Membership: None named
Purpose: Assassins for hire
Affiliations: Chief Scientist Karza
Enemies: Arcturus Rann
Base of Operations: Royal Palace on Homeworld (Microverse)
First Appearance: Micronauts I#38 (February, 1982)
Powers/Abilities: The Master Assassins were a select group of killers for hire. They tended to wear light armor, and were costumed in a slight variations of red and black. They were trained as killers and were proficient at using lasersonic pistols and were reasonably stealthy. They seemed to also generally have athlete levels for strength, agility and reflexes, although their coordination was not that good. They considered Chief Scientist Karza to be their master, indicating his involvement in the deadly organization's hierarchy, as well as probable training.
History:
(Micronauts I#38 (fb)) - Years before beginning his 1000 year journey across the Microverse -- before establishing the Micronauts to oppose the genocidal despot Baron Karza -- when Arcturus Rann was still Prince Regent, he received training from then Chief Scientist Karza in glider training. Even then, Karza had designs on eliminating the Homeworld's royal family so that he could rule the Microverse. One of Karza's first attempts on Rann's life included ordering six Master Assassins to murder the Prince.
The assassins utilized grapple hooks to scale the very high tower where Rann was resting. However, they generated sufficient noise to cause Rann to investigate from the window, where he was surprised to see the would-be killers clambering up. He recognized the distinctive garb of the Master Assassins and resolved to tackle them by himself using his glider wings. He waited till they had come closer to the window. Then jumped out and used his glider wings to get in close enough to the top Master Assassin to snatch his lasersonic pistol. He then shot the assassin with his own gun, then the second, who fell onto the third, all falling to their death.
Fearful of the fatal repercussions should they fail or reveal their master's (male) identity, the remaining three then opened fire on the very agile space glider, hanging on with one hand to their grappling their hooks. One blast shot the gun from Rann's hand and he feigned injury so that he could get in closer to the would-be killers. Rann managed to grab another assassin's gun, knocking him down, then blasting the fifth. The sixth assassin then jumped at Rann in a final suicidal lunge to drag both of them to their deaths. The assassin revealed that his master had dire plans for Homeworld and that it would be better to die than to endure them. Rann successfully smacked the killer to the side of his head, stunning the killer, and Rann somersaulted out of the way. As Rann landed, the inert bodies of the assassins lay in the background, revealing a conspiracy against Homeworld. This delayed Karza's grab for power until Rann was offworld.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo (writer), John Garcia (penciler) & Danny Bulanadi (inker).
Initially I thought that Karza had hired them, but only Rann thought that they'd been hired. The assassins stated that they'd been ordered to undertake this killing, with the direct implication being that it was Karza. This suggests much more insidious involvement by the future despot.
Clarifications:
The Master Assassins have no known connections to:
- Any other "Master" or "Assassin" characters, competent or otherwise.
images:
Micronauts I#38, p14, panel 1 (falling)
Micronauts I#38 (February, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), John Garcia (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Last updated: 04/22/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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