Rihva (Earth-616)

Swami Rihva was born an untouchable in Nepal due to his telepathic powers. He lived his life without purpose or direction until one day he heard a story about the "Blood Stone" which supposedly held the secret to the incredible treasure of Kaman-Ru. Rihva searched across the world for the stone until he arrived at a temple in the Himalayas which he believed to possess it. Using his telepathic powers he deduced that the stone was indeed in the monastery and pulled a knife on the pacifist monks and stole it from them. ^[1]

He soon discovered, however, that he was unable to use his own blood to read the map which supposedly existed within the stone. He discovered that the map could only be read by soaking it in the blood of a supernatural being and thus set out across the world recruiting freaks and outcasts such as himself, but none seemed able to accessing the map. They all followed Rihva, however, as he promised them a cut of the treasure if they helped him find the one he seeked. Eventually they came across a struggling circus owned by a man named Calliope which they purchased in order to use as a cover during their search for a supernatural being.^[1]

Eventually their travels took them to Los Angeles where the swami used his crystal ball to see Jack Russell, the Werewolf, who the swami was sure could be used to access the map in the stone. Jack, his sister Lissa and their friend Buck Cohen went to the circus and Jack was attracted to the swami's booth for some unspecified reason. Once he entered the booth the swami released some sort of will-sapping gas which turned Jack into nothing more than a submissive zombie-like captive of the circus. After gaining what they had sought so long for, the circus immediately packed up and left town. In another city the next night, Jack was used as a sideshow spectacle as he transformed into the Werewolf right before the crowd's eyes. Later that night, the Werewolf escaped and caused problems at the circus, trying to kill Mige the lion tamer and attacking the lions, the ruckus had to be stopped by the powers of Rihva himself.^[2]

The next night, they tied the Werewolf down and planned to kill him and use his blood to activate the stone. However, the group's giant strongman, Elmo, had become friends with Jack and did not realize that the swami had intended to kill the man. As he came to the Werewolf's aid, Mige shot him in the back. In the ensuing chaos a flame set the tent on fire and everyone was forced to flee. The Werewolf wanted his revenge on the swami who used his telepathic powers to try and read the beast's mind. When he did, however, he was shocked to see all of the horrific things that the beast wanted to do to him and he had a heart attack, dying on the spot. With no reason to remain, the Werewolf fled the burning circus tent, leaving the Blood Stone behind.^[3]

Rihva had a number of mental powers which include,

• Telepathy
• Hypnosis
• Precognition

Rihva also had other unspecified other mystical abilities.

Rihva also used stunning vapors which placed his victim's in a very hypnotized and docile state.

He used a knife.