Eli Bard

Eli Bard
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Force (vol. 3) #1
In-story information
Alter ego	Eliphas
Species	Vampire-like mutate
Team affiliations	Purifiers Roman Senate
Partnerships	Selene

Eli Bard (born Eliphas) is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain from the Marvel Comics universe. He is a member of the Purifiers and an enemy of the X-Men.

Eli Bard's back story was told, through a flashback, by Warpath to the rest of X-Force in X-Force #11 (2009). Warpath obtained this knowledge through a vision with the help of Ghost Rider.

Eli Bard was born "Eliphas" at the height of the Roman Empire. He was recognized as an outstanding soldier until a spear injury ended his military career. For a while he worked unsuccessfully as a poet until he met Aurelia, one of the most powerful women in Rome. He soon married her and achieved a position in the Senate. As a well-respected senator, he was known as a great orator and a friend to the army. His wife left him for a general named Mascius and conspired to give Mascius his seat in the Senate.

Left with nothing, Eliphas was approached by Selene, who offered him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and absorb every soul in Rome. Eliphas drew pentagrams and performed rituals at several locations in the city, but warned a small girl to get her family out. The girl's father alerted the authorities and Eliphas and Selene were captured before the spell could be carried out. Just before they were burned at the stake, Selene killed the guards. She cursed Eliphas for his perceived betrayal with an eternal life of torture, turning him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas was buried alive for 700 years until a farmer discovered him in his field. Eliphas killed the farmer with a swift bite to the jugular. He spent the next several hundred years searching for Selene. He ran into the ancestral Apache tribe of Warpath. They recognized him as a vampire but could not stop him from wiping out almost the entire tribe.

...
Wikipedia