Marvel’s newest vampire civil war almost spill out into the human world, Dracula goes to the Russian border to seek political asylum. The Russians take him into custody and imprison him deep in a bunker.
Dracula receives various visitors before the Red Widow arrives, including Iron Man. Dracula reveals to him that Iron Man’s adoptive father, Howard, came to Dracula once looking for vampire blood and the power it brings; Dracula goes on to reveal Howard offered an infant Tony as a sacrifice. Whether or not Dracula was telling the truth is immaterial—the scene established Dracula as a true menace, one who was able to get under Iron Man’s skin; all the better then to knock him down later.
The Russians want information from Dracula as well, and they dispatch the Red Widow to interrogate him. Dracula attempts to bargain with the Widow, offering her the Avengers in exchange for information and his freedom. The Widow declines, and instead forces Dracula to watch as she commits wholesale murder, slaughtering his former consorts right in front of him. A now humbled Dracula pleads for their lives—pleas that are not heard, and all he can do is cry as the Widow massacres the vampire subjects he actually loved.
Over the years Marvel has used Dracula as a Doctor Strange and the X-Men. Dracula not only controls a vast legion of vampires, he is a master manipulator too, capable of getting under Iron Man’s skin. His forces were able to infiltrate Wakanda and turn some of their citizens into vampires. And yet the Red Widow was able to reduce him to a blubbering, crying mess.
Just how twisted this scene is cannot be understated—the Red Widow scared one of the most wicked, twisted villains in the Marvel Universe into submission. This is no easy feat, given Dracula’s strength and mental powers; it shows just how cold-hearted and ruthless the newest Red Widow is. While there are rumors of Dracula showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no such rumors exist for this version of Red Widow; she has proven herself way too twisted for the movies.
