STEEL HARRIS

Real Name: Steel Harris (presumably)

Identity/Class: Human mutate (presumably World War II to Modern era)

Occupation: Gangster

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: His gunmen (including Chuck, Gloves, and Jake)

Enemies: Nick Fury, Dr. Berthold Sternberg

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Boss" (as called by his men); "John Doe #17"

Base of Operations: Golden Dagger Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight I#31 (December, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: Harris was a normal man who underwent Berthold Sternberg's "Infinity Formula" life-extension process. He was able to maintain a youthful vigor as long as he kept up with annual boosters of the serum.

  Harris maintained a small criminal empire based out of his casino, with his own private army of hired gunmen and a helicopter.

History: (Marvel Spotlight I#31 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Steel Harris and his criminal history are unknown, but at some point he had undergone Sternberg's life-prolonging procedure. Then he found himself the victim of the doctor's extortion, becoming dependent on annual boosters of the Infinity Formula supplied by Sternberg to keep his youth.

(Marvel Spotlight I#31) - Tiring of the years of extortion, and with the time for his annual booster drawing near, Harris and his men found Sternberg in Paris, France. Harris killed Sternberg and took possession of his notebook with the formula, and also learned of another of Sternberg's "customers": Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. At that point, Harris formulated a scheme to make some real money -- with Fury now dependent upon him, he was going to take over the state, he'd be able to do anything he liked, and Fury's government connections would protect him. He phoned Fury (whose time for an annual booster was also coming due) to let him know that Sternberg was dead and that he now had a new supplier.

  Harris first sent Fury on a wild-goose chase to France, but Fury was able to track him back to his office at the Golden Dagger Casino. Fury wanted the Infinity Formula, so Harris told him he'd negotiate with him in exchange for complete legal immunity and any aid in his operations he requested -- but unknown to both, the notebook was being stolen back by Countess Val De Fontaine while they haggled over the terms of Fury's existence. Soon, Harris got a phone call from one of his men telling him the Infinity Formula notebook was gone. Thinking Fury was directly responsible, the enraged Harris turned at Fury with a drawn gun. Seeing no alternative but to flee, Fury jumped out of a window, followed by a hail of gunfire.

  Fury ran to his car and drove off, but Harris sent a helicopter in pursuit of him. As the helicopter hovered overhead with a machine gun spitting death, Fury set his car to flying mode and sent it rocketing at the chopper, jumping out to safety before the two vehicles collided in a fiery explosion.

  Shortly thereafter, Harris and his men pulled up in two cars. Harris ordered Jake and Gloves to stay behind to make sure everyone was dead after the fire burned out, then drove back to the casino. Fury leapt out of his hiding place and punched out Harris' thugs, then took their car and headed back to the Golden Dagger... but he could feel his body age, for the short skirmish had taken a lot out of him, and he realized he needed the Infinity Formula badly.

  At the casino, Harris stood upon the observation catwalk over the gaming area; he was quite distressed thinking over all that he had lost, and that he'd be dead in an hour without the formula. Just then, he saw the returning and aged Nick Fury, who desperately needed the Infinity Formula booster. Fury suggested that they work together to get the formula back, but this only drove Harris into a homicidal frenzy. The two fought savagely, but Fury was no match for Harris in his enfeebled condition. Harris gained the upper-hand in the struggle and began choking Fury. Then Fury noticed Harris' face and saw that the gangster's years were catching up with him, too. Harris loosened his grip, and on pure instinct, Fury threw Harris over the catwalk railing. The rapidly-aged crime boss plunged downward in a fall no 80 year-old could possibly live through. He came to a fatal stop atop a giant dollar slot machine.

  The police would never know the identity of the old man who died in the casino, they just listed him as "John Doe #17" and shipped him off to the morgue -- no one would really care who he was. Nor would anyone worry much about Steel Harris' sudden disappearance (Nick Fury: "He had been a greedy buzzard anyway").

Comments: Created by Jim Starlin and Howard Chaykin.

...and Fury was saved in a nick of time by Val, who administered the booster shot of Infinity Formula, returning him to his relative youth.

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Steel Harris has no known connection to:

• Chick Harris, actor @ Speedball#3/2
• Dezmond Harris, former mutant @ Generation M#2
• Sam Harris, encountered Zetora @ Journey into Mystery I#57/4
• Harris, Toni, Daily Bugle intern @ Fast Lane insert#1
• any other characters with similar names

images:
Marvel Spotlight I#31, p1, pan1 (main)