SILVER
DEATH
SILVER
DEATH
Real Name: Calum McGill
Identity/Class: Human mutate (UK citizen)
Occupation: Living weapon
Group Membership: Warpies
Affiliations: Shoulders McGill (father and handler)
Enemies: Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Meggan Puceanu, Dai Thomas, 27 unidentified gangsters, 3 unidentified undercover cops
Known Relatives: Donald "Shoulders" McGill (father)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Glasgow
First Appearance: Captain Britain II#14 (February 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Silver Death can fly at incredible speed, and is fast enough to slice and shred bullets out of the air. His body looks like a ball of spaghetti a couple of feet across, with a central core maybe a foot across, except that the spaghetti strands consist of hundreds of sharp, seemingly metallic tendrils ending in serrated points sharp enough to slice through cattle carcasses without slowing his flight, or penetrate Captain Britain's forcefield. He could compact himself enough to comfortably fit inside a briefcase.
It
is unclear whether Silver Death possessed human level intellect or not,
especially given that he would only have been a year or so old at most. He
never spoke (but then a toddler wouldn't either), but he clearly possessed
some level of cunning, as he was smart enough to repeatedly attack the
superhumanly fast and strong Captain Britain from behind. He also presumably
recognized his father well enough not to harm him, or else Shoulders McGill
could never have gotten him to enter and stay within a suitcase, which, after
all, would not have endured for more than a second had Silver Death wanted
to break free.
Height: (core) 1'; (diameter when extended) 3'
(estimated)
Weight: Unrevealed, but light enough to be easily carried by a not
particularly fit man in a briefcase, so probably only a few pounds
Eyes: White, no visible sclera
Hair: None (unless his blades are hardened hair, in which case yellow,
red and blue)
History: (Captain Britain II#14 (fb) BTS) - Donald McGill's son, Calum, was born a Warpie, a mass of blades and barbs that didn't resemble a human in any way; Donald was apparently the only person who could control Calum, who otherwise would fly around and psychotically slaughter anything in his path. McGill carried the child around inside a briefcase, dubbing him "Silver Death." Insane and alcoholic (perhaps because of this, perhaps already so), McGill fell under the influence of Glaswegian gangsters the McCloud Brothers, who convinced him that God had given him his living weapon son to carry out a mission to undertake a sacred purge of the underworld. He gained the nickname Shoulders from his comments that the Lord had given him broad shoulders to carry this sacred burden. The McCloud Brothers directed McGill to their rivals, giving him a bottle of whiskey for every one he eliminated. Over a short space of time in the run up to December 24th, Shoulders McGill and Silver Death claimed the lives of twenty-seven Glaswegian gangsters and "known villains," as well as three undercover policemen working for Dai Thomas, the head of a newly formed National Investigations Unit.
(Captain
Britain II#14) On Christmas Eve at 11.30p.m. Thomas
turned to Captain Britain and Meggan for assistance, asking them to pose
as out-of-town mobsters trying to muscle in on Glasgow, in the hopes they
would draw the assassin out into the open. After busting up the premises
of every known local outfit in Glasgow, thirty-five locations in all, Captain
Britain, Meggan and Dai Thomas waited in Redondo's Abattoir, which was closed
for Hogmanay and chosen because any confrontation with the super-assassin
would be well away from innocent bystanders. Dai let it be known through
the underworld grapevine that the "new gang" was going to be there waiting
for a heroin shipment. The McCloud Brothers sent Shoulders to kill Captain
Britain and Meggan, and at 11.55p.m. on New Year's Eve McGill confronted
Dai, who thought he was merely an alcoholic and tried to get him to move
on for his own safety. Shoulders stated that he had a message for the "tart
and the big man" and when Dai said he could pass the message on, Shoulders
announced that this meant the message was for him too, and released Silver
Death from the briefcase. Dai was only saved by Captain Britain's swift
intervention, as the hero intercepted Silver Death and deflected him away
from the policeman.
Silver Death shot off into the warehouse, shredding dozens of hanging cow carcasses like they were tissue paper, before silently circling round inside the darkened building and attacking Captain Britain from behind, cutting the hero's right arm and back before being swatted away.
Hidden again in the darkness, Silver Death again maneuvered round
behind Captain Britain and attacked him from the rear, this time striking
the back of the hero's head, only for Meggan to dislodged him this time round
and throw him away into the darkness. Suspecting Silver Death would try the
same tactic again, Captain Britain told Meggan to get in front of him and
stay still, giving Silver Death the false impression that he had them beaten.
Instead, as Silver Death swooped down for another assault, Captain Britain
waited until the last second, then swung round and struck the Warpie's center
full on, causing him to rupture almost explosively.
Comments: Created by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer. A Marvel UK character.
From McGill's confession after Silver Death's demise, Captain Britain presumed that the creature was a particularly bizarre warpie. It could of course have been an old fashioned mutant instead. Silver Death was presumably slain when Captain Britain burst / shattered him, but you never know - he might have been able to regenerate from his component pieces. In which case, we're well overdue for a rematch.
Silver Death's first name was revealed in Marvel Atlas#1.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Silver Death has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Captain Britain II#14, p10, pan5 (main image)
Captain Britain II#14, p11, pan7 (headshot, and clearer look at his sharp
barbs)
Captain Britain II#14, p10, pan7 (a demonstration of Silver Death's power
and speed, slicing through cow carcasses)
Captain Britain II#14, p11, pan3 (silhouetted Silver Death, showing his size
with Captain Britain and Meggan for scale)
Captain Britain II#14, p12, pan1 (Silver Death expires)
Appearances:
Captain Britain II#14 (February, 1986) - Alan Davis (writer/pencils), Mark
Farmer (inks), Ian Rimmer (editor)
First Posted: 08/13/2002
Last updated: 02/18/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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