AGENCÉ BYZANTINE
Membership: None named
Purpose: International arms dealers
Affiliations: A.I.M., Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo), Black Spectre, Hydra, Midas Investments (Mr. Zachary, others), Secret Empire
Enemies: Austin Cao, Rachel Cole-Alves, Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Hulk (Bruce Banner), Punisher (Frank Castle), Mr. Randall, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Maria Hill, others), Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Daredevil III#6 (January, 2012)
History:
(Daredevil III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Working with the company Midas Investments, Agencé Byzantine agreed to a formal financial relationship with four other criminal organizations, including Secret Empire, Black Spectre, A.I.M. and Hydra. Over a period of years, Midas arranged for the groups to give over billions of gigs of data regarding confidential operations, and they placed it all on the Omegadrive, an unhackable and indestructible device held on unstable molecules.
When two Midas employees, Austin Cao and Mr. Randall, seemingly betrayed the company to Daredevil, Mr. Zachary of Midas sent the super-villain Bruiser after them.
(Daredevil III#6) - Bruiser returned Randall to Zachary, who also had Cao brought there, in front of representatives from all five organizations. Daredevil attacked, soon defeating Bruiser and getting Randall and Cao to safety. When Daredevil got the Omegadrive, the five agents killed Zachary. They pulled their guns on Daredevil, but the hero helped them realize that they would all kill each other to get the Omegadrive, and they chose to let him leave with Cao and Randall.
(Daredevil III#10.1 (fb) - BTS) - An agent from each of the five crime organizations spent two weeks trying to come up with a unified plan to take down Murdock and get the Omegadrive, but they didn't trust each other.
(Daredevil III#10.1) - At the Lateverian embassy, the five agents continued arguing about tactics when Daredevil burst in, revealing the duplicity of Black Spectre. Daredevil had uploaded the Omegadrive intel on all of Black Spectre's criminal activities to the Daily Bugle, Interpol, and S.H.I.E.L.D., and the entire organization had been dismantled, including the locations of their strongholds and their activities in gunrunning and illegal holdings, as well as the money laundering of billions. Daredevil threatened to do the same to any other organization who tried to act against him, then he left the last Black Spectre agent there by himself as the other four drew guns on him.
(Punisher IX#10) - Members of Agencé Byzantine, Hydra, A.I.M., and the Secret Empire battled Daredevil, Spider-Man, Punisher, and Rachel Cole-Alves for the Omegadrive. Daredevil threatened to destroy the drive, but Rachel grabbed it from him.
(Daredevil III#11) - Agencé Bynzatine and the other groups swarmed in as the heroes escaped and the drive was secured.
(Daredevil III#13) - Agencé Byzantine and the other groups closed in on Daredevil, who wore the Omegadrive brazenly around his neck in the city. Just as they were triumphing over the hero, Black Spectre agents in battle armor (secretly the Avengers) attacked and stole the drive.
(Hawkeye IV#4) - A member of Agencé Byzantine attended an auction for a video tape that supposedly contained footage of Hawkeye (Clint Barton) committing a murder, but Madame Masque (secretly Kate Bishop) won the bid.
(Indestructible Hulk#9) - Working with Baron Zemo, Agencé Byzantine brought in a ship full of deadly weapons into New York City, but Hulk and S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked them, liberating the weapons and destroying the ship. Daredevil stopped Hulk from killing one of the agents, then they went searching for the previously sold weapons.
(Indestructible Hulk#10 - BTS) - S.H.I.E.L.D. worked on cleaning up the inventory from the Agencé Byzantine ship.
(War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery#4) - Members of Agencé Byzantine attended the Henchfest convention. A brief fight broke out when a few heroes (Wonder Man, Sebastian Druid, Thori, Death Locket, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Balder the Brave) showed up.
Comments: Created by Mark Waid (writer) and Marcos Martin (artist).
Profile by Chadman.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Agencé Byzantine should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Daredevil III#6, p16, pan1 (agent with guns)
Indestructible Hulk#9, p6, pan1 (versus Hulk)
Daredevil III#13, p8, pan3 (Agencé Byzantine agent)
Appearances:
Daredevil III#6 (January, 2012) - Mark Waid (writer), Marcos Martin (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Daredevil III#10.1 (June, 2012) - Mark Waid (writer), Khoi Pham (artist), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Daredevil III#11 (June, 2012) - Mark Waid (writer), Marco Checchetto (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Punisher IX#10 (June, 2012) - Greg Rucka (writer), Marco Checchetto (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Daredevil III#13 (July, 2012) - Mark Waid (writer), Khoi Pham (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Hawkeye IV#4 (January, 2013) - Matt Fraction (writer), Javier Pulido (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Indestructible Hulk#9-10 (August-September, 2013) - Mark Waid (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery#4 (August, 2019) - Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy (writers), Andre Lima Araujo (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
First Posted: 12/30/2019
Last updated: 12/30/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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