Shroud (comics)

Shroud
The Shroud. Art by Mark D. Bright.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Super-Villain Team-Up #5, (April 1976)
Created by	Steve Englehart (writer) Herb Trimpe (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Maximillian Quincy Coleridge
Team affiliations	Cult of Kali Heroes for Hire Night Shift
Notable aliases	Master of Darkness, Michael Wyatt
Abilities	Olympic-level athlete Adept acrobat and infiltrator Trained martial artist Carries explosive "bombarangs" Use of one-man aircraft Flight at walking speed Ability to transform Darkforce dimension energy into anything imaginable and "see" through walls and darkness

The Shroud (Maximillian Quincy Coleridge) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The Shroud first appeared in Super-Villain Team-Up #5 (April 1976) and was created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe.

Englehart has acknowledged that the character was intended as a "mashup" of DC Comics' Batman and The Shadow.

At the age of 10, the child who would grow up to become The Shroud saw his parents gunned down right before his eyes. He decided to dedicate his life to fighting crime. Upon graduation from college, he joined the mysterious temple called "Cult of Kali", where he studied various styles of martial arts. After seven years of intense training, he graduated from that temple. During the celebration ceremony, he was branded with the "Kiss of Kali", a red-hot iron. He had the image of the goddess Kali imprinted in livid scar tissue on his face from nose to hairline and from cheek to cheek. Following a period of intense pain and hospitalization, he realized that his eyesight had been replaced by a mystic extrasensory perception. Traveling back to the United States, he adopted the masked identity of the "Shroud".

His first appearance as a hero was in Latveria, where he encountered the Human Torch. He invaded Latveria, intending to kill Doctor Doom for his crimes against humanity. Shroud recounted his origin to Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the two secretly entered Latveria disguised as members of the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime. Shroud joined Prince Rudolfo's revolution against Doctor Doom, and came close to his revenge. However, the Shroud shifted gears in order help Doctor Doom and Captain America oppose someone else with a longer track record of crimes against humanity: the Red Skull. In outer space, Shroud was shot by a ray built by Red Skull while Doctor Doom battled Red Skull on the moon. Shroud was rescued by Captain America, while Red Skull was left defeated on the moon (he was later rescued by Hitler himself as the Hate Monger). Captain America brought Shroud back to Earth, but because of his time in space, Shroud became insane and it took him quite a while to recover. After this recovery, Shroud discovered that he was able to tap into the Darkforce dimension.