RUFUS CARTER
Real Name: Rufus Carter
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Mercenary, former CIA agent
Group Membership: None
formerly: CIA
Affiliations: Batroc the Leaper (Georges Batroc), Cat (Shen Kuei), Daughters of the Dragon (Misty Knight & Colleen Wing), Jock McBride, Pavane, Winner Rutherford, Shadow-Stalker, Shang-Chi, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Leiko Wu, Zaran (Zhou Man She)
Enemies: Nicholas Blair, Mr. McKinnon, Oryx, Emila Vachon
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Mr. Tokay, Super-Midnight Carter, One-Eyed Carter
Base of Operations: London, England;
formerly United States
First Appearance: Master of Kung Fu I#96 (January, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: Rufus is an extremely gifted kickboxer and martial artist, despite his lack of a left eye.
History:
(Master of Kung Fu I#99 (fb)) - Carter's earliest known CIA mission
was to investigate a munitions shipment from Israel to England
that Libyan agents were rumored to be planning to sabotage.
Carter went to Jerusalem to met with an informer, but the
informer was slain by an assassin, only managing to reveal that
the sabotage would be carried out by a double agent.
(Master of Kung Fu I#96) - Five months later, on a mission in London, Carter met Shang-Chi and Leiko Wu of Freelance Restorations, who were purposefully directed to one of Carter's karate matches so he could enlist them in a plan to prevent Yugoslavian agents from obtaining intelligence files on Samisdat (who, unknown to the CIA, had already been defeated by Shang-Chi and his friends in Master of Kung Fu I#95).
Shang successfully recovered the worthless Samisdat files from the Yugoslavian agent Oryx, and Carter informed him afterwards that he was leaving the CIA.
(Master of Kung Fu I#99) - Some time later, Carter was contacted by his former superior in the CIA, Nicolas Blair, who informed him that the CIA planned to allow the sabotage from his earlier case to occur so they could smoke out the double agent. Carter disaproved of the plan, and when he vowed to stop the saboteur, Blair shot him in the arm.
Journeying to Stormhaven Castle, headquarters of Freelance Restorations, Carter told his story to Sir Denis Nayland Smith, and requested Shang's aid in stopping the sabotage. He and Shang successfuly stowed aboard the ship, and discovered that the double agent was really Blair! Together, they defeated Blair, but failed to prevent the ship from being destroyed.
(Master of Kung Fu I#120) - On his first mission as a private agent, Carter again came to Shang-Chi for aid. This time, his employer was Jock McBride, a Scottish landowner in danger of having his land stolen by Mr. McKinnon, a man attempting to recover a fortune in gold buried in a coffin on McBride's property. They were successful in the case, and refused to be paid, encouraging McBride to use the gold to rebuild his castle.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark listed Carter as a sympathizer of the Initiative.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts#1/5 (fb) - BTS) - Rufus Carter was caught by Emila Vachon and placed in her collection on her ship (she called it the Wine Cellar). His gloves were placed in her office while Carter was kept on board, kept docile in programmed behavior loops created by S.Q.U.I.D. technology (a high-tech collar around his neck) as Mr. Chianti.
(Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts#1/5) - As part of his daily loop Mr. Tokay played tennis doubles with fellow captives. Mr. Chianti (Shadow-Stalker) was his partner and they played against Ms. Chardonnay (Colleen Wing) and Ms. Pinot (Misty Knight). When Colleen talked about a dream she had the night before, Rufus told her to focus on the game only to see his ball returned by Misty, who hit Shadow-Stalker's head because he had stopped functioning after hearing about dreams. Guards took Shadow-Stalker away. This loop repeated itself for several days. Rufus often reminded Misty that they were all on holiday.
(Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts#1/6) - Rufus was freed from the S.Q.U.I.D. collar's control when Colleen Wing, after breaking free herself upon seeing her sword, deactivated the mind-control system. Rufus knocked out a guard with a hard left to the chin and then tossed him overboard.
(Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts#1/6 - BTS) - He was rescued from the ship.
Comments: Created by Doug Moench and
Mike Zeck.
Moench revealed on the letters page that he was inspired by a
package of carbon paper called "Carter's Super
Midnight" to use it as a story title.
Moench had intended for Carter to become a member of the Freelance Restorations cast, but those plans were derailed by Zeck's sudden departure from the series.
There was no explanation given why Carter had two eyes again in Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts. Maybe one of them was a glass eye or an artificial eye or he just got better after Secret Wars.
--Markus Raymond
Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts was originally published as a digital series. Chapter 5-6 were published in January, 2019.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Prime Eternal. Update by Markus Raymond (Daughters of the Dragon).
CLARIFICATIONS:
Rufus Carter is of no known relation to:
images:
Master of Kung Fu I#96, p5, pan1 (main)
Master of Kung Fu I#96, p7, pan1 (upper body)
Master of Kung Fu I#96, p11, pan3 (head shot)
Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts - Chapter 6, p9, pan6 (two-eyed)
Appearances:
Master of Kung Fu I#96 (January, 1981) - Doug Moench (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Master of Kung Fu I#99 (April, 1981) - Doug Moench (writer), Mike Zeck (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Master of Kung Fu I#120 (January, 1983) - Doug Moench (writer), Gene Day (artist), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts - Chapter 5 (March, 2019) - Jed MacKay (writer), Travel Foreman (pencils), Joe Silver (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts - Chapter 6 (March, 2019) - Jed MacKay (writer), Travel Foreman (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
First Posted: 03/23/2002
Last updated: 11/30/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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