Dweller In Darkness

Origin

The Dweller In Darkness is thought to be over 20,000 years old. The Dweller In Darkness has had much influence over some of the most feared villains of all time, such as Mr. Fear, D'Spayre, Spite, the Shade Thralls, and the Dream Weaver. Although the Dweller is extremely powerful, he prefers to do all of his work from behind the scenes, sending others to do what he wants done for him. When he realized that Earth was going to be impossible for him to take over on his own, he called forth the Fear Lords and asked their help. They banded together, and, had it not been for the betrayal of Straw Man, would have taken over the Earth. In a fallout between Dweller and a few of his creations, including D'Spayre and Spite, Dweller's body was destroyed. It was then revealed that his body is an inorganic cyborg that is only there to sustain the Dweller's life, and that the Dweller's true form is simply a floating head. Though the damage would have been fatal, Dweller escaped, and was thought to rebuild his body. 

Creation

The Dweller In Darkness is a Marvel comics character created by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler, and first appears in Thor #229 released in 1974. 
 

Major Story Arcs

Dr Strange

In his early appearances, he often clashed with Dr. Strange. He transformed some sewer workers in New York through a "Slithe" monster, and was defeated by Strange and Clea. He later journeyed to Nightmare's dimension for an alliance. After Nightmare refused, the Dweller took one of the sleeping souls in Nightmare's dimension for his own, imbuing her with great power as Dreamweaver.  After this failed, he transformed another human into a monster, and then empowered two demons, Ludi and Ningal, to attack Strange.  None of these attacks succeeded.

Shattered Heroes

The Fear Lords meet to discuss what to do about the Serpent, after Odin has already taken his body away. The Dweller feeling he was the first it should be his right to speak first, but all he says is that the Serpent was no threat at all. Secretly he is glad the Serpent is gone but regrets he isn't able to harvest the body for his own. Later, with kid Loki's unwilling help, Nightmare eventually managed to gain all the fear that the Serpent created, and forged it into a crown of great power. Loki then alerted the other Fear Lords and tricked them into battling each other for the crown. Since none of them would allow the others to have it, it sent them into a perpetual contest over its power, with none able to win. 

 

Powers and Abilities

Dweller In Darkness possesses the ability to instill and generate fear. Dweller In Darkness then also possesses the ability to feed on fear generated. The more fear fed on, the more power Dweller In Darkness can become, the extent of which is extremely powerful.