SEA URCHIN

Real Name: Jeremy Swimming Bear

Identity/Class: Human;
    Native American (nation unidentified);
    presumably citizen of the United States of America, likely with a criminal record;
    identity publicly known 

Occupation: Marine salvage specialist, plunderer, mercenary

Group Membership: Deep Six (Attuma, Nagala, Orka, Piranha, Tiger Shark)

Affiliations: Cardinal (Donald Joshua Clendenon), Mr. Kashnyev, Sea Urchin support crew (Candace and unrevealed others)

Enemies: Defenders (Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond, Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd, Dr. Stephen Strange, Valkyrie/Samantha Parrington), New Warriors (Firestar/Angelica Jones, Namorita Prentiss, Nova/Richard Ryder, Silhouette Chord, Speedball/Robbie Baldwin, Turbo/Michiko Musashi), Project: Earth (Michael Shauneghann and unrevealed others)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Pig", "that barracuda" (nicknames used by Namorita)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Atlantis;
    formerly the federal criminal courthouse, New York City;
    formerly his mothership, mobile across the Eastern seaboard
                               

First Appearance: New Warriors I#14 (August, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: Jeremy Swimming Bear possesses no known superhuman abilities. As Sea Urchin, he wears a large suit of armor that can withstand ocean floor pressures and grants him superhuman speed when submerged, superhuman strength (somewhere between Class 25 - Class 75) and enhanced durability; the uppermost levels of each are unrevealed. The armor is equipped with an extending heat-conduction coil; a foot-long arm-mounted blade; foot-long metal spikes of unrevealed composition that can be fired from wrist-mounted launchers; spotlights to see along the ocean floor; unspecified energy and electricity projectors; and communication devices to project his voice over loudspeakers and communicate with support ships on the surface. The armor can release ballasts for rapid ascent to the surface, but doing so causes a risk of contracting a case of extreme nitrogen narcosis ("the bends"). To minimize this potentially lethal effect, Urchin has a hyperbaric pressure chamber installed on his support vessels.

    The Sea Urchin uses several sea worthy vessels equipped with the necessary dredging and salvage equipment for his sub-aquatic pillaging operations. The ships also have a supply of depth charges, and the crew is armed with machine guns and other firearms. On occasion, he has used a helicopter and a submarine. Swimming Bear has extensive knowledge of deep-sea diving, nautical operations in general and Atlantean history and culture in specific. He is fluent in English and Russian. 

History:
(New Warriors I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Native American Jeremy Swimming Bear gained a reputation as an unscrupulous marine salvage specialist and mercenary. To keep a semblance of legitimacy, he regularly registered his shipping routes and salvage plans with the Maritime Commission. However, he would also regularly don a large armored suit during the actual plundering that would take place during his sojourns. When Swimming Bear bombed a dock in France that belonged to the environmental organization Project: Earth, the extremists began to take notice of him. Pretty soon the environmental media began to report on Swimming Bear's allegedly activities, nicknaming him "Sea Urchin," a nom de plume he hated because he felt it made him sound cheap.

(New Warriors I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Project: Earth also planted a spy in the Urchin's organization: Michael Shauneghann was ordered to uncover definite proof of illegal activities. Shauneghann was stationed on the Sea Urchin's mothership anchored ten miles off the shore of Staten Island. When he learned that the Urchin had started to plunder Atlantean artifacts, he covertly sent word to Namorita Prentiss who decided to check it out along with her New Warriors teammate Speedball.

(New Warriors I#14 - BTS) - Urchin had sent some of his men in a smaller boat on a smuggling run to Staten Island. There, they were confronted by Namorita and Speedball who, upon confirming they were indeed carrying stolen Atlantean goods, happily tore into the criminals. Despite the heroes' best efforts, some of the smugglers managed to escape on their boat. Namorita gave chase, but following them through the air for over ten miles back to the Urchin's mothership tired her out considerably. Still, suspecting she would encounter no serious opposition, decided to engage on her own.

(New Warriors I#14) - Moments after she'd made her presence known, Namorita was attacked by the Sea Urchin, who use his weapons array to take on the exhausted Atlantean teen. First he sapped her strength even further by dehydrating her with a heat-conduction coil. He then severely injured her by pinning her down with metal spikes piercing her limbs before savagely pounding on her broken body. Before throwing her into the ocean, Swimming Bear added insult to injury by "scalping" her, cutting off the hero's pony tail with his armor's giant blade.

(New Warriors I#14 - BTS) - While Swimming Bear continued his operations and prepared to excavate another Atlantean site, Namorita was found by the naval police. The injured heroine was rushed to shore and brought to Oracle Inc, where she told her cousin Namor about the Urchin. He promised to use Oracle's influence to take on Swimming Bear through legal channels, but that wasn't enough for the outraged and humiliated Namorita. Out for vengeance, she donned the Blood-Code Carapace,a traditional Atlantean battle armor only worn for one of two reasons: to kill or be killed. She then took off, looking for the Urchin.

(New Warriors I#14) - Sea Urchin and his crew had reached their destination, 300 miles off the coast of North Carolina. As soon as his control engineer Candace gave him the all clear, he dove down to the site and was thrilled to find it loaded with Atlantean artifacts. He was then suddenly attacked by Namorita, who explained she'd found him by simply checking the route he'd registered with the Maritime Commission. Overconfident because of their previous encounter and fascinated by her armor, Sea Urchin promised Namorita he'd soon be cracking her open like a lobster to sell her shell. Namorita countered his attacks, however, even absorbing his electric blasts and crushing part of his armor. Scared, the Urchin decided to flee by dropping his ballast pods which caused him to shoot up to the surface. On the way, he radioed his staff to get the hyperbaric chamber ready to treat his inevitable bout of the bends. Namorita caught up with him before he could get away and tore into his armor again. She couldn't bring herself to kill him, however, and tossed the defeated Urchin on to his ship. There, she was met by Project: Earth operative Michael Shauneghann who assured her he'd gathered enough evidence to put Swimming Bear behind bars for years. Somewhat satisfied, Namorita left.