Upon stealing a demonic cloak and a pair of boots, Parker Robbins went from common criminal to Super Villain. As the Hood, he rises in the ranks to become one of the most dangerous threats on Earth.
Crime Pays
In his youth, Parker Robbins becomes fascinated by super-powered individuals after seeing Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, take on Maxwell Dillon, AKA Electro. Down the line, he becomes a thief alongside his cousin John King. He stays in that life to support his ill mother after his father's death. He’s not all bad, though, and even saves a young woman named Sara, whom he dates and they have a daughter together.
During a job set up by King, Robbins kills a demon supposedly named Nisanti and steals its cloaked hood and boots, thinking they might be worth something. Before long, he realizes that the footwear could make him fly and the hood would rend him invisible when holding his breath. The dreaded Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension, claims to have set the whole encounter up. One of his cults finds a bonding cloak, and the dark lord kills the cult, wrapping a dead demon in the garment and then places it in Robbins' path. All of this plotting is a means to gain a larger foothold on the earthly plane. Either way, Robbins uses these new tools to further his criminal career.
Power Hungry
Even before he gets his mystical upgrade, Parker Robbins craves power. He comes a petty criminal to that end, but also develops fighting and shooting skills that keep him alive and out of jail. Upon wearing the supernatural cloak and boots, he finds that he could turn invisible and float while holding his breath. The more he wears the threads, though, the more he realizes he does not need the boots at all and that he can disappear without restriction. When pushed to his limits, the Hood often turns into a demonic creature.
At some point, Parker begins interacting with Dormammu, who claims to have been the source of his powers. With the added power, he can teleport, raise the dead, and perform other more powerful spells. Robbins uses all of his powers to back up his plans to become a kingpin of crime. His unique brand of charisma, audacity, fiscal fairness, and intimidation work in his favor to make the organization run smoothly, that is until he decides to target the Avengers.
Criminal Collective
When Parker's father Arthur passes away, Parker feels the need to continue his life of crime to support his mother Eliza, whose dementia-like symptoms prevent her from working. He dates his girlfriend Sara for years and the pair have a daughter they name Breanne. He lives with them even after building up his super-criminal gang. That is until he’s arrested and she leaves him with their daughter.
Aside from his cousin John King, Parker does not have what you would consider friends. He does build several expansive criminal organizations with himself as the leader by offering his people protection, money, and support. At the gang's height, they even come very close to destroying the Avengers.
Throughout his career, Parker makes a variety of deals with various demons to attain power including Dormammu and Loki Laufeyson, AKA Loki. Both entities give him what he wants, but also act in their own interests.
Taking a Look Under the Hood
Outfitted with his demonic adornments, Robbins kept at his life of petty crime until John recommended an even bigger score. However, the diamonds he went after belonged to gangster Dennis "Golem" Golembuski and were guarded by Frank Schlichting, AKA Constrictor, Steven Levins, AKA Jack O'Lantern, and Herman Schultz, AKA Shocker. During the ensuing fight, Robbins not only earned his Super Villain moniker, the Hood, but also accidentally killed a police officer named Eric Bondi. Later, when the FBI attempted to subdue Parker, he began speaking a mystical language and exhibited previously unknown powers. To get the heat off of him, the Hood managed to pin his crimes on the Rapier and gave the Golem back the diamonds he stole.
Though Robbins told his mother that he intended to help people, he didn't have much of a chance before being teleported away into space along with Janet Van Dyne, AKA the Wasp, Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon, AKA Medusa, Bonita Juarez, AKA Firebird, Greg Willis, AKA Gravity, Alyosha Kravinoff, AKA Kraven, a Skrull posing as Dr. Hank Pym, Mac Gargan, AKA Venom, and the Space Phantom impersonating Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man. The group eventually discovered that the Stranger was behind this experiment and made a deal with him, though only after Gravity gave his life to ensure they made it home. Robbins and Sara attended his funeral. Sometime later, their daughter Breanne was born and Robbins stayed with Sara, but began building his criminal empire.
The Hood decided that crime would pay off for him better than heroics, though some believe that idea came from the growing influence of the Nisanti, or possibly Dormammu. He began building his own group of villains, colloquially known as the Hood's Gang, and even brought his cousin in on the operation. His first large scale show of power was to sneak into a secret Deathlok auction and shoot the Owl while Madam Masque, Justine Hammer, AKA Crimson Cowl, Dr. Jonas Harrow, and the Wizard watched. He disappeared immediately after, but King offered them a place in the group and they all accepted.
Afterwards, James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, caught Parker and John talking about what to do with their new Deathlok. During the fight, Robbins took on a demonic appearance and managed to run off. The Hood continued spreading the word that he was putting together a network of villains. At the meeting, he pledged that they would all watch each others' backs and get exactly what they want, but he wanted all jobs to go through him and to also get a cut of all that action. To get them on board, he gave them $25,000 each and filmed himself beating up and threatening Greer Nelson, AKA Tigra, to prove he could get at the heroes and their families if need be.
Instead of launching the Deathlok at Avengers Tower, Hood decided to use the robot to steal around $12.7 million. In the process, the Deathlok was destroyed, which gave Wolverine and his Avengers a lead to follow. During the ensuing battle, Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, encountered Hood and warned him that he was toying with supernatural elements that could prove deadly. The villain then went into demon mode again and got away, but many of the other villains were arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. However, none of them said one word about Robbins, so he broke them out of the Raft. At some point, he and Giuletta Nefaria, AKA Madame Masque, began dating, even though Parker was still with Sara.
Wanting revenge, the Hood and some of his crew confronted Tigra once more and forced her to tell them where the unregistered Avengers were located. While surveying the Sanctum Sanctorum, Parker managed to tap into a new ability to see through illusions. During the attack, Hood shot Strange and was attacked by Strange’s assistant and mystic in his own right, Wong. The Sorcerer Supreme had embraced dark magic to help them all, which was used to take out all of the fighters, good and bad, though Robbins had escaped by then. Wong managed to reverse the spell on the heroes.
Around that same time, Larry Cranston, AKA Mister Fear, began his own crime campaign in Hell's Kitchen. Hood tasked Turk Barrett with keeping an eye on Daredevil, hoping he would lead them to the villain. After a meeting of the cowled ones, they came to an agreement when Robbins realized that Fear only wanted to bring ol' hornhead down and wasn't looking to make money.
Robbins found himself in a unique situation while freeing Madame Masque from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. After killing two agents, the criminals were stunned when the victims turned out to be Skrulls. Robbins called the crew together, though they were dubious after having lost under his leadership. When he and Masque managed to interrogate a Skrull in front of all of them, they came to understand the true threat and the possibilities it could present. While trying to figure out what to do next, Dormammu revealed himself as the voice who had been communicating with Parker.
When the Skrulls revealed their secret invasion of the Earth, the Hood and his army of Super Villains threw themselves into battle against the invaders. Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin, who made moves during the war to gain power and eventually lead H.A.M.M.E.R., recognized a kindred spirit in the Hood and invited him to join the Cabal alongside Namor McKenzie, AKA Namor the Sub-Mariner, Emma Frost, Victor von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, and Loki. Osborn wanted to essentially set up a system like the Hood's, but on an even larger scale. He also told the Hood and all of the villains under him to register, but Hood convinced him it would be better if they ran free.
During Osborn's dark reign, he sent the Hood and his gang after a variety of high profile targets including Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, Martin Li, AKA Mr. Negative, Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight, and Frank Castle, AKA the Punisher. Hood sent villains after Punisher that did not succeed, but he did manage to resurrect Frank's old partner David Lieberman, AKA Micro, as well as a group of villains with some help from Dormammu. When the adversaries finally came face-to-face, Hood offered to bring Castle's dead family back to life if he would kill a cop. Micro killed the cop, which brought them all back–including his son—but Punisher made Firebrand torch the bodies. Hood had his target dead to rights when Castle said he had an envelope of information about Sara and their daughter. If he died, that would go directly to Robbins' rival Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin. With that, Parker begrudgingly let Frank go.
When a zombie virus made its way to Earth-616, the Hood wound up trying to save humanity from a mutated virus by allying himself with Dr. Michael Morbius, AKA Morbius, the Living Vampire, Jennifer Kale, Jack Russell, AKA Werewolf by Night, and Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm.
Meanwhile, Robbins led another version of his group in an attack against the Avengers once more. During the battle, Hood held his own against Carol Danvers, AKA Ms. Marvel. She wound up being the one to overpower the villains, though once more Parker escaped. Immediately after, Dormammu ordered the Hood to get the Eye of Agamotto from Doctor Strange and become the Sorcerer Supreme. At this point, Robbins struggled to maintain all of the Dark Dimension power and even went into demon mode to confront Strange.
After his initial fight with Strange, which he lost, Parker struggled with the power and Madame Masque tried to help, though he refused to take off the cloak. He later attacked Hellstorm in search of the Eye. During the fight he turned into a much larger, out-of-control demon. This conflagration drew the attention of not just the Avengers, but also Jericho Drumm, AKA Doctor Voodoo, the new Sorcerer Supreme who now possessed the Eye of Agamotto. Voodoo, Hellstrom, and Strange worked together to exorcise Dormammu from Robbins, leaving him temporarily without his hood.
Afterward, Loki visited Parker in the hospital and offered him a second chance. While he was out of commission, his gang found and rebuilt a power dampener built by Tony Stark that they intended to sell to Osborn. During the ensuing battle, Loki took Hood and Madame Masque to Cuba to attain the Norn Stones, which made his mental image of himself become reality. They healed him from his injuries and also gave him new powers. He was furious when he got home and learned that Osborn had arrested his people after they fought the Avengers. With that, they all registered and Hood chastised them for their terrible decision making.
When Sara found out that Parker was still the Hood, she confronted him in front of his driver Sam. He told her not to worry about it, and Parker killed his trusted employee to keep his family safe. Around this same time, Eric Bondi's wife Elizabeth revealed herself as White Fang. She had developed gear specifically designed to take Robbins out and it would have worked had he not let the demon take over.
Parker met with Satana Hellstrom, AKA Satana, to figure out what to do about his alliance with Dormammu. She revealed to him that him coming across the hood in the first place was a set up and that the dread one was using him to return to this dimension. She suggested he leave the cloak behind. For a time, he listened, replacing his mystical covering for the Crimson Cowl's. This was particularly difficult because Dormammu had used his power to remove the fog of dementia from his mother. Feeling like life was looking up, Parker even bought a big house for his wife, daughter, and mom to live in.
White Fang got an equipment upgrade from Basil Sandhurst, AKA Controller, who was not satisfied with Hood as a leader. The villain even gave her pictures of Sara and Breanne to gain leverage over the crime lord. However, Parker fully embraced Dormammu once more when facing off against Clay Wilson, AKA Force, and White Fang, especially after the dark lord spoke to him through his daughter. In fact, the hood reappeared on him as fire and then solidified. Around this time, things finally fell apart with Sara.
Moving forward with his plans, Osborn integrated Hood and his crew into what used to be known as the Initiative, opening a new facility in New Mexico for them to operate out of called Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. He never quite gelled there, but did agree to back Norman's siege of Asgard. During the war, Parker defeated Tyr, boosted his squad with the Norn Stones, but they left him when Loki called for the mystical objects.
Powerless, he and Whitney managed to escape, but he was despondent because he knew the Avengers would come after them. Masque wanted to help and set up a meeting with her father Count Luchino Nefaria, AKA Count Nefaria, who offered to give Robbins similar powers to his own in exchange for all of his money. Before they could go through with the procedure, the Avengers attacked, captured the villains and delivered them to Maria Hill along with John King.
In Ryker's Island Maximum Security Prison, Robbins kept his eyes open and met Ertzia, an Inhuman who knew where one of the Infinity Stones was. He made his way out of jail and got back to work with his cousin all while planning on how to get the Stones. Before he could fully embark on that mission, Tigra's Avengers Academy students Jennifer Takeda, AKA Hazmat, Brandon Sharpe, AKA Striker, and Madeline Berry, AKA Veil, tracked him down and made him apologize to her on camera. Needing to gain power once more, the Hood began searching for and collecting Infinity Gems. He got the Reality Stone from the ruins of Attilan and used it to steal the Power Gem from the Fantastic Four's headquarters. With just the two of them, he beat General Thaddeus Ross, AKA Red Hulk nearly to death.
Robbins next reunited with Madame Masque, who had also gotten out of jail and used the Gems to take away her scars. Later he grabbed the Space Stone from Iron Man's vault and used the three Gems against Red Hulk, Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, and Namor who had acquired the Time Stone. While battling the Avengers, Parker lost all but the Reality Stone. However, since Iron Man gathered all of the other Infinity Gems, they called to its kin, which removed itself from the Hood's possession. With the Infinity Gauntlet, the Armored Avenger sent Hood back to jail.
Eventually, Robbins managed to break out of jail and got his gear back. Sometime after that, he ran into David Alleyne, AKA Prodigy, Teddy Altman, AKA Hulkling, and Noh-Varr, AKA Marvel Boy, of the Young Avengers after Uatu the Watcher's death unleashed secrets all over the world. He convinced Prodigy build a Cerebro-like device to help the people deal with their secrets, but it also encoded that information and sent it to a secure server. Even after the kids found out, Parker managed to escape. It remains unclear how he was still able to turn into a demon.
Wanting his powers back, Robbins began studying the dark arts and even made a few deals with unknown beings. He got set up in a house in hell and intended to build his gang back up, now calling it the Illuminati. He started with Mary MacPherran, AKA Titania, Dr. Eliot Franklin, AKA Thunderball, the Mad Thinker, Eric O’Grady, AKA Black Ant, and Sylvie Lushton, AKA Enchantress. The plan was to steal weapons from the Asgardians and sell them to the rest of the villain community. After several bumps in the road, the team finally made their way to the armory and got their hands on the weapons when Mad Thinker betrayed them. Robbins conjured up some blood magic to fend off the Asgardians and get back to their base.
Parker eventually discovered that Sara gave information to S.H.I.E.L.D. after he broke out of jail. He visited her and Breanne in Albuquerque, but Sara said things were over between them. Meanwhile, after freeing Carl Creel, AKA Absorbing Man, from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Pleasant Hill prison, Crusher wanted to recruit his fellow escapees into the Illuminati to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.. The idea worked to create a new army, but Hood lost his soldiers after suggesting they start killing the heroes' families. Furious at him for toying with her life, Titania beat Parker down and ripped the hood, destroying it and leaving him powerless again.
Around this time, time when Doctor Doom turned good, and became a new Iron Man. In response, Hood and a group of villains came together, worried about what an altruistic Doom might do to them. Hood suggested they kill him immediately. Doom then burst in to attack the assembled, but Hood escaped.
After getting involved with a pair of Foolkillers, Parker possessed the Norn Stones once more and intended to become the new Kingpin of New York. He used one of them to resurrect the recently dead Hammerhead. He also met with Fisk, who had become the mayor of New York City, and informed him of his intentions. While meeting with a group of villains, he explained his new plan to break up the eastern seaboard into sections that each of them would become the Kingpin of. However, the New York City Defenders got an army of heroes together to stop them.
When the Hood finally caught up with the still-heroic Doctor Doom, the Latverian made Robbins shoot his colleague Jackson Day, AKA Corruptor, in the head before blowing up the room. The Hood got a group of criminals together and followed Doom to his castle in Latveria. When the would-be hero managed to escape, the Hood and his villainous pals went after Tony Stark who had just recently come out of a coma. Hood came very close to gaining control of Stark Enterprises through blackmail, but was stopped by Doom. During their ensuing fight, the demon controlling Parker came to the forefront and managed to scar Victor's face once more before fleeing.
Parker seemed to get his usual powers back and also began regrowing his crew, though this time he included more non-powered crooks. He also found his whole operation being targeted by Avenger Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, and Ronin, though it turned out to be Barton in both costumes. The Avenger managed to dismantle the whole operation by stealing most of Robbins' money. Hawkeye also made a deal with Count Nefaria to get a demon to pop out and steal the Hood's magic garment. With that out of the way, Barton tackled Robbins through a plate glass window, leaving him for the cops to collect.
Robbins did not take being powerless sitting down. When he found out that Felicia Hardy, AKA Black Cat, was visiting a hospitalized photographer by the name of Peter Parker, he threatened to kill the patient if she didn't get his cloak back by sunup. She agreed, but negotiated for Mary Jane Watson–who Robbins had at gunpoint in the hospital room–to come with her. They tracked down the cloak-eating demon, which Lonnie Lincoln, AKA Tombstone, had acquired. The women showed back up and handed Robbins a hood, but it turned out to be the demon who quickly consumed him whole!
Though he may no longer be on the mortal plane currently, don't expect a schemer like the Hood to stay away for long.
