MELEE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutant? (see comments)

Occupation: Adventurer

Group Membership: Initiative (Annex (Alex Ellis), Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Anthem (Henry Hellrung), Aralune (Becky Ryan), Batwing (Jimmy Santini), Butterball (Emory Schaub), Calamity (James Wa), Constrictor (Frank Payne), Crusader (Z'reg), Debrii (Deborah Fields), Diamondback (Rachel Leighton), Dragon-Lord (Tako Shamara), Enchantress (Sylvia Lushton), Firestar (Angelica Jones), Frog-Man (Eugene Patilio), Gargoyle (Isaac Christians), Gauntlet (Joseph Green), Geiger (Delilah Deerborn), Gorilla Girl (Fahnbullah Eddy), Gravity (Greg Willis), Hardball (Roger Brokeridge), Hellcat (Patsy Walker), Iceberg, Johnny Cool (John Hashimoto), Komodo (Melati Kusuma), Ms. America, Nonstop (Madeleine Michaels), Paydirt, Prima Donna, Prodigy (Ritchie Gilmore), Proton (Geldoff), Rage (Elvin Halliday), Red 9 (Wallace Jackson), Scarlet Spider (Patrick), Slapstick (Steve Harmon), Spinner, Star Sign, Stature (Cassie Lang), Stingray (Walter Newell), Stunt-Master, Sunstreak (Andrea Roarke), Supermax (Edward Black Wolf), Supernaut (Michael Fields), Taskmaster (Tony Masters), Telemetry (Marina Zane), Think Tank, Thor Girl (Tarene), 3-D Man (Delroy Garrett), 2-D, Two-Gun Kid (Matthew Hawk), Ultragirl (Suzy Sherman), Veda (Magdalena Marie), Vox, others)

Affiliations: Avengers (Ares, Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), Luke Cage, Echo (Maya Lopez), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Ronin (Clint Barton), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Wolverine (James Howlett)), Captain America (James Barnes), Nick Fury, Hood's gang (Hood (Parker Robbins), Answer (Aaron Nicholson), Blood Brothers, Brothers Grimm (Percy and Barton Grimes), Bulldozer (Henry Camp), Bushwacker, Corruptor (Jackson Day), Cutthroat (Daniel Leighton), Griffin (Johnny Horton), Madame Masque (Whitney Frost), Piledriver (Brian Calusky), Scarecrow (Ebenezer Laughton), Shockwave (Lancaster Sneed), Wizard (Bentley Wittman), Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite)), Howard the Duck, Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder), Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Secret Warriors (Druid (Sebastian Druid), Hellfire (JT James), Phobos (Alex Aaron), Quake (Daisy Johnson), Slingshot (Yo-Yo Rodriguez), Stonewall (Jerry Sledge)), Thor, Thunderbolts (Bullseye (Lester), Moonstone (Karla Sofen), Norman Osborn, Penance (Robert Baldwin), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Swordsman (Andreas Strucker), Venom (Mac Gargan)), Yellowjacket (Criti Noll), Young Avengers (Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Patriot (Eli Bradley), Speed (Tommy Shepherd), Vision (Jonas), Wiccan (Billy Caplan))

Enemies: KIA (Michael Van Patrick clone), Skrulls (Veranke, others)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Camp Hammond, Stamford, Connecticut

First Appearance: Avengers: The Initiative I#8 (February, 2008)

Powers/Abilities: Melee was a master of all forms of martial arts. She is in excellent physical shape.

Height: 5'9" (approximate)
Weight: 145 lbs (approximate)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History: (Avengers: The Initiative I#8) - Melee registered as a superhuman under the Superhuman Registration Act and was brought to Camp Hammond in Stamford, Connecticut for training alongside Ant-Man, Crusader, Diamondback, Dragon-Lord, Geiger, Proton, and Red 9. When they arrived in camp, their drill sergeant Taskmaster looked them over, making sure to pay special attention to Melee due to their similar powers. She and the other cadets then had their first lesson as the Taskmaster showed them how to take down larger opponents when a three-way brawl erupted between Ant-Man, Stature and Yellowjacket.

(Avengers: The Initiative I#9) - Taskmaster took the new class down to the combat simulator. To determine his new charges' abilities and thus set the simulator to avoid harming them, the Taskmaster took them all on first, easily handling them including the indignant Melee. He then set the training robots on them, tasking them with buying Dragon-Lord time to conjure a dragon. Their training was interrupted when the deranged Initiative experiment KIA blasted through the wall. The cadets unwisely attempted to take him on and he swiftly defeated them all, killing Dragon-Lord and blowing the Crusader's hand off. 

(Avengers: The Initiative I#12) - Melee and her fellow trainees joined Taskmaster and Triathlon in presenting Dragon-Lord's cremated remains to his family in Long Island.

(Secret Invasion I#3/Avengers: The Initiative I#15) - Melee was among the Initiative members who greeted 3-D Man upon his return from Hawaii, having learned of an imminent Skrull invasion but, thanks to the heroic Skrull Crusader's attempts to avoid detection, 3-D Man's Skrull-detecting goggles saw Melee and all the others as Skrulls. At the command of Yellowjacket (who really was a Skrull), Melee and her fellow cadets headed for Times Square to battle an invading force of Super-Skrulls. Melee and her fellow cadets joined forces with the Young Avengers, who were already on the scene. The Skrulls soon overwhelmed them and Melee and the others could only watch as the aliens executed Proton. Soon, however, Nick Fury arrive on the scene with his Secret Warriors to bail them out.

(Secret Invasion I#4) - The Secret Warriors evacuated Melee and the other trainees from the battlefield.

(Secret Invasion I#6) - Having regrouped and recovered, Melee and the rest of the Initiative joined the Secret Warriors and Young Avengers in attacking a Skrull force in Greenwich Village. Victorious, they moved on to Central Park, where they allied with the Avengers, the Thunderbolts and the Hood's gang of super-criminals to take on the main Skrull army.

(Avengers: The Initiative I#21) - While her fellow cadets received their graduation assignments, Melee was ordered to remain behind for further training. While she was outraged and suspected she was being discriminated against for being Latina, Diamondback assured her that it was only because she was being groomed to become an instructor.

(Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt I#1) - When the Serpent (Cul) began his reign of terror on Earth, Steve Rogers commissioned Prodigy to reassemble the Initiative to handle the fear-induced rioting that was spreading across the country. Melee was among the Initiative members who gathered in Washington DC to rejoin.

Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, and Stefano Caselli.

Melee seems a little young to have mastered every form of martial arts, so I assume that she's some kind of superhuman. Maybe the result of another one of the Taskmaster's little transgressions like Avengers Academy's Finesse might have been?

Unfortunately, Melee never really got her time to shine as the Initiative plunged headlong into a bunch of linewide crossovers right around the time she joined the book. We didn't really see what happened to her after Norman Osborn took over the Initiative. Maybe she quit, maybe she stayed on at the relocated Camp HAMMER but whatever happened, she was at least still alive by the time Fear Itself came along, so at least she got luckier than poor Proton.

Profile by Minor Irritant.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Melee has no known connections to:

images: (without ads))
Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt I#1, p10-11, pan1 (main image)
Avengers: The Initiative I#9, p14, pan1 (in action)

Appearances:
Avengers: The Initiative I#8-9 (February-March, 2008) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#12 (June, 2008) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Steve Uy (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion I#3 (August, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#15 (September, 2008) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Harvey Tolibao (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion I#4 (September, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinel Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion I#6 (November, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinel Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#21 (March, 2009) - Christos Gage (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Jeanine Schaefer (editor)
Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt I#1 (July, 2011) - Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)

First Posted: 07/29/2015
Last updated: 06/14/2015

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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