SERPENT SQUAD
Membership: Cobra (Piet Voorhees), Eel (Edward Lavell), Viper (Leon Murtaugh)
Purpose: The members of this Serpent Squad were employees of Sin, first creating chaos and then breaking Crossbones out of his imprisonment.
Affiliations: Employed by Queen Hydra, Sin; freed Crossbones. Sin worked in turn for her father, the Red Skull (then in the body of Aleksander Lukin).
Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Sharon Carter, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), S.H.I.E.L.D.
Base of Operations: Unrevealed, New York City area.
First Appearance: Captain America IV#28 (September, 2007)
History:
(Captain America IV#28) - Sin led her new Serpent Society in an invasion of a processing center for the Asian stock market; they destroyed the center's servers, thus creating chaos before the next morning's financial opening.
(Captain America IV#28) - AIM agents sold Sin information on S.H.I.E.L.D. monitoring stations in New York; armed with this information the quartet assaulted one such station, killed the agents, and absconded with their uniforms.
(Captain America IV#29) - Using the uniforms and some Red Skull-provided holographic image generators, Sin and the Serpent Squad broke into a S.H.I.E.L.D. subcarrier in broad daylight and freed Sin's boyfriend, Brock Rumlow a.k.a. Crossbones.
(Captain America IV#35) - Via helicopter, the quartet landed on the roof of the Senate Offices in Washington D.C.; once inside they were opposed by the new Captain America (James Barnes).
(Captain America IV#36) - Captain America took down Viper in hand-to-hand combat, and then the Eel and Sin with his shield and a gun. Crossbones joined them and took on Captain America single-handedly (eventually losing); meanwhile, Cobra (calling himself King Cobra) returned to their 'copter and fled with the wounded Sin. Viper and Eel (with Crossbones) were taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody; under questioning the pair gave up their safe house, which was then closed by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but apparently knew nothing of further use.
(Dark Reign Files) - Quasimodo researched the Serpent Squad for Norman Osborn.
(Captain America VI#8 - BTS) - Following their release or escape, the Serpent Squad were hired by the Hydra Queen (although they were unaware of the identity of their employer) to use Madbombs to cause a huge riot in New York City. They had been told that Captain America wouldn't be a threat as he had been depowered and they could use the opportunity to loot the city.
(Captain America VI#6) - Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Hawkeye located the Madbomb but before they could try to disarm it, Captain America had his super-soldier serum rendered inert and Hawkeye was stunned by a blast of electricity from the Eel. The Squad then beat down Cap, knocking him unconscious.
(Captain America VI#7) - The Serpent Squad left the defeated heroes and committed robberies across New York City whilst people rioted due to the Madbomb. The following day, another riot broke out in New York City and the Serpent Squad attacked another bank. As the Squad threatened to set off another Madbomb inside the bank unless the manager opened the safe, Captain America and Sharon Carter arrived with Cap knocking the Madbomb from Cobra's hand.
(Captain America VI#8) - The Squad were taken out by Captain America and Sharton Carter. Cobra was later interrogated by Carter about their employer, but couldn't tell her anything.
Comments: Created by Ed Brubaker (writer), Steve Epting (penciler), Mike Perkins (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor).
Lots of potential for confusion here - This Serpent Squad perfectly echoes the very first Serpent Squad, which consisted of Cobra (Klaus Vorhees), Viper, and Eel. Madame Hydra later killed Viper and assumed his name; the Eel was killed by the Gladiator and his identity assumed by this Eel. So, please do not confuse this Squad with the first or any others (see the full list of Serpent Squads and Societies below); please do not confuse the Eel and Viper with other Viper and Eels. For that matter, we haven't even seen this Cobra without his mask - we don't even know that this is King Cobra (who has never been willing to commit mass murders before and has generally been motivated by money and security - in issue 29, S.H.I.E.L.D. does assume this to be King Cobra, though its just an assumption, and in 36 he calls himself King Cobra, clarifying this, although his personality still seems much... younger than the real King Cobra).
Cleared up in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#3 in the entry of Crossbones and Cobra (Piet), who is the Cobra in this version of the Serpent Squad.
In Captain America IV#28, Viper is noted as being the only one of the team new to his powers. He mentions having murdered many men to earn his suit, and appears to be at least somewhat familiar with the Red Skull.
Profile by SQUEAK
CLARIFICATIONS:
This Serpent Squad should not be confused with:
images: (without ads) Appearances:
Captain America IV#28, cover (main image)
Captain America IV#28-29 (September-October, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Steve Epting (penciler), Mike Perkins (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain America IV#35 (April, 2008) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch Guice (penciler), Butch Guice & Mike Perkins (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain America IV#36 (May, 2008) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch Guice & Mike Perkins (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Dark Reign Files (February, 2009) - Michael Hoskin & various others (writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Captain America VI#6 (February, 2012) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain America VI#7 (March, 2012) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain America VI#8 (April, 2012) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 08/19/2007
Last updated: 06/04/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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