John fought his brother, in the guise of Union Jack, during World War I, then laid low during the years between World War I and World War II. he then resumed his activities as Baron Blood when Hitler rose to power. Sensing in Hitler someone as evil as himself (and even Dracula), John knew it was time seek vengeance on his brother. He pretended to be his own son and came to live with the Falsworths. To exact revenge on Lord Montgomery for supposedly stealing his birthright, John atttempted to transform Jacqueline into one of the undead. He came close to succeeding, but was interupted by Union Jack and the Invaders. Baron Blood fled to a cave beneath Falsworth Manor, where he crushed his brother's legs with a boulder. But before he could finish the job and kill him, he was knocked backwards by Captain America. Baron Blood fell onto a stalagmite and was impaled. He instantly rotted to bones. Lord Falsworth was confined to a wheelchair, and Jacqueline received a transfusion from the Human Torch, which transformed her into Spitfire.
However, this was not to be the end of Baron Blood's evil. Though he is truly deceased, his legacy lives on through his grandson Kenneth (who became Baron Blood II), and the Baroness. First Appearance: INVADERS #7 (1976)
Other Appearances: INVADERS #8-9, 39-41, CAPTAIN AMERICA #253-254
Final Appearance: CAPTAIN AMERICA #254
Return to Villains page
"For you see, he was one of the few who believed that author Bram Stoker had based his 1897 novel Dracula not upon his own imagination, merely...but upon cold hard fact. If I could gain control of such a demon--what on earth could stand in the way of my vaulting ambition? And there, in the crypt below Castle Dracula--I found him! However, I had arrived too near to evening--and, though the cross protected me from his hand--nothing could shield me from his dreaded, mesmeric stare! I dropped the cross...and then I, who had come to conquer the Prince of vampires...became, instead, one of the undead myself!"
A few years later, the criminal mastermind Lady Lotus had her soldiers exhume the body of Baron Blood. When he was removed from the stalagmite, he was instantly restored. Lady Lotus provided Baron Blood with a new costume and a guarded coffin to rest in, as long as he served in her group the Super-Axis. Blood agreed, and as a member of the Super-Axis he again came into conflict with the Invaders. Again, he was impaled and defeated. His body was kept in the Tower of London, to ensure that he couldn't be revived. Unfortunately, decades later, Blood was revived by Dracula's pawn Dr. Cromwell. Blood then killed Cromwell and his daughter, taking on Cromwell's persona and sustaining himself through Cromwell's 'anemic' patients. Not content with this, Baron Blood also began a series of slasher murders. Still alive, the very aged Lord Falsworth became convinced that his brother was active again and committing the slasher murders. He contacted Captain America, and asked him to fly to London to investigate. Cap discovered that Baron Blood was indeed the slasher, and that he still intended to murder his brother. Lord Falsworth tried to don his Union Jack garb again, but suffered a heart attack from the excitement. His grandson, Kenneth, was too weak to masquerade as Union Jack (a lure for Blood), so Kenneth's friend Joey Chapman assumed the role of the thrid Union Jack. Blood did attack Chapman, thinking it to be his brother, and was drawn into battle with Captain America. Blood used his strength to rip at Cap's flesh, until finally Captain America realized what he had to do. He used his shield to decapitate Baron Blood. To ensure the vampire was never able to be restored, his body and head were burned in separate piles and his ashes were scattered in different locations. As he watched his brother's evil finally brought to an end, Lord Falsworth died peacefully.