Scourge of The Underworld - Fictional History

Fictional History

The Scourge first appeared in Iron Man #194 (1985) and made single-issue appearances in most of Marvel's series published at the time, although the bulk of his story was told in Captain America #318-320. The Scourge of the Underworld first surfaced as an old lady who unexpectedly executed a villain leaving the scene of a crime, and most of the Scourge's other assassinations were committed under similar disguises. His most famous appearance was in Captain America #319, in which he killed eighteen minor supervillains at "the Bar With No Name" (see below).

Years later, in the U.S. Agent miniseries, U.S. Agent and the Vagabond fought the Scourges, including one who had claimed to be the U.S. Agent's brother. In the end, the Angel died (although he was survived by a brother who had also used the identity of the Angel), Domino died, and the remaining Scourges were defeated and arrested.

The Red Skull's minion Mother Night was at one time sent by the Skull to recruit the villains Jack O'Lantern II and Blackwing for his pool of underlings, loosely titled The Skeleton Crew. She used her illusion-casting abilities to generate the image of the Scourge, who then "shot and killed" both villains, in reality, simply fooling Captain America so as to allow her to escape with the criminals. The primary writer and conceiver of the Scourge plotline as well as the Captain America storyline, Mark Gruenwald, had often expressed some disappointment in what he saw as the short-sightedness in killing so many potentially "fun" villains rather than re-imagining or improving them.

The Scourge played a major role in the story The Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, despite the fact that the character never actually appears during the story outside of a dream sequence. Throughout the events of the story, the Shocker is stricken with paranoia over the idea that the Scourge will come for him next. During the climax of the arc, the Kingpin employs an unseen Scourge imposter to fake an attempt on the Shocker's life, preventing him from killing Spider-Man and causing him to flee the scene, all in order to avoid attention being drawn near a location that the Kingpin was having robbed.

In the pages of Thunderbolts, a new Scourge appeared; this one assassinated the Thunderbolts members Jolt, Baron Zemo and Techno, as well as a pair of civilians (Gayle Rogers and Roberta Haggerty) who were investigating Jolt's death. It was revealed that this Scourge was actually Jack Monroe, alias Bucky and Nomad, who was being mentally controlled by the superhuman-hating government agent Henry Peter Gyrich; Gyrich himself was being manipulated by Baron Strucker. Monroe was defeated and freed from Gyrich's control by the Thunderbolts and their allies, the Redeemers. He then, apparently, abandoned the Scourge equipment and identity after the battle. As Scourge, Monroe had access to a wide array of technology based on equipment confiscated from super-villains. Some were installed in the costume he wore, while several others were miniaturized using Pym particles and stored in one of the costume's gauntlets; all were accessible by a voice-coded system. Specific items used included versions of the Green Goblin's glider, the Unicorn's helmet-installed energy projector, and Stilt-Man's telescoping legs, as well as various unspecified weaponry, including a metal quarterstaff. He could also access his gauntlet's Pym particles to alter the size of himself or others, though excessive use of this ability on the Thunderbolt Atlas forced him to abandon much of his weapon stores when his supply of Pym particles was spent.

Three characters bearing the names of the Scourge's previous victims - Hellrazor, Caprice, and Mindwave (minus the hyphen) - appeared in Thunderbolts #116. Caprice and Mindwave appeared along with Mirage and Bluestreak as supervillains incarcerated in Thunderbolts Mountain in Thunderbolts #117 telepathically discussing a plot against the Thunderbolts. Caprice, Mindwave, Mirage, and Bluestreak were all killed in their cells by Bullseye in Thunderbolts #121.

After the Punisher tries to assassinate Osborn (failing due to the intervention of Sentry) during the Dark Reign storyline, Osborn asks the Hood to hunt him down. In Punisher #5, the Hood is granted the powers of the Dark Dimension by his master Dormammu to revive eighteen murdered criminals (Basilisk I, Bird-Man II, Black Abbot, Blue Streak I, Cheetah, Cyclone I, Death Adder, Firebrand I, Hijacker, Human Fly, Letha, Megatak, Mind-Wave, Miracle Man, Mirage, Titania I, Turner D. Century, and Wraith I) to help him take down the Punisher. Scourge tells the villains that if they fail, they will be returned to their previous states of death and rot. The Hood told these criminals that the Scourge of the Underworld was actually Frank Castle and by killing him they'd be avenging their previous deaths and prolonging their new lives. When asked by Microchip if he thought any of them believed that crap about the Punisher being Scourge, the Hood replied "sure they did". Several of these villains (including Firebrand, the Wraith, Cyclone and Mirage) are killed again while confronting the Punisher, but ultimately Basilisk and Death Adder subdue the vigilante, and the terms of the Hood's agreement are apparently fulfilled.

In Thunderbolts #133, an otherwise unidentified man is christened Scourge by Norman Osborn and assigned to the Thunderbolts. His first mission is to eliminate Songbird. This character is later revealed to be Nuke with a new identity.

The original Scourge is among the various people in Erebus when Hercules travels to the Underworld.

An unknown person under the name of Scourge has joined up with Villains for Hire (the villain counterpart of Heroes for Hire). This Scourge ended up in fact being Paladin in disguise, as part of a massive con to take down Purple Man.

Another new Scourge is shown to be using a list of the locations of supervillains who have been relocated via the witness protection program and killing them, most recently Viper, member of the Serpent Squad. In the battle, he severely injures the hero (and former villain) Diamondback, who recognizes his voice. He is then shown to be working for Henry Peter Gyrich, revealed to be under the influence of Hydra. Encountering the villain the Rattler, whom Scourge subdues and kills after a short but brutal fight, he pulls off his damaged mask, shattered from the fight, to reveal his identity to be Dennis Dunphy, formerly known as the hero Demolition Man.