Dire Wraith

You'd shapeshift too if you looked like that.

Hailing from a dark nebula, the evil Dire Wraiths seek to conquer all they see. The only force able to oppose them is Rom and the Solstar Order. The Solstar Order prevailed, causing the Wraiths to scatter throughout the galaxy. The Dire Wraiths secretly invaded the Earth long ago.

The Dire Wraiths wield powerful dark magic and are able to infect the bodies of other creatures with their toxic biomatter, parasitically transforming their victims into more of their kind. They are also able to gain new abilities by using the blood of other life forms. Few species are capable of resisting their powerful sorcery... though Cybertronians are more resilient to this magical corruption by virtue of their mechanical physiology, the results of a botched infection aren't pretty.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Megatron knew of the Dire Wraiths and was so disgusted by them that he steered clear of the Dark Nebula where they hailed from. Krok shared his leader's disgust and described the Wraiths as "panmorphic lifeforms". At some point, the Wraiths invaded Temptoria and stole its religion. Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again! Several Autobots, including Ultra Magnus, considered them to be myths. Shining Armor #2

After the Wraiths went to war with the Solstar Order, the Order destroyed the Wraith homeworld, scattering the survivors throughout Solstar space. In spite of their defeat, they remained an omnipresent thorn in the side of the Order, and menaced several backwater regions such as Mato Grosso, Mining Colony 25-6-41, Shining Armor #1 and the Huni System Shining Armor #2 During this time, the Wraith Vekktral encountered the orphaned Camien Stardrive on Matto Grosso, alerting the Dire Wraiths to the existence of Cybertronians. As the Solstar Order continued to hunt down remaining pockets of Wraiths, the survivors pushed outwards, threatening to encroach on Galactic Council territory. Shining Armor #1

Approximately two hundred years ago, Starscream and his troops encountered Vekktral's Wraiths in the Huni System. Learning of Stardrive's energon synthesizer, he agreed to a temporary alliance with the organics to lure the Solstar Order and their Cybertronian Space Knight into a trap. Shining Armor #1 When the Autobots intervened, the Dire Wraiths managed to ensnare and assimilate Sky Blast. The magic of the Wraiths had an unforeseen effect on Sky Blast's cyber-biology: rather than transforming the Autobot into a Dire Wraith, the combination simply merged the two entities together into an insane, out-of-control monster. Shining Armor #2 The hybrid rampaged across the frigid planet of Xetaxxis for a while before its increasingly unstable biology tore it apart, burning it away to cinders. Shining Armor #3 Using what he had learned from Blast Off's physiology, Vekktral was able to repeat the process on Ultra Magnus, this time creating a far more stable, though still monstrous, fusion of Wraith and Transformer while several of his underlings assimilated the native Xetaxxians. Shining Armor #4

Around this time, a different group of Dire Wraiths landed on Earth and discovered its supplies of Ore-13, Earthfall: Part Three which they could use to enhance their powers and shield their energy signatures from the Analyzers that the Space Knights traditionally used to root them out. The New Colossus

At some point after arriving on Earth Strange Visitors the mysterious artifact known as the Talisman came into contact with Dire Wraith biomatter, growing a set of Wraith-like tentacles on its control panel. Crisis Intervention

Over the years, the Wraiths on Earth continued their clandestine preparations for their inevitable confrontation with the Space Knights, assimilating and replacing government authorities with Wraith copies. Around the time of Optimus Prime's annexation of Earth into the [[Council of Worlds, one such group of Wraiths lured G.I. Joe founder and head of the Earth Defense Command Joe Colton into a trap. Unlike their other victims, Joe Colton was able to fight them off and escaped lethal absorption by amputating his own hand. Having obtained enough of his DNA, the Wraiths were still able to form an impostor. First Strike #0 Ghost in the Machine The Wraiths would go on to assimilate more G.I. Joe members, replacing them with Wraiths. Concorde Hymn

The real Joe Colton, meanwhile, had reunited with his old ally of convenience Garrison Kreiger, who helped him undergo treatment to remove the toxic Wraith biomatter that lingered in his system.

With extraterrestrial incursions on the rise — and following Rom's arrival on Earth — the Wraiths grew bolder in their machinations. Several of them would go on to propose an alliance with the human Miles "Mayhem" Manheim, promising that Mayhem would rule Earth once the Wraiths had all the Ore-13. The New Colossus

While discussing the unstable geopolitical landscape in the wake of Earth's annexation with the false "Joe Colton," Mayhem mentioned that Action Man could be of help with a "situation" in Northern California, referring to where hidden Dire Wraiths were being hunted by Rom. Secret Raiders The Wraiths were forced to contend with Cybertronians with power over Earth, eventually using their ranks in the Earth governments to engage them in a battle in Portland. To their horror, Rom showed up and murdered four of them, including the imposter Colton. Concorde Hymn

Rom gave a vague explanation to the Cybertronians of who the Wraiths were and why he was on Earth. The Divine Source of Liberty Once he'd made peace with Optimus Prime, he further elaborated on the Wraiths' interest in Ore-13 and how it made them harder to detect. O Ship of State While autopsying their remains, Doc realized that the DNA of the corpses did not match with baseline human samples, alerting the team to the alien infiltrators. The Divine Source of Liberty

A Dire Wraith was visible on a computer screen as Baron Karza monitored the Ore-13 retrieved from Mount Olympus. The Divine Source of Liberty

With their cover blown, the Dire Wraiths became more aggressive and managed to take over the EDC's Bikini Atoll base. G.I. Joe was sent to defeat them and recapture the facility. D.T.A. While this happened, Marissa Faireborn was meeting with the President and given the case of Ore-13 that the Wraith Colton was carrying around before Rom killed him. This was the cue for the Wraiths in the White House to try to reclaim the case. Armed with a firearm that fired armor-piercing bullets, Marissa made short (if bloody) work of the Wraiths in the vicinity before she called in Thundercracker as backup. The Wraiths managed to take control of the Seeker clones before Thundercracker and D.0.C. destroyed them. Buster proved able to sniff out the Wraiths from the humans while Bob simply mutilated one before eating it. The leader of the Wraith cell barricaded herself in the situation room. This proved ineffective against Thundercracker who casually destroyed the wall and all her minions. At wit's end, she merged magic and Ore-13 growing to Cybertronian size. Adopting the form of a Wraith Hawk, she engaged Thundercracker in the air and managed to rip off his cannon arm. Thundercracker shouted a warning that the arm was full of ammunition and that she ought to be careful with her fire hands. Her wings were incinerated and she was impaled upon the Washington Monument. Marissa meanwhile mowed down the rest of the Wraiths with a standard rifle. Thundercracker & Buster Save the World

Mayhem later contacted the Wraith leader, "Caleb Awan", to inform him of the large supply of Ore-13 beneath Autobot City. The Wraiths moved out to meet their M.A.S.K. allies in Monument Valley where many Wraiths performed a kamikaze attack on Victorion, overwhelming the Combiner. When they entered the city, their path was bared by Rom who had allied himself with the Cybertronians and others to fight off the Wraiths. The Wraiths managed to use the Ore-13 beneath the city to enhance their power before they, rather unsurprisingly, betrayed Miles Mayhem. Refusing to be beaten by aliens, Mayhem summoned Baron Karza from Microspace much to the amusement of "Caleb" who questioned what the diminutive creature could do. The diminutive creature responded by absorbing all the Wraiths into him, turning himself into an ungodly fusion of Cybertronian, Microspace, and Wraith power. The New Colossus In short order, said ungodly fusion was dumped into a collapsing spacebridge into Microspace. Valley Forge

One Wraith somehow got an account on The Big Conversation where he called himself "CONS4EVA" and made friends with Crankcase, a.k.a. "Grumpybot". Not caring for his species' desire for conquest, CONS4EVA wanted Crankcase's help in completing the Temptorian religious ceremony known as "The Crossover" to show ultimate loyalty to "The Brand". With the help of the human known as MP3, the trio opened a portal that led to a new life...a portal much too small for anyone to enter. CONS4EVA was then offered a place abroad the Weak Anthropic Principle but the Wraith politely declined and opted to find his own way from the next starhub. Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again!

The real Joe Colton, masquerading as the evil "Baron Ironblood," would use the Talisman to upgrade the Red Shadows into transhuman fusions of humans and Dire Wraiths, able to mimic several Wraith powers. Redcliffe Club

After discovering the Talisman, Garrison Blackrock accidentally produced an energy pulse that mutated the inhabitants of Verenya in Schleteva into hybrids of Dire Wraiths and humans. The forces of G.I. Joe found Rom on the scene; together, they tracked the energy wave to the Talisman, which had caught the attention of the Oktober Guard and Action Man. Another blast from the energy mutated the G.I. Joes Heavy Duty, Flash, and Quarrel into similar creatures. The afflicted were placed in the care of the Action Man Programme in the hopes of finding a cure, Crisis Intervention which Blackrock was eventually able to synthesize some time later. Ghost in the Machine

During the Iron Ring's invasion of Cybertron, the Dire Wraith enhancements inside the Red Shadows had the effect of tripping the Solstar Order's scanners, resulting in them placing Cybertron under quarantine. First Strike #2

Toys

Revolution

Tickle tickle tickle!

• Revolution Set (SDCC Gift Set, 2017)

Released as part of a San Diego Comic-Con 2017 exclusive set, the Dire Wraith is an action figure made up of redecoed parts from various G.I. Joe action figures, with a new head based on the IDW Dire Wraith design; it uses the tentacles from the G.I. Joe Zombie-Vipers to mimic the Wraiths' nasty tendrils, though it doesn't come with the normal arms that the Zombie-Viper could swap those tentacles for. It was packed with several other Hasbro Universe action figures: Jetfire, Matt Trakker of M.A.S.K., Action Man, Visionaries' Leoric, Roadblock of G.I. Joe, Rom, and 9 Micronauts mini-figurines.

Notes

• While it was believed that Marvel Comics owned the Dire Wraiths (using them as recently as 2011), that is not the case, as they were mentioned in Rom's original toy commercial. However, while Marvel doesn't own the name or concept of the Dire Wraiths, they do own their design for the Wraiths, forcing IDW Publishing to give the Wraiths a new look.
• The "dark nebula" from which they hail was conceived separately from the coincidentally-named Transformers Dark Nebula. Naturally enough, they were merged together for the IDW continuity.

External links

• Dire Wraith at the IDW Hasbro Wiki