swordsman

Swordsman
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Avengers #19 (Aug 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee Don Heck
In-story information
Alter ego	Jacques DuQuesne
Team affiliations	Avengers Lethal Legion Emissaries of Evil Legion of the Unliving the revolutionaries of Sin-Cong
Abilities	None: Superb athlete and an excellent unarmed combatant

The Swordsman is the name of several fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe. Each of the men to use this name has essentially been a superhero, albeit a hero with no special powers, only skill with a sword. The first two Swordsmen have acted as supervillains at times. All of the Swordsmen save for the most recent one have been members of the Avengers.

Jacques Duquesne

Fictional character biography

The original Swordsman, Jacques Duquesne, trained Hawkeye after accepting him, but rejecting his brother Barney to a circus, where the two were working as carnival performers alongside the archer called Trick Shot. When Hawkeye accidentally discovered that the Swordsman was stealing money, the two fought, the Swordsman leaving Hawkeye believing him dead.^{[volume & issue needed]} Later, the Swordsman attempted to join the Avengers in order to take advantage of the benefits that go with an Avenger ID and got into a fight with them.^[1] After failing in doing so at first, he was accepted as an Avenger as secretly an agent of the Mandarin, who created a pseudo-image of Iron Man to recommend the Swordsman to the Avengers. The Mandarin also fitted the Swordsman's sword with extra powers, such as firing artificial lightning bolts. Soon after joining the Avengers, the Swordsman betrayed the team; although he betrayed the Mandarin in return, he was driven from the team by the Avengers.^[2] He went back to being a mercenary and professional criminal for some time. Under Black Widow's leadership, the Swordsman first teamed with the original Power Man and fought the Avengers.^[3] With Power Man, he fought Captain America as pawns of the Red Skull.^[4] He also participated in the Mandarin's attempt at world conquest.^[5] He battled Captain America again, as a member of Batroc's Brigade.^[6] He was employed by Egghead, and battled Hawkeye (in his Goliath persona).^[7] With Power Man, he joined the supervillain group the Lethal Legion.^[8]

Eventually, the Swordsman briefly rejoined the Avengers in a war against Ares in Olympus^[9] He first appeared with Mantis, an ally of the Avengers,^[10] and then rejoined the Avengers after he fell in love with Mantis.^[11] He subsequently participated in the Avengers/Defenders war.^[12]

In his last mission, Duquesne aided the Avengers in the conflict that involved Kang's quest for the "Celestial Madonna". In order to facilitate his plans, Kang had captured the Avengers present at the time - Vision, Thor, Iron Man, Mantis, The Scarlet Witch, and their guest Agatha Harkness - but left Swordsman behind because he considered him useless. Humiliated but determined to show Kang his true worth, Swordsman tracked the captive Avengers to Kang's pyramid base in Gizeh, where he encountered Rama-Tut, Kang's chronological alter ego. With his help and the assistance of Hawkeye, who had just returned from a leave of absence, Swordsman managed to free his fellow Avengers. Eventually, Mantis turned out to be the "Celestial Madonna", and she only realized that she felt the same for the Swordsman as he did for her when he died saving her life, struck by a lethal energy bolt fired by Kang.^[13]

Mantis soon after married the eldest of Earth's alien Cotati, which had resurrected and possessed the Swordsman's corpse, which infused at least a portion of its own consciousness into it.^[14] Mantis would eventually bear the alien a son.^{[volume & issue needed]} After battling the Avengers, the Cotati-possessed Swordsman crumbled to dust.^[15]

Powers and abilities

The Swordsman is an athletic man with no superhuman powers, and is a cunning criminal strategist and highly adept at unarmed combat. The Swordsman was a master in the uses of bladed weapons, especially swords, and his main weapon was a sword created by the super-villain Mandarin from Makluan technology.^[16] By pressing one of the buttons on the sword's hilt, the Swordsman could project a concussive force beam, a disintegrating ray, a large jet of flame, electrical energy in a form resembling lightning, or a stream of nerve gas that induced temporary unconsciousness. He also carried various throwing knives and daggers as needed.

References

First details about his carnival performer career and the involvement of Clint (and Barney) Barton appears in classic The Avengers #19 (August 1965) and #65 (June 1969). The 19th issue is also the first appearance of this Swordsman, and in #20, he briefly joins the Avengers.

More origin details, with the involvement of Trick Shot, appear in the Solo Avengers series, many years later.

The long story-arc with Mantis started in The Avengers #114 (brief appearance in #112). The long Kang/Legion of Unliving saga (including Vision "origins") appears in The Avengers #129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.

Philip Javert

The second Swordsman, Philip Javert, hailed from an alternate universe, and was recruited from there alongside Magdalene to join Proctor and his Gatherers. They traveled to Earth-616 (the primary Marvel Earth), where they attacked the Avengers, particularly Sersi (whose counterparts in the Gatherers' native worlds had gone mad and become evil) and the Black Knight (who was Proctor's counterpart on Earth-616).^{[volume & issue needed]} The Swordsman and Magdalene turned against Proctor and joined the Avengers briefly.^{[volume & issue needed]} Some years later, they would team with the Avengers and the Squadron Supreme and leave Earth-616 for parts unknown.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Heroes Reborn

The third Swordsman was a native of the "Heroes Reborn" world, which was created by Franklin Richards and later became the third Counter-Earth. He and his world were created after the Avengers "died" battling Onslaught. He joined the Avengers for the duration of their stay on that world, and was revealed to actually be that world's counterpart of Deadpool during his time with the cast-off heroes called the "Remnants".^{[volume & issue needed]}

Thunderbolts (Andreas von Strucker)

The fourth Swordsman appeared in the pages of New Thunderbolts.

At the request of Baron Zemo, Purple Man used his powers to take control of Andreas von Strucker and trained him to be a better fighter so he could be the new Swordsman and infiltrate the Thunderbolts. Andreas and his twin sister Andrea previously could only access their mutant energy powers when touching. After Baron Helmut Zemo murdered Andrea, Andreas flayed Andrea's flesh from her corpse, tanned it, and made it the hilt of his sword. He thus retains his mutant power but now he channels it through his sword.^{[volume & issue needed]} Andreas von Strucker was killed by Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin) in the aftermath of the Secret Invasion. Osborn stabbed Strucker through the chest with Strucker's own sword, and then threw him off Thunderbolt mountain.^[17]

Other versions

House of M

In this reality, Swordsman is a member of Shang-Chi's Dragons criminal organization, alongside Colleen Wing, Mantis, Zaran and Machete.^[18] He and Mantis are an item as in the mainstream universe. He is killed by Bullseye when the Dragons are ambushed by the Kingpin's assassins.^[19]

In other media

Television

• The original Swordsman appears in the Captain America/Avengers portion of The Marvel Super Heroes.
• The original Swordsman appears in one episode of The Avengers: United They Stand. Besides his history with Hawkeye, he is shown in cahoots with Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime in their plot to steal a supply of Mythrax Bacteria. During the Avengers fight with Ringmaster, Hawkeye fights Swordmaster when he reveals that he used the Ringmaster as a diversion. Swordsman escapes as Hawkeye and Ant-Man disarm the Mythrax Bomb. It is later revealed that Swordsman was hired by the Zodiac to deliver them the Mythrax Bacteria. Taurus had his minions "tear Swordsman into twelve piece."

References

External links

• Swordsman I at Marvel.com