Marvel 1602 - Characters

Characters

1602 features both historical figures and many of the original Marvel superheroes and villains. Some popular characters, such as Wolverine, were not added, because of Gaiman's vision to address the heroes of the 1960s. "The territory doesn't go much further than 1969 in terms of the characters that I picked to use," Gaiman noted. "I couldn't get everybody in because there are an awful lot of Marvel characters."

• Elizabeth I of England: The aging Queen of England. Already close to death, she is killed by a poisonous gas device constructed by Otto Von Doom.
• James I of England: Originally King James VI of Scotland, James becomes the monarch over England as well with Elizabeth's death. James maintains an intense hatred of witchbreed and seeks to destroy them along with any who practice sorcery or witchcraft.
• Virginia Dare: The daughter of Ananias Dare, and the first English child born in the Americas. In this world, the Roanoke Colony did not disappear in the 1580s; when Steve went into this world he saved the colony, which would have been killed by starvation. Dare touches the rift caused by Roger's arrival. She has the ability to transform into animals when frightened, which she later learns to control.
• Uatu, the Watcher: A younger member of a race of intelligent beings who have sworn not to interfere in the affairs of lesser races, only to watch and observe. He breaks this oath, however, by explaining the situation to an astral projection of Doctor Stephen Strange.
• Sir Nicholas Fury: The Queen's intelligence officer (referred to as the "intelligencer") and responsible for foiling many past plots against the monarch. Seemingly killed when he carries an unconscious Rojhaz into the dimensional rift.
• Doctor Stephen Strange: The Queen's Physician, who is also a magician and alchemist. He allows himself to be beheaded by King James, which subsequently frees him from the restriction placed upon him by Uatu, the Watcher (namely, that he could not reveal what he knows while still living).
• Peter Parquagh: Sir Nicholas' apprentice; left orphaned and tended to by his aunt and uncle until Fury arrived and took the boy to London.
• Matthew Murdoch: A blind Irish minstrel who moonlights as a freelance agent. Matthew acquired heightened senses from a mysterious substance he encountered as a child.
• Clea Strange: Stephen Strange's wife and assistant, Clea actually comes from another dimension. After bringing her husband's severed head to the Roanoke colony - thus fulfilling her last promise to him - she asks the heroes to bury the head with the rest of the body and then returns to her home dimension.
• Rojhaz: Virginia's blonde-haired, blue-eyed Native American bodyguard, who in fact is a displaced Captain America from a dystopian future. When the government of his time captured him and attempted to execute him using advanced technology, he was accidentally sent back in time - the event which triggered the alternate timeline to begin with - thus forming the paradox of the story.
• Carlos Javier: A Spaniard living in England, where he runs a "College for the Sons of Gentlefolk", in fact a haven for "witchbreed", or mutants. His students include Roberto Trefusis, Scotius Summerisle, Hal McCoy, Werner, and "John" Grey (who is in fact a young woman with psychic powers rivaling that of his own).
• The Four from the Fantastick: A band of explorers who gained powers when their ship encountered a strange energy vortex at sea. The four are Captain Benjamin Grimm (Thing), Sir Richard Reed (Mister Fantastic), Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), and John Storm (Human Torch), Their bodies were reshaped into the four elements: Reed's flesh became pliable like water; Grimm's body became solid rock; Susan's body became weightless and invisible like air; and John's body became living fire. They are eventually captured by Doom.
• Grand Inquisitor Enrique: Born a Jew, a young Enrique was forcibly baptized and seduced by a Catholic priest, and thus inducted into the church. As an adult, he leads the Spanish Inquisition - a position of power through which he can further his own plans. Although ordered to execute the witchbreed, he hides those whom he can pass off as normal. Secretly a witchbreed himself, he uses his activities as a cover to form a "Brotherhood Of Those Who Will Inherit The Earth". He is assisted by Sister Wanda and Petros, who are secretly his children. He is also aided by Toad, despite Toad's betrayal at one point.
• David Banner: An advisor to King James, Banner is sent to Roanoke in order to kill Fury. When the rift is closed at the end of the story, Banner is caught within the backlash and is later seen lurking in the nearby woods as a massive green-skinned creature (the Hulk).
• Count Otto von Doom: Doom is the ruler of Latveria, known as Otto the Handsome due to his perfect physique and appearance. He captures the Fantastick Four in order to force Reed's compliance in creating war machines, poisons, and various other inventions. Von Doom is later struck and badly burned by Thor's lightning, although he survives.
• Donal the Guardian of the Templar Treasure and alter ego to Thor, who is captured by Count Otto von Doom on his way to deliver the treasure of the Templars (the hammer Mjolnir disguised as a simple walking stick) to England. He is rescued by Sir Nicholas Fury and the witchbreed and is taken to the New World along with the Fantastick Four.
• Natasha: She travels with Matthew while en route to meet Donal, who is bringing the Templar Treasure to England. Natasha is revealed to be working for Count Otto von Doom.