SILENT SHADOWS

Membership: Four individuals, none named

Purpose: To protect Morelle Pharmaceuticals

Affiliations: Morelle Pharmaceuticals (Damon Morelle, Ashley Croix)

Enemies: Nightwatch, Venom (Eddie Brock)

Base of Operations: Morelle Pharmaceuticals compound, San Francisco

First Appearance: Nightwatch#5 (August, 1994)

History: (Nightwatch#5) - When Nightwatch invaded Morelle Pharmaceuticals' San Francisco facility, seeking the secrets of Project: Sharkskin (which had created his costume), the Silent Shadows (four Morelle agents in suits equipped with wrist-mounted para-lasers and cloaking systems) snuck up behind him and stunned him with their para-lasers.

(Nightwatch#6) - Before they could finish Nightwatch off, the Shadows were attacked by Venom (who had infiltrated the compound while investigating the accident that created Sunstreak). Overwhelmed by the lethal protector, the Shadows set their para-lasers to "kill"; however, Nightwatch's paralysis soon wore off, and he rejoined the battle. As the facility began to self-destruct, Nightwatch took out one, but he blasted Nightwatch's gauntlet in the process, breaking his arm; his cloak took down two others, but Venom chided him for his lack of killer instinct and apparently killed one of them. The remaining Shadow downloaded the facility's Project: Sharkskin data onto a disc; before Nightwatch could stop him, he was distracted by Morelle scientist Ashley Croix, his ex-lover. While Nightwatch saved Croix, the Silent Shadow fled.

Comments: Created by Terry Kavanagh, Mark Tenney, and Thomas Florimonte.

Given that Venom apparently killed one, and the two Nightwatch knocked out probably didn't have time to get out before the facility blew up, there's probably only one surviving Silent Shadow.

I...assume these guys have some kind of stealth powers, given their name. Venom says they "slip and slide through the shadows", but they're never drawn as anything but totally visible. Their word bubbles are dotted-lines, indicating that their voices are muffled, at least...or that they're just whispering all the time, which would be funnier.

Could these guys be any more generic? There's a set of techno-armored mercenaries/assassins/security guys in every other '90s Spider-book...where do they even come from? Is there a cyber-mercenary temp agency?

Profile by Minor Irritant.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Silent Shadows has no known connections to

• SILENT, terrorist cell that became the Beyond Corporation @ Nextwave#1
• Silent Fox, Wyatt Wingfoot's grandfather @ Fantastic Four I#80
• Silent One, servant of Infinity @ Thor I#184
• Silent Ones, trolls of the Isle of Silence @ Avengers I#1
• Silent Ones, extradimensional entities @ Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#1
• Silent Ones, Cheemuzwa tribe, taught Miracle Man @ Fantastic Four I#138
• "Silent Scream", Red Skull agent @ Captain America Annual I#13
• Silencers, assassins who were created by Terry Kavanagh and are pretty much exactly these guys @ Web of Spider-Man I#113
• Camouflage Cadre, mercenaries who were created by Terry Kavanagh, work for Morelle, and are also even more exactly these guys @ Nightwatch#9
• or any other silent shadowy guys

images: (without ads)
Nightwatch#5, p22, pan3 (main image)

Appearances:
Nightwatch#5 (August, 1994) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Mark Tenney (pencils), Thomas Florimonte (inker), Eric Fein (editor)
Nightwatch#6 (September, 1994) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Mark Tenney and Roy Burdine (pencils), Don Hudson, Thomas Florimonte, and Richard Perotta (inkers), Eric Fein (editor)

Last updated: 06/03/11.

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Back to Groups