Vlad Dracula is Marvel’s incarnation of one of the most famous and powerful vampires. Marvel adapted Dracula’s character to fit in with the superheroic themes of Marvel. In the comics, Dracula is an antagonist of the Blade franchise and finds himself on the opposite sides of the X-Men and Avengers. However, Vlad Dracula was not born a vampire. In this article, you can find out how did Dracula become a vampire and who turned him into one.
Dracula became a vampire after Apocalypse mortally wounded him in the battle. He was then taken to the Gypsy Lianda for healing. Lianda was actually a vampire who transformed Dracula into a vampire without his consent.
Vlad Dracula was born in 1430 in a noble family in Schassberg, Transylvania, in the Kingdom of Wallachia. He spent his early years in court, following his father and brother on diplomatic missions. However, his life was turned down when one trip to the Ottoman Empire did not go as planned, and Vlad’s whole life changed since then. In the following paragraphs, you can learn more about Dracula’s early years and what events led to his transformation into a vampire.
The early life of Vlad Dracula
Vlad Tepes Dracula was born in 1430 AD in a noble family in Schassberg, Transylvania, in the Kingdom of Wallachia. He spent his early days on the court and was soon appointed as prince of Wallachia. When he was 14 years old, he traveled with his father, Vlad the Elder, and his brother Radu to Ottoman Empire, where they wanted to negotiate peace.
However, they were ambushed on their trip. Sultan Murad II captured Vlad and his brother, so Vlad the Elder was forced to side with Turkey. Vlad the Elder was later killed because of it by John Hunyadi and Vlad’s other advisers. Dracula and his brother Radu spent years in captivity, and after five years of torture, Radu died in captivity.
Vlad Dracula escaped from captivity and claimed the Voivode of Wallachia title at 18. His father’s killers never stopped searching for him, so he only ruled for a year before he had to flee and spent seven years on the run. After seven years on the rune, he surrendered himself to John Hunyadi and pled for mercy.
Hunyadi hoped that Dracula would add legitimacy to his reign, so he decided to take Dracula under his wing. He taught him the arts of war, among other things. Dracula spent one year in a pre-arranged marriage with Zofia before he expelled her and their daughter, Lilith. Zofia killed herself because of it, and a gypsy woman named Gretchin took Lilith in. After that, Dracula was back on the throne of Wallachia.
How did Dracula become a vampire?
When Dracula was back on the throne, he re-married Maria and had a son, Vlad Tepulus. He then ordered that everyone associated with the murder of his father are to be impaled, and he attacked Turkey as a form of revenge.
In 1459 AD, Varnae, the alleged last survivor among the vampires created in Atlantis before the Great Cataclysm and ruler of Earth’s vampires, chose Dracula as his successor as lord of Earth’s vampires. Varnae misled Dracula, and he was mortally wounded that same year. En Sabah Nur was a nearly immortal mutant who had injured Dracula severely. It would later become known that EN Sabah was actually the Apocalypse.
Dracula was then taken to Gipsy Lianda for healing. Lianda was secretly a vampire, so instead of healing Dracula, she vampirized him. He sought revenge upon Gypsies for turning him into a vampire. After that, his daughter Lilith was also turned into a vampire, and as she hated her father for abandoning her, she became his enemy.
With Dracula finally turning into a vampire, Varnae wanted to test Dracula’s strength, so he sent his servant Nimrad to fight Dracula. Dracula slew Nimrod and proved himself a worthy Varnae’s successor as the Vampire Lord. Dracula then drank Varnae’s blood and assumed his powers.
As a vampire, Dracula could turn other humans into vampires by biting them. He is also super strong, and it is estimated that he can lift around 4 tons, which makes him probably the strongest vampire ever. Besides superhuman strength, he also possesses superhuman reflexes, agility, stamina, and speed.
Dracula has regenerative abilities and can repair his damaged tissue rapidly. He can heal wounds from guns of various burns in minutes. Dracula has lived for centuries and is considered to be immortal. He does not age and is immune to many diseases as long as he drinks blood which helps him maintain longevity. Even when killed, he is capable of resurrecting himself under proper conditions.
Besides being a vampire, Dracula is also a powerful sorcerer. He can summon other vampires and shapeshift into bats, wolves, and rats. Throughout the centuries, Dracula encountered many other superheroes in Marvel comics like Blade, Silver Surfer, X-Men, the Avengers, etc.
