FREDDY LANCER
Real Name: Fred "Freddy" Lancer
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Mercenary;
formerly soldier
Group Membership: None;
formerly US Army
Affiliations: Newkirk
plus several other
mercenaries (names unrevealed), Senator "Stoneface"
Turner
Enemies: Jim Scully
(later Skull the Slayer);
briefly Sin-Cong troops (see comments)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: USA
First Appearance: Skull the Slayer I#1
(August,
1975)
Powers/Abilities: Freddy Lancer is trained US
Army soldier with athlete-level strength and stamina. He has excellent
fighting skills and is trained in the use of guns.
Height: 6'1"
(by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by
approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
History:
(Skull the Slayer I#6 (fb)) - During dual US Army isolation training in the Everglades, Lancer mocked Scully, who ignored him. Lancer slashed at Scully's leg, wanting to leave him behind. Lancer gloated over the injured Scully, unaware of a deadly snake that suddenly attacked and poisoned him. Lancer pleaded for help and Scully slowly did so, carrying the near-unconscious Lancer back through the swamp.
(Skull the Slayer I#1 (fb)) - Assigned to the
Sin-Cong conflict (see comments), Lancer became a prisoner-of-war.
(Skull the Slayer I#7 (fb)) - Sharing a
prisoner-of-war cell with Scully, Lancer told their captors lies to
gain release, further lying that he was following Scully's orders as
commanding officer,
thereby ensuring Scully's further torment during incarceration. When
Lancer gloated this to Scully upon release, Lancer believed that Scully
intended to kill him should they meet again, so Lancer resolved to kill
Scully first.
(Skull the Slayer I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lancer stayed in
the US military. Now a corporal, he positioned himself to be a guard to
transport fugitive Scully from Bermuda to stand trial for murder in
Miami. The plane also carried civilians Dr.
Raymond Corey, Ann Reynolds
and Jeff
Turner.
(Skull the Slayer I#1) - By chance, the military
plane entered the Bermuda Triangle
time warp in a blaze of color. The rift ripped the plane in half.
(Skull the Slayer I#6 (fb)) - Lancer stared aghast
out the plane window at the dinosaurs below as the plane tore apart.
The explosion hurled him back through the rift into the Atlantic Ocean.
(Skull the Slayer I#6) - A week after the plane had
disappeared, Senator "Stoneface" Turner coerced the Coast Guard to
continue searching for his son Jeff but they instead found Lancer
adrift in the water. Lancer explained what had happened and was
bitterly convinced that Scully would have survived.
(Skull the Slayer I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Sen. Turner
thought Lancer could retrieve his son and
organized Lancer's discharge from the US Army. He secretly directed
government funds so that Lancer could quickly mount a recovery mission.
Concerned that Sen. Turner may disagree with his methods, Lancer
composed
a timed blackmail letter to be sent to the US government.
(Skull the Slayer I#7) - Lancer established a base
that
soon included mercenaries and several fighter jets from the black
market for the mission.
Receiving little feedback from Lancer, Sen. Turner suddenly turned up
at the Florida base and was shocked at the scale of Lancer's operation.
Lancer reinforced that while the recovery of Sen. Turner's son was
paramount for his team, Lancer was focused on killing Scully.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman & Steve Gan.
Lancer's final fate is unrevealed. Perhaps he was
lost or killed in the weird world beyond the Bermuda Triangle portal.
The story lists his military action as the Vietnam War, but this has since been dubbed the Sin-Cong (or Siancong) War. (Alternatively, the military action was in Vietnam; however, the conflict seemed too intense for that.)
This profile was completed 1/23/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Freddy Lancer has no known connections to:
Newkirk was a roving mercenary purely focused on
money. He hoped to engage in and profit from war in Angola, but that
had cooled off before he arrived. He responded to Freddy Lancer's
advertisement in a gun magazine, and agreed to help him track down and
kill Scully and retrieve Jeff Turner.
--Skull the Slayer I#7
images:
(without ads)
Skull the Slayer I#6, p3, pan7 (main image)
Skull the Slayer I#7, p6, pan8 (headshot)
Skull the Slayer I#7, p8, pan2 (Newkirk)
Appearances:
Skull the Slayer I#1 (August, 1975) - Marv Wolfman
(writer), Steve Gan (pencils & inks), Len Wein (editor)
Skull the Slayer I#6 (July, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal
Buscema & Steve Gan (pencils), Steve Gan (inks), Marv Wolfman
(editor)
Skull the Slayer I#7 (September, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal
Buscema & Sonny Trinidad (pencils), Sonny Trinidad (inks), Archie
Goodwin (editor)
First posted: 09/13/2021
Last updated:
09/11/2021
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.
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix!