Extreme superheroes were one of the most popular superhero trends of the 1990s. Filtering traditional superheroes through '80s action movie heroes and the available anime of the era, huge muscles, tons of guns, the word "blood" and lots of tactical pouches defined the era. In the Marvel Universe, the Rob Liefeld creation Cable was among the most successful examples of this trend, as the bounty hunter Lobo was in the DC Universe.

At the apex of the extreme era, all of these ideas came together in Rob Liefeld's Bloodwulf, with an added dose of Deadpool's humor.

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Bloodwulf in Darker Image

Bloodwulf was created by Liefeld and debuted in 1993's Image Comics one-shot Darker Image. True to its name, the book was intended to introduce several new characters made in the grungy, gritty mold of the era. Bloodwulf was an intergalactic bounty hunter who would frequently go off on action-filled adventures in order to take a break from his comparatively domestic lifestyle. Said lifestyle involved being surrounded by his many polygamous wives and his several children, as well as his mother and grandmother. The character would later receive his own mini-series, as well as a one-shot story where he fought Liefeld's resident Superman surrogate Supreme. Like many of the early Image characters of the era, Bloodwulf has since fallen into obscurity, although he was part of a nixed deal that would've seen several Extreme Studios characters revitalized at Netflix.

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Bloodwulf fight

Bloodwulf is knowingly indebted to Lobo in a great many ways, from aspects of his appearance to his occupation. And the most noteworthy physical difference between the two grey-skinned aliens' looks is that Bloodwulf's hair and tattoos are red and larger than Lobo's black ones. Lobo shows up on the cover of the first issue of Bloodwulf, hanging in the background, symbolizing that Bloodwulf had taken the once-edgy character's place. This was pushed further by the appearance of a version of the character which appears in the book later as a drunkard whose glory days are far behind him.

Despite their similarities, Bloodwulf and Lobo had different sensibilities with their respective forms of humor. Lobo's stories were satires of the ultra-violent tales of the time period, poking fun at them with tongue firmly in cheek. Bloodwulf, however, played the concepts straight without any sense of self-awareness and went for broader jokes about science fiction properties.

While Bloodwulf's last major appearance was in 2015's short-lived Bloodstrike revival, Lobo is still one of DC's more well-known characters, and he's still co-starring in a series alongside his Teen Titans daughter right now. showing up in the '90s/2000s Superman and Justice League cartoons as well as the first Injustice game. Bloodwulf, however, has fallen into obscurity, finally silencing the extreme howls of an ever-edgy wolf.

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