Merlin in comics

Merlin is a legendary character who has appeared multiple times throughout comic books especially in DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

DC Comics

Merlin, from Madame Xanadu (vol. 2) #2, art by Amy Reeder.

The first adaptation of Merlin first appeared in a King Arthur-based comic book story in the anthology comic book series entitled originally New Comics (later re-titled Adventure Comics) in issue #3 (Feb. 1936) by Rafael Astarita, kicking off a six-issue adaptation of "The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney" by Sir Thomas Malory. He was also one of the earliest recurring characters in a DC Comics title, appearing only slightly after Doctor Occult and before Slam Bradley and Superman.

In a Superboy story, Merlin appears as a scientist of King Arthur's time who resembles Mr. Mxyzptlk.

The modern version of Merlin is the half-brother of Etrigan and is responsible for binding him to the human Jason Blood. He additionally gives Shining Knight his enchanted weaponry and the pegasus Winged Victory, and guides squire Brian Kent, who becomes the Silent Knight.

Merlin has owned several artifacts, including a Runestone, the Book of Eternity, and the Philosopher's Stone.

In the Vertigo Comics miniseries The Names of Magic, Timothy Hunter encounters an aspect of Merlin trapped in a cave in Cornwall. Merlin's spirit manifests in Tim's owl Yoyo and tutors him before being killed by the Brotherhood of the Cold Flame.

In The Trials of Shazam!, Merlin takes on a demonic appearance and goes by his Welsh name Myrddin.

In The New 52 continuity reboot, Merlin is the founder of Stormwatch under the alias Adam One.

Other versions

• An alternate version of Merlin appears in the maxiseries Camelot 3000, where characters from Arthurian myth have no contact with DC superheroes in present day. This Merlin is an immortal who calls King Arthur from Glastonbury Tor in the year 3000 to battle Morgan le Fay's invasion.
• In the Elseworlds story Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table, Merlin counsels a Round Table made up of setting appropriate analogs of the Justice League of America.
• An alternate timeline variant of Merlin appears in Future State. This version is a conqueror who seeks to claim the world's magic. To this end, he separates Jason Blood from Etrigan and manipulates the former into serving him.

Merlin (DC Comics) in other media

• Merlin appears in The Adventures of Superboy episode "The Black Knight".
• Merlin appears in The Freedom Force, voiced by Michael Bell. This version is a member of the titular team.
• Merlin appears in a flashback in the Justice League episode "A Knight of Shadows", voiced by W. Morgan Sheppard. This version bound Jason Blood and Etrigan as punishment for the former's betrayal of Camelot to his secret lover Morgaine le Fey.
• Merlin appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by David McCallum. This version was previously Etrigan's master and worked with him to seal Astaroth in the underworld.
• Merlin appears in Justice League Action, voiced by Dan Donohue in "Speed Demon" and by Patrick Seitz in "Hat Trick".
• Merlin appears in Legends of Tomorrow as a disguise used by a time-travelling Courtney Whitmore (portrayed by Sarah Grey).
• Merlin appears in Justice League Dark, voiced by JB Blanc.

Marvel Comics

Merlin is the name of multiple fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Original Merlin

The first Merlin of the Marvel Universe is apparently the figure of Arthurian legend, hailing from 6th century A.D. Britain. He was born in Carmarthen, Wales. He was a powerful sorcerer who acted as teacher, advisor, and defender of King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot. Merlin warned King Arthur that his son, Mordred, would be responsible for the end of Camelot, but before Arthur could put the baby to death, he was rescued and raised in anonymity. Merlin was responsible for teaching magic to Morgan le Fay, though she turned against him and became one of King Arthur's greatest foes.

Knowing that Britain would need a champion to face the likes of Morgan and Mordred, he sought a boy to become the first Black Knight. He had this boy, Percy, trained in all known forms of combat, and when he grew up, Sir Percy was presented with the Ebony Blade.

When Kang the Conqueror traveled back to the days of Camelot, Merlin was defeated and imprisoned by Kang, who planned to change history. Merlin defeated Kang, however, with the aid of time travelers the Human Torch and the Thing who the Watcher had transported back in time.

Merlin cast a spell over the dying Sir Percy so that he would have successors in future centuries.

Merlin was finally placed in suspended animation within an enchanted cave by the faerie sorceress Nimue. His spirit continued to appear in astral form and advise the original Black Knight, but he was no longer seen in his physical body.

It was later depicted how Merlin magically imprisoned Morgan le Fay within her castle.

Merlin allied with St. Brendan against the Darkhold's power.

Later, further information was revealed about Merlin's alliance with the original Black Knight and his imprisonment of Morgan.

It was also depicted how Merlin banished Tyrannus to Subterranea.

It appears that this Merlin removed a shard of the Fury that had embedded itself into Merlyn, the physical amalgamations of all his interdimensional counterparts, while at the same time taking his other counterparts' madness out along with it. This allowed Merlin to take over control away from Merlyn. Merlin, who was imprisoned in a dimension used by the Otherworld fairy king Oberon to keep evil at bay, was freed by Pete Wisdom during the Skrull invasion of Earth. Magically reversing the effect of the shard of the Fury, Merlin used it to resurrect Captain Britain in Captain Britain and MI: 13 #3.

Merlyn returned in the 2019 run of Excalibur, now calling himself "the Great Hierophant Merlyn" as the ruler of "the Holy Republic of Fae", part of the Foul Courts of Otherworld. His daughter Roma runs "the Floating Kingdom of Roma Regina" in the Fair Courts and, as shown in a story arc in New Mutants (vol. 4), the two aren't on speaking terms. He becomes a major antagonist in the book's final story arc when it's revealed that he's working with pre-established villains Morgana le Fey and Coven Akkaba, and shares their hatred for "Witchbreed" (mutants). He was working with a returned King Arthur who wanted to take back control of Avalon from acting king Jamie Braddock with the ulterior motive of wanting to take over Otherworld. He achieves this goal by invading the Starlight Citadel and, after forcing Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne to retreat with the Captain Britain Corps, renames it the "Lunatic Citadel". In the final issue, it's revealed how his grudge against Saturnyne began. After Otherworld and the Captain Britain Corps were destroyed by the Mapmakers, Saturnyne escaped with a captive Mapmaker and they ended up in the future Otherworld province of Blightspoke. There, she was contacted by Merlyn and Roma in spirit form and made a deal with Roma that she would rebuild Otherworld with the Mapmakers' power and become Omniversal Magestrix in exchange for making the Fair Courts for her to rule and the Foul Courts for her father to rule. Merlyn then becomes the main antagonist of the book's sequel series Knights of X, ruling Otherworld with an iron fist within the Lunatic Citadel.

Other characters named Merlin

Other beings have also claimed the name Merlin, besides the Merlin of Arthurian legend:

Impostor Merlin

This being was apparently 10,000 years old, and apparently was a savage that came to possess some portion of the same Bloodgem that Ulysses Bloodstone would later possess, which gave him immortality and eternal youth. He later came to Britain during the time of Camelot, and impersonated the real Merlin while he was away. The Eternal Sersi exposed the impostor, and the real Merlin placed him in suspended animation.

The false Merlin was revived in modern times after his coffin was found, attacked Washington, D.C., and fought Thor. Thor imprisoned him back inside the coffin that he was found in after pretending to be a powerful shapeshifter and ordering Merlin to go back into suspended animation. He later took the name Warlock, and fought the X-Men. He later fought the Beast, the Hulk, and the Iceman under the name Maha Yogi. During his encounter with the Hulk, his fragment of the Bloodgem was destroyed and he rapidly aged into helplessness.

He claimed to be a mutant, later retconned as having been altered by aliens and had the ability to control the minds of others, create illusions, project force bolts, levitate objects, teleport himself, create force fields and alter his own appearance.

Dire Wraith version

Another being posing as Merlin was sent by Immortus to fight the Avengers. This being was revealed to be a shapechanging Dire Wraith with absolutely no connection to the real Merlin.

Merlyn

The being Merlyn also claims to be the real Merlin and appears to be a gestalt of the various other Merlins within the Marvel Multiverse.

Perter Hunter

Peter Hunter, the British costumed champion known as Albion, a member of the Knights of Pendragon, is alleged to be the current reincarnation of Merlin.

Marvel UK version

Merlin also appeared in the Marvel UK Doctor Who comic appearing first in "The Neutron Knights" story and later in the longer "The Tides of Time". This Merlin was one of the High Evolutionaries of the Cosmos, a group that also includes Rassilon, the founder of the Time Lords, which guarded the timestream.

Merlin (Marvel Comics) in other media

• An alternate reality version of Merlin from a medieval-themed universe appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "The Spider-Verse", voiced by Tom Kenny.
• Merlin appears in the Marvel Future Avengers episode "Out of Time", voiced by Shozo Sasaki in the Japanese version and by Mick Wingert in the English dub.
• Merlin appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.

Other notable appearances

• Merlin is a major character in Matt Wagner's Mage series, which features a reincarnated King Arthur as the character Kevin Matchstick. He is presented as the World Mage and is a paraplegic in the first series Mage: The Hero Discovered. He is depicted as an old man named Wally Ut, who Kevin thinks of as a crackpot until he reveals himself in Mage: The Hero Defined.
• Merlin is the title-character in Merlin, a comic book by Robin Wood and Enrique Alcatena.
• Merlin is a member of the titular knights in The Seven Deadly Sins, representing the Sin of Gluttony.

See also

• King Arthur in comics