Warning! Spoilers Ahead for Ruins of Ravecroft: Dracula.
Marvel’s Ruins of Ravencroft continues to provide new details and pieces into the dark history of the troubled Ravencroft Institute after its recent destruction after the Absolute Carnage event. Not only that, but the series also reveals previously unseen conflicts in the history of the Marvel Universe. In Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula, Captain America takes on Count Dracula, trying to stop him from making his vampires even stronger.
Thus far in the series, it has been revealed that Ravencroft’s origin is directly tied to Carnage. While Ravencroft was the first facility for the criminally insane in Colonial America, one of Cletus Kasady’s ancestors was its first serial killer and resident. How fitting that it was Carnage who was responsible for tearing the facility down in the present day. Furthermore, it’s revealed that Nathanial Essex, otherwise known as Mister Sinister, worked at the facility for a period of time, conducting secret and terrible experiments. All of these accounts were recorded in a journal by Ravencroft’s founder Jonas Ravencroft in his journal. This journal was discovered amidst the rubble in by Reed Richards, Misty Knight, Wilson Fisk, and John Jameson Jr. They also inadvertently released a group of mutated vampiric monsters known as the Unwanted beneath the building’s foundations which leads them to Count Dracula’s role at Ravencroft.
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In Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula, Winter Soldier joins the group, corroborating the next chapter of Ravencroft’s journal, detailing the creation of the Unwanted. Back in WWII, Bucky and Captain America went to the Ravencroft Institute in order to save a friend of theirs who hasn’t been heard from for some time. Once there, they discover that Dracula is working in secret with government scientists, attempting to remove the vulnerabilities of vampires, making them invulnerable. If they succeed, Dracula will consider using his influence in Transylvania to assist the Allied forces.
Essentially the Unwanted are the failed vampiric experiments. While Bucky goes to find their friend, Captain America takes on Dracula himself. While Dracula has his supernatural abilities like turning into a bat, Cap has strategy and determination. Dracula underestimates Cap and more specifically, his mighty shield. While Cap looks to have the upper hand, Jonas Ravencroft releases the Unwanted, no longer wanting the government’s hideous and inhumane experiments to be a part of his legacy. In the chaos, Dracula escapes and flees the scene. Jonas then commits suicide, shooting himself in the head.
With that, it seems as though that this was the final chapter of Ravencroft’s journal and the end for the Ruins Of Ravencroft mini-series. Ravencroft #1 comes next, most likely focusing more on the present-day reconstruction of the facility. The issue ends with the reveal that Norman Osborn has been hired on to serve as a consultant, having been given a clean bill of health, as he was “mind-controlled” by Carnage “against his will”.
With Ruins of Ravencroft as the groundwork, Marvel looks ready to roll out Ravencroft #1 with the facility carrying as much notoriety as DC’s Arkham Asylum. Like Arkham, Ravencroft is no longer just a facility for the criminally insane. It now carries its own dark past and secrets with ties to the rest of the Marvel Universe, just as Arkham does within the Batman mythos. Here’s hoping that Ravencroft #1 delivers more uncovered secrets and conflicts just like Cap vs. Dracula in the near future.
Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula is on comic book store shelves now.
