Scorpio (Marvel Comics)

Scorpio is the name of several fictional characters in Marvel Comics. Most of the men to use the Scorpio identity have been supervillains who have been affiliated with the Zodiac criminal cartel, and in this context were enemies of the Avengers and other superheroes.

Publication history

Jake Fury first appeared in Strange Tales #159 (August, 1967), and was created by Jim Steranko. He also appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #68-69 (July–August 1969).

The character subsequently appeared as Scorpio in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 1968), #5 (October 1968), The Avengers #72 (January 1970), Defenders #46 (April 1977), #48-49 (June–July 1977), #50 (August 1977), West Coast Avengers Annual #1 (1986), West Coast Avengers #26-28 (November 1987-January 1988), Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989), Fury #1 (May 1994), and Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 (July 1995).

Jacob Fury received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #17.

Fictional character biography

Scorpio (Jake Fury)

Scorpio
175px Cover to the "Nick Fury: Scorpio" TPB reprinting the first appearance of Scorpio. Art by Jim Steranko
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(as Jake Fury): Strange Tales #159 (Aug 1967) (as Scorpio): Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (Jun 1968)
Created by	(Jake): Jim Steranko
In-story information
Alter ego	Jacob "Jake" Fury
Team affiliations	Zodiac Great Wheel HYDRA
Notable aliases	Flip Mason, Count Julio Scarlotti, Nick Fury

Jacob "Jake" Fury was born in New York City. As a young man, he came to resent his brother Nick Fury. As the original Scorpio, he operated as a spy, terrorist, and criminal. Using his secret identity as Scorpio, he first battled Nick at a Las Vegas S.H.I.E.L.D. base. He again battled his brother in Manhattan, then disguised himself as Nick Fury to infiltrate the New York SHIELD base, although his real identity was then discovered by his brother. Nick Fury later went undercover as Scorpio, and took his brother's place in the Zodiac, who battled the Avengers. Disguised as Jacque LaPoint, he played a minor role in the Zodiac's attempt to kill all Manhattan residents born under the sign of Gemini (save for Zodiac's Gemini). He attempted to kidnap Kyle Richmond, and battled the Defenders. Scorpio constructed a set of android Zodiac members to serve him, in his base at Belleville, New Jersey. However, his plan was thwarted by the Defenders, and he committed suicide through self-inflicted gunshot wound in despair.

In the final arc of the Secret Warriors series, it was revealed that Jake's death and much of his villainy was all part of a long-game plan of Nick Fury's. In 1961, Jake Fury was duplicated by ancient technology (which would later be developed and modernized as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s LMD program); the evil Jake would go on to be the agent known as Scorpio. The real Jake, however, was in deep cover within HYDRA, co-opting the identity of the high-ranking agent known as Kraken and infiltrating the highest rungs of the organization and helping his brother bring about its destruction.

LMD and Jacques LaPoint

Scorpio
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(Jacques LaPoint): Avengers #120 (Feb. 1974) (Android): West Coast Avengers Aunnual #1 (Oct. 1986)
Created by	(Jacques LaPoint): Steve Englehart, Don Heck (Android): Steve Englehart
In-story information
Alter ego	Jacques LaPoint
Team affiliations	Zodiac Great Wheel
Notable aliases	Flip Mason, Jacques LaPoint, Count Julio Scarlotti, Nick Fury

Scorpio was later revived in an android body by the intelligent, extra-dimensional Zodiac Key from which he drew his power. The real Jacques LaPoint became the second Scorpio and led the Zodiac until Jake (in his second android body) killed him. Impersonating LaPoint, Fury led eleven other Zodiac-themed androids to kill and replace the rest of the human Zodiac members, and took over the organization's criminal operations. Scorpio and the other androids were deactivated when they were transported to the Zodiac Key's dimension of origin during a battle with the West Coast Avengers, and abandoned there.

Ecliptic Scorpio

Another Scorpio was the leader of Ecliptic's Zodiac team who fought Alpha Flight and was later massacred by Malcolm Colcord's Weapon X team.

Scorpio (Mikel Fury)

Scorpio
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Graphic Novel #50 (August 1989)
Created by	Archie Goodwin, Howard Chaykin
In-story information
Alter ego	Mikel Fury
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D.

Mikel Fury, Nick Fury's illegitimate son, has also used the Scorpio identity. Mikel originally believed himself to be Jake Fury's son, and used a duplicate of the Zodiac Key to battle his father and Wolverine. When he learned that his mother had lied about his parentage, Mikel switched sides and became affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D. for several months, following intensive therapy. When he was led to believe that the Punisher had killed Nick, he pursued the vigilante until persuaded to back down by fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives and ousted from the agency. He makes a brief appearance in Secret Warriors, issue 11 as the leader from one of Nick's secret independent teams and is later killed in a mission.

Thanos' Zodiac

The sixth Scorpio is an unnamed man with a half-burned face who Thanos recruited to join his incarnation of the Zodiac. He and the other Zodiac members perish when Thanos abandons them on the self-destructing Helicarrier where Cancer was the only survivor.

Powers and abilities

Jake Fury possessed a genius intellect, as well as basic army training, with an above average knowledge of hand-to-hand combat and streetfighting techniques. As Scorpio, Jake used the Zodiac Key to increase his physical abilities, and gain superhuman powers such as the ability to transform his body into sentient water for brief periods of time. Scorpio is totally dependent upon the Zodiac Key in order to maintain his superhuman powers. He did not have to be in physical contact with it to wield it. The Zodiac Key is a power object of extradimensional origin that taps an unidentified extradimensional energy for a variety of effects, including concussive force, electricity, magnetism, teleportation, physical transformation, etc. The Zodiac Key possesses sentience of a sort. After Jake Fury's death, the Zodiac Key employed his Theater of Genetics laboratory to create an android of Jake Fury.

Ecliptic's Zodiac had a barbed tail which was never used in combat. He also wielded a weapon similar to the Zodiac Key which displayed the ability to fire energy blasts and has a Zodiac teleportation device.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Scorpio is an alias used by Nick Fury during the period when he went undercover to infiltrate HYDRA. In the story, it is mentioned that the real Scorpio had been killed by Fury and Hawkeye years earlier during a conflict in the Middle East.

In other media

Television

• Scorpio appears in The Avengers: United They Stand, voiced by Wayne Best. He appears as a member of the Zodiac and Taurus's right hand man. He is depicted as an alien with scorpion mandibles on his jaw, a scorpion claw for a right hand, and a scorpion tail on the back of his head. He can take human form and has used the Jake Fury identity.

• Scorpio appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "From the Atom...It Rises", voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Nick Fury posed as Scorpio to find out what Doctor Doom is planning until Abomination and MODOK discovered that it was Fury posing as Scorpio all along.

• Scorpio appears in Marvel Anime: Iron Man, voiced by Kyle Hebert in the English dub. This version is depicted as a scorpion-like robot. In the episode "Japan: Enter Iron Man", he takes on Iron Man in the first episode and is destroyed after making Zodiac known to him. In the episode "At the Mercy of My Friends", another Scorpio robot appeared being used by Ho Yinsen to attack Tony and Dr. Chika Tanaka on an island near Japan that was used for landfill and keep them from getting off. The Scorpio robot is destroyed by Captain Nagato Sakurai using the Ramon Zero armor.

• Scorpio will appear in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series, voiced by Phil Morris. In the episode "For Your Eye Only", Scorpio and his Zodiac soldiers have taken over the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier as the Zodiac capture Spider-Man. Scorpio tells Spider-Man that "Nick Fury is dead". Scorpio states that this is the beginning of Zodiac's new orders as he tries to convince Spider-Man that Nick Fury has lied to him. When Spider-Man made a comment about Scorpio's outfit making him look fat, Scorpio orders his soldiers to destroy Spider-Man. When Spider-Man falls into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Scorpio orders his soldiers to find Spider-Man and make sure he does not get off the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. While locating for Nick's secrets, Scorpio tells Aries to find the secrets and then set the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to self-destruct. Upon hearing Spider-Man's voice in the air vents, the Zodiac soldiers prepare to fire on the vent that Spider-Man is in as Scorpio hears him. Scorpio then orders his soldiers not to fire on the console. Scorpio then uses the Scorpio Key to attack Spider-Man only for him to escape into the air vents. Upon learning that Spider-Man is topside, Scorpio sends the Zodiac soldiers topside. Nick dives the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier into the ocean as Nick fights Scorpio. Upon Spider-Man confiscating the Scorpio Key, Nick defeats Scorpio and discovers that it is his brother Max Fury. Scorpio escapes into the water as Nick deactivates the self-destruct sequence. He reappears in the season 2 episode "The Parent Trap", in which Spider-Man, Power Man, and S.H.I.E.L.D. attempt to retrieve his key weapon, to prevent him from creating an army of super soldiers. They find out he has Power Man's parents Walter and Amanda Cage working for him. He told them he had their son captured and promised his return in exchange for them working for him. When Spider-Man revealed that Scorpio was lying, they turned on Scorpio. Scorpio is defeated by Spider-Man and Power Man and is arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.

External links

• Scorpio (Jake Fury) at Marvel.com
• Scorpio (Jake Fury) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Scorpio (Jacquese LaPoint) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Scorpio (Mikel Fury) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe