Citizen Vee is the codename of several

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Publication history

The original incarnation (John Watkins) first appeared in ''

Daring Mystery Comics ''Daring Mystery Comics'' is an American comic-book series published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930-1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Primarily a superhero anthology, it ran eigh ...

'' (Jan 1942), during the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

. However, the identity was revived in the modern day via '' Thunderbolts''. The various incarnations have usually been affiliated with the

V-Battalion The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several fictional teams and organizations and this page lists them. 0–9 198 A A-Force A-Next A.I. Army Because of his revelation that he is now a simulated A ...

organization. The "V" in the character's and group's name is the letter "V" - as opposed to the Roman numeral 5 - and is derived from the World War II-era slogan "V for Victory".

Fictional character biography

John Watkins

The original version of Citizen V was John Watkins, an

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

who assisted the resistance in

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-occupied France. He led a group of

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

s called the V-Battalion. He was killed in action by

Heinrich Zemo Heinrich Zemo is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first made a cameo appearance in ''The Avengers (comic book), The Avengers'' #4 (March 1964), b ...

, and other individuals eventually took up the Citizen V identity.

Paulette Brazee

The second version of Citizen V was Paulette Brazee (also known as the She-Wolf), the French lover of John Watkins and mother of JJ Watkins. During the war, she was a spy sent to romance Baron Zemo. Paulette betrayed Zemo and eventually discovered she was pregnant. When John and the majority of the V-Battalion were slaughtered by Zemo, the remaining survivors had Paulette smuggled to England. There Paulette met a red-headed soldier, whom she married. After the V-Battalion was reconstituted in 1951, Paulette was given the Citizen V role. The V-Battalion began hunting down Nazi war criminals and was allowed to place their secret headquarters Castle Masada in

Symkaria The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features. Places Certain places fe ...

. In 1953, Paulette was sent on a mission to Argentina to find Nazi scientist Johann Weimer and bring the scientist to the V-Battalion so they could use the Nazi's skills for them. Weimer was murdered by one of the Everlasting, a group of gods who had frequent run-ins with the V-Battalion.

John Watkins Jr.

The third version of Citizen V is John "JJ" Watkins Jr., the alleged son of John Watkins Sr. and Paulette Brazee (although an affair between Paulette and Baron Zemo had been implied). In 1953, he was nine years old so he was presumably born in 1944. Since his father died before he was born and his mother was often away on missions as Citizen V during his childhood, JJ was primarily raised by nannies employed by the V-Battalion. In 1971, JJ asked the

Shadow King The Shadow King (Amahl Farouk) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is particularly associated with the X-Men family of comics. His nemesis is the X-Men's leader, Professor X, while he also ...

for help in researching the Everlasting. JJ died when his own son was two years old.

Helmut Zemo

The supervillain Helmut Zemo took the Citizen V name for his imposture as a superhero when various superheroes were thought to be killed. Claiming to be John Watkins' grandson, Helmut took the name as an ironic taunt, due to the fact that his father had murdered the original war hero. Helmut assembled a group of villains and changed their costumes and codenames to pretend to be a new superhero team. Helmut's leadership and fighting abilities allowed him to successfully pose as Citizen V. Eventually, Helmut revealed himself as a villain and was defeated by the

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, the

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and the Thunderbolts that turned against him. This marked the end of Helmut's Citizen V tenure and he went back to using the Baron Zemo title. Helmut would eventually come into conflict with a subsequent Citizen V (Dallas Riordan). Eventually, Zemo had the opportunity to play Citizen V for a second time: Helmut gets beheaded after a battle with Scourge (a.k.a. Nomad), and his mind was ironically arranged to end up in the comatose body of John Watkins III. Helmut took back the Citizen V identity, and due to a deal worked out between the V-Battalion and the CSA he began recruiting members for the

Redeemers The Redeemers were a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, Civil War. Redeemers were the Southern wing of the Democratic Par ...

. As Citizen V, he soon discovered that

Baron Strucker Baron Wolfgang von Strucker () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A former Nazi officer, he is one of the leaders of the Hydra terrorist organization and an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and the ...

was the mastermind that manipulated

Henry Peter Gyrich Henry Peter Gyrich () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a liaison of the United States government who is against the superhuman community. Publication history The character first appeared ...

into sending Scourge; Helmut got his revenge by chopping off Strucker's hand. Helmut returned to the Redeemers, but they were soon wiped out by Graviton. Helmut escaped the battle, but perhaps due to Watkins's influence, he came back to fight Graviton with the re-assembled Thunderbolts. The battle ended with the Thunderbolts being sent to Counter-Earth. The V-Battalion had tried to teleport Citizen V away and were successful but due to a fluke, Helmut's mind was not transported with Watkins's body and Helmut found himself trapped in the Fixer's tech-pack (later, he had the Fixer place his mind into his Counter-Earth counterpart's body).

Dallas Riordan

Dallas Riordan was the Thunderbolts' liaison to the Office of the Mayor of New York. The Mayor of New York had wanted to capitalize on the Thunderbolts' popularity after the

and

were presumed deceased during a fight with

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. When the Thunderbolts were revealed as villains, Dallas was devastated and fired by the Mayor of New York, but was soon offered a job with the V-Battalion by Roger Aubrey. Vengeful for what the Thunderbolts did to her, she agreed to become Citizen V and soon confronted Helmut Zemo in Mexico and later in South America alongside

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

. Initially, Dallas wore a padded uniform identical to Helmut's purple-tinged Citizen V costume, and appeared to be male. After Captain America deduced her true gender from the way she moved in combat, Dallas stopped disguising her gender and donned a new uniform with the blue tint. Dallas soon went after the Thunderbolts and encountered Hawkeye. Too busy trying to deal with the

Crimson Cowl Crimson Cowl is an identity which has been used by four Marvel Comics characters to varying degrees: *Ultron used the identity in his debut as Ultron-5 to conceal his sentience, while using: **Edwin Jarvis as a "frontman" under the identity. *Crims ...

's weather machine, Hawkeye refused to deal with Dallas. Shamed by Hawkeye, Dallas decided to help stop the Crimson Cowl's weather machine, but was knocked unconscious when she tried to do so. When the Crimson Cowl was defeated, she teleported away and teleported Dallas into her costume. Dallas went to jail for the Crimson Cowl's crimes and was far too bitter to admit the truth to the Thunderbolts. Dallas was rescued from jail by the V-Battalion. When she tried to track down the Crimson Cowl, she instead ran afoul of the Imperial Forces of America (a group which, unknown to her, was funded by Helmut Zemo). Dallas parted ways with the V-Battalion when she was ordered to assassinate Henry Peter Gyrich, a victim of the mind-controlling nanite conspiracy orchestrated by Baron Strucker. Dallas went to the Thunderbolts for help, but was abducted by the Crimson Cowl. The two fought a long battle and Dallas was left paralyzed after falling off a bridge. Dallas's paternal grandfather was a member of the V-Battalion and stayed in Europe after WWII and died on a mission for the V-Battalion. This is why Dallas was selected to be Citizen V.

John Watkins III

John Watkins III was raised to be a version of Citizen V. He presumably served as a field agent for the V-Battalion before he actually took the Citizen V title and was left comatose for five years. When Helmut Zemo's mind was placed in his body, John was remarkably healthy for someone who had been in a bed for five years. When Helmut was no longer in his body, John decided to change costumes and stayed on as Citizen V. He soon found himself fighting the Everlasting. He installed

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as the leader of the country Rumekistan, a decision which later came back to haunt him. Under the holographic guise of Nenad Petrovic, Watkins orchestrated events to make

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as Rumekistan's leader. There is a mention in ''Citizen V'' (vol. 2) that John Watkins III is the seventh version of Citizen V.

Roberto da Costa

Roberto da Costa began to lead the

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under the Citizen V alias.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The

Ultimate Marvel Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring re-imagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Those characters in ...

version of Citizen V (John Watkins) is depicted as a normal GI in a special uniform. The American soldier rallies his men in the face of a Japanese

onslaught Onslaught may refer to: Characters * Onslaught (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics supervillain * Onslaught (DC Comics), a DC Comics team of Quraci terrorists * Onslaught (Transformers), the leader of the Combaticons in the ''Transformers'' series G ...

in 1942. However, he is shot and killed with his blood staining the American flag. A photograph of this image is released around the world to which

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Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

demands a true super-soldier rather than a normal one in a special uniform.''Ultimate Origins'' #1 (June 2008)