Grigori Rasputin | |
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Rasputin by Mike Mignola.
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
First appearance | Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994) |
Created by |
Mike Mignola John Bryne |
In-story information | |
Full name | Grigori Efimovich Rasputin |
Team affiliations | Nazis |
Notable aliases | Rasputin, The Mad Monk |
Abilities | Near-immortal Versed in black magic and occult rituals |
Grigori Efimovich Rasputin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the comic book series Hellboy. The character was created by Mike Mignola and John Byrne, and was based on the real life Russian mystic of the same name.
In 2009, Grigori Rasputin was ranked as IGN's 83rd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
In 1895, questioning his powers and purpose, Rasputin is visited by the witch Baba Yaga who told him that he is destined to father a new age. Rasputin then allowed Baba Yaga to take a fragment of his soul and hide it within the roots of Yggdrasil to become immortal. It was only after his assassination by Prince Felix Yusopov on December 16, 1916 that Rasputin is contacted by the Ogdru Jahad as he is revived. They enlisted him as their mortal agent in the world. Soon after, Rasputin was contacted by the Nazis to begin development on an occult method for ending the war. From this, Project Ragna Rok was born. The Nazis sought to use Rasputin to defeat the Allies, but Rasputin knew this would never happen. He merely intended to use the Nazis' resources as long as he could to achieve his own goals: to trigger the apocalypse which would jumpstart a new Eden.
During World War II, Rasputin conducted a ritual to summon the means to bring the Ogdru Jahad to Earth and permit them to raze the earth. But the summoning accidentally placed the creature to carry out the deed, later named Hellboy, in the hands of the Allies. Having already known that the war is lost and Hitler's eventual death, Rasputin tells those among Project Ragna Rok he sees as loyal to seek refuge in their base at Norway while he traveled to the Arctic Circle at the beckoning of Sadu-Hem, a monstrous spawn of the Ogdru Jahad. There, Rasputin entered a meditative state. Rasputin resurfaced in 1994 when awakened by an expedition group, using them to reach the Cavendish estate. Rasputin lured Hellboy to the manor have him free the Ogdru Jahad from their crystal prisons, deciding to siphon power from Liz Sherman to use Sadu-Hem to free its creator. But with the timely intervention of Abe Sapien impaling him while under the influence of the ghost of Elihu Cavendish, ends up Rasputin being reduced to a skeleton as Liz's flames incinerate Sadu-Hem. Though Rasputin attempts to convince Hellboy to spare him, he ends up being physically destroyed.