RUSSELL DABOIA

Real Name: Unrevealed, possibly Russell Daboia

Identity/Class: Demon (Serpent Men) magic user

Occupation: Demon lord;
    former Sons of the Serpent leader, executive in charge of resort management for Patsy-Hedy Entertainment

Group Membership: Devil's Advocacy (Adversary, Asmodeus, Asmodiar, Asteroth, Avarrish, Basilisk, Big Mother, Blackheart, "Brood Satan," Chaos, Chthon, Cyttorak, Dagon, Damballah, Darklove, Demogorge, demons of Muspelheim, Dormammu, D'Spayre, Kazann, Malonch, Marduk Kurios, Mephisto, Natohk's emissary, Nykonn, Olivier, Pythias, Satannish, Shuma-Gorath, Sligguth, Stonecold, others)
    formerly the Sons of the Serpent (ranked member)

Affiliations: Devil's Advocacy, Salem's Seven (Brutacus, Gazelle, Hydron, Reptilla, Thornn, Vakume, Vertigo), Nicholas Scratch ("Mayor Nicholas"), Sons of the Serpent, Mickey Walker;
    possible agent of Dormammu (see comments)

Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Moondragon/Heather Douglas, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Hellcat (Patsy Walker), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Hedy Wolfe

Known Relatives: Set (distant ancestor)

Aliases: "Great Leader" (title within Sons of the Serpent); "Russell Daboia" may have been an alias itself

Base of Operations: Centerville, California, USA

First Appearance: Avengers III 2000 Annual (2000)

Powers/Abilities: A Serpent Man, Russell Daboia can transform into human form (losing several feet in height in the process) and also is a fairly decent mystic, able to summon minions (even superhuman ones such as Salem's Seven) and perform various mystical ceremonies.

Height: Various
Weight: Various
Eyes: Red
Hair: None (although in his human disguise, he had brown hair)

History:
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#9 - Nicholas Scratch entry - BTS/All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#10 - Sons of the Serpent entry - BTS) - Daboia was a demonic Serpent Man, descended from the spawn of the Elder god Set.

(Avengers III 2000 Annual (fb) - BTS) - Working under the warlock Nicholas Scratch, the Serpent Man Daboia was tasked with spreading demonic influence throughout the land. In order to do so, the Serpent Man took human form as Russell Daboia and apparently applied for the position of resort management in Centerville, California. Head of Patsy-Hedy Entertainment, a management company for the assets related to teen idol Patsy Walker, Hedy Wolfe noticed that Daboia came highly recommended.

(Hellcat I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Impressed by Daboia's references, Hedy Wolfe hired Russell Daboia to be the executive in charge of resort management for Patsy-Hedy Entertainment in Centerville, unaware of his true nature as a demonic leader. Spreading his demonic influence throughout Centerville, Daboia was intended by Nicholas Scratch to be merely a sacrificial pawn meant to trick Hedy Wolfe into believing the evil had left Centerville once Daboia was ultimately defeated so that Scratch could continue his own work unabated.

(Avengers III 2000 Annual (fb) - BTS) - Daboia took notice of the racist Sons of the Serpent organization and sought to manipulate the group for his own purposes, uncaring about the skin color of his human victims.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#10 - Nicholas Scratch entry - BTS) - Russell Daboia secretly and officially allied with the racist Sons of the Serpent organization and schooled them in the mystic arts before setting them up a base in Centerville, where they performed rites to summon demons.

(Avengers III Annual (fb) - BTS) - After Daboia had Hedy Wolfe possessed by a demon along with much of Centerville's population, he became instrumental in transforming Centerville into a resort town themed to "America's Heartland Next-Door" and continued placing demons into more and more of the townsfolk.

(Avengers III 2000 Annual) - After Patsy Walker was brought back to life by the Thunderbolts, she appeared on the All-New "It's Amazing", talking about her new book, "Gidget Goes to Hell." As Mac Sanders discussed her past, her early days in Centerville were brought up, along with her comic series and short-lived television show. Mac then surprised Patsy with a visit from her old best friend Hedy Wolfe. Hedy took Patsy to her old hometown of Centerville, then fully transformed into an amusement park town, with everyone in town seemingly signed under contract to portray that image. Hedy then introduced Patsy to "Mayor Nicholas" (Nicholas Scratch) and Russell Daboia. Daboia kissed Patsy's hand and greeted Patsy, though Patsy noted how cold Daboia's lips were.

   When Patsy Walker noticed demons possessing the townspeople of Centerville, she psychically contacted her old ally Moondragon who, in turn, summoned the Avengers for help. Upon their arrival in Centerville, the Avengers found Patsy now possessed as well and Scarlet Witch used her hex power to exorcise the demons from both Patsy and Hedy Wolfe. As Hellcat, Patsy then tracked the source of the demons to a local amusement park, where the Avengers found the Sons of the Serpent performing a mystic ceremony to place demons within more townsfolk. One of the Sons of the Serpent agents soon discovered the Avengers' infiltration of their base and informed the Sons' leader, revealed as Russell Daboia. Daboia yelled for the Serpent agents to kill the Avengers, but they were quickly taken out by the team. Daboia then decided to take matters into his own hands and transformed into his serpent form, using his magic prowess to teleport Salem's Seven into the fray. While the Avengers were distracted with the Serpent agents and Salem's Seven, Russell Daboia began to question whether or not victory was assured and decided to begin a mystical ceremony that caused the smoke emanating from a brazier to take a snake-like form and attack the Avengers, hoping to prevent severe punishment for failing in his mission. Soon, the Avengers were overwhelmed and Hedy Wolfe grabbed the brazier and tipped it over, stopping the ceremony and firing Daboia. Upon tipping the brazier, the ceremony was reversed and the forces that Daboia called forth turned on him and both he and the Salem's Seven disappeared in a smell of sulfur and carrion. The Sons of the Serpent surrendered and Scarlet Witch theorized that now that Daboia and the Salem's Seven were gone, his demons would also disappear, freeing the town. As the Avengers began to head home, Hellcat decided to stay in Centerville and start a new life, while being watched ominously by "Mayor Nicholas."

(Hellcat I#1 - BTS) - Following another appearance on "It's Amazing," Patsy Walker returned home to Centerville, briefly greeting "Mayor Nicholas" before discussing the recent demon invasion of Centerville at the hands of Russell Daboia with Hedy Wolfe. Hedy insisted that Daboia had impeccable references but Patsy revealed that Daboia was nothing more than a pawn for Nicholas Scratch, who was posing as Centerville's "Mayor Nicholas."

(Journey Into Mystery I#627 (fb)) - Daboia attended the Devil's Advocacy to talk about the Serpent (Cul)'s actions on Earth.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Scarlet Witch Annual I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Daboia escaped Hell and tried to attack the Scarlet Witch, but got caught in one of her dimensional snare traps while she slept. Caught in a pocket reality within a jar Daboia thought he was in the process of devouring the Scarlet Witch.

(Scarlet Witch Annual I#1) - The next day Scarlet Witch found the jar at the Emporium in Lotkill, New York and recognized Daboia. She explained to Darcy Lewis what must have happened before putting away the pocket reality jar with all the others in her cupboard.

Comments: Created by Kurt Busiek, Norm Breyfogle and Richard Howell.

I'm truly shocked that this profile does not mention Set, the supreme Serpent God/Demon. There's got to be some connection. I'd expect Daboia to be a descendant of Set--Snood.
"surprisingly" Daboia was revealed to be a member of the Serpent Men in OHotMU 2006#10.
  I believe that Elder God Set was mentioned in that particular Avengers Annual (albeit, indirectly). The Sons of the Serpent--as part of another attempt to "ethnically cleanse" America--apparently VOLUNTEERED to be used as host-bodies for the spirits of Lemurian Serpent-Men! And, it was Daboia who did the channeling, or whatever--Carycomix

Technically, Hawkeye was not officially an Avenger at that time - much like Songbird, whom he brought along mostly out of unconscious memories of the events of Avengers Forever and may or may not become an Avenger in the future of main Earth-616 continuity. Even so, even the villains regard him as an Avenger anyway, so I include him in the Avengers membership. - Daevanator.

We found out in the 2000 Hellcat mini-series that Nicholas Scratch was serving Dormammu and Daboia, in turn, was serving Nicholas Scratch. Therefore, it's possible Daboia was also serving Dormammu but we never see any actual indication of that.

Profile by Proto-Man. Update by Markus Raymond (Scarlet Witch).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Russell Daboia has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Avengers III 2000 Annual, p35, pan1 (Daboia in serpent form, main image)
Avengers III 2000 Annual, p9, pan1 (Daboia in human form)
Avengers III 2000 Annual, p25, pan5 (Daboia transforming from human to serpent form)
Journey into Mystery I#627, p11, pan5 (Daboia attending the Devil's Advocacy)
Scarlet Witch Annual I#1, p2, pan1 (trapped in pocket reality)

Appearances:
Avengers III 2000 Annual (2000) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Norm Breyfogle, Richard Howell (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Hellcat I#1 (September, 2000) - Steve Englehart (writer), Norm Breyfogle (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#9 (2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Mark O'English, Chad Anderson, Ronald Byrd, Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Al Sjoerdsma, Stuart Vandal, Anthony Flamini, Eric J. Moreels, Chris Biggs, Madison Carter (writers), Valentine DeLandro (Nicholas Scratch entry art), Pond Scum (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#10 (2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Michael Hoskin, Sean McQuaid, Stuart Vandal, Mark O'English, Anthony Flamini, Chad Anderson, Eric J. Moreels, Mike Fichera, Ronald Byrd, Al Sjoerdsma, Rich Green, Madison Carter (writers), Steve Epting (Sons of the Serpent entry art), Pond Scum (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Journey into Mystery I#627 (November, 2011) - Kieron Gillen (writer), Richard Elson (art), Ralph Macchio (senior editor)
Scarlet Witch Annual I#1 (August, 2023) - Steve Orlando (writer), Carlos Nieto (artist), Alanna Smith (editor)

First Posted: 01/20/2004
Last updated: 04/12/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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