SIDEWINDER

Real Name: Seth Voelker

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Former criminal leader, financial analyst for Roxxon Oil, college professor

Group Membership: Formerly Serpent Society (Anaconda, Asp, Black Mamba, Black Racer, Bushmaster (McIver), Copperhead (Lawfers), Cottonmouth, Death Adder (Burroughs), Diamondback (Leighton), Fer-de-Lance, Cobra, Puff Adder, Rattler), Serpent Squad (Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder)

Affiliations: Assassins Guild, Captain America (Steve Rogers), D-Man, Diamondback (Leighton), Dr. Clenending, Falcon, Ghaur, Llyra, Mole Man (loose), Nomad, Stilt-Man, Vagabond (Priscilla Lyons), Geoffrey Wilder;
   former lover of Black Mamba;
   former employee of Roxxon Oil

Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Cape Crow, Elektra, Iron Man (Tony Stark), King Cobra, Matchmaker, Mr. Jip, Misty Knight, MODOK, Paladin, Princess Python, Kento Roe, Stingray, Thing, Triton, Viper (Madame Hydra);
   formerly Captain America

Known Relatives: Amelia "Amy" Voelker (daughter), Donna Voelker (ex-wife), sister (likely named either Collette, or possibly Maggie).

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Formerly first Serpent Citadel

First Appearance: Marvel Two-in-One#64 (June, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: Sidewinder is a teleporter with a range of approximately 50 miles; his range was initially smaller due to the disorientation of teleporting, but it grew over time. He has been seen to teleport without his cloak on rare occasions; very likely he had it with him then but just rolled up very small. The teleport-control chip in Seth's brain is programmable, and he has it set to teleport him randomly if he is seriously wounded and in a hostile situation. Seth's Sidewinder suit contains body armor sufficient to resist small caliber bullets. Sidewinder can breathe underwater, but it is not clear if this is due to the effects of his suit of if he has gills like Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Death Adder. Sidewinder can emit "side effects," crackling energy tendrils from his forehead; presumably this is a function of his suit and not himself, though this is unclear. Through small chips implanted in the bodies of the Serpent Society members, Seth could track any of them (it is unclear if Seth needed external help to do this tracking). Diamondback became aware of these chips after she left the Society and presumably had hers removed; it is unclear if the rest of the Society is aware of these or if they remain active.

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (balding; occasionally wears a toupee)

History:

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#10) - Seth Voelker was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He grew to become a college economics professor but failed to achieve tenure and was dismissed; he was soon hired by Roxxon as a financial analyst. He soon uncovered some of Roxxon's illegal activities, and applied for mutagenic alteration. They surgically implanted technology in him which would allow him to control miniaturized N^th Projector technology built into a specially-created cloak, allowing him to teleport.

(Captain America Annual#10/2 (fb)) - In his capacity as a Roxxon executive, Seth visited Quincy McIver in the hospital. The criminal Quincy had lost all four limbs to underwater propellers, and Roxxon saw him as a perfect test case for an experiment in prosthetics. He was worked on at their Brand Corporation labs for a week, and Seth visited him again when Quincy awoke to find he had what Seth called "Roxxon's idea of an improvement" - his legs had been replaced with a prosthetic serpent's body.

(Marvel Two-in-One#65 - BTS (fb)) - Roxxon outfitted and trained Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Death Adder as the Serpent Squad to find the Serpent Crown and bring it to them. To this end, they placed an oil derrick in the Pacific and used it as a base; once they found the Crown they set off underwater explosions to bring it to the surface; this had the unintended side effect of damaging the derrick. When the hero Stingray investigated underwater, Anaconda threw him back onto the derrick.

(Marvel Two-in-One#64) - At that Pacific Roxxon oil derrick, the Serpent Society revealed themselves to Ben Grimm, demanding that he surrender.

(Marvel Two-in-One#65) - When the Thing checked on Stingray, Anaconda snuck up behind him and punched him, giving Death Adder time to get his claws on Stingray; Sidewinder used the threat of Adder's toxins to force Grimm to agree to being chained, with Stingray, to a pylon. The Squad returned underwater, where Anaconda found the crown and gave it to Sidewinder, the Thing and Stingray soon returned, with the Inhuman Triton; Sidewinder teleported into the Squad's air-sub and fled while the others fought, dropping a depth charge which accidentally buried his teammates.

(Marvel Two-in-One#66) - In the air-sub, Sidewinder went to Washington D.C., resisting the temptation to try the Crown on. In D.C. he turned it over to Roxxon president Hugh Jones, who was wearing a second crown; Jones revealed that he had fashioned the Serpent Squad to dredge up the Crown. Fearing the insane Jones' powers, Sidewinder quickly departed.

(Iron Man Legacy#7) - Geoffrey Wilder hired Sidewinder and hist first attempt at an Serpent Society including Anaconda, Cobra, Diamondback, Puff and Rattler to kill Tony Stark in Los Angeles. They attacked him at a scrapyard, but Stark escaped their first attack and quickly put together some weapons.

(Iron Man Legacy#8) - The Serpent Society surrounded the hut Stark was hiding in and were surprised when Stark blew it up, knocking out all but Anaconda and Sidewinder. The latter threatened Stark while the former tried to crush him only to get knocked out by an electrical charge released from Stark's chestplate.

(Captain America I#307) - Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Death Adder broke into Sidewinder's apartment. Sidewinder was not home, so they decided to sit and wait for him.

(Captain America I#308) - While rifling through Sidewinder's belongings, Black Mamba found and showed the other two a series of files on them on several other snake themed criminals, including Princess Python, Asp, Cobra, and Constrictor. Sidewinder returned home and interrupted them, he teleported away, donned his costume, and returned. Anaconda demanded the money he owed them from their first job together ($10,000 each), and Sidewinder retrieved it from his safe with about 20% added interest from investments he'd made with the money. He then asked the trio to stay and listen to his proposal for an original criminal operation, which would make the money they just got seem like subway fare.

(Captain America I#309) - Sidewinder teleported into Ryker's Island prison, and teleported out with Cobra.

(Captain America I#310) - At a posh midtown Manhattan hotel, Sidewinder had invited several serpent-themed mercenaries to attend the organizational meeting for the Serpent Society. Those present were Sidewinder, Black Mamba, Death Adder, Princess Python, Cottonmouth, Diamondback, Constrictor, Bushmaster, Cobra (later King Cobra), Asp, Rattler, and Anaconda. Sidewinder's pitch was to mimic the heroes and to band together as a united group. He'd spent the previous nine months laying the groundwork for his new group, and promised a guaranteed pay scale, insurance, medical plans, pensions, greater access to tools and data, and, thanks to Sidewinder's teleportational abilities, no fear of long-term imprisonment. All but one attendee agreed to join; Constrictor refused and left.

(Captain America I#310) - To test their ability to be team players, Sidewinder split the group into three sections, and set each group out in a van to complete a different project. Anaconda, Rattler, and Cobra were sent to the abandoned Brand Long Island complex (410 Gannon Avenue, Long Island City) where Brand's mutagenics department had created Sidewinder and his original Serpent Squad. Anaconda was captured while the other two returned with the Brand equipment; using his teleportational abilities Sidewinder quickly freed Anaconda from jail, and that evening she beat Constrictor into unconsciousness.

(Captain America I#311) - Following the successful completion of all three tasks, Sidewinder reconvened the group in their new headquarters, the Serpent Citadel. Seeking to advertise the group, Sidewinder broke them into teams of two and sent them to contact all the major criminal and subversive organizations in America. Among the potential contactees were the Maggia, Zodiac, Secret Empire, Kingpin, AIM, and Hydra. Asp and Cottonmouth made contact with the Kingpin in Manhattan, while Diamondback and Bushmaster made contact with AIM's inner council (convincing them to hire the group to assassinate MODOK). The make-up of the other groups and who each contacted is unrevealed.

(Captain America I#313) - Sidewinder remained at the Serpent Citadel, coordinating the five groups of two which he'd sent out hunting MODOK. Diamondback and Bushmaster found their quarry off the shore of New Jersey, though Bushmaster was seriously wounded in an initial fight with MODOK; Sidewinder ordered all teams to New Jersey while he saw to the retrieval of Bushmaster and his transport to the Citadel's infirmary. The team cornered MODOK in a mall and killed him, despite Captain America's interference.

(Captain America I#315 - BTS) - Sidewinder freed from jail those serpents who had been imprisoned, and had Princess Python captured and brought to the Citadel.

(Captain America I#315) - Needing MODOK's corpse as proof of their success, Sidewinder sent Anaconda, Black Mamba, Asp, and Cobra to steal the body from the Monmouth County morgue. The foursome delivered the body to AIM and received $100,000 in payment. Meanwhile, Sidewinder was "making an example" of Princess Python (with an intent to ransom her to the Circus of Crime) so that his fellow serpents would be less likely to betray the Society (he was also clouding her memories of the Citadel so she could do no further harm to the Society). When the team returned with the money, Sidewinder then distributed it to the Society, with commendations and bonuses going to Death Adder and Cottonmouth for inflicting the killing blows. This was interrupted by a call from the Porcupine, trying to sell his armor to the Society, but Sidewinder quickly hung up on him and then scolded Cobra once he learned that Cobra had given the man the Society's business card. Porcupine soon called again, claiming to have captured Captain America, and Sidewinder sent Death Adder, Rattler, Cottonmouth, and Diamondback to investigate, but it proved to be a trap arranged by Captain America, who captured three of the four (Diamondback escaped). Sidewinder soon freed them all from jail, but Captain America waited in their cells and confronted Sidewinder as he rescued them, learning how they were escaping.

(Captain America I#380 - BTS (fb)) - Princess Python was mindwiped by Sidewinder and the Society.

(Captain America I#318 - BTS) - Sidewinder assigned Death Adder to return Princess Python to the Circus of Crime in exchange for a $10,000 ransom.

(Captain America I#319) - When Death Adder's Serpent Saucer crashed, Sidewinder sent Rattler and Cobra to comb the wreckage, but they could find no clues to his disappearance. All the Serpents (except Diamondback, who was out on a solo mission) were sent looking for him, but Sidewinder found Death Adder's body in the local morgue. He ordered everyone to drop all missions and concentrate on finding the killer. Sidewinder sent Cobra and Bushmaster after some AIM loyalists, Asp and Anaconda after the Circus of Crime, Black Mamba to Death Adder's parents, Rattler and Cottonmouth to seek information from some of the Kingpin's underlings, and Diamondback investigated the Foolkiller (Salinger) in Indiana.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#13 - BTS (fb)) - At some point following Death Adder's murder, Sidewinder secretly placed tiny tracking chips in the skulls of all the Society members, allowing him to track them and teleport to their locations. He later told Diamondback and the X-Men about these.

(Captain America I#338 - BTS) - Sidewinder learned, presumably from newscasts, of four serpent-themed criminals (Fer-de-Lance, Black Racer, Puff Adder, Copperhead) who had been arrested following a string of casino robberies in Las Vegas.

(Captain America I#338) - The four serpent-villains were held in the same Las Vegas cell, opposite the vigilantes who'd captured them. Sidewinder teleported in and began freeing the snake-themed villains one-by-one, but by the time he came to the last, Fer-de-Lance, the Captain (Captain America, in another identity) had broken into the cell and grabbed Sidewinder before he could teleport out. Sidewinder grabbed Fer-de-Lance by the throat and threatened to kill her with his "side effects," forcing the Captain to let him go to save the villainess' life.

(Captain America I#341/3 - BTS) - Sidewinder and Black Mamba had began a romantic (or at least sexual) relationship at some point in their history.

(Captain America I#341/3 - BTS) - Though interested in Captain America, Diamondback apparently made a play for Sidewinder, but was warned off by Black Mamba, who had already staked her claim. Diamondback also apparently had a brief fling with Rattler, whose vibrating tail allegedly had erotic applications.

(Captain America I#341/3) - Sidewinder introduced the four new Serpents to the charter members, and appointed them as probationary members of the team, with full status to be determined in three months time, and their first assignments to be given the following morning at 9AM. That night, Viper disguised herself as Black Mamba and entered Sidewinder's bedroom and bit him, poisoning him, but he barely teleported away. He popped in on Diamondback, who gave him the Cobra's universal anti-toxin, and the pair teleported to their communications post as Puff Adder broke in the door. On the cameras, they saw a number of snakes they didn't recognize (Coachwhip, Boomslang, Rock Python) in the building, plus it became apparent that the newcomers plus some of their own were allied with Viper. Sidewinder lost consciousness and Diamondback sought help from Captain America (then the Captain) by calling his Hotline.

(Captain America I#341/3 - BTS) - Diamondback subsequently warned Fer-de-Lance that Mamba wouldn't tolerate competition when her new teammate expressed interest in the group's leader, but recommended Rattler as an alternative option for a "good time."

(Captain America I#342) - Diamondback activated Sidewinder's cloak, dropping her and Sidewinder in a pond outside. There, she met up with the Captain, Nomad, D-Man, Falcon, and Vagabond. Vagabond took Sidewinder to the hospital; Black Racer found them in an ambulance, but Vagabond defeated Black Racer by throwing all three of them from the ambulance and arranging to land on Black Racer.

(Captain America I#345) - Having recovered, Sidewinder teleported with Vagabond into Diamondback's cell (she had been arrested following Viper's acts of terrorism in Washington D.C.) and rescued her. At Diamondback's request they also freed Nomad, though D-Man declined to be rescued and Vagabond remained behind with him.

(Captain America Annual#10/3) - Unable to accept his former comrades' betrayals, Sidewinder left the Serpent Society in exchange for a 25% cut of the group's future earnings. He turned the entire group's assets over to Cobra, who assumed leadership.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#13) - Ghaur and Llyra offered Sidewinder, unaware that he no longer led the Society, a commission to steal four mystical items. He sent them to Cobra. Diamondback, who was loyal to Sidewinder, pretended to rejoin the Society, intending to steal the items once the Society gathered them. Once she had gathered all four items, Sidewinder teleported in to the home of the mystic Mr. Jip, who was there with Diamondback and the X-Men, and teleported out again with the arcane items and Diamondback. After he and Diamondback received a chest of sunken coins and jewels from Ghaur and Llyra as payment, Sidewinder sent Cobra and the Serpent Society a ten percent commission for their troubles.

(Captain America I#371/2) - Sidewinder's sister was revealed to own an upper east-side (New York) fashion boutique.

(Captain America I#379/2) - The fashion boutique was named Collette's Fashion Boutique; on at least one day Diamondback's supervisor there was named Maggie.

(Captain America I#380) - When Diamondback was to be executed by the Society, Sidewinder teleported in to their New York City citadel and teleported her away at the last second.

(Captain America I#381) - Sidewinder teleported Diamondback to his upper west side town house apartment, and told her that Black Mamba had called him to come rescue her. Though Diamondback wanted him to get Black Mamba out, Sidewinder refused, saying he and Mamba were even and she would not want to be in his debt. He began packing his most important belongings, expecting some of the Society to come after him at any moment.

(Captain America Annual#10/3) - Sidewinder reflected on his attempted retirement since he left the Society, and his fears that Cobra (now King Cobra), though currently behind bars with most of the rest of the Society, would eventually come after him. Wanting to square himself with King Cobra, he traveled to Colorado in 50 mile leaps, teleported into the Vault, and then out again with King Cobra. However, a Guardsman's blast dislocated his shoulder; weak, he left Cobra, calling them even, and teleported away. Cobra, however, saw only Sidewinder's abandonment, not the rescue, and swore to get even.

(Captain America I#424) - Seth was reading to his daughter Amelia at the hospital when Dr. Clenending told him that, as he'd told Seth's ex-wife, the daughter needed a very expensive brain operation which had an 80% chance of controlling her brain seizures, but that it was not doable as the daughter's health insurance had lapsed. Seth told the daughter to schedule the surgery, and he'd get the money (he estimated the total costs or surgery and rehabilitation to be $250,000). He contacted Captain America, saying he wanted to stay straight, and asked his help in raising the money, but Captain America declined. Sidewinder then took to robbing drug dealers, but Diamondback, who was friends with Captain America, confronted him at his Varick St. (Jersey City) home. He continued robbing drug dealers, but signaled Diamondback when he was caught in a gunfight; she and Captain America rescued him. He agreed to accept the deal the Captain offered him: in exchange for his surrendering to the authorities and cooperating fully with them, Captain America would guarantee full medical coverage for his daughter. Three weeks later, after Amelia's successful surgery, Seth got to communicate by vidphone from jail with his fully recovering daughter.

(New Thunderbolts#7) - Seth, having recently earned his parole from the Raft, appeared on a panel discussion about the Thunderbolts, televised on the Action News Network (hosted by Brie Larmer), as an expert on supervillain redemption .

(Villains for Hire#0.1) - Sidewinder used Stilt-Man and moloids to steal Asgardian artifacts for an illegal online auction, but was stopped by Misty Knight's Heroes for Hire with Paladin the one to apprehend him.

(Avenging Spider-Man#4) - While snake-costumed henchmen distracted Hawkeye and Spider-Man Sidewinder tried to gas Grand Central Station with a grenade launcher, but Spider-Man still managed to reach him and knocked out Sidewinder.

(Elektra III#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Assassins Guild hired the Serpent Society to hunt down Elektra, Matchmaker, Cape Crow and Kento Roe.

(Elektra III#7 (fb) - BTS) - Sidewinder psychically stayed in contact with a telepathic member of the Assassins Guild throughout the mission.

(Elektra III#6) - The Serpent Society (Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder) found their targets in the Himalayas at the Quiet Refuge, a long-forgotten Inhuman memorial, nearby the former location of Attilan. Annoyed by Kenta Sidewinder told Mamba that this was the reason they never had children. They concentrated their attacks on Elektra to lure the others to Cape Crow's hideout where Lady Bullseye was already waiting to slay him. Elektra broke Sidewinder's jaw before taking out the other Serpents and following her allies to Cape Crow's hideout.

(Elektra III#7) - After defeating Lady Bullseye, who had killed Matchmaker, Elektra returned to Sidewinder and forced him to take her to the Assassins Guild. Sidewinder teleported Elektra to New Orleans where she was ambushed by Jack O'Lantern, Whiplash and Tiger Shark. Sidewinder fled with his Assassins Guild contact, but Elektra followed them and slew everyone except Sidewinder, who promised to retire again if she let him live.

(Elektra III#11) - Sidewinder and the other Assassins Guild members were ordered to meet their new leader in Isla de las Munecas in Mexico. Elektra revealed herself to be their new leader, but actually vowed to destroy the Assassins Guild.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writers), George Perez (penciler), Gene Day (inker).

   At least two others have taken up the Sidewinder mantle after Seth. One Sidewinder was killed serving Death-Sting; another Sidewinder currently works with the Serpent Society.

   In Uncanny X-Men Annual#13, Sidewinder revealed to Diamondback that all Society member had tiny transceivers implanted into their necks, under their skin, so that he could track them. Presumably all the original Society members had these (and may still have them), though given that Sidewinder had to have the entire group search for Death Adder, clearly these were implanted after Death Adder was killed, but before Viper's takeover.

   Between Seth's imprisonment in Captain America I#424 and his release in New Thunderbolts#7, there were at least two appearances by a Sidewinder. Each of these has been revealed to be someone other than Seth, though neither of their true identities are known. The earlier of these two has been killed.

It's not (yet) confirmed that the Sidewinder in Villains for Hire was Seth, but business acumen sounds like him especially since Sidewinder talked about retiring again in Elektra III#6.

Iron Man Legacy#7-8 occurred shortly after Tony Stark had lost control of Stark International to Obidiah Stane. There is even the cover of Iron Man I#173 (August, 1983) seen as Wall Street Journals' cover in Iron Man Legacy#6. This is a bit problematic because the Serpent Society wasn't even founded at that point and Puff Adder had joined the Society as an infiltrator even later. Maybe he got kicked out and this was Sidewinder's first attempt with a smaller roster to establish themselves.

Mrs. Voelker (the ex-wife) is named Donna per Sidewinder's profile in Captain America: America's Avenger Handbook entry.
--James Cope

Thanks to Ron Fredricks for cleaning up the main image.

Profile by SQUEAK

CLARIFICATIONS:
Sidewinder (Seth Voelker) should not be confused with

• Sidewinder, another wearer of the costume, who died working for Death-Sting @ Iron Fist III#1
• Sidewinder, a new wearer of the costume @ Captain America III#31
• Silver Sidewinder, a 19^th century old west hypnotist @ Two-Gun Kid#91
• any other "side" or "winder" characters, nor anyone else named Voelker
• or anyone else with a similar name

Amelia "Amy" Voelker

Amy is Seth Voelker (Sidewinder)'s young daughter. She suffered from a condition which caused brain seizures, and required extensive hospitalization. Her father agreed to go to jail, and served his full term, in exchange for Captain America's guarantee that Amy would get full medical coverage; the brain surgery proved successful.

--Captain America I#424

Mrs. Voelker

Mrs. Voelker is Sidewinder's ex-wife, and mother of their daughter Amy. Once she learned of his criminal activities she divorced Seth and was granted custody of Amy, but she refused to incriminate her husband when Captain America asked her to. Though she disapproved of her husband's old ways, she termed him a great provider for their child.

--Captain America I#424

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10, pg 9 (main image)
Captain American #381, pg2 p4 (headshot)
Captain American #338, pg18 p2 (side effects)
Captain America Annual #10/3, pg 4 (cross country teleporting)
Captain American #424, pg 11 p1 (Amelia)
Captain American #424, pg 11 p3 (Mrs. Voelker)

Appearances:
Marvel Two-in-One#64-65 (June-July, 1980) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writers), George Perez (penciler), Gene Day (inker), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Marvel Two-in-One#66 (August, 1980) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writers), Jerry Bingham (penciler), Gene Day (inker), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#308-311 (August-November, 1985) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Dennis Janke (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#313 (January, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#315 (March, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Dennis Janke (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#319 (July, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Joe Sinnott (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#338 (February, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Kieron Dwyer (penciler), Tom Morgan (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#341-342, 345 (May-June, September, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Kieron Dwyer (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual#13 (1989) - Terry Austin (writer), Mike Vosburg (penciler/inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Captain America I#371/2 (June, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#379/2 (November, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Dan Panosian (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#380-381 (December, 1990-January, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Ron Lim (penciler), Dan Bulanadi (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America Annual#10 (1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Don Heck (penciler/inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)

First Posted: 06/13/2007
Last updated: 12/12/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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