STRAKE
(Earth-7484)

Real Name: Presumably Strake (more likely a surname than a first name, but also possibly a shortened form of a longer name or a nickname of some sort)

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-7484) human, conventional weapons-user

Occupation: Assassin

Group Membership: Unrevealed government agency (see comments)

Affiliations: Grissom;

Enemies: Deathlok (Luther Manning), Spider-Man (Peter Parker) of Earth-616

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed (presumably somewhere in reasonable proximity to Manhattan, New York)

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#46 (June, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: Strake was experienced with a sighted rifle, although superhumans with advanced warning systems and superhuman speed, reflexes, etc. could evade his fire.

History:

     Strake and Grissom were apparently government assassins (see comments).

(Marvel Team-Up I#46 (fb) - BTS) - After the Omni-Computer identified Deathlok as being near Times Square. Grissom and Strake than hid out behind a billboard-type sign, observing the nearby streets via the open mouth of the figurine holding a cigarette on the billboard.

(Marvel Team-Up I#46) - After Deathlok -- joined by the time-traveling Spider-Man (Peter Parker) of Reality-616 -- had encountered and battled a group of ("Cubist") "Muties," the pair wandered below the billboard, and Grissom advised Strake that the cyborg was coming into sight. Strake considered that it was about time as they had been waiting all morning since the Omni-Computer had latched onto signals coming from that freak.

    Strake wondered who was "the guy in the 'party suit' with him; having never seen Spider-Man before, Grissom suggested that they should check with Central, but Strake countered that they had been ordered to stay clear of the CIA as "somethin' funny was going on with them these days." Regardless, Grissom concluded that if the other guy was with Deathlok than he must be a target as well; Strake agreed and noted "they both go...but the cyborg gets it first" as he took aim.

    As Strake fired, however, Spider-Man's spider sense warned him (and presumably Deathlok's computer similarly warned him) and he warned Deathlok; both Deathlok and Spider-Man avoided the gunfire, but the "Mutie" Spider-Man took at least three bullets in the back, apparently killing him. 

    Enraged at the senseless death, Spider-Man took off after the shooter's location while Deathlok's computer located them and he fired with his laser pistol as well. Grissom chastised Strake for missing Deathlok and noting that he had spotted them, but Strake told him to shut up, countering that the cyborg could not hit them from the angle he had and that Deathlok could not get back out onto the street without them getting him.

    Strake initially considered that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel as they could pick up their targets nice and easy. However, as Spider-Man swung toward them, evading his fire, Strake called out to Grissom, warning him of the "dude in the costume" swinging at them on some kind of web and moving so fast that he could not draw a bead on him. When Spider-Man swung right into the crosshairs on his rifle's sight, Strake was sure that there was no way he could miss, and he slowly tightened his finger on the trigger. However, he severely underestimated Spider-Man's speed, and before he could fire, Spider-Man crashed through the billboard and kicked Strake in the face. Spider-Man angrily derided Strake, telling him that with his rifle taken away, he was just another slimy little weasel, not much of a man, not even much of a murderer, in fact, not much of anything. 

    As Spider-Man delivered a pair of punches while noting that the screwed up nature of this reality did not excuse such behavior, Grissom fired a poorly aimed shot at Spider-Man. Turning toward Grissom, Spider-Man observed that he had already taken an apparently lethal blast through the chest from Deathlok. Spider-Man advised Deathlok that he could have finished him a little less permanently and suggested that he actually seemed to enjoy the killing. Deathlok told him otherwise and while he really didn't care if he saw it that way, he should not be so sure about it.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito.

    Strake was the one with the rifle and with the longer, strawberry-blond hair. Grissom had the blond crew cut hair.

    The story tried to fit with existing continuity, but it was a bit off. It is supposed to occur within Astonishing Tales I#36, well after the defeat and containment of Ryker and after Deathlok's mind was copied and transferred into the Simon Ryker/CIA Luther Manning clone and before Deathlok gets sent into the past of Earth-616 by Godwulf.
    But:

1. Strake notes that the Omni-Computer had located Deathlok that morning.
• The Omni-Computer was not shown to be active after Simon Ryker had been pulled out of it and then incarcerated while maddened.
• The Omni-Computer was presumably under CIA control as they are the ones who showed up to claim Ryker after his extraction left him incapacitated.
• Who would have had the Omni-Computer and then directed Strake and Grissom to assassinate Deathlok?
  
2. After Grissom suggests they check with "Central," Strake also notes that they had been ordered to stay clear of the CIA as there was "somethin' funny going on with them these days."
• The two major known factions vying for control of America were Simon Ryker, who apparently controlled the US Army; the CIA; and Hellinger
• With Ryker incapacitated, who was telling them to stay away from the CIA?
• I guess there may have been other US government agencies still active at this point?
  

    The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up#3 entry on Marvel-Team-Up#46 notes Strake and Grissom to be government assassins.

    Strake took a kick and a pair of punches from Spider-Man, who is 100x stronger than even a person who can press 200 lbs. over his or her head; however, Spider-Man consistently holds back against normal humans to avoid causing unwanted injuries. Regardless, he was not apparently dead when Spider-Man and Deathlok left him, and we don't know what happened to him or what he did after this story.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
There is no KNOWN connection between Strake the government assassin:

• STRAKE of Earth-7484 - apparently the leader or at least an authority figure within the Provisional Revolutionary Army--(possibly, unidentified) Astonishing Tales I#33; (confirmed, identified) Astonishing Tales I#34
  --odd to have two such unique names in the relatively small world of this reality, but they don't seem to be connected; further the Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up#3 entry on Marvel-Team-Up#46 notes that to be the first and only appearance for  Strake
  
• STRAKA, MICHAEL - ULTIMATUM, old friend of Domino, allied with Cable in Rumekistan--Cable & Deadpool#28
  
• STRAKER - Priests of Pama, with Foster, pilot of passenger ship that fled Raptra, Reptyl, and Syn, escaping into a nebula but then confronted and possibly --Avengers: Celestial Quest#2
• other "Strake" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...
  

Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#46 (June, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)

First posted: 08/26/2024
Last updated: 08/26/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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