Wendigo

History

The Wendigo is the product of a mystical curse which causes anyone that ingests the flesh of another human, while within the wilderness, to transform into the Wendigo.

Several people have been afflicted with the curse of the Wendigo, including Paul Cartier, Georges Baptiste, Francois Lartigue, Lorenzo and most recently a sorcerer named Mauvais.

Even though each Wendigo was once a human being, in most cases very little is left of the person it once was. It is relatively unintelligent and, with the exception of brief and rare instances, is unable to remember things about its former life. It also lacks the ability to speak, except for its own name. Sorcerers such as Mauvais and Lorenzo have been able to avoid this aspect of the curse, using magic to gain the power of the Wendigo while keeping their intelligence and the power of speech. While the curse used to only affect one person at a time it now seems to have become more like a pandemic. Thousands of Wendigos recently popped up in Las Vegas seeking the Red Hulk, who had killed one of their brethren, and ended up facing the combined might of the Green Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and Brother Voodoo.

Abilities

Aside from its vast strength, the tissues of the Wendigo body are considerably stronger than those of a human being. The Wendigo body can resist high caliber machine gun shells without sustaining injury. If it is injured, it can recover from the physical trauma with tremendous speed and efficiency.

The Wendigo's fingers and toes are tipped with razor sharp, retractable claws that are capable of piercing most conventional materials, due to a combination of the sharpness of the claws and the Wendigo's massive physical strength.

The Wendigo can only die if its heart is removed from its body. The consumption of the removed heart will confer all powers and even the form of the Wendigo on whomever consumes it.

Alternate Realities

Earth-37072

This reality is ruled by Kulan Gath and Wendigo is one of his servants.

Other Media:

Animation

The Incredible Hulk: Wendigo appears in the episode "And the wind cries...Wendigo"  Like in the comic books, Wendigo is the product of an ancient curse, but unlike the comics his curse can be lifted simply by losing to a stronger foe, which leads Wendigo to instinctively attack the Hulk.

Wolverine and the X-Men: Wendigo is the main villain in the episode "Wolverine VS Hulk" Hulk was blamed for a series of violent crimes in Canada, leading Nick Fury to blackmail Wolverine into stopping Hulk or Fury would publicly expose the secret identities of every member of the X-Men. Wolverine yielded and confronted Hulk, but knew Hulk was not the true person responsible for the disappearance of an entire town. Soon Wolverine and Bruce Banner discovered Wendigo to be the true culprit, and that it had infected an entire town, turning them all into wendigos. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that SHIELD was responsible for the creation of Wendigo,