BRES
Real Name:
Bres
Occupation:
Trickster, god of mischief
Legal Status:
Exiled citizen of Ancient Eire
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Bres except as a mythological deity.
Other Aliases:
Bres the Beautiful
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Divorced
Known Relatives:
Elathan (father), Eri (mother), The
Dagda, Leir
(half-brothers), Bridget
(wife), Ruadan (son, deceased)
Group Affiliations: The Fomore, The Gods of Eire
Base of Operations:
The Dark Realm, formerly Torach (modern Tory Island in modern Ireland)
First Appearance: Avengers I #225
History: Bres is a member of an other-dimensional race of beings known as the Fomore, who were worshipped in ancient times as the ancestral spirits of Ancient Eire, now modern Ireland. The Fomore claimed sovereignty over the island of Eire and repelled successive raids to the land by several invaders. In the 24th Century BC, they sent a flood to expel Fintan and Cessair, grand-daughter of Japeth, the son of Noah. Their grandson, Partholon, also tried to stake his claim to the island, but he was also repelled by Elathan, one of the leaders of the Fomore. Patholon's descendants eventually emigrated to Greece and returned with enforcements, the Fir Bholg, and finally managed to claim Eire after several years of conflict. Under unresolved means, the Fir Bholg willingly offered or were forced into worshipping the Fomore as deities.
Elathan and the Fomore eventually cruel and malicious to mortals, forcing them to bow down to them. Elathan took Gaea, the patron goddess of Earth in her role as the Celtic Danu as his wife, and she conceived him several children. However, she conspired to raise children who were untainted by the evil of the Fomore and could rise up to dethrone them. She retreated to the land of the Ancient Franks along the banks of the river Danube to which she shared her name and allowed her children to be raised under the morality and hospitality of mortal wizards and mages. Calling themselves the Tuatha de Danaan, Danu's children returned to Eire to force the Fomore from the land and succeeded. However, Elathan must have had a prophecy of what was going to occur or had an inkling of what was going to occur. He seduced his grand-daughter, Eri, daughter of the Dagda, and she gave birth to Bres, who was born with both Fomore and Danaan characteristics. Her half-brother, Nuadhu, had lead the Danaans to victory at Magh Turedh, but could not claim his reign because he had forfeited his hand in battle. By law, any ruler of the Tuatha de Danaan could not have any wounds otherwise he would not have the faith of his kinsmen in battle. Nuadhu blindly surrendered his rule to Bres who as part of his nature as trickster and god of mischief turned Eire back to the Fomore.
Bres claimed Brigid, the daughter of the Dagda as his wife to give him a son, Ruadan, as final insult and forced the Danaans into menial subservient roles and jobs. He and the Fomore eventually learned of a prophecy that predicted that if Ethne, daughter of Balor, who ruled the Fomore, gave birth to a son, that that son would raise up to overthrow the Fomore from Eire. Elathan and Balor imprisoned Ethne in an impenetrable tower with sheltered windows to prevent the prediction from occurring, but she was visited by the Cian of the Danaans who had fallen in love with her and visited Ethne in the form of moonlight to seduce her. Their son, Lugh grew to adulthood and joined with the Tuatha de Danaan to slay Ruadan and lead them against Bres, Elathan, Balor and the Fomore, driving them to Torach and then exiling the Fomore from the Earth's dimension. The Danaans soon reclaimed Eire under the leadership of Lugh, and replaced the ousted Fomore as gods of Eire.
Worship of the gods of Eire were carried by the Celts into Britain and Gaul. The Danaans soon honorably surrendered Eire to the Milesians, who were claiming their right through Partholon, their ancestor. The Danaans relocated for the world of Avalon, located in the other-dimensional realm of space of Otherworld. Because the portals to Otherworld were located underground, later myths claimed the Danaans were driven beneath the ground itself, but with the Danaans' departure from Earth, the spells preventing the Fomore from returning to Earth began to weaken. In the Twelfth Century, Bres and the Fomore managed to invade Otherworld, and Amergin, a Milesian mage, and the Danaans joined forces against them assisted by the Black Knight, brought to the Twelfth Century by Amergin's magicks. Amergin also brought the Black Knight's allies, the Avengers, from the Twentieth Century to do battle with the Fomore. Bres joined with the other leaders of the Fomore to restore Balor to life, but Elathan, Balor and the Fomore were defeated and exiled from Otherworld.
Predicting success for the Avengers, Bres secreted himself from the battle and accessed the same time access portal which Amergin had used to summon the Avengers from the future. However, when Balor annihilated Thor and the She-Hulk of the Avengers, they returned unscathed to the Avengers Mansion in the Twentieth Century. Running across Bres in their native time, they quickly overpowered him.
Bres was detained at Project: Pegasus where he was kept in a
weakened comatose state through ferrous ions due to his weakness to the anathema
of pure iron. A rash of power failures soon stopped the flow of ions and Bres
escaped, slaying Solarr, another incarcerated subject there. Bres then
discovered the Super-Skrull, who was then trapped in the guise of Bobby Wright,
a youth who mystically became Captain Hero, but this power was actually a trait
of the Super-Skrull's ability to alter his form. Wanting the secret to the
Super-Skrull's seeming mystical powers, Bres clashed with Power Man, Iron Fist
and the Guardsman. Defeating the Guardsman, Bres tried to seduce Iron Fist into
battling Power Man but found him to to be pure of soul and immune to his demonic
powers. Binding him and convinced of the Super-Skrull's guise as a innocent
youth, he instructed Bobby to slay the heroes, but Bobby turned into Captain
Hero and attacked Bres. The distraction enabled Iron Fist to break free of his
restraints and he downed Bres himself, turning him back over to Project:
Pegasus.
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 310 lbs.
Eyes: (human) Blue, (normal) Red
Hair: (human) Black, (normal) Blonde
Unusual Physical Features: In his true
"demonic" form, Bres has red skin and small horns on his head
resembling that of the Judeo-Christian guise of the devil.
Strength Level: Bres possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift
(press) 30 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Bres possesses the conventional physical attributes
of the Fomore or Fomorian gods. Like all of the Fomore, he is exceptionally
long-lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian gods. He has not aged since
reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all
Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow
wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It
would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his
bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for
a Fomore of significant power, such as Elathan, Balor and Indech or for a number of
Fomore of equal power working together to revive him. Bres also possesses
superhuman strength and his Fomore metabolism provides him with far greater than
human endurance in all physical activities. (Fomore flesh and bone is about three
times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman
strength and weight of the Fomorian race.)
Bres also possesses a nature of powers which seem mystical in nature, for most among them is his power to change his form and shape. He can become a large bat-like creature capable of flight and possibly other beings as well. He can summon and control energy to fire destructive blasts and create force fields, even those powerful enough to restrain Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. He has some clairvoyant ability, capable of perceiving results of probability and perceiving the potential and purity of other beings.
Bres is also described as having demonic traits, but he is not a true demon in that he is not reliant on the energies of living things, particularly human beings, in order to exist. If this was the case, he would not seem as powerful as he seems. This assertion comes from his trait to subvert the "dark sides" or selfish, negative emotions and memories of human beings in order to gain mental and physical dominion over them in order to mentally guide them as slaves to his whims. Certain beings of powerful restraint can resist him. Bres, however, is powerless over beings without a "dark side," pure and noble beings who have attained peace and harmony through mental and mystical meditation, such as Iron Fist and his K'un L'un trainings.
Limitations: Like most of the Fomore, Bres is
vulnerable to the natural anathema of "cold steel" or iron. It can
also be used to disrupt his powers.
Comments: This bio pretty much involves Bres of the Marvel Universe. He
has not been seen in the DC Universe.
Thanks to Jeff Christensen and Michael Hoskins of the Appendix
to the Marvel Universe for their synopsis of his Marvel Universe
appearances.
Clarifications: Bres is not to be
confused with:
Last updated: 01/16/08