DEEP SIGHT

Real Name: Jane Melville 

Identity/Class: Human cyborg;
    citizen of the United Kingdom 

Occupation: Adventurer;
   former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent

Group Membership: Euroforce (Argento/Michele Argento, Danger/Dolph Dongen, Key/Geyr Kluge, Nuage/Silvie Rouge, Picaro/Antonio Rey, Tiger/Hughes Aït-Kaci);
   formerly EuroLab (Danger, Key, Nuage, Picaro), EuroMind, S.H.I.E.L.D.   

Affiliations: Director François Borillon, Moloid Subterraneans, Task Force (Argento, Blue Condor/Emilie Scholz, Dragonfly/Cornelia van der Valk, Iceboy/Hamish Carlyle, Tiger)

Enemies: A.I.M., Lords of War (Kaneda, Oda, Sakuragi, others), S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) Commission, "Skrullified" subterranean Inhumans

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout Europe;
   formerly EuroMind base, Spain 

First Appearance: Europa#0 (April 1996)  

Powers/Abilities: The full extent of Deep Sight's cybernetic abilities remains undocumented, but she has a degree of superhuman strength, can deliver electric shocks, and is able to survive falling from great heights by taking the impact on her left leg - presumably the right half side of her body has internal reinforcement to avoid the shockwave from such impacts demolishing her human half. She is unaffected by pressure changes that would incapacitate a normal human.

    She has an inbuilt tactical computer and can interface directly with computers and similar machines; her bionic right eye can project holograms and has infrared, telescopic and telemetric functions, and she has an inbuilt radio and parabolic microphone. With one half of her body constructed from metal, she has some balance issues, and needed specially calibrated climbing equipment to descend into the Spanish caves housing the mutated Inhumans.

    She displays a lack of emotions that might be related to the computer in her mind, but might equally be a side effect of the emotional trauma caused by nearly dying and being rebuilt as part-machine, or might simply be a scientific detachment she always had. She has training, probably to at least degree level, in biology and computer science, and is an expert hacker.   

    Her Adamantium prostheses are virtually indestructible.

Height: 5'11" (by approximation)
Weight: (Fully human) 155 lbs.; (with bionics) 500 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: (Right, bionic) red; (left, organic) green.
Hair: Brown

History: (Europa#1 back cover text) - Born in Birmingham, England, Jane Melville was a gifted student of biology and computer science, but when she was 28 she was a victim of a bomb attack (see comments) that destroyed much of the left side of her body. Under unrevealed circumstances she was rebuilt as a prototype cyborg with Adamantium prostheses replacing her left arm and left leg, part of her skull and an unrevealed percentage of the rest of her body. Joining S.H.I.E.L.D. with the codename Deep Sight, she was subsequently assigned to Eurolab, a group of five individuals each possessing superhuman talents that facilitated their working as a scientific research division for EuroMind, a European section of S.H.I.E.L.D. that answered to S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). They were first responders dedicated to the survey and study of all paranormal phenomena encountered within Europe (and sometimes beyond), and were based out of EuroMind's complex in a secret location near Spain's Mediterranean coast. Deep Sight was officially designated as one of the team's "research technical assistants." Though many of EuroLab possessed talents that could be used for fighting, they were not considered a combat unit, and so the rapid-response S.H.I.E.L.D. combat unit Task Force was sometimes sent along on their missions to lend assistance if required.  

(Europa#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - Deep Sight and her teammate Picaro grew suspicious of French multinational corporation Nadir, Inc., and began quietly monitoring and investigating its activities.

(Europa#0/2) - EuroLab were sent to an archeological site in Spain to investigate alleged monster sightings, though team leader Key was less than impressed to learn that Task Force were present to monitor their mission. Via a natural gorge, EuroLab descended into the cavern system below, but the descent system had not been calibrated for Deep Sight's boosted weight and her line snapped. Picaro released his harness' controls to go into freefall in an attempt to catch her, even flirting as he was about to grab her, but Deep Sight chastized him for his lack of perspicacity, noting that his line wouldn't be able to hold both their weights and that the rapid pressure change as they descended into the cavern would be hazardous to him but not her. She grabbed at his harness controls, reactivating them and bringing him to an abrupt stop, then plummeted the remaining thirty meters to the cavern floor, concentrating the impact on her Adamantium leg to allow her cyborg frame to absorb the impact with minimal damage.

    Once the others had reached the bottom safely, Deep Sight did a quick patrol of their vicinity finding nothing amiss, but then they spotted a grotesque insectoid creature which began shifting shape into something even more monstrous. Danger spotted more approaching, seemingly drawn by EuroLab's lights, and the first monster attacked. Key ordered a withdrawal into an adjacent cavern where EuroLab found humanoid skeletons which Nuage identified as Inhumans, just before she sensed another group of underground dwellers approaching, this time Moloid Subterraneans. They began mobbing Picaro, and while Danger and Key fought the insectoids, Key sent Deep Sight to Picaro's aid; barging through the Moloid mob, Deep Sight literally tossed Picaro to safety. Hearing events play out over the radio, EuroMind's Director François Borillon deployed Task Force, who dropped down into the caverns and into the fray, gunning down the monsters, but Nuage shouted to them that the Subterraneans were not hostile, merely frightened and disoriented. Accepting this, and with more monsters than they could handle anyway, Task Force began defending the Subterraneans too, targeting the attacking insectoids. More and more insectoids attacked until Dragonfly switched her gun to explosive rounds, and brought down a stone arch on the insectoids' heads, killing them all.

   Afterwards, Eurolab and Task Force discovered inscriptions explaining that the "monsters" were descendants of Inhumans who had been captured by the Spanish Inquisition, and thrown into the gorge to die. A few survived the fall, and, unable to escape the caves, scraped a living, eating whatever they could find. Then the Inquisition dropped another group of "demons" into the precipice; the remains of a crashed Skrull ship and its crew. Eating the dead Skrulls caused a mutagenic change in the remaining Inhumans, driving them insane, and they had degenerated into a colony of predators.

(Europa#1) - In the skies over Chioggia, Italy, a passenger on a civilian flight unexpectedly transformed into a monstrous creature with claws and fangs. His violent rampage into the cockpit caused a forced splashdown. EuroLab was sent to investigate and to recover any survivors, finding the plane barely afloat, taking on water and with the rear already submerged. While Picaro, Deep Sight and Nuage finished evacuating passengers into a life raft, Danger and Key descended further into the sinking plane seeking the mutate. Key soon returned alone, evacuating a young girl he had found, moments before the craft finally sank beneath the waves. The mutate chose to die rather than continue living as a monster or risk recapture by those who had mutated him, but Danger escaped the rapidly sinking wreck, barely making it back to the surface. His teammates fished him from the waters to find he was not breathing, and hurriedly attempted to revive him.

(Europa#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - The members of EuroLab successfully revived Danger.

(Europa#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - After Task Force was attacked by armored mercenaries known as the Lords of War while on a mission to Malaysia investigating reports of similar mutates, Tiger and Argento returned to base to report two team members, Dragonfly and Blue Condor, had been slain, Argento had suddenly displayed unpredictable and previously unrevealed superpowers, and that Iceboy was missing. EuroLab also arrived back from their mission, but like Tiger and Argento were ordered to stand down from further investigations.

(Europa#2/2) - Back in EuroMind's Research Center near Spain's Mediterranean coast, Key checked on Tiger, and the pair then met with Borillon, who informed them that S.H.A.P.E.'s executive commission had closed the case. Key and Tiger returned to the rest of EuroLab and told them of Borillon's orders. Like Key and Tiger, they responded with incredulity at the instruction, and Tiger pointed out that it didn't take a genius to figure out Nadir were behind the Lords of War and Iceboy's abduction. Picaro and Deep Sight suggested they could carry out an unofficial internet investigation of Nadir, but Key replied that he was not planning to sit idly by with Iceboy held prisoner. Despite knowing they would be acting without official permission, the entire team concurred, unaware their discussion was being observed over hidden cameras. Their unseen watcher deployed a hit team hidden within EuroMind's own agents, Blue 1 (Azzurro 1), to eliminate the rogue agents, and the assassins caught up with EuroLab and Tiger after they entered the base's hangar. They opened fire, but between Danger's energy powers and the surprise arrival and intervention of Argento, who had slain his own would-be assassins, the group managed to make their escape in a stolen nuclear plane.

(Europa#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - En route to Western Malaya, EuroLab and the two survivors of Task Force decided to unite as a new team, choosing the name Euroforce. Meanwhile, back at EuroMind, faked video footage was used to frame the group for murdering fellow agents, making them fugitives. However, EuroMind operative Salomé secretly analyzed the footage for Director François Borillon, confirming his suspicion that it had been altered to discredit his operatives. 

(Europa#3/2) - Aware from their investigations that Nadir had an expensive lab on an isolated private island in Western Malaya, the team snuck in, overpowering and hiding the guards. Deep Sight accessed the base's map, and the group split into two teams. Argento, Danger, Deep Sight, Nuage and Picaro formed the larger group, designated Euroforce Red, who headed for the lab's main computer to get into the archives, while Tiger and Key (Euroforce Blue) set out to retrieve Iceboy. Unfortunately, the guards were soon discovered, and seconds before the Red squad reached their target the alert was sounded.  

   As the archive room's door slid open, Deep Sight's metal fist smashed into a nearby guard's face before he could react, and Red squad entered the room. Nuage informed Danger that she sensed eight more people inside, while Deep Sight told Picaro she had detected a terminal compatible with her internal biochip A-14. After subduing the guards, Argento and Danger then stood guard while Picaro and Deep Sight worked to access the database, copy it and then destroy it. However, they were interrupted by the Lords of War, who announced their arrival by blasting Danger from behind.

(Europa#4/2) - The Lords of War learned they had underestimated their new adversaries. Though most of Euroforce's members were not combat specialists like Task Force, this time the Lords of War did not have the advantage of ambushing and downing half their opponents before the battle began. Additionally, the former EuroLab members possessed a wider range of powers than Task Force, who had mostly been armed with military weapons outmatched by the Lords' superior technology. While her teammates kept the Lords busy, Deep Sight completed downloading the files and destroyed the database, then informed the others that she didn't foresee any great difficulty taking down the Lords. Nuage drew the Lords attention towards her, distracting them while Deep Sight stepped up behind them and electrocuted them into unconsciousness, a feat she noted was only possible because the others had ruptured the Lords' armors' internal insulators.

    Heading out, Red squad radioed the others to let them know they had achieved their objective, and Key responded that they should return to their jet, stating that he and Tiger needed no support. Unwilling to leave their friends behind, Red squad ignored this order, reaching Key's location just in time for Nuage to knock out a guard who was about to shoot a distracted Key in the back. Then they saw why Tiger and Key's attentions had been elsewhere; Ice Boy's horribly mutated corpse lay on the floor nearby. The group reluctantly accepted it was time to depart before A.I.M. reinforcements (with whom Nadir had been associated) or the revived Lords caught up with them. As the team escaped in their stolen jet, a trio of armored figures breached the vehicle. The team prepared to fight, but moments later the jet exploded (see comments).

   Director Borillon subsequently informed S.H.A.P.E.'s commission that Euroforce had been slain, then contacted the team, alive and well and staying in a large villa, informing them that he had provided them with fake identities. Until they could prove their innocence and help him uncover just how deep the corruption in EuroMind went, they had to stay officially dead.

Comments: Created by Xavier Marturet and Paco Diaz for Marvel Italia.

    The back cover mini-bios for the team in Europa#1 state that Jane was born in 1965 and was maimed in a bombing in 1993; both these dates would count as topical references and will now be more recent years, but they do confirm she was 28 when she was injured and 31 at the time of her debut. It's not stated who planted the bomb that crippled her, but the most likely candidates for a bombing would be terrorists, and in the U.K. in 1993 the most likely terrorist bombers would be the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army), who in the 1990s alone detonated multiple bombs on the British mainland; some targeted soldiers or politicians, but no less than seventeen were specifically targeting civilians.

    It's not overtly stated who attacked the jet after Euroforce fled Malaya. The attackers are drawn wearing armor similar to the known Lords of War, but the man behind them, one of S.H.A.P.E.'s commission, was informed the Lords were unconscious at the time the jet blew up, so it seems the whole attack, not just Euroforce's "demise," was a fake. Euroforce were surprised by the armored trio who breached the jet, clearly thinking they were the Lords, but given the subsequent revelation that Borillon was assisting the team, it seems likely he was behind the "attackers." However, who they were remains unrevealed.  

    It is unclear from Euroforce's more recent appearance in Avengers World whether the old team members have left or not. Given that Key was present to recruit Black Knight for the mission, and mentioned EuroLab, it appears the more scientific team has been re-established, which could explain the absence of all the old EuroLab members from said mission. Meanwhile, Euroforce seems to have taken up what were effectively the duties of the old Task Force, investigating more perilous, likely to end in combat, missions. As such, it would make sense why Tiger was the only old Euroforce member to go on the City of the Dead mission; he's one of Task Force's two surviving members, so he wouldn't have transferred to EuroLab. The other Task Force survivor, Argento, might have been depowered on M-Day, or, given they only had four hours to deploy to Velletri, might simply have been elsewhere when the team got scrambled.

Profile by Wolfhead and Loki, with invaluable aid from comic translator Angelo Mammone.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Deep Sight has no known connections to

images: (without ads)
All images from Europa issues, 2nd (Euroforce) stories:
#4, p7, pan 1 (main)
#0, p7, pan 2 (headshot)
#0, p8, pan 6 (landing on her Adamantium leg)

Appearances:
Europa#0-5 (April-October, 1996) - Xavier Marturet (writer), Paco Diaz (art), Enrico Fornaroli; Marco M. Lupoi; Miguel Carrasco (editors)

First posted: 01/12/2019
Last updated: 01/12/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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