Cullen Bloodstone is the son of legendary monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone. Cullen was trained by his father since he was a young child, and un his tenth birthday Ulysses took Cullen to the Black Realm of Klimtor for a camping trip. Having taught Cullen hunting and combat skills, Ulysses returned to Earth and left Cullen to fend for himself overnight, intending to retrieve him the next day. Unfortunately Ulysses ended up getting killed before he could go back for his son. Cullen was left in the other dimension for over two years.
Cullen does not remember exactly how he eventually got back to Earth, since he doesn’t remember anything after the first six months in Klimtor. His older sister Elsa–who had mistakenly believed Cullen was away at boarding school–returned home to Bloodstone Manor one day and simply found a possessed Cullen wandering the house. She discovered that Cullen had been infected with a Glartrox demon, a parasitic demon that has bonded to his soul and feeds off of anger and fear. The Glartrox grows larger and more powerful as it easts more emotion. It took over Cullen’s form, but Elsa was able to subdue the beast with the Bloodstone Ring, which she gave to Cullen to contain the beast.
Elsa had Cullen enrolled in the Braddock Academy, a school for training England’s next generation of superheroes, to learn how to control his new powers. While at the Academy Cullen became best friends with a fellow student named Aiden (aka Anachronism), upon whom he developed a secret crush.
Cullen was one of sixteen young superheroes who was kidnapped by the deranged assassin Arcade and sent to his Murder World arena to participate in a death match competition. Anachronism and three other Braddock Academy students were also taken. During the thirty day ordeal Cullen’s feelings for Anachronism were exposed, but Aiden did not feel the same way and became involved with a female classmate. At one point Cullen was forced to unleash the Glartrox in order to defend Aiden, but while the beast was in control he killed Cullen’s girlfriend Nara.
Cullen was one of the survivors of Murder World, who were all deeply traumatized by the experience. Cullen decided to hunt down Arcade for revenge, and his search brought him to the super-villain controlled country of Bagalia. Aiden and several of the other Murder World survivors followed Cullen there to rescue him, but to their surprise Cullen had found that he enjoyed hanging out with the villains. Cullen was particularly drawn to the attractive dark mystic Daimon Hellstrom, who taught Cullen how to gain greater control over the Glartrox, and convinced him to join the new Masters of Evil. The other Murder World survivors also joined the Masters of Evil as part of an ambitious plan to destroy them from within. Cullen ended up under Hellstrom’s magical control and turned against the oher teen heroes, but Aiden was able to get through to Cullen through their friendship and help him break free of the spell. Cullen then joined his friends and the other heroes in battle against the Masters of Evil.
More recently Cullen used his family fortune to establish the Bloodstone Summer Lodge and Preserve, to embrace his interests in both conservationism and sport hunting. He brought in a variety of rare animals — including five Warwolves, which he planned to sport hunt before they could endanger human lives again. The mutant team Excalibur required access to the Warwolves for purposes of their own, so Cullen invited them to the lodge to hunt the Warwolves with him. However the hunt turned into a battle between Cullen and Excalibur after they violated his rule against using their mutant powers during the hunt.
Cullen is a complex individual who at times is both hero and villain. What path he will ultimately take remains unclear.
His Glartrox form is incredibly strong and durable, and in addition to two arms with dangerous claws it also has various tentacle appendages. As Cullen has gained greater control over the Glartrox he has been able to manifest these tentacles while still in human form, which he can use to attack or ensnare opponents.
The Bloodstone Ring he wears to contain the Glartrox also grants him greater strength and agility than the average human, as well as superhuman durability and accelerated healing. Cullen has also been highly trained with a variety of weapons and is an expert marksman.
Cullen Bloodstone first appeared in Avengers Arena #1 and had a secret crush on Aiden in Avengers Arena #8.
Created by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker
Contributed by Mike McDermott
All rights reserved Marvel Entertainment