SAGITTARIUS

Real Name: Harlan Vargas

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Professional criminal; crime leader

Group Membership: Formerly the Zodiac Cartel

Affiliations: Brotherhood of Ankh, Thunderbolts gang

Enemies: Avengers, Lonnie Carver, William Carver, Daredevil, Nick Fury, Rick Jones, Madame Masque, Kevin O'Brian, Red Wolf (Will Talltrees), Scorpio (Jake Fury), SHIELD, the Life Model Decoy Zodiac

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Formerly Washington, D.C.

First Appearance: Avengers I#72 (January, 1970)

Powers/Abilities: Sagittarius was a reasonably skilled hand-to-hand combatant (he easily overpowered Kevin O'Brian and some SHIELD agents) and commanded a number of other criminal forces.
    You'd think he had some sort of archery abilities and weapons, but I don't recall every seeing them...

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Reddish blond

History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20: Zodiac (fb) - BTS) - The Zodiac Cartel was founded by Cornelius van Lunt (Taurus), handpicking the eleven other members; van Lunt concealed his own identity, while he was the only one who knew the identities of the others. Each member was based in a different American city (Sagittarius in Washington, D.C.) as part of his nationwide criminal network, with the ultimate goal of world economic and political domination

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20: Zodiac (fb) - BTS) - Sagittarius, like the other Zodiac leaders, established a criminal organization served by numerous henchmen in his chosen base of operations and assembling for matters of collective importance.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20: Zodiac (fb) - BTS) - Following his horoscope, van Lunt relinquished control over the group and Zodiac took on a rotating membership, with each member presiding during the period in which his or her astrological sign held prevalence.

(Avengers I#72) - Sagittariuswas present with the other Cartel leaders when Nick Fury, posing as Scorpio, captured the Avengers (Captain America, Goliath (Clint Barton), Vision, Wasp, Yellowjacket) and Rick Jones, and brought them to their headquarters. Yellowjacket and the Wasp summoned thousands of ants to disrupt the device holding them, and the Avengers broke free before the Cartel could execute them. Fury then unmasked and joined them in fighting off the Zodiac Cartel, who fled through a whole in the wall Aries created with the Zodiac Key; Sagittarius was only seen to take a punch in the mouth from Captain America during the fight..

(Avengers I#80 (fb) - BTS) - Under the direction of Aries (Marcus Lassiter), Zodiac regrouped and began plotting their takeover of Manhattan.

(Avengers I#80 (fb) - BTS) - Cornelius van Lunt led Zodiac's efforts to build to steal the land from Red Wolf's father, leading Red Wolf to pursue van Lunt's agent, Jason Birch, back to Manhattan.

(Avengers I#80 - BTS) - Having learned something of Zodiac's activities, the Avengers prepared to oppose them, though they split into three groups, each pursuing a different agenda (unaware that all three were Zodiac related).

(Avengers I#81 - BTS) - Van Lunt's men shot down the Avengers' quinjet containing Goliath (Clint Barton), the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Red Wolf, and van Lunt appeared to drown when the artificial dam was destroyed in the ensuing conflict.

(Daredevil I#69 - BTS) - Zodiac backed the Thunderbolts gang, directing them to dupe other African-Americans into joining a seeming revolution against oppression, when they were really just common criminals; the Thunderbolts were defeated by the Black Panther, Daredevil, and William Carver.

(Avengers I#82 - BTS) - Aries led the forces of Zodiac to ambush the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Quicksilver, and Thor), using gas to incapacitate then within Avengers Mansion, after which they were placed within stasis.

(Avengers I#82 - BTS) - Aries led the forces of Zodiac to take over Manhattan, entrapping it within a force field, and threatening to slay the entire population if they did not receive one billion dollars within 24 hours time. The Black Panther and Daredevil freed the imprisoned Avengers, and Aries was apparently slain in the ensuing conflict. The army captured Zodiac's mercenary soldiers, and the force field was deactivated. The rest of the Zodiac Cartel escaped capture.

(Iron Man I#33 - BTS, #34 - BTS) - The Zodiac Cartel, led by Capricorn, employed Spymaster and his Espionage Elite to destroy Stark Industries and to capture or kill Tony Stark.

(Daredevil I#73 (fb) - BTS) - The Zodiac Key instructed Capricorn to bring others to the Ankh dimension to restore the Key's power through conflict.

(Iron Man I#35) - When Spymaster and his group failed, Capricorn reassigned him to capture Daredevil, which they did, obtaining Madame Masque in the process. Capricorn led Libra (see comments), Aquarius, and Sagittarius in traveling to Stark Industries, where they battled and overcame Iron Man, Nick Fury, and Kevin O'Brian with the aid of the Zodiac Key. The heroes were imprisoned alongside Daredevil and Madame Masque, and the Key instructed Capricorn to release Fury and give him the Key, which took control of his mind.

(Daredevil I#73) - Fury was mesmerized by the Key into using it to transport the heroes, the three Zodiac Cartel members, and Spymaster to the Ankh dimension, where they appeared before the Brotherhood of Ankh. The Law-Holder manipulated the heroes and villains into conflict, and Sagittarius squared off against Madame Masque, but disagreement within the Brotherhood regarding Daredevil's reluctance to fight under duress led the Brotherhood to send them all back to Earth.

(Iron Man I#36 - BTS) - Daredevil, Nick Fury, Iron Man, and Madame Masque defeated Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius, who were taken away by the police, while Spymaster escaped; after a short struggle, Fury punched Sagittarius out.

(Avengers I#120) - Sagittarius participated in the Taurus-led Zodiac plot to prove their power by using the Star-Blazer to snuff out everyone in Manhattan born under the sign of Gemini (with Zodiac's Gemini protected by special means). When Gemini's twin, Damian Link, was captured by the Avengers, the other eleven broke into Avengers Mansion, used a hand-held Star-Blazer to overpower the Avengers (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision) and Mantis, and to escape with Gemini's twin.
    When the Zodiac Cartel publicly made their threat, the Avengers located them and damaged the Star-Blazer, Taurus used its remaining energy to blast Mantis.

(Avengers I#121) - The Avengers attacked the Zodiac Cartel, but Aries (Grover Raymond) cast Mantis over the edge, and the Zodiacs fled in the ensuing chaos as they rescued her. Aries, frustrated with their near defeat, gathered Aquarius, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, and Scorpio to form a coup to overthrow Taurus. Libra elected to sit the conflict out, telling them that he wished to remain the balance; the others threatened to attack him if he failed to maintain his neutrality. When Aries contacted Zodiac's funder Cornelius van Lunt to design a weapon to oppose Taurus, he learned too late that van Lunt actually was Taurus; shortly after Thor led the other Avengers (Black Panther, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision) to the rebel Zodiacs in van Lunt's designated meeting place, they were all trapped within the room as it was sealed with a force field and launched into space.

(Avengers I#122) - Despite their shared danger, Aries lead Aquarius, Cancer, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, and Scorpio to attack the Avengers within the orbiting death trap. Back on Earth, as Taurus revealed his actions to the remaining Zodiacs, Libra revealed that he had known on the revolt, but had neither joined with the others nor revealed their intentions to Taurus, who became disgusted with he and the others. Shortly thereafter, Libra ambushed and overpowered Gemini, and then freed and replaced Gemini's twin, Damian Link, convincing him to impersonate Gemini and keep Taurus occupied. Libra then stole the Star-Blaster ship, used it to fly up to the orbiting trap, neutralize the  force field, and free its inhabitants. Back on Earth, Taurus convinced the renegades to join with him against the Avengers who would surely imprison them, but they were defeated nonetheless.

(Avengers I#123 - BTS) - The Zodiac Cartel, with the exception of Libra, were then turned over to the police.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20: Zodiac (fb) - BTS) - Sagittarius, like the rest of the heads of the Zodiac Cartel, eventually regained his freedom under uncertain circumstances.

(Iron Man I#184) - Following an assault on Cornelius van Lunt by the Maggia-sent Life Model Decoy (LMD) Taurus (which resulted in an encounter with Iron Man (Jim Rhodes), van Lunt contacted Sagittarius and the rest of the Zodiac Cartel, announcing his plans to kill Iron Man. When van Lunt's initial plan failed, he recruited help from Aries (the unnamed successor of Grover Raymond). When he, too, was defeated, van Lunt recruited Aquarius (Zachary Drebb).

(Iron Man I#185 - BTS) - Iron Man, with the help of Morley and Clytemnestra Erwin and the unarmored Tony Stark, defeated and captured Aquarius. Stark then notified Nick Fury of Zodiac's activities, and Fury said he'd "scramble a security team an' put the skids under 'em pronto."

(West Coast Avengers II#26 (fb) - BTS) - Due to trouble from the Deltites and others, SHIELD was unable to follow up on pursuing Zodiac.

(West Coast Avengers II#26) - In Houston, Texas, Sagittarius met with the rest of the Cartel at a meeting presided over by Cancer. However, Scorpio suddenly unmasked, revealing that an LMD of Jake Fury had been his own "successor," after which the rest of the LMD Zodiac ambushed the Cartel, apparently killing all except van Lunt, who escaped.
    Libra, of course, survived as well...

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, and Sam Grainger.

As a Sagittarius, his birthday would be between November 23 - December 21.

Iron Man I#35 and the succeeding crossover with Daredevil repeatedly switched the names for Aquarius and Sagittarius.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

images:
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20: Zodiac: Sagittarius entry

Appearances:
Avengers I#80-82 (September-November, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#69 (October, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Syd Shores (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#33-36 (January-April, 1971) - Allyn Brodsky & Gerry Conway (#35-36) (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#73 (February, 1971) - Allyn Brodsky & Gerry Conway (writers), Gene Colan (pencils), Syd Shores (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers I#120-123 (February-May, 1974) - Steve Englehart (writer), Bob Brown (#120, 122-123) & John Buscema (#121) (pencils), Don Heck (#120-121, 123) & Mike Esposito (#122) (inks), Roy Thomas (editor) Iron Man I#184-185 (July-August, 1984)
West Coast Avengers II#26 (November, 1987) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)

First Posted: 01/31/2005
Last updated: 01/31/2005

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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