Eli Bard

The background story of Eli Bard was recounted, through memories, by the Warpath of the rest of the X-Force in X-Force # 11 (2009). Warpatch gained this knowledge through vision with the help of the Ghost Rider .

Eli Bard was born under the name Eliphas during the heyday of the Roman Empire . He was recognized as an outstanding soldier until the wound received due to a spear ended his military career. For some time he worked unsuccessfully as a poet until he met Aurelia, one of the most influential women in Rome. He soon married her and reached a position in the Senate. As a well respected senator, he was known as a great speaker and friend of the army. His wife abandoned him for a general called Maskius, and secretly conspired to give Maskius his seat in the Senate. ^[1]

Left with nothing, Eliphas approached Selena, who offered him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and devour every soul in Rome. Eliphas drew pentagrams and performed rituals in several places of the city, but warned the little girl to bring her family out. The girl's father warned the authorities, and Eliphas and Selena were captured before the spell could be performed. just before they were burned at the stake, Selena killed the guards. She cursed Eliphas for his perceived betrayal of the eternal life of torture, turning him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas was buried alive for 700 years until a farmer found him on his field. Eliphas killed the farmer with a quick bite into the jugular vein. He spent the next several hundred years searching for Selena. He ran into the Apache Warpath heir. They recognized him as a vampire, but could not stop him from exterminating almost the entire tribe ^[1] .

Eliphas, having some period of time to change his name to "Eli Barda", finally located Selena in Nova Roma , where she was worshiped as a deity. Still loving her, despite the curses, Bard realized that he had to make an offering to her before approaching her.

Bard later joined the Purifiers, a terrorist anti-mutant group. At this time, he worked diligently towards the further goals of the purifiers. Secretly, however, he hoped to sacrifice thousands of Souls of the Purifiers, using the same ritual from Rome to gain Selena's attention. He helped restore the Bastion, but the android was suspicious of him because he did not have a report about him. After seeing that the Bastion was reprogramming the descendant of Magus, he changed his plan and instead brought the corpses back to life at the burial sites of the Apache tribe, which he had devastated several decades earlier, using the technarch transvirus he had absorbed from the descendant of Magus. Among those brought back to life were mutants, Caliban and Petrel . He introduced Caliban to Selena and stated that he intended to use Caliban’s abilities to track down dead mutants and bring them back to life in order to form an army for Selena, a proposal she accepted ^[1] .

Eli Bard is featured with Caliban and Bane at Dag Ramsey's grave in X-Force # 18 (2009).

He uses the virus to resurrect many mutants, including Cipher, Banshee , the original Hellions, Threat, Piro, and Fate.

In X-Force # 21, Selena’s plans culminate when Bard uses the virus to resurrect the entire deceased mutant population of Genosha.

When Bard returned to the burial sites of the Proudstar tribe to resurrect Caliban and Petrel, the spirits of the tribe rose to protect those who were buried there. The bard attacked them with Selena's mystical knife, transforming them into a Demon Bear. After fleeing the battle, Bard leaves the blade, not suspecting that it played a decisive role in Selena's plans. He is then sent to Utopia to restore it, taking the Warpath hostage in the process. When he returns to Selena with a blade and a hostage, Selena kills him by stabbing the heart with a blade, reducing him to the bones.

Thanks to Selena's mystical curse, Eli Bard became an immortal vampire-like creature. Unlike Selena's physical vampirism, Bard seems to be more traditional in the variety of bloodsucking. He also increased speed and strength, and is difficult (if not impossible) to kill. The bard also has limited knowledge of magic. he also demonstrated deadly skills in hand-to-hand combat, managing to overpower and almost kill X-23s.

The bard was also altered at the molecular level by a techno-organic virus, taken from the creation of the Technarchs under the control of the Purifiers. The virus gives him the ability to control those whom he resurrects. The virus has the potential to provide disguise and other superhuman abilities.

http://www.comicvine.com/eli-bard/4005-59642/ X-Force # 1 (First appearance)

• Eli Bard on Marvel.com
• Eli Bard on the Comic Book DB
• Character Profile on Eli Bard on UncannyXmen.net