CUTLASS

Real Name: Oliver Cutlass

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Detective, shipping/exports dealer

Group Membership:

Affiliations: Defenders, Rufus T. Hackstabber, Hellcat, Daimon Hellstrom, Hannibal King, Typhoon

Enemies: Minerva Bannister, "Fat Man", Ozu, an unnamed assassin

Known Relatives: Kwan Tai Fung (Typhoon, wife)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Oriental Expediters, San Francisco, California

First Appearance: Defenders I#133 (July, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Cutlass is an ingenious detective whose explanations always make sense, no matter how far-fetched they sound, and he treats every occurrance as though he expected it to happen. He carries a gun, and will never merely step through a door when he can make a more dramatic entrance by crashing through a window.

History: (Defenders I#133)- Oliver Cutlass was working in his office with Typhoon when Martin stumbled into their office, shot. Martin tried to tell them what was going on, but a brick crashed through their window, followed by a dagger to Martin's heart. Cutlass set out after the assassin, riding ontop of a taxi cab. He was sighted by the Defenders as he tried to leap from the taxi to the assassin's car, but was saved from hitting the pavement by the Angel.

Indignant with the Angel for saving his life, Cutlass watched as the assassins' car drove into a building and exploded, leaving him without any clues. Cutlass was furious with the Defenders interfering, wondering why he ever teamed up with them. He then borrowed a coin from Valkyrie to phone Typhoon, but she had left their office. Knowing exactly where she must be, he hailed a taxi, the Defenders in tow.

He caught up with Typhoon at the Casa Dominica Hotel, where their informant Swifty was attacked by the assassins. During the fight that erupted, Cutlass was shot in the left shoulder. They managed to defeat the assassins, but Swifty was hit in the heart with a dagger and died.

Just then, Ozu of the Drug Enforcement Agency appeared, and Typhoon kneed him in the groin so that they could set after the man behind the assassins, as one had been followed by Cloud. This lead them to a warehouse on the waterfront, where they confronted the fat man who was behind an illegal shipment of cocaine, hidden within a less-illegal shipment of Russian caviar. The fat man and his assassins escaped in the battle that erupted, but Cutlass let them go, having realized something bigger was at stake. Martin had been shot in the shoulder before being stabbed, but the fat man's men didn't use guns. Cutlass had Typhoon suck the bullet out of his left shoulder, and it turned out to contain a tracer.

Cutlass led the Defenders to the boat containing the caviar/cocaine, and confronted Ozu, who had come to arrest the smugglers. Cutlass had determined that Ozu was behind everything, having hidden computer tape inside of the wrapper of the cocaine beneath the caviar (all clear?). Cutlass deduced that Ozu was actually a member of the outer Mongolia KGB.

Cutlass thanked the Defenders for their help, noting that they weren't too bad...for amateurs. He then asked them to pay his taxi cab bill.

(Defenders I#148)- Oliver Cutlass and Typhoon later encountered the Defenders again, along with Patsy and Daimon Hellstrom and Rufus T. Hackstabber as they were brought in my Mr. Van Vliet, who was searching for the Lesser Grey God, a powerful mystical artifact. Van Vliet committed suicide, aware that he was being marked for death by Minerva Bannister, and Cutlass was able to follow the trail back to Minerva Bannister, solving the caper with the aid of Hannibal King, and battling her assassins. After solving the affair, Cutlass told the Defenders that they might still be amateurs, but were getting better.

Comments: Created by Peter B. Gillis, Alan Kupperburg and Kim DeMulder.

Oriental Expediters was also the name of Fah Lo Suee's company, a cover for her splinter cell of Si-Fan. It was later run by Black Jack Tarr as a cover for Freelance Restorations.

I had to read Cutlass and Typhoon's stories four times before I could claim to understand the plot well enough to explain it to someone else.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Oliver Cutlass should not be confused with:

• Marianne Cutlass, vampire, slain by Dracula, @ Tomb of Dracula I#48
• Chrissie Cutler, Nightmericans, ally of the Hulk, @ Hulk: Nightmerica#1
• Cutter, armored memeber of Warforce, @ Nightwatch#1
• Cutter, mutant, projects sharp fins from his body, @ X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose#1
• Jaine Cutter, ally of Daimon Hellstrom, @ Hellstorm#12
• Cutthroat, Daniel Leighton, member of the Skeleton Crew, @ Marvel Team-Up I#89

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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