DEADLY ERNEST
Real Name: Ernest St. Ives
Group Affiliation: None
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #7
Last Appearance: Alpha Flight #31
Creator: John Byrne

        Ernest St. Ives was a soldier in France during World War I when mustard gas filled the trench he was in. St. Ives had an unusually strong force of will and held on until Death herself came to collect him. St. Ives then did the unthinkable: he successfully rejected Death. His wounds healed, he regained his health, and he prepared to retreat from the trench. A soldier who lent a helping hand collapsed dead at Ernest's feet, but he did not realize the full truth until after he had returned home and his wife died in his arms. St. Ives' victory had come at a price: the touch of his bare hands had become the same as Death's own touch.

        Although initially horrified, St. Ives eventually came to terms with his "death touch", and even began to enjoy it. Effectively immortal, he remained young for decades and accumulated great wealth & power. St. Ives found himself in conflict with the Alpha Flight members Northstar and Aurora when he attempted to cheat Northstar's old friend Raymonde Belmonde out of his cafe. St. Ives killed Belmonde with his "death touch," and took Aurora captive.

        St. Ives had mistaken Aurora for Belmonde's daughter, Danielle, who was a partner in the scheme to take over the cafe. He treated her with all due respect. In the meantime Northstar had tracked down Ernest to his home and there encountered the mysterious woman known only as Nemesis. In the ensuing altercation Nemesis hacked St. Ives to pieces.

        Despite Nemesis' claims that her sword was capabable of ending St. Ives' life, Ernest did not die from her attack. The pieces of his "corpse" were transferred to a Montreal hospital for examination. The hospital's psychiatric wing housed the man known as Scramble, and during an escape attempt Scramble reassembled St. Ives' corpse. Ernest then proceeded to walk away.

        This led to a second confrontation with Northstar & Aurora, along with the rest of Alpha Flight. During the fight St. Ives succeeded in touching most of the Flight and he took Heather Hudson hostage. Nemesis kept Alpha Flight alive using life force from St. Ives' previous victims. She apparently picked up this life force in her last encounter with St. Ives. The sword itself she gave to Puck, who used it to successfully kill St. Ives this time around.

        Ernest St. Ives was virtually immortal [I say virtually because he was able to be killed... :) -C] and possessed the ability to "turn people off like a light switch" with a touch of one of his bare hands.

        [Compiler's notes: Mantlo's bringing St. Ives back made NO sense. Why should Nemesis' sword kill him the second time and not the first? Sheesh...]