The Drago Family Tree

 

Today I present another MC2 Family Tree, this time a smaller one but still one directly connected to both of the most recent entries, the Allan Family Tree and the Osborn Family Tree. For this entry, we take a look at the Drago Family Tree.

 

Let’s start at the beginning with Raniero “Blackie” Drago who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #48. As a fellow inmate and cellmate of Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture, Blackie Drago failed to uncover the location of Toomes’ hidden set of Vulture wings so instead arranged an accident to try to force Toomes to divulge the location on his seeming deathbed. The ploy worked and Drago quickly made his escape from prison and made use of the Toomes’ wings to begin a crime spree. Defeating a sickly Spider-Man, Drago was quickly trapped by Kraven the Hunter, who resented this new Vulture for defeating the web-head before him. Defeated when a recovered Spider-Man tricking the two foes, Blackie was arrested and returned to jail (Amazing Spider-Man #49).

 

Blackie wouldn’t stay in jail for long though as in Amazing Spider-Man #63, a very much alive Adrian Toomes busts him out of jail, forces him to suit back up in the wings just so they can battle it out to determine who kept the mantle of the Vulture. Soundly defeated by Toomes, Drago was captured by police and swore off using the wings ever again. This turned out to be true as Blackie Drago hasn’t been seen as the Vulture since.

 It’s worth noting that despite only having his real first name revealed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover years after the MC2’s divergence from his 616 counterpart, I can include ‘Raniero’ in the Drago Family Tree due to its inclusion in Raptor’s own profile entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #3. Which brings me to the next family member…

 

Brenda Drago is the daughter of Raniero ‘Blackie’ Drago, first appearing in Spider-Girl #18 wherein the Daily Bugle dubbed her the ‘Sky Bandit’ following a score of robberies and burglaries. At the time Brenda was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Tony, who had converted the Vulture technology to enable Brenda to follow in her father’s footsteps. During her crime spree as Raptor, Brenda dropped a courier from several stories up in an attempt to obtain a case of gemstones he was transporting, leaving the man crippled. Brenda was captured by the combined efforts of The Buzz and Spider-Girl.

 

On her way to court, Brenda was freed on the orders of the villain Funny Face and recruited into his Savage Six team. Sent to defeat Spider-Girl as Raptor, instead Brenda found herself quickly defeated and left webbed up for the police (Spider-Girl #25). Escaping, Brenda attempted to make amends for her past deeds by stealing food and leaving it for the family of the courier she had previously disabled (Spider-Girl #28). Alongside Spider-Girl and The Buzz, Brenda came into conflict with the Avengers. It’s here we learn about Brenda’s childhood: ‘Her father was a career criminal who clothed himself in lies. Her mother was an alcoholic who could only be depended on to be undependable.’ (Spider-Girl #30-31)

 Realising she was genuinely trying to make amends, Spider-Girl with the encouragement and assistance of the recently reformed Normie Osborn helps Brenda to navigate the legal system with an aim of getting a pardon (Spider-Girl #34). During this time, Normie and Brenda grew close and began dating, but the District Attorney seemed determined to have Brenda do jail time (Spider-Girl #34, #37, #44, #49-#50).

 

Brenda also joined a new version of the New Warriors organised by Spider-Girl to end a deadly crime war between The Kingpin and Canis (Spider-Girl #42). However, when Spider-Girl allowed Angel Face and Funny Face to escape in exchange for promising to stop their criminal activities, the Warriors decided to go on without the webhead, with Raptor herself letting Spider-Girl know she’d screwed up (Spider-Girl #43-#44). Despite her loyalty to Spider-Girl, Raptor continued to serve with Warriors (Spider-Girl #46) until turning herself over to the authorities (Spider-Girl #50).

Once taken to prison, Brenda was recruited by Special Agent Arthur Weadon to join an experimental team of reformed supervillains employed as agents of the government to earn their freedom rather than serving jail time (Spider-Girl #52) Initially unable to make contact with Normie, Brenda alongside her new teammates was mistaken for participants in a new crime war by Spider-Girl. When Normie is targeted and nearly killed, Brenda is devastated that she is unable to visit him in hospital, convincing Spider-Girl of her intent and sincerity when she professes her love for him (Spider-Girl #65). After helping to end the crime war, Brenda is finally able to visit Normie during his recovery up until his discharge when she realizes she wants to ask him to marry her (Spider-Girl #66-#67, #72).

 

Unfortunately, Normie calls things off without explaining his reasons to Brenda and shortly after Elan DeJunae announces herself as Normie’s wife (Spider-Girl #73). While it’s soon revealed that the marriage was arranged by the late Norman Osborn while the two were children and not legally binding, Brenda’s team is caught up in a conflict involving the Black Tarantula and Lady Octopus alongside Spider-Girl (Spider-Girl #77-#78). When Elan as Fury the Goblin Queen kidnaps Normie and attempts to expose him to the Goblin Formula, Brenda teams up with Spider-Girl to save him (Spider-Girl #79). Shortly afterwards Normie and Brenda announce they are engaged to be married (Spider-Girl #81).

 

At the couple’s engagement party, Brenda witnesses the return of Fury the Goblin Queen, who forces the Venom Symbiote to bond to Normie, transforming him into a new Venom. Caught by surprise, Brenda is unable to do anything to prevent Fury and Venom escaping. Brenda rallies with the Avengers to launch a manhunt, only to learn that Spider-Girl has saved Normie. Normie tells Brenda the symbiote has been dealt with, secretly keeping the surviving alien bonded to himself (Spider-Girl #82-#84).

Brenda is happy to have Normie back but is not told the details of his plan to move up their wedding date and secure their financial independence (Spider-Girl #85). Brenda is impressed by Normie’s newfound confidence as he assumes an active role at his family’s company, Osborn Corporation, but becomes somewhat concerned witnessing him order the creation of new Goblin equipment -actually intended to empower friend Phil Urich (Spider-Girl #86).

 

These two things come to a head when Weadon orders Brenda to spy on her fiancé due to concerns his reason actions mean he’s considering a return to crime. Upset about being placed in this position, Brenda attempts to talk to her teammate Kaine but ends up witnessing him having a precognitive vision about Spider-Girl. With Kaine’s belief she is in danger he is motivated to find Spider-Girl, with Raptor accompanying him. When the symbiote-disguised Normie appears on the scene, Raptor attacks him believing him to be the Venom who attacked Normie. When Normie reveals he is in control of the symbiote, Brenda becomes distraught at the thought the two of them will never again be free (Spider-Girl #93).

The situation causes conflict between the couple, but the arrival of the Avengers on the orders of Tony Stark quickly escalates matters. The Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man and Hawkeye are joined by Stark's 'personal bodyguard'  James Rhodes on a mission to investigate and apprehend Normie Osborn. Things go awry when Rhodes (now more machine than man) is inadvertently hit by a hex bolt from the Scarlet Witch, triggering a violent rampage. As Raptor, Brenda is among the gathered heroes who attempt to stop the nanite-driven Rhodes’ rampage. Ultimately, Normie and the symbiote play a vital role in saving the day before placing himself into Raptor’s custody (Spider-Girl #93-#95).

Meeting with Special Agent Arthur Weadon, Normie makes it clear he is willingly volunteering the symbiote and himself to Weadon’s super-team in exchange for Brenda’s pardon (Spider-Girl #96).  While Brenda is angry about this turn of events, Normie promises they will ensure he has more freedom than she had working for Weadon and that they also need to plan for their wedding (Spider-Girl #97).

Things take a dark turn when the Brotherhood of Scriers hire the original Hobgoblin to kill Spider-Girl. Aiming to remove her support structure, the Hobgoblin targets Spider-Girl’s closest allies, including Raptor who is brutally beaten and left tied to a fence (Spider-Girl #98). Brenda is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after which Normie asks Brenda to stop being Raptor and the two move up wedding ceremony to later that same night (Spider-Girl #99). Learning he has an opportunity to avenge Brenda, Normie joins the fight against a team of Scriers and the Hobgoblin, eventually losing the Venom symbiote when it dies protecting Spider-Girl. Fortunately, Normie returns in time and he and Brenda Drago are wed in a small ceremony at the hospital (Spider-Girl #100).

Brenda and Normie go on an extended honeymoon in Europe, only returning to New York in Amazing Spider-Girl #15, where they learn the news of Benjy Parker having lost his hearing following an attack by the Carnage Symbiote. Brenda suggests Normie try and help using his connections through medical research at the Osborn Corporation, which eventually results in Benjy’s hearing being restored through an experimental process.

 

Later, Brenda noticed Normie has been stressed since returning from their honeymoon, often disappearing to his basement laboratory. While Brenda believes he is concerned about Fury’s escape from prison, he assures her he isn’t worried and that he is simply working on a project with Peter Parker. In fact, Normie is troubled by a recently discovered clone of May found while abroad. The lie doesn’t last long, as the clone May escapes and Brenda finds Normie knocked unconscious in his lab after which he comes clean and admits it’s part of a mad plan by his grandfather (Amazing Spider-Girl #23-#24).

Working with Kaine and Darkdevil, Normie and Brenda learn that Peter Parker was kidnapped by Fury the Goblin Queen on his way to meet them. With the situation dire, Brenda suits up as Raptor once more to help the others, teaming with the Green Goblin to confront Fury, only for her to escape. Normie decides to exchange himself for Peter, but finds he is too late: Peter Parker is now inhabited by the mind of his grandfather Norman Osborn. With the Norman-possessed Peter bonding with the hybrid symbiote-clone May to become Goblin God, Brenda and the others desperately try to save Mary Jane and Benjy from his clutches, holding him off long enough for Peter, Spider-Girl and her clone to break free and defeat Norman once and for all (Amazing Spider-Girl #25-#30).

After this, we don’t see Brenda Drago again beyond a cameo or two, effectively ending her chronicled journey and with it, the Drago Family Tree. If you feel I’ve missed anything or have any comments please let me know. I very much enjoy producing these Family Tree posts, but they are extremely time consuming so some feedback is always appreciated.

 

Until I find another excuse to write the name ‘Drago’ without referencing Rocky, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Black Widow in the MC2

 

After too many delays we’ll finally see the release of the Black Widow movie. For those of you keeping track, you’ll know I’ve previously covered Natasha Romanoff’s five fellow MCU founding Avengers, but until now I’ve held off on covering Black Widow.

 

 

As I briefly touched upon in a past post, Natasha Romanoff as the Black Widow is seen in Spider-Girl #60 on both the issue’s cover and within the thoughts of May ‘Mayday’ Parker as the latter reflects on her place amongst the other superheroines who came before her. Natasha is not seen among the gathered Avengers who travelled to an alternate earth for the original team’s final mission. So at least we can likely rule out her dying on the mission. Either way, no specifics are given, and as such her status remains unknown.

 

The Black Widow doesn’t make a physical appearance in the MC2 outside her ‘Zombie’ counterpart’s decaying visage in Avengers Next #1. There, stolen blood and tissue samples of Avengers members past and present are used by the Asgardian Sylene to create ‘magical clones.’ These shambling creations are sent against the current generation of Avengers. Requiring constant magical energy and attention to maintain, the duplicate Black Widow crumbles to dust alongside the other doppelgängers when Sylene’s focus is broken. It’s unknown at what point Natasha provided a sample of her blood and tissue to the Avengers.

 

To add a little context, let’s take a look at the most likely point at which the MC2 Black Widow would have diverged from her Main Marvel Universe counterpart. As I’ve covered in prior posts, the MC2 Avengers history seemingly splits off from the Main Marvel Universe prior to the events seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #1. Unlike many of her teammates, Natasha did not seemingly sacrifice herself during the Onslaught event and wind up as Heroes Reborn in a pocket dimension created by a young Franklin Richards.

 

But as Natasha doesn’t play a significant role in these aforementioned events, it seems likely we can include her Main Marvel Universe counterpart’s history up until a little after the Avengers team returns in Avengers (vol. 3) #1-4. The reason I’m suggesting this is two-fold. First, there aren’t a huge number of major appearances during this period of time for Natasha, mainly some Daredevil issues and solo adventures in Shadows & Light and Journey Into Mystery. Second, when Natasha is next back in the spotlight under the Marvel Knights imprint’s Black Widow mini-series, there is a very clear shift in tone and we start to see retcons surrounding her origin and past. Thus, it makes a lot of sense to propose this as the point at which the MC2’s Black Widow diverges from the Main Marvel Universe.

 

On the subject of retcons to Natasha’s origins, an oft-cited reason for their necessity is Natasha’s appearance as a child during World War II with Wolverine and Captain America (Uncanny X-Men #268). Even when this story was published in 1990 it presented a continuity problem: why did Natasha appear so young in the present-day if she was around as a child back then? Well, the truth is that this was not the first time, with Daredevil #88 explicitly depicting Natasha as child in Russia during World War II far earlier.

 

While there were several stories that mentioned Natasha’s training as a spy for Soviet Russia dating back to her earliest appearances, the Marvel Knights Black Widow mini-series' are usually credited with putting a name to the concept (the Red Room’s Black Widow Ops Program) as well as greatly expanding and building upon the idea with further retcons, such as the implication Natasha was actually an enhanced human and as such had a better immune system, healed faster and didn’t age as fast. ‘But this all takes place after the MC2 divergence, why are you mentioning all this?’ I hear you say. Let me try and explain.

Long-time readers know I struggled with the World War II origins of Peggy Carter and the impact on Sharon Carter and the rest of the family. I’m happy to say, I’ve not had as many issues reconciling Black Widow’s appearance in WWII and her surprising longevity. Thanks to this throwaway exchange between Natasha and Nick Fury in Marvel Comics Presents #130 published in 1993, long before the aforementioned divergence or later retcons:

Nick Fury: ‘Y’know how many guys are runnin’ ‘round with spandex on their butts and secret formulas in their guts?’

Natasha: ‘Like Infinity Formulas?’

Nick Fury: ‘Or Super Soldier Serums?’

Natasha: ‘Touché’

 

So, while this isn’t explicit, the fact that Natasha directly mentions the ‘secret formula’ that keeps Fury youthful and the fact Fury seems to be responding in kind regarding Natasha certainly makes it seem like the Black Widow has some kind of Super Soldier Serum flowing through her veins. There you have it, a readily available explanation for her longevity and abilities tucked away in an obscure issue without having to reach further forward into a mess of further future retcons and their unfortunate implications.

 

Where ever Natasha Romanoff is in the MC2, I hope she’s happy. I’m personally of the belief she’s alive and well, living off the grid someplace, laying low and doing what she does best.

 

 

Until I uncover more hidden lore for my spymasters, I remain

frogoat

 

 

 

 

Taskmaster in the MC2

 

With the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie finally being released, I thought I’d throw together a lazy tangential tie-in post. So, here’s a brief look at the Black Widow film’s mysterious antagonist as they appear (or don’t appear?) in my favourite Marvel Universe: Taskmaster in the MC2.

 

The mercenary with the photographic reflexes known as the Taskmaster has been around since 1980’s Avenger’s #195 and #196 but until relatively recently we knew very little about the character’s past, including his real name. As such it doesn’t relate to the MC2 and so I won’t be covering any of it here! I took a brief look at Taskmaster’s appearances to try and pin down the most likely point at which the Main Marvel Universe Taskmaster’s published history diverged from the MC2 published history.  The best fit I found was 1998’s Hawkeye: Earth’s Mightiest Marksman written by none other than MC2 co-creator Tom Defalco himself. If you disagree, feel free to let me know!

Now, as for the Taskmaster as he appears in the MC2, well, he doesn’t. Not really. But we do know what happened to him. You’d be forgiven for missing this reference in the pages of The Buzz #2: according to Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus ‘There’s been a noticeable decrease in quality henchmen ever since the Taskmaster retired.’ This is obviously a direct reference to the fact that Taskmaster is known for training the henchmen of various super villains.

 

Getting closer to an actual physical appearance, a statue of the Taskmaster can be glimpsed at the Avengers Compound as part of an exhibit showing the various threats defeated by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers (American Dream #1).

 

Beyond his retirement, we know nothing about Taskmaster in the MC2. He’s alive and presumably at liberty if he’s retired from his former occupation. Anyway, just a quick post this time to hopefully impart some new information for those interested in the MC2.

 

Until I master every superhero’s move sets at the cost of my own past, I remain

 

frogoat