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Ian Nottingham is a British and Native American descendant and first appeared in Witchblade #1.
Formally a Captain of the Special Air Service for the MI5 (British Security Service). He underwent modifications toward his behavior to be able to go undercover perfectly. He has been raised since childhood by Kenneth Irons, who wanted to mold him into the perfect warrior. This included beating and torturing him so that his body would be able to withstand pain. He is a master of Sun Tzu's Art of War and as an adult, stays employed by Kenneth Irons. He has also once been romantically involved with Sara Pezzini.
History[]
Ian was born April 21, 1966. In Witchblade Destiny's Child, he and his brother were orphans. Young Ian was a troublemaker and a bully. He was adopted by a man who wanted to turn him into a killer. His "father" succeeded.
When sent on a mission to Japan to kill a woman, Nottingham fell in love with his target and with the Japanese culture. The tumultuous end of that love affair had a hand in making him so cold, so controlled. "Never again" became his motto. In the end, he returns to England. Ian is single, and lived in New York, NY with Kenneth Irons.
Nottingham was indebted to both the Yakuza and to Kenneth Irons. He's considered a member of a Yakuza family, not unlike Jackie Estacado of the Darkness who is the adopted son of a Mafia family. He has attained a high rank in the Yakuza, yet remains a ronin of sorts, working for whomever he chooses.[1] Ian undergoes a constant internal battle between his feelings for Sara Pezzini and his loyalty to his mentor, Kenneth Irons. His relationship with Irons can now only be qualified as a hate-use relationship, although Nottingham once considered Irons to be his friend. Obviously, that was not the case. Irons volunteered Ian's body for super secret government testing under the aegis of PROJECT ODIN. The experiments have fused Nottingham's adult DNA with some undisclosed element. Because of the testing and certain special conditioning, Nottingham has been the only man to "successfully" wear the Witchblade. Ian has been shown to possess a number of mystical powers, including enhanced speed and strength.
The odd markings on his right hand, courtesy of Irons, allows him to bond with both the Witchblade and the Darkness. And for a short time, both powers preferred him over Pezzini and Estacado. As the villainous Sonatine put it, Nottingham's body and soul were built to absorb mass quantities of power, "whether voluntarily or not." He didn't ask for the Witchblade. Sonatine, the nemesis of Jackie Estacado, asked Nottingham to take the Darkness. When he said no, Sonatine bewitched him and suddenly Nottingham was a puppet. In a strange twist of fate, Estacado and Pezzini encountered Nottingham in a museum, and police detective and Mafia hitman had to work together to save the world from him.
Apparently when the Witchblade and the Darkness powers -- both fairly malevolent entities -- meet in one soul, they transform that soul into a doomsday machine. Together the Witchblade and the Darkness are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Which roughly translates into one of the Seven Seals of Armageddon. Jackie took back the darkness power and prevented destruction, however Witchblade chose Ian over Pezzini that time. Unknown to all participants a new entity, Weave, had born out of the union.
When Irons' obsession with the Witchblade sucked him in, Nottingham was deeply curious about how the gauntlet would feel on his arm. But once the rune met the stone, he quickly came to wish he had not been curious at all. Because the Witchblade is a sentient power, ungovernable by any who have not been born to wield it -- and even difficult to those chosen women. And Nottingham, despite his extreme cool, his self-possession, and his strength, could not bend the Witchblade to his will. In fact, the gauntlet controlled him. He eventually lost the Witchblade to Pezzini in a battle which gave him serious injuries.
He was nursed back to his health by a Japanese girl called Setsuke. After she made an attempt at Gavin Taylor's (a famous rock star turned guru with connections to Kenneth Irons) life, Irons made him kill her, and Ian angrily obeyed.[2] Kenneth & IanRecently, Ian has acquired Excalibur which has brought a new edge to Ian's life. The depths of this newfound power, and its effects on Ian's life have yet to fully manifest themselves. He cannot really control it yet either. If he uses Excalibur, he gives in to it and it takes him over, pretty much just like the Witchblade did. Ian Nottingham believes in the power of the human will and that through sheer force of will almost anything can be accomplished. Ian also has the belief that all life is chaos and that the control of life is fleeting at best. These beliefs have proven themselves time and again throughout his life. Now, in the possession of Excalibur, Ian is forced to struggle even harder to control that life.
Ian, with Excalibur, killed Tora No Shi during the Deathpool storyline.
Ian lost Excalibur, revealed to be part of Witchblade to Sara after she beat him senseless in a fight.[3] With the WitchbladeIan has recently reappeared, pursued by Yakuza assassins and begging Sara for help. He also seems to have lost Excalibur since he never uses it to defend himself, was asking if he could borrow the Witchblade, and later is seen stealing The Blood Sword from the Curator's Artifact shop. He uses the cursed katana to kill off any opposition and take control of the local Yakuza and when Sara shows up invites her to join him in his life of crime. Sara is not impressed. After arresting Nottingham, she returned the cursed katana to the Curator's shop.
Ian's stay in jail was a rather short one because Ian escaped Ryker's prison and then had a Central Park battle with Sara. Ian offered Sara to follow him so they can live a life of love making reference to Sara's current life that was full of stress and constant battles because of the Witchblade. Sara refused, causing tension between the two character which resulted in one of the best fight scenes during the series. After hitting pregnant Sara a few times, one with a crude haymaker to the face, the other a side-stepping kick to the stomach, Ian makes a sexist comment before Sara defeats him using the Witchblade. Detective Pezzini arrests Ian and sends him back to prison. It should be noted that Sara decided to give up the Witchblade because of this battle.
Powers and Abilities[]
Ian has displayed superhuman feats of speed and strength. Body and soul built to absorb mass quantities of energy. At one point in the comics he has the mystic ability to siphon the powers of both the Witchblade and the Darkness. Ian in the comic series becomes the wielder of Excalibur (here shown as a sentient weapon, and part of the Witchblade) which can act like armor, produce energy blasts & constructs, and decreases the aging process.
Even before he acquired other powers, he displayed superhuman abilities such as cutting cars in half with his sword and catching bullets in his hands. Ian has above average intelligence and has enhanced speed and strength. Ian is also an accomplished martial artist and swordsman--his preferred weapon is a katana-- and he has had black ops training.
The Television Series[]
Ian Nottingham is played by Eric Etebari in the Witchblade Series made for television[4] In the TV series, Nottingham's origins are different from the comic book version. Kenneth Irons's Vorschlag Industries engaged in highly suspect genetic engineering to create and clone at least two versions of Ian Nottingham from Elizabeth Bronte's stem cells. Bronte was a wielder of the Witchblade in WWII and is Sara Pezzini's grandmother. She was murdered by Irons in order to gain the Witchblade for himself.
