rubbish.”
Photon: “He’s not my robot.”
Elsa: “Okay — the robot who follows us around and stares at my chest is rubbish.”
(Smashing cars aside with her own whilst driving like a demented maniac) “Drive on the *proper* side of the road, colonial scum ! That’s it, Yanks – make way for Miss Bloodstone ! Miss Bloodstone is in control.”
“When I kill you with a motorcar, you should have the common decency to stay dead, you horrid little object.”
“I have two Uzis and a shovel. Which, I suppose, means I can shoot things and bury them afterwards.”
(After smashing a half-dozen Samuroids with impeccable shovel-jutsu) “I own.”
(After discovering that Mindless Ones detonate when you shoot them, Bloodstone reacts with uncontrolled glee) “Oh my God. They *explode*. My life has taken on new meaning.” (shoots everything on full auto with a gun in each hand)
“Europe is not a country.”
“Victim ? VICTIM ? Do you think this letter on my chest stands for America ?” (gestures at her € symbol T-shirt)
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Bloodstone (Nextwave)
| Dex: 08 | Str: 09 | Bod: 12 | Motivation: Psycho (normally Responsibility) |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 05 | Min: 05 | Occupation: Monsters Huntress |
| Inf: 06 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 06 | Resources {or Wealth}: 011 |
| Init: 020 | HP: 040 |
Powers:
Invulnerability: 10, Jumping: 01, Regeneration: 05
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Jumping has the Catfall Bonus.
- Jumping is Contingent Upon STR.
- Invulnerability takes about an hour to kick in.
- Regeneration can regrow limbs and organs.
Skills:
Acrobatics: 08, Evasion (Ranged only): 09, Occultism (Knowledge): 03, Vehicles (Land): 06, Weaponry (Firearms, melee): 08
Advantages:
Attractive, Expertise (Genre fiction, Monsters lore), Headquarters (Expansive – Bloodstone Estate in Massachusetts), Immortality, Iron Nerves, Local Hero (see “Blood is thicker” in the first writeup), Schtick (Paired firearms), Misc.: Regenerative blood (see Powers & Abilities section in the first entry).
Connections:
Whether Bloodstone retains her old Connections is unrevealed.
Drawbacks:
Serious Rage, CIA toward being Hyper, aggressive and in-your-face.
Equipment:
- BLOODSTONE CHOKER [BODY 18, Energy blast (ML): 13, Lim.: Energy blast only against vampires trying to bite the wearer in the neck ; Bonus: Energy Blast is its own AV (+0 or +1 depending on house rules)]. The Choker is a magical artifact built around what seems to be an actual fragment of the Bloodgem.
Said fragment must be protected by fairly major magics to have gone undetected by Ullux’l Kwan Tae Synn – perhaps something like Obscure (ML): 18, only applicable against mystical scrying and detection. The main role of the Choker has been to bite Elsa when she first put it on, activating her main abilities, but it also includes a magical point-defence system against vampire attacks. Elsa can mentally override the later feature if she wants a vampire to bite her, though. - Modified choke 1975 Ithaca Mag-10 10-gauge autoloader loaded w/slugs [BODY 05, Shotgun blast (Range: 04): 07, Ammo: 04, R#03, Rec. STR 03, Drawback: Very long reload time].
- The shotguns are occasionally loaded with Firebomb Rounds [BODY 02, Flame project (Explosive Radius 2 APs): 09, Limitation: 10 gauge shotgun round]. Those are loosely based on a flare-gun round.
- Two mini-Uzis w/badass ammo [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 07, R#02, Advantage : Autofire].
- Elsa carries her favourite things in a huge black guitar case – one assumes that it also holds dozens of kilos of ammunition. The case sometimes has a big “Lake of Gutmuck” sticker over it.
- She occasionally packs a vintage .476 Revolver MkII Enfield loaded with comic-book high-explosive ammunition [BODY, Projectile weapon: 07, Range: 04, Ammo: 06, R#02, Limitation: Projectile weapon has No Range, use the listed Range instead].
- Elsa occasionally carries a shovel if she expects to dig things up. This is worth mentioning since this is a special shovel. It normally looks like a staff – the shovel blade pops out when she taps it, which likely involves Pym particles. This tool is strong enough for her to hit hardened metallic things very hard with, and she’s fully proficient with such a use.
Shovel of victory [BODY 10, EV 03 (10 w/STR)].
Source of Character: Marvel Universe.
Helper(s): Colapso and Peter Svensson (for the Nextwave continuity section), Darci.