HEAVY METTLE
Membership: Joe Manfredi, Barracuda, Blackwing, Firestrike, Riot, Stronghold, Warbow
Purpose: Joe Manfredi's private army of super-villains
Affiliations: Maggia, Norman Osborn, Shadow Initiative (Badd Axe, Batwing, Bengal, Butterball, Firearms, Johnny Guitar, Komodo, Ringer (Keith Kraft), Slaughter Boy)
Enemies: Blastaar's forces, New Warriors
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance:
(individual): New Warriors II#2, (November, 1999)
(team) New Warriors II#4 (January, 2000)
History: (New Warriors II#2) - At a bar in
New York City, Firestrike with his boss, Joe Manfredi. Manfredi
tells Firestrike that Turbo's powers originate from her costume
just as Firestrike and the rest of the Heavy Mettle gets their
powers from their costumes. Manfredi orders Firestrike to get the
New Warrior Turbo's costume. Firestrike asks if Manfredi cares
whether or not the girl's alive when he get it (New Warriors II#4) - Joe Manfredi orders Firestrike and the rest of the
Heavy Mettle to attack the New Warriors. Uses Harley Traynor to
set-up the New Warriors, attacks them, is defeated by the New
Warriors but manage to escape (New Warriors II#7) - Set-up by the New Warriors, Nova disguised as Firestrike
brings down the Heavy Mettle, who are all send to jail including
Firestrike, who in order to take down Joe Manfredi joins the
witness protection program (Avengers: The Initiative#26) - With a large influx of Initiative recruits under Norman Osborn's regime, the ranks of the Shadow Initiative were bolstered by members of Heavy Mettle (Barracuda, Blackwing, Riot, Stronghold, Warbow), the Larcenous Three (Badd Axe, Firearms), Butterball, Ringer, and Slaughter Boy, who joined Batwing, Bengal, and Komodo.
(Avengers: The Initiative#27) - The Shadow Initiative, after a brief period of training, stormed the Negative Zone gates and started fighting for 42. Among their enemies were Blastaar's alien hordes and inmates, such as Hardball, Arthur Nagan, Condor, and Dragon Man. Slaughter Boy, Blackwing, and Johnny Guitar were the first killed. Firearms soon panicked and was killed at the gate trying to escape. Bengal and Komodo used Butterball to get them in close. The Shadow Initiative moved in until Dragon Man attacked, but that turned to their favor when he began defending the injured Komodo. The tables turned when Hardball began aiding the Initiative, then Taskmaster, Constrictor, Penance, Living Laser, and Scorcher came in to take care of the rest. The survivors of the Initiative began understanding their true place in the Initiative now.
COMMENTS: Created by Jay Faerber Steve
Scott & Karl Kerschl For unknown reasons, when Nova disguised as
Firestrike comes to the Heavy Mettle's headquaters, he mistakenly
calls Riot Decibel. Later Decibel calls himself Riot in the same
issue . Profile by: The Beetle CLARIFICATIONS: Joe Manfredi is the son of: Barracuda is not to be confused
with: Blackwing is not to be confused
with: Riot is not to be confused
with: Stronghold is not to be
confused with: Warbow is not to be confused with: Joe Manfredi/Joe
Silvermane/Blackwing - The son of
crimeboss Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi, Joe Manfredi
himself has been a costumed supervillain himself known as
Blackwing, but after his defeat by the Thunderbolts as a member
of the Masters of Evil, Joe Manfredi decided to retire as a
costumed supervillain, and stay on as crimeboss. He founded is
own superarmy. He'll get a full entry eventually The leader of the Heavy Mettle, who was also
Dalton Beck a arson investigator, who became romantically
involved with Mickey Musashi, aka the New Warrior Turbo Barracuda's armor gives her the ability to
breath underwater, besides giving her superhuman strength.
Besides that Barracuda uses a metal staff -- New Warriors II#4 (New Warriors II#4, 7, Avengers: The Initiative#26 Female member of the Heavy Mettle, who has
taken over Joe Manfredi's old identity, her armor gives her the
ability to fly -- New Warriors II#4 (New Warriors II#4, 7, Avengers: The Initiative#26 Riot's armor gives him the ability to create
superstrong soundwaves, enought to knock down a man. He is also referred to as Decibel -- New Warriors II#4 (New Warriors II#4, 7, Avengers: The Initiative#26 The strongest of the team, Stronghold wears an
armor which gives her superhuman strength -- New Warriors II#4 (New Warriors II#4, 7, Avengers: The Initiative#26 Warbow is proficient in the use of bows, he
uses special arrows (Avengers: The Initiative#28) - When the Heavy Hitters (Nonstop, Prodigy, Telemetry) succeeded from the Initiative, Osborn sent the Force of Nature (Aqueduct, Skybreaker, Sunstreak, Terraformer), the U-Foes (Ironclad, Vapor, Vector, X-Ray), Freedom Force (Challenger, Cloud-9, Equinox, Think Tank), members of the Shadow Initiative (Badd Axe, Ringer (Keith Kraft), Warbow), and other trainees (Brother Grimm, Griffin, Scorcher, Razor-Fist) to attack them. They briefly battled the Avengers Resistance (Debrii, Gauntlet (Joseph Green), Justice (Vance Astrovik), Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor), Rage, Scarlet Spider, Slapstick, Tigra, Ultragirl). Prodigy and Night Thrasher were captured, but the others escaped. (Avengers: The Initiative#32) - Forced by Osborn into attacking Asgard with dozens of other Initiative recruits, Warbow panicked and tried to flee, but was shot down in a hail of arrows and presumably killed. -- New Warriors II#4 (New Warriors II#4, 7, Avengers: The Initiative#26, 28, 32 Appearances:
First Posted: 02/26/2002 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me
know. All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All
Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the
real thing! Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
Heavy Mettle is not to be confsed with:
New Warriors II#2 (November, 1999) - Jay Faerber (writer), Steve Scott (pencils), Walden Wong (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
New Warriors II#4 (January, 2000) - Jay Faerber (writer), Karl Kerschl (pencils), Walden Wong (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
New Warriors II#7 (April, 2000) - Jay Faerber (writer), Jamal Igle (pencils), Walden Wong (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#26 (September-October, 2009) - Christos Gage (writer), Rafa Sandoval (penciler), Roger Bonet (inker), Jeannine Schaefer (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#28 (November, 2009) - Christos Gage (writer), Rafa Sandoval (penciler), Roger Bonet (inker), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#32 (March, 2010) - Christos Gage (writer), Mahmud Asrar (penciler), Rebecca Buchman (inker), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Last updated: 02/25/2014
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