Death's Head is the name of several
fictional characters
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or b ...
appearing in
British comics
A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper.
British comics are usually Comics anthology, comics antho ...
and
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 both 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 ...
.
The original Death’s Head is a robotic bounty hunter (or rather, as he calls himself, a "freelance peace-keeping agent"), and often ends sentences with "yes?". The character was created by writer
Simon Furman
Simon Christopher Francis Furman (born 22 March 1961) is a British people, British Script (comics), comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro's ''Transformers'' franchise, starting with writing Marvel Comics, Marvel's The Tran ...
and artist
Geoff Senior for the company's
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...
imprint. Furman originally planned to have Death's Head debut in his stories for Marvel's licensed title ''
The Transformers'', but believed that characters appearing there "were prone to be absorbed into that title's catchall copyright,"
allowing Transformers toy-line owner
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
to contest its ownership. This led to a one-page strip, "High Noon Tex" (which was subsequently published in various Marvel UK titles) being hastily created to establish Marvel's ownership of the character.
Furman said he chose the name Death's Head for the character while being unaware of the "Nazi-connotations of the name", referring to the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
Totenkopf Division
The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" (german: 3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf") was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the Standarten of the SS-TV. Its name, ''Totenkopf'', is German for "de ...
, whose name translates to "death's head".
The character was later redesigned and relaunched as Death's Head II, acting as one of the flagship characters for Marvel UK's 1990s expansion. This version of Death's Head also inspired two spin-off characters,
Death Wreck and
Death Metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
, each of which starred in its own
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
.
Later, in 2005, fans used a poll on Marvel's website to vote for the character's return. This led to a third version of Death's Head, Death's Head 3.0, created by original Death's Head writer Simon Furman. Simon Furman said in 2011 that the character was still popular because "he'll never change or compromise or grow or repent or agonise like most comic book characters. He's this unchanging, uncompromising rock that other characters bounce off. But you still kind of love him. Weird."
Death's Head
Publication history
Death's Head was originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK ''
Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
'' comic; a bounty hunter to be featured in a single story arc and then, according to writer Simon Furman, "be discarded down the line (probably at the end of the first story arc)".
[Furman, Simon (2006). "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent Open For Business (or how Death's Head came to be)", ''Death's Head'', Panini Publishing, ]
Geoff Senior then showed Furman the initial character designs, at which point they decided that the character had potential beyond his planned appearance as a "generic, stock mech-with-an-attitude". As a result of this, Simon Furman also rewrote the ''Transformers'' scripts to change Death's Head's dialogue in line with the revised character concept.
To avoid
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
claiming ownership of the character as a consequence of the ''Transformers'' copyright terms they had agreed with Marvel, Death's Head had to make his debut in another Marvel comic before appearing in ''Transformers'' (this situation had also applied to another Marvel character created for use in ''Transformers'', Circuit Breaker).
Accordingly, Furman wrote a single-page strip ("High Noon Tex", illustrated by
Bryan Hitch
Bryan Hitch (born 22 April 1970) is a British comics artist and writer. Hitch began his career in the United Kingdom for Marvel UK, working on titles such as ''Action Force'' and ''Death's Head'', before gaining prominence on American titles ...
) that was published in a number of Marvel UK titles.
After the initial ''Transformers'' storylines, the character appeared in ''
Doctor Who Magazine
''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the followi ...
'' #135 (Apr. 1988), in a story which saw him reduced from a giant robot to a more human stature, by means of "one of
the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators." He then made a guest appearance in Marvel UK's ''
Dragon's Claws'' #5 (Nov. 1988), which led into an ongoing series of his own (December 1988), mostly written by Furman (issue 8 was written by
Steve Parkhouse
Steve Parkhouse is a writer, artist and letterer who has worked for many British comics, especially '' 2000 AD'' and ''Doctor Who Magazine''.
Biography
Parkhouse has worked in comics since 1967, when he drew the occasional "Power House Pin-Up" ...
). The first issue prompted a letter from
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...
, praising the character and creative team, but a variety of factors, such as distribution and ''Death's Head'' smaller size ('US format') causing it to be obscured by larger comics, meant the comic was cancelled at #10.
After the cancellation of the series, Marvel UK published an origin story for the character, "The Body in Question", initially serialised in the Marvel UK anthology ''
Strip
Strip or Stripping may refer to:
Places
* Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya
* Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...
'' #13–20 and later collected in a single
trade paperback.
Death's Head returned to the main Marvel Universe in ''
S.W.O.R.D.'' #1 (November 2009), written by
Kieron Gillen
Kieron Michael Gillen (; born 30 September 1975) is a British comic book writer and former video game and music journalist. In comics, Gillen is known for ''Phonogram'' and ''The Wicked + The Divine'', both co-created with artist Jamie McKelvie ...
. Gillen has confirmed that the character will feature in the first story arc, spanning issues 1–5.
[Kieron Gillen's blog](_blank)
/ref> Gillen has said "if you can't bring back a time-traveling dimension-skipper, who ''can'' you bring back?" He asked Furman before using the character. It was implied that this was Death's Head ''before'' he meets the Transformers (see Fictional Biography).
Death's Head appeared in the Panini Comics
Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectable stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hunga ...
title ''Marvel Heroes'' #33 (March 2011). He appears in the last frame of "The Hero Inside" written by Ferg Handley, with art by John Ross. Death's Head battles The Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...
in part two "The Brute and the Bounty Hunter," written by Simon Furman with art by Simon Williams.
In 2013, Death's Head started to show up in "Marvel NOW!". He appeared in both Kieron Gillen's ''Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
'', as part of the start of ''The Secret Origin of Tony Stark'' and in '' Avenging Spider-Man'' #17. In the latter, he's human-sized and still working for the TVA
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...
.
Biography
Death's Head's first appearance after ''High Noon Tex'' was in ''Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
'', seeing him attempt to claim the bounty that Rodimus Prime
''The Transformers'' is an American animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication
based upon Hasbro's ''Transformers'' toy line. The first television series in the ''Transformer ...
had placed on Galvatron
Megatron is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the ''Transformers'' media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. Megatron is the cruel and tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, a ...
's head, traveling back in time to the 1980s in pursuit of his quarry. Realising the error he had made in placing the bounty, Rodimus followed him back and stopped him from destroying Galvatron, forcibly returning him to the future. Subsequently, Death's Head was contracted by the Decepticons
The Decepticons are the main antagonists in the fictional continuities of the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. They are depicted as a faction of sentient robotic lifeforms led by Megatron, identified by a purple face-like insignia. Capab ...
to take out Rodimus Prime, a piece of business that Death's Head considered a pleasure. However, Rodimus outsmarted him and instead paid him to terminate Cyclonus
''The Transformers'' is an American animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication
based upon Hasbro's ''Transformers'' toy line. The first television series in the ''Transformer ...
and Scourge
A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification. It is usually made of leather.
Etymology
The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old French ''escorgi ...
. Over the course of the next year, Death's Head pursued them, eventually confronting them on the Planet of Junk, where they all fell under the mental control of Unicron
Unicron is a fictional villain from the ''Transformers'' media franchise. Designed by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and has since reappeared in ''Transformers: Armada'', ''Transformers: ...
.
Death's Head tried to resist the control but was manipulated into killing Shockwave
In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...
, only to eventually help Rodimus Prime seal Unicron within the Matrix
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
. Finally, prevented from escaping the scene by the explosions wracking the area, Death's Head forced himself, Cyclonus, and Scourge through Unicron's time portal, vowing to kill them "another time". However, in the course of the time travel they became separated, and while Cyclonus and Scourge wound up on Cybertron in the past, eventually joining with Scorponok
Scorponok is a major antagonist whose name is shared by several fictional characters throughout the various Transformers, Transformers universes. Characters with this name are usually Decepticons or Predacons that turn into robotic scorpions or h ...
and becoming Targetmasters, Death's Head instead encountered the Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...
known as the Doctor. As a matter of self-defense, The Doctor shrank him to human size and shot him off through time. He arrived on Earth in the year 8162, leading to an encounter with the future government's troubleshooting team, Dragon's Claws, where he was heavily damaged in an explosion and buried under a collapsing building.
Death's Head was recovered by the Chain Gang and rebuilt (with a redesigned body) by one of their members, Spratt. In exchange for this rescue, he confronted Dragon's Claws again on the Chain Gang's behalf, defeating and capturing Scavenger. When the Claws came to recover their missing member, Death's Head defeated Dragon but opted not to kill him, instead walking away and stating that his chronometer was "a minute slow" and his contract had therefore expired. The Chain Gang were arrested and Spratt, who had escaped arrest, opted to join Death's Head.
Death's Head and Spratt then relocated to the Los Angeles Resettlement, where Death's Head once again went into business as a Freelance Peacekeeping Agent. Death's Head was later hired to capture the Doctor and his TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...
, which led him to being stuck in the present day (where he confronted the ''Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'') and was then sent by Reed Richards to the year 2020 (where he met the Iron Man of that era and gave him friendly advice on mercenary work).[''Death's Head'' #10] The series was ended abruptly with a cliffhanger at issue #10 due to the closure of Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...
's own creative team.[
In 1990, the ongoing storyline was resolved in the ]Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...
''Death's Head: The Body in Question'' story, which was serialized in the magazine ''Strip'' before being reprinted in the ''Marvel Graphic Novel
''Marvel Graphic Novel'' (''MGN'') is a line of graphic novel trade paperbacks published from 1982 to 1993 by Marvel Comics. The books were published in an oversized format, 8.5" x 11", similar to French albums. In response, DC Comics establ ...
'' format. In this story, Death's Head was becoming worried that he was starting to enjoy killing and was prolonging missions for fun rather than simply doing it for the money. In addition, Death's Head's origins were revealed to him for the first time. His mechanoid body had originally been constructed to host the life energy of the techno-mage Lupex, a psychotic who hunted beings for sport and stole their bodies upon killing them. However, a woman named Pyra, who wished to steal Lupex's secrets, ultimately decided to use the mechanoid body against him. She gave it a cold and calculating business-like mind, but before it could be used against Lupex, the body was stolen by an unknown party, enlarged to the size of the Cybertronians, and catapulted through time. Death's Head was used as a pawn by Pyra, who wished to get him to a point where he could kill Lupex, while Lupex had begun to hunt Death's Head with the intention of gaining his body. Driven to his mental limits and nearly killed, he eventually was able to kill Lupex and, refusing to be anything like his "father", killed him quickly while declaring he "kill ''only'' for profit or survival!".
Around this time, Death's Head's also made a few appearances in some U.S. Marvel comics, most notably ''Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'', (where he was hired by the Time Variance Authority) ''She-Hulk
She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...
'' (where he resigned from the TVA), and ''Marvel Comics Presents
''Marvel Comics Presents'' was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995. It returned for a second volume in 2007–2008, and a third volume that started in 2019.
Volume 1
The first volume ...
''.
In the final issue (#12) of ''The Incomplete Death's Head'', the Doctor claims to have been responsible for sending Death's Head to the Transformers universe. Despite being a manipulative being, especially in his seventh incarnation, it could be that this claim is false. There is nothing else within Death's Head's history to substantiate this claim.
2010's Death's Head
Death's Head appears in the first five issues of the '' S.W.O.R.D.'' ongoing series, hunting down Abigail Brand
Special Agent Abigail Brand is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday, she first appeared in ''Astonishing X-Men'' vol. 3 #3 (Sept. 2004). She i ...
's brother. He was given a partial redesign, with his head having some elements from the Minion version, and is his original giant size. He is not using the term "freelance peacekeeper" until the Beast suggests it to him and Death's Head notes that he likes it, and he doesn't appear to be a time/dimensional traveler. This seems to indicate this is Death's Head ''before'' he met the Transformers and the human-sized, Bryan Hitch model Death's Head appeared separately in other comics.
In an ''Iron Man'' run by the same writer, he was hired by the alien race Voldi to face Tony Stark in a gladiator-like trial by combat. Afterward, Stark hired him to help track down the Voldi's killer, Unit 451. (Death's Head asked if he was one of "those guys who has a code against killing "except for robots"? I ''hate'' those krypto-fascists.") Unfortunately for Stark, 451 had hired the peacekeeper first and he led him into a trap (and returned Stark's fee). He passed up Stark's offer to double 451's fee as "a mech has to have ethics, yes?"
When Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus (Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius), also known as Doc Ock for short, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in ''Th ...
was masquerading as the Superior Spider-Man
Superior may refer to:
*Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
Places
*Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state
*Lake ...
, he had to battle Death's Head; the Time Variance Authority had sent the mercenary to kill the Future Foundation
The Future Foundation is a fictional organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jonathan Hickman, the team first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #579 (July 2010) and stars in the series ''FF,'' wr ...
. Octavius found a way around this.
Enemies and associates
*Spratt – an enthusiastic and barely tolerated young sidekick who rebuilt Death's Head for the Chain Gang then assumed the role of his partner. Following Death's Head's assimilation by Minion, Spratt recovered the body and tried to rebuild Death's Head once again. He was aided in this by Baron Strucker IV, but was betrayed and killed by the Strucker-Charnel amalgam.
* Dragon's Claws – a team of government-sponsored enforcers who twice clashed with Death's Head. The first instance, interceding when he was battling one of their targets, The Jones Boys, resulted in Death's Head being heavily defeated. On the second occasion, a newly rebuilt Death's Head captured one of the Claws, Scavenger, and defeated the others who came to rescue him, but chose to spare them on a contrived technicality.
* The Doctor – the TARDIS collided with Death's Head as he was being expelled from the Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
' Universe. The Doctor shrunk the Transformer-scale Death's Head to human size using a Tissue Compression Eliminator, then sent him to the year 8162. Death's Head was subsequently hired to kill the Doctor, but was betrayed by his employer and did not complete the contract. The Doctor later claimed to be the 'unknown party' that originally stole Death's Head from his creators, Lupex and Pyra, and sent him into the Transformers Universe, hoping to shape his adventures for good.
*Big Shot – a rival bounty hunter from the year 8162. Tall, muscular, and with a cannon replacing his right arm, Big Shot was originally hired by a gangland boss, the Undertaker, to avenge the death of his Plague Dog creature. After a bitter defeat, Big Shot's enmity became personal. He was manipulated by Pyra and sent to 2020 to confront the mechanoid, where he almost succeeded in killing Death's Head.
Death's Head II
Publication History
After the initial Death's Head stories ceased publication, the character was revamped for inclusion in Marvel UK's next wave of titles, where it became the company's biggest ever exported seller.
There were plans in 1991 to bring back the original Death's Head, which would have featured the character on trial, facing the death penalty, and flashing back to how he'd got there. Early into production, the new editor Paul Neary
Paul Neary (born 1949) is a British comic book artist, writer and editor.
His first work was for Warren Publishing in the 1970s before working with Dez Skinn at Marvel UK as well as work for '' 2000 AD''. He later became editor-in-chief of Mar ...
scrapped it and commissioned ''Death's Head II'' instead, replacing the character with a new version created by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett (born 12 October 1965) is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, sinc ...
, Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning is an English comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett.
Career
Lanning works primarily at Marvel Comics and DC Comics as an inker. He has also pencill ...
, and Liam Sharp
Liam Roger Sharp (born 2 May 1968) is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.
Early life
Liam Sharp was born in Derby. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before moving to ...
. In an Autumn 1992 interview with ''Comic World'', Neary was dismissive about the original character and the aborted plan: "I didn't like the pages that had been produced—I didn't think there was much future in Transformers-style robots and I thought we could do an awful lot better." He produced some sample sketches of how he wanted the character to look, and Liam Sharp's take gave the project "a kickstart". Ironically, the success of Death's Head II meant Neary was ordered to create more titles and the easiest way was to reprint the original series ("The Incomplete Death's Head"); editor John Freeman had to talk him into it.
Originally launched as a four-issue limited series, ''Death's Head II'' then became an ongoing series—and also featured in a number of team-up limited series designed to showcase new Marvel UK characters. One of these was ''Death3'', teaming up Death's Head II with newly created "brothers", Death Metal and his prototype Death Wreck. The recurring character throughout this was Dr. Evelyn Necker
Doctor Evelyn Clarice Sarah Necker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared as a supporting character in ''Death's Head'' (second series) #1, published by the Marvel UK imprint, an ...
, the scientist who creates the Minion series (Death's Head II and his "brothers"). Death's Head II became the flagship character for Marvel UK—a costume was even made for promotional appearances and was part of the 1993 Lord Mayor's Show
The Lord Mayor's Show is one of the best-known annual events in London as well as one of the longest-established, dating back to the 13th century. A new lord mayor is appointed every year, and the public parade that takes place as his or her in ...
- and there were concerns at Marvel UK in early 1993 that they could be overestimating his popularity and over-exposing the character. When Marvel UK was cancelled, a Death's Head II/Punisher crossover was in production and he was playing a key role in the completed but never published ''Loose Cannons'' (released online).
Furman has said he felt Death's Head II "lost his H'smost important aspect; the dark-edged gallows humour. So in and of itself I think it's a very tight, proficient and action-packed comic that really tapped into that early 90s anti-hero vibe. But to me it was never Death's Head. It was another character."
Aside from a cameo in the ''Avengers Forever
''Avengers Forever'' is a twelve-issue comic book limited series published from December 1998 to November 1999 by Marvel Comics. It follows the storyline of Rick Jones and his quest to build a team of Avengers from the past, present, and future. ...
'' limited series, Death's Head II was not featured in a Marvel comic again until 2009. A planned ''Punisher-Death's Head II'' series never saw the light of day, and Liam Sharp pitched a revival on which Marvel passed.[Ultimate Death's Head]
an
Death's Head revival
artwork on Liam Sharp's DeviantArt page
In 2008, Abnett and Lanning (collectively referred to as "DnA") used Doctor Necker as a member of Project Pegasus, while writing the ongoing ''Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
'' series during that comic's involvement with Marvel's "Secret Invasion
"Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight-issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008. The story involves a subversive, long-term in ...
" storyline.[''Nova'' #17 (2008)] In the story, it was mentioned that Necker was working on a project to develop a cyborg called "Minion". DnA said "This is us just having fun—the Death's Head thread has recently been worked back into the Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...
via ''Planet Hulk
"Planet Hulk" is a Marvel Comics storyline that ran primarily through issues of ''The Incredible Hulk'' starting in 2006. Written by Greg Pak, it dealt with the Marvel heroes' decision to send the Hulk away, his acclimation to and conquest of the ...
'', and we thought we would tie a few loose ends together."
Writer Paul Cornell
Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
As well as ''Docto ...
featured Death's Head in a cameo appearance in the final issue of ''Captain Britain and MI13
''Captain Britain and MI13'' is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics and written by Paul Cornell, with art by Leonard Kirk. The series centers on the fictional British government agency MI: 13, which is dedicated to protecting ...
'',[''Captain Britain and MI13'' #15 (September 2009)] appearing alongside a number of other Marvel UK characters who had not appeared for several years. Paul Cornell mentioned in an interview that he wrote the splash page due to #15 being the final issue and had no plans before to use Death's Head "because the character isn't actually British".
Biography
Eventually, after many undocumented adventures, Death's Head was beheaded and his personality "assimilated" into the mind of the cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. Minion. Minion was a cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. created by Dr. Evelyn Necker
Doctor Evelyn Clarice Sarah Necker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared as a supporting character in ''Death's Head'' (second series) #1, published by the Marvel UK imprint, an ...
, a long-term pet project created after years of research which included the Xandar
Xandar () is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The planet is depicted as being in the Tranta system in the Andromeda Galaxy. It is best known as the home world of the Nova Corps, an intergalactic poli ...
ian Worldmind being temporarily uploaded into the Minion program's gestalt matrix. By the year 2020, she was an employee of A.I.M. and the final Minion (as well as its prototype, Death Wreck) was designed to protect the organisation from a psychically predicted threat; it killed and assimilated the minds of multiple targets as preparation for this!".
Death's Head's personality overwhelmed Minion's programming before it could take out its final target (Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four), and they became the gestalt
Gestalt may refer to:
Psychology
* Gestalt psychology, a school of psychology
* Gestalt therapy, a form of psychotherapy
* Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, an assessment of development disorders
* Gestalt Practice, a practice of self-exploration ...
lifeform that called itself Death's Head II. Death's Head II was partnered with Tuck
Tuck may refer to:
People
* Tuck (surname), including a list of people
* Tuck (nickname), a list of people
* Tuck (footballer), Portuguese football player and coach João Carlos Novo de Araújo Gonçalves (born 1969)
* Hillary Tuck (born 1978), A ...
, an artificial human from the pseudo-medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
planet of Lionheart, where humans had outlawed advanced technology and waged war against androids and cyborgs. Neo-Nazi black mage 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 ...
IV magically combined himself with the original Death's Head's corpse to become the supervillain Charnel, a recurring enemy for Death's Head II and the threat AIM had predicted.
With other assimilated personalities mingling with that of the "freelance peacekeeper", Death's Head changed as a character, becoming a more heroic and far less amoral figure than the original, as well as losing his unique mannerisms. He hopped across time and realities in many adventures, often fighting for the greater good; in one adventure, he volunteered for a heroic sacrifice whereas before he'd have required payment. He encountered many Marvel characters, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...
, Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
, the Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...
, and Cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
, and crossed over with almost every Marvel UK character who was being published at the time.
The original Death's Head was only ever seen again in flashbacks or within Death's Head II's gestalt mind, as well as the 12-issue ''The Incomplete Death's Head'' miniseries (which reprinted various Death's Head stories from the past with a new framing sequence), in which Death's Head and Death's Head II join forces to defeat a servant of an enemy of the original Death's Head.
Death's Head appeared briefly in the final issue of the ''Captain Britain and MI13
''Captain Britain and MI13'' is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics and written by Paul Cornell, with art by Leonard Kirk. The series centers on the fictional British government agency MI: 13, which is dedicated to protecting ...
'' ongoing series, as one of the MI13 reserves battling against an army of vampires on the moon. Whereas the other Marvel UK characters reintroduced in the issue were accompanied with captions explaining their long absences from the Marvel Universe (e.g. "Back from space"), Death's Head was captioned as "Just... back!", and given the line "Surprise appearance, yes?!".
In 2010, Death's Head II was shown as a resident of a possible future in ''Avengers'' #2; this appearance also featured as one of the issue's alternative covers.
In the ''Days of Future Past
"Days of Future Past" is a storyline in the Marvel Comics comic book ''The Uncanny X-Men'' issues #141–142, published in 1981. It deals with a dystopian future in which mutants are incarcerated in internment camps. An adult Kate Pryde transfer ...
'' timeline, Death's Head II was part of Britain's Resistance Coordination Executive. Seen as indestructible, he became a symbol of their resolve until he was murdered in battle.
Death's Head 3.0
Publication History
The third version of Death's Head was introduced in 2005, the result of an online poll on the Marvel Comics website.[Pniccia on Death's Head 3.0 & Amfan Things to Come](_blank)
, Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS.
History
N ...
, November 21, 2006 Fans were given the chance to choose between four existing Marvel characters: Death's Head, Woodgod
Dorothy Walker
Dorothy Walker is a fictional character in Marvel Comics. She was created by Stuart Little and Ruth Atkinson and first appeared in ''Miss America Magazine'' #2 (November 1944). She was reintroduced in '' The Defenders'' #89 (Novem ...
, Wundarr the Aquarian
Wundarr the Aquarian is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik and first appeared in ''Adventure into Fear'' #17. A pastiche of Superman, Wundarr ...
, and the Texas Twister
Texas Twister is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Roy Thomas and penciller George Pérez and first appeared in '' Fantastic Four'' #177 (December 1976). He w ...
. The winning character was to be revamped and receive their own storyline in Marvel's ''Amazing Fantasy
''Amazing Adult Fantasy'', retitled ''Amazing Fantasy'' in its final issue, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000 ...
'' (vol. 2) title. Death's Head won, receiving 49% of the vote.
Death's Head creator Simon Furman stated that he contacted Marvel as soon as he became aware of the poll.[Simon Furman: Transforming Death's Head Into Annihilation](_blank)
Comixfan, December 21, 2005 ''Amazing Fantasy'' vol. 2 editor Mark Paniccia had already intended to contact Furman to ask him some questions about the character, and their conversation also led to Furman writing the initial ''Death's Head 3.0'' story. The character's look was one of the Reaver cyborgs from the '' Incredible Hulk'' storyline ''Planet Hulk''.
The initial ''Death's Head 3.0'' story also included a number of elements that tied it into previous ''Amazing Fantasy'' (vol. 2) stories: Death's Head's sentience and power source come from A.I.M.'s attempts to first capture and then replicate the power that created Captain Universe
Captain Universe is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is the guardian and protector of Eternity. Rather than a character with a single identity, Captain Universe is a persona that h ...
. Issue #16 revealed the scientist that began the project was Monica Rappaccini
Monica Rappaccini exists as a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in ''Amazing Fantasy'' vol. 2 #7 (2005), created by Fred Van Lente and Leonard Kirk. The character is depicted as a ...
, the mother of the new Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
, on the back of her attempts to capture the Uni-Power in other titles. Varina Goddard is revealed via A.I.M. records to be Monica's granddaughter. Furman says he has "mixed feelings" about the story, as he likes it but feels that this is not Death's Head; "I always thought it strange that poll was to bring back one character and what readers got was another entirely... I'd have much rather done the original."
While the Minion project is mentioned as the reason for Death's Head being given his name, no other ties to the previous Death's Heads were included. However, Simon Furman has stated that he would "work in a little retroactive back story to create a kind of unified Death's Head-verse" if the character was revived in the future at some point and it has come out that he had originally intended to imply Death's Head 3.0 was the ''original'', in an early form, which the warlock Lupex would abduct and turn into Death's Head's body. Marvel rejected the idea, however. In ''Nova'' #17, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning did their own version, showing the Minion project was originally based on a Death's Head "3.0" cyborg.
Biography
The third version of Death's Head debuted in a five-part storyline within the pages of Marvel's anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
series ''Amazing Fantasy
''Amazing Adult Fantasy'', retitled ''Amazing Fantasy'' in its final issue, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000 ...
'' vol. 2, beginning in #16 (Dec. 2005). Written by Death's Head creator Simon Furman and drawn by James Raiz
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, the story is set 100 years in the future and does not appear to be directly linked to the previous Death's Head stories.
A.I.M. are set to make peace with the UN and become a legitimate non-terrorist organisation. Hardliner A.I.M. Senior Scientist Patricia Goddard has decided to stop the peace treaty and force A.I.M. back underground by assassinating the UN Secretary-General, using a mysterious alien cyborg in A.I.M.'s possession code-named Death's Head. Powered and given intelligence by an artificial variant on the Uni-Power
Captain Universe is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is the guardian and protector of Eternity. Rather than a character with a single identity, Captain Universe is a persona that ...
, the cyborg is sent out into the field with preprogrammed objectives, but the clash between its murderous inclinations and an instinctive desire to help people leave it unsure on which side it wants to be.
The final panel of the Death's Head 3.0 story concludes with an image of the cyborg with mouth horns, alluding to the original Death's Head. It is mentioned as now operating as a deniable troubleshooter for the GEIST organisation (Global Enforcement/Intelligence Symposium Taskforce), carrying out operations they cannot be officially involved in for political reasons.
(Comic artist Simon Williams has said that Furman was going to end the story by having the character say "I'm Death's Head, yes?", to set up that Death's Head 3.0 was an early version of the original, but the "yes?" was cut off by the editor by mistake.)
Mechanoids with the same design as this incarnation of Death's Head went on to appear on Sakaar, during the ''Planet Hulk
"Planet Hulk" is a Marvel Comics storyline that ran primarily through issues of ''The Incredible Hulk'' starting in 2006. Written by Greg Pak, it dealt with the Marvel heroes' decision to send the Hulk away, his acclimation to and conquest of the ...
'' series, and were used by the Hulk as soldiers during the ''World War Hulk
"World War Hulk" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled limited series and various titles published by Marvel Comics in 2007, featuring the Hulk.
The series consists of five main issues titled ''World War Hulk'', wi ...
'' event. One is used as an A.I.M. courier in the five-issue miniseries ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'' by Monica Rappaccini.
It is shown during ''Nova'' ''Secret Invasion'' issues that the Hulk's Death's Head units have been handed over to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. for study by a Dr. Necker under her "Minion" Project. After Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. forces come in to shut the facility down, it is revealed that Dr. Necker is an A.I.M. double agent, setting up how Death's Head was in A.I.M. possession during the ''Death's Head 3.0'' miniseries.
More recently, during the ''Enigma Force'' tie-in miniseries of the ''Incredible Hulks: Dark Son'' story arc, it was revealed that this model of Death's Head was built in the Microverse during a war with K'ai thousands of years ago. Sometime after the war, some of the warships they were aboard were sucked through the Great Portal of Sakaar, which is said to breach time and space.
Meeting each other
Revolutionary War
On February 12, 2014, Marvel's Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...
imprint released #1 of a new series featuring both the original incarnation of Death's Head, and Death's Head II: 'The long-awaited return of DEATH'S HEAD—one of the biggest hits of the original Marvel UK! Death's Head! Death's Head II! On an adventure together for the first time EVER! What threat could be grave enough to bring these two heroes together from across time? How about the villainous Mys-Tech organization resurfacing with an army?!' Both characters remained a team at the end of the miniseries, departing to "discuss the future".[''Revolutionary War: Omega'' by Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill and Rich Elson (2014)]
In 2014's ''Revolutionary War'', Death's Head II took a contract from Psycho-Wraith Prime to capture Captain Britain
Captain Britain is a title used by various superheroes in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Excalibur. The moniker was first used in publication by Brian Braddock in ''Captain Britain Weekly'' #1 by writer Ch ...
so that he could track where the villain's base was and find out if Mys-Tech were returning (and so he could have the money). When he was himself double-crossed and captured and handed to an earlier Evelyn Necker to be dissected, he sent a failsafe signal to Tuck to hire the earlier Death's Head—this one human-sized rather than the Transformer-sized version in contemporary settings—and come to his rescue. ("Hrm. That's me? Bio-organic? Droopy horns? ''No cape?!'' You're right -- I really ''do'' need saving!") After a brief fight, the two of them tore through an army of Death's Head 3.0's but were defeated and the original Death's Head was captured[''Revolutionary War: Death's Head'' by Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill, and Nick Roche (2014)] to be used to create a portal to Hell. Both Death's Heads and Tuck fought against Mephisto's armies, gunning down the demonic Killpower
Killpower (Julius Mullarkey) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appears primarily in British comic books from Marvel UK. He is the partner of Motormouth and first appeared in '' ...
. Afterward, they departed to discuss the future.
The ''Death's Head'' one-shot had multiple references to the character's history and fan views: Necker controlled Death's Head II and sicced him on the original as in ''Death's Head II'' #1, only for the original to stab him through the head and remark "the past always catches up with you, yes?"; Necker decided on the name "Minion" after getting DH2 under control and told him she'd see him again in 2020; and both characters are dismissive of the Death's Head 3.0's sharing their name, remarking "you can't beat the ''real thing''".
Other appearances
* Death's Head appears in ''X-Men '92
''X-Men '92'' was originally a limited series as one of the many tie-in titles for Marvel's 2015 ''Secret Wars'' event and later was released in its second volume as a continuous series in early 2016, starring members of the popular 1990s Fox Ki ...
'' to collect a bounty on Lila Cheney and is teleported with the others to a distant planet inhabited by mutant Brood
Brood may refer to:
Nature
* Brood, a collective term for offspring
* Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents
* Bee brood, the young of a beehive
* Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas:
** Brood X, the largest b ...
.
* In issue #54 of the ''What If
What If may refer to:
Film
* ''What If'', a 2006 TV film starring Niall Buggy
* ''What If...'' (2010 film), an American film
* ''What If...'' (2012 film), a Greek film
* ''What If'' (2013 film) or ''The F Word'', a Canadian-Irish film
Telev ...
'' vol. 2 series, Simon Furman and Geoff Senior wrote and drew a tale showing Death's Head surviving Minion's attack and later killing the cyborg, something Furman has said was "deeply satisfying and cathartic".[Furman, Simon (2007). ''Death's Head Volume 2'', Panini Publishing, ] Death's Head rebuilt his injured body into a larger, more heavily armed form. Meanwhile, the Minion cyborg went on to kill Reed Richards, only to be possessed by Strucker and become Charnel itself. Evelyn Necker had to hire Death's Head to stop this threat. Using a time machine, Death's Head went back in time to gather the surviving Fantastic Four and several other superheroes, offering them a shot at avenging Reed by ending Charnel—and then let them all get killed softening up Charnel for him. Using his firepower on Charnel and goading him at not using the full potential of his gestalt mind, he got the cyborg to access these scientific minds, knowing this allowed Reed Richards' mind (still fighting within Charnel) to take control of the cyborg's motor functions, allowing him to kill it. His mission complete, Death's Head thought about the selfless, non-profit nature of heroes: "I just hope it's not catching, yes?"
* The original Death's Head reappears in Iron Man's "Godkiller" story arc. At this point, he is 30 feet tall, not yet miniaturised to human size. This arc follows on from the S.W.O.R.D. series, where the X-Man Beast inspired it to describe itself as a 'freelance peace-keeping agent' for the first time.
* Death's Head makes a cameo appearance in ''Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker'' in October 2018.
* Death's Head starred in his own four-part miniseries by Tini Howard
Tini Howard (born 1985) is an American comic book writer. She is best known for her work on ''X-Men'' titles, namely ''Excalibur (comics), Excalibur'' as well as Boom Studio's Power Ranger titles. It was announced in mid-October 2021 that she'd ...
and Kei Zama beginning July 2019, where he met the Young Avengers
The Young Avengers are the names of two fictional superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first team, created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, features numerous adolescent characters who typically have ...
.
Cancelled appearances
"Death's Head Quorum"
David Leach, then a Marvel UK editor on the Death's Head titles, was greenlit to write a new reboot on Death's Head II in the mid-90s, which featured only that character and no other ties to the previous title: Leach's title for the series was ''Death's Head Quorum'', and Simon Coleby
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
was slated to be the artist. It was part of a wider reboot of Marvel UK, involving four titles. Leach got the job after telling Paul Neary that the character was boring and joking "we should completely overhaul him, reduce his power, lose the time travel aspect and set it in present-day England", only to find Neary liked the idea.
The series would have a powerful entity called the Time Keeper, meant to be watching timelines but had started creating hunting tournaments out of boredom, viciously beating DHII, depowering him, and stranding him in 1990s Earth: the remaining personalities in Death's Head II's databanks form a quorum and force Death's Head to follow their orders or they'll shut down his body. Death's Head would join a secret community underneath London, preyed upon by the hunts organised by the Time Keeper, and finally get revenge on the Time Keeper but decide to stay in London; the first issue would also end with Death's Head's "mask" being broken and showing his "true human face" (Leach apparently believed Death's Head II's face was a mask). However, the comic was wound up before more than #1 could be written, and the details are only known because of a November 2010 interview with Leach.
Ultimate Marvel
In 2006, Liam Sharp and Bryan Hitch pitched a Death's Head revival mini-series, originally for Marvel's Ultimate
Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album)
* ''Ultimate'' (Pet Shop Boys album)
*''Ultimate!'', an album by The Yardbirds
*''The Ultimate (Bryan Adams Album)'', a compilatio ...
line, which was not greenlit. The details of the pitch are unknown, though the design for "Ultimate Death's Head" (based mainly on DHII) is available online, as is a poster image marked "Death's Head reboot pic" that showed a recoloured Minion marked with the Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
Cross and holding a tattered English flag
The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...
. Sharp's comments on the latter were that the revival was "on the surface a real gung-ho macho nationalistic piece of work—but anybody who knows me would know it wouldn't have stayed that way for long...".
Paxton Page
An unrelated character, Dr. Paxton Page, was a scientist who perfected the cobalt bomb. He later went mad and faked his own kidnapping and death so that he could assume the guise of the supervillain Death's-Head. He dressed in a glowing radioactive costume, riding a horse whose flesh was made transparent, and wielding fireballs and scimitars of radioactive cobalt. Page's daughter Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
returned to her parents' home to investigate her father's disappearance, and Daredevil followed her. In the ensuing battle between Daredevil and Death's-Head, Death's-Head spilled a vat of molten cobalt over Daredevil, but realized that Karen was endangered. This brought him back to his senses, and he pushed Daredevil and Karen to safety. He appeared to die in this act of self-sacrifice when he was covered in the molten cobalt. Paxton's mask was directly inspired by the 1961 Canadian film, The Mask.
In other media
Film
In the film ''Planet Hulk
"Planet Hulk" is a Marvel Comics storyline that ran primarily through issues of ''The Incredible Hulk'' starting in 2006. Written by Greg Pak, it dealt with the Marvel heroes' decision to send the Hulk away, his acclimation to and conquest of the ...
'', numerous Death's Heads appear on Sakaar
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 ...
as the Red King's personal military.
Video games
Death's Head makes a cameo appearance in Strider Hiryu
is a fictional character jointly owned by Capcom and Moto Kikaku. Although primarily known as a game character, Hiryu (''飛竜'', "Flying Dragon") debuted in 1988 as the protagonist of a Japan-exclusive manga titled ''Strider Hiryu,'' publishe ...
's ending in ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom in collaboration with Eighting. It is an updated version of '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds''. The game features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and comic book se ...
''. He is shown helping Strider and the X-Men in a battle against the Reavers.
Rides
A skull that is or looks like Death's Head makes a small cameo in ''Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout''.
Board games
Death's Head
was added to the superhero-featuring board gam
Heroclix
in 2013, after winnin
a fan poll
in 2012.
Toys
Death's Head was released as an action figure
An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...
as part of the Marvel Infinite Series in 2014, and Death's Head II made his Marvel Legends
Marvel Legends is an action figure line based on the characters of Marvel Comics, initially produced by Toy Biz, then by Hasbro. This line is in the scale, with spin-off lines in the , , and scale.
The line initially began as a spin-off of ...
debut in the Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
It may more specifically refer to:
Comic book teams
* Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...
Mantis
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
Build a Figure wave released in 2017 to coincide with the release of the second Guardians film.
Collected editions
Various Death's Head comics have been collected into a number of trade paperbacks and other reprints:
* ''The Life and Times of Death's Head'' (collects ''Death's Head'' #1, 4–5, 7, 9–10; 148 pages, Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...
, 1990, )
* ''Death's Head: The Body In Question'' (collects '' Strip Magazine'' #13–20, 64 pages, Marvel UK, January 1990, )
* ''The Incomplete Death's Head'' (January–December 1993 reprint series, 12 issues, Marvel UK) (collects ''High Noon Tex'', ''Doctor Who Magazine
''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the followi ...
'' #135, 140, and 173; '' Dragon's Claws'' #5, ''Death's Head'' #1–10, ''Marvel Comics Presents
''Marvel Comics Presents'' was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995. It returned for a second volume in 2007–2008, and a third volume that started in 2019.
Volume 1
The first volume ...
'' #76, ''Sensational She-Hulk
She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cover-dated February ...
'' #24)
* ''Transformers: Fallen Angel'' (collects '' Transformers UK'' #113–114, 118–120, ''1987 Annual'', ''High Noon Tex''; paperback, 136 pages, Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...
, February 2003, )
* ''Transformers: Legacy of Unicron'' (collects ''Transformers UK'' #133–134, 146–153; paperback, 144 pages, Titan Books, March 2003, )
* ''Death's Head Volume 1'' (collects ''High Noon Tex'', ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #135, ''Dragon's Claws'' #5 and ''Death's Head'' #1–7, paperback, 204 pages, Panini Comics
Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectable stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hunga ...
, February 2007, ).
* ''Death's Head Volume 2'' (collects ''Death's Head'' #8–10, ''Death's Head: The Body In Question'', ''Sensational She-Hulk'' #24, ''Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'' #338, ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #76, ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #173, '' What If?'' vol.2 #54, paperback, 224 pages, Panini Comics, October 2007, )
* ''Dragon's Claws'' (collects ''Dragon's Claws'' #1–10 and ''Death's Head'' #2, paperback, 260 pages, Panini Comics, October 2008, )
* ''Doctor Who: A Cold Day In Hell!'' (collects ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #135, paperback, 186 pages, Panini Comics, May 2009, )
* '' S.W.O.R.D.: No Time to Breathe'' (collects ''S.W.O.R.D.'' #1–5, paperback, 128 pages, 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 ...
, July 2010, )
* ''Doctor Who Classics Volume 7'' (collects ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #135, 128 pages, IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...
, September 2011, )
* ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications. The original 15-volume series was published in comic book format in 1982, followed by sporadic u ...
A to Z Volume 3'' ( Crimson Dynamo (Gavrilov) to Elements of Doom, 256 pages, Marvel Comics, February 2012, )
**includes profiles for Death's Head, Death's Head II, Death Metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
, and Death Wreck
* ''Iron Man 2020
Iron Man (Arno Stark) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a superhero appearing as the counterpart of the superhero Iron Man in the (then) future year of 2020 set in the multiverse world o ...
'' (collects ''Death's Head'' #10, 304 pages, Marvel Comics, April 2013, )
* ''The Transformers Classics UK Volume 4'' (collects ''Transformers UK'' #113-114, 118–120, 133–134, ''1987 Annual''; paperback, 296 pages, IDW Publishing, June 2013, )
* ''The Transformers Classics UK Volume 5'' (collects ''Transformers UK'' #146–153, paperback, 296 pages, IDW Publishing, August 2014, )
* ''Superior Spider-Man
Superior may refer to:
*Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
Places
*Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state
*Lake ...
Team-Up: Superiority Complex'' (collects '' Avenging Spider-Man'' #17, paperback, 120 pages, Marvel Comics, July 2013, )
* ''Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark - Book One'' (collects ''Iron Man'' (vol. 5) #6–11, paperback, 136 pages, Marvel Comics, September 2013, )
* ''Iron Man: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark - Book Two'' (collects ''Iron Man'' (vol. 5) #12–17, paperback, 136 pages, Marvel Comics, August 2014, )
* ''Uncanny X-Men
''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X ...
/Iron Man/Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
: No End In Sight'' (collects ''Uncanny X-Men Special'' #1, ''Iron Man Special'' #1, ''Nova Special'' #1; paperback, 104 pages, Marvel Comics, November 2014, )
* ''Superior Spider-Man Companion'' (collects ''Avenging Spider-Man'' #17, paperback, 504 pages, Marvel Comics, December 2018, )
* ''Death's Head: Clone Drive'' (collects ''Death's Head'' (vol. 2) #1–4, paperback, 112 pages, Marvel Comics, December 2019, )
* ''Death's Head: Freelance Peacekeeping Agent'' (collects ''Dragon's Claws'' #5, ''Death's Head'' #1–7 and 9–10, ''Death's Head: The Body In Question'', ''Fantastic Four'' #338, ''Sensational She-Hulk'' #24, ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #76, ''What If?'' (vol. 2) #54, ''Marvel Heroes'' #33, paperback, 416 pages, Marvel Comics, March 2020, )
* ''Revolutionary War'' (collects ''Revolutionary War: Alpha'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Dark Angel'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Knights of Pendragon
The Knights of Pendragon is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was published by the imprint Marvel UK in a self-titled comic from 1990 to 1993, and in the anthology title '' Overkill''. It wa ...
'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Death's Head II'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Super Soldiers'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Motormouth
''Motormouth'' is a Saturday morning children's television series that was produced by TVS and broadcast across the ITV network for four series, running between 3 September 1988 and 4 April 1992. Each series generally ran from the autumn of o ...
'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Warheads'' #1, ''Revolutionary War: Omega'' #1; paperback, 184 pages, Marvel Comics, June 2014, )
* ''Death's Head 3.0: Unnatural Selection'' (collects ''Amazing Fantasy
''Amazing Adult Fantasy'', retitled ''Amazing Fantasy'' in its final issue, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000 ...
'' (vol. 2) #16–20, paperback, 120 pages, Marvel Comics, August 2006, )
References
External links
*
*
Death's Head I
at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
*
''Death's Head I''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
*
*
at the Big Comic Book DataBase
The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts.
The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...
Death's Head II
at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
*
at the Big Comic Book DataBase
The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts.
The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...
*
''Death's Head II'' (1992)
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
*
*
''Death's Head II'' (1992–1994)
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
*
*
Death's Head 3.0 TPB
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
''S.W.O.R.D. #1''
at Kieron Gillen's workblog
Unused Death's Head cover art for Dragon's Claws #5
{{Daredevil
1988 comics debuts
1992 comics debuts
Transformers characters
Doctor Who comic strip characters
Fictional bounty hunters
Fictional characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics cyborgs
Marvel Comics robots
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel UK characters
Marvel UK titles
Comics characters introduced in 1987
Death's Head 3.0
Dagger
Dagoth
Dagoth is a demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange.
Daken
Dakimh the Enchanter
Damballah
Daniel Whitehall
Daniel Whitehall is a British intelligence agent also known as the Kraken.
An elite assassin and member of the t ...