Origin

The house is alive and sentient. It is from another dimension and has crossed time and space to observe humanity. It pretends to be a haunted house to scare off curious investigators.

Creation

The House of Shadows debuted in Strange Tales #120 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Major Story Arcs

A Strange Tale

As a publicity stunt, skeptical reporter Allan Stevens spends a night in the haunted mansion. A wary Doctor Strange kept his third eye on the events just in case they got out of hand. When Stevens’ mic went silent and he dropped from Strange’s view, Strange forced his way past the onlookers and entered the house. After a show of force, Strange demanded Stevens be released. In exchange for the reporter’s return, Strange swore to keep its existence a secret, however, he still banished it from this plane of existence.

The Spaceknight

The House of Secrets was banished by Strange to a shadow world that bordered Limbo. When Dire Wraiths attempted to liberate their banished comrades, they accidentally released the House. These Dire Wraiths were also chasing ROM the Spaceknight and his allies. Seeking refuge, they tried to hide inside The House of Secrets, which started to prey on them.

ROM’s cybernetic nature seemed to give him an edge to the House’s influence. The House thought it had found an ally to merge with and rule over humanity, but it did not expect ROM to have such loyalty to the human race. Using his neutralizer ray, ROM set fire to the house, forcing it to retreat to its shadow world home.

Condo of Shadows

The House of Shadows once more made it back onto Earth from its shadow world this time in the guise of the top floor of a condominium, believing one must move with the times. After all the residents go missing, Doctor Strange sends his pupil, Rintrah, to investigate. When Rintrah demands the presence leave on its own, The House uses the Vapors of Valtorr, a spell similar to one Strange used on The House in their first confrontation.

Rintrah was offended by its reversal of the spell, but Strange had armed him with an Amulet of Agamotto, which allowed him to neutralize the vapors. He then used the Amulet to banish the “House” once more. The top floor disappeared, and the missing people materialized on the lower floors.

The Midnight Mission

The House yet again returned to Earth yet again as the top floor of an apartment building. When people started going missing, a concerned neighbor reached out to Moon Knight, who had recently set up shop as a hero for hire. Once Moon Knight figured out that the apartment building they all went missing at should only have five floors, not six, he checked out the top floor.

The House subjected Moon Knight to a labyrinth. Moon Knight believed that it wanted to consume him as he ran through the maze looking for the other missing people. After four days of torture, the House believed Moon Knight to be weak enough to reach out telekinetically, only to be poisoned by Moon Knight’s fractured psyche. With no use for him, The House let Moon Knight go.

Moon Knight couldn’t just let the missing people rot. He armed himself with enough explosives so The House knew he was serious, however, Moon Knight felt a kindred spirit. He offered The House a purpose. Moon Knight’s headquarters was recently destroyed by Zodiac, he invited The House to join as his new Midnight Mission, so they can continue pro bono hero work in the neighborhood. The House accepted.

The Last Days of Moon Knight

The Midnight Mission was being targeted by a mysterious new Black Spectre who had been hiring a number of old foes to attack Moon Knight and his allies. After interrogating one of his goons, Moon Knight learned that Black Spectre planned on using advanced sound technology to drive the citizens of New York mad with rage, forcing them to tear each other apart. Moon Knight tracked the operation to a skyscraper in the city and formed a field team, leaving Reese behind with the House of Shadows to continue the good work of the Midnight Mission.

Unfortunately, Black Spectre was also working with Zodiac, who took the opportunity to target the House of Shadows in Moon Knight's absence. Zodiac broke inside and was prepared to kill Reese, however, he was not prepared for actual Midnight Mission office to be sentient. The House of Shadows protected Reese, dragging him into its supernatural void.

Zodiac started singing a different tune upon learning that Moon Knight wouldn't be resurrected this time if Black Spectre was successful. Reese didn't trust Zodiac, but the House read his mind and let him go. Meanwhile, across town, Moon Knight sacrificed himself to take out Black Spectre's weapons. Per his last wish, Reese agreed to continue running the Mission.

Vengeance of Moon Knight

While trying to protect their part of New York, the Midnight Mission is attacked by a masked mystery man claiming to be the new Moon Knight. He had already attacked 8-Ball and was looking to target the rest for being too ineffectual or monstrous to carry on the legacy. He easily fought off the whole team, however, when he entered the Mission, the sentient building rejected him completely. This forced the new Moon Knight to give up on taking back the storefront but warned them to stay out of his way.

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the problem. This new Moon Knight went after masked criminals so aggressively, that those masked criminals started targeting the Midnight Mission, putting the community member who moved into the building in danger. They were forced to approach Lady Yulan and call in the favor they earned taking out The Structure. She led them to his daylight hiding spot where it was revealed he was The Shroud.

Shroud was deadset on being the new Moon Knight and thought he was honoring Marc's legacy. He believed he had ruined The Shroud identity and needed to rebrand himself, but Tigra managed to convince him that he needed work on himself instead, just as Marc did. Unfortunately, just as he was coming around to accepting the Mission's help, he was transformed into a portal for darkforce (as did all the darkforce users on Earth) blocking out the sun.

Powers

Interdimensional Being: The House of Shadows can travel the space-time continuum. It had been banished many times only to return to Earth over and over.

• Dimensional Manipulation: The House is capable of seeming bigger on the inside, with labyrinthine halls.

Sentient House: It is capable of possessing and/or shapeshifting into various domiciles.

• Poltergeist: Inside, it is able to cast illusions, move inanimate objects, and various other poltergeist-like feats.
• Spiritual Force Field: The House is also capable of keeping ghosts and the astral projection of sorcerers from passing through its walls.