Death's Head
Encyclopedia
Death's Head is a fictional
comic book
character, a robotic bounty hunter (or rather, as he calls himself, a "freelance peace-keeping agent") appearing in the books published by Marvel Comics
. The character was created by writer Simon Furman
and artist Geoff Senior
for the company's Marvel UK
imprint. Furman decided to use Death's Head in his Transformers stories, but believed that characters appearing in Transformers "were prone to be absorbed into that title's catchall copyright" (allowing Hasbro
to contest their ownership) and led to a one-page strip titled "High Noon Tex" (which was subsequently published in various Marvel UK titles) being hastily created to establish Marvel's ownership of the character. Furman has stated that he chose the name Death's Head for the character while unaware of the "Nazi-connotations of the name".
The character was later redesigned and relaunched as Death's Head II, acting as one of the flagship characters for Marvel UK's 1990s expansion. This version of Death's Head also inspired two spin-off characters, Death Wreck
and Death Metal
, each of which starred in its own limited series
.
Later, in 2005, fans used a poll on Marvel's website to vote for the character's return. This led to a third version of Death's Head, Death's Head 3.0, created by original Death's Head writer Simon Furman. Simon Furman said in 2011 that the character was still popular because “he’ll never change or compromise or grow or repent or agonise like most comic book characters. He’s this unchanging, uncompromising rock that other characters bounce off. But you still kind of love him. Weird.”
Geoff Senior then showed Furman the initial character designs, at which point they decided that the character had potential beyond his planned appearance as a "generic, stock mech-with-an-attitude". As a result of this, Simon Furman also rewrote the Transformers scripts to change Death's Head's dialogue in line with the revised character concept.
To avoid Hasbro
claiming ownership of the character as a consequence of the Transformers copyright terms they had agreed with Marvel, Death's Head had to make his debut in another Marvel comic before appearing in Transformers (this situation had also applied to another Marvel character created for use in Transformers, Circuit Breaker
). Accordingly, Furman wrote a single-page strip ("High Noon Tex", illustrated by Bryan Hitch
) that was published in a number of Marvel UK titles.
After the initial Transformers storylines, the character appeared in Doctor Who
Magazine #135 (Apr. 1988), in a story which saw him reduced from a giant robot to a more human stature, by means of "one of the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators." He then made a guest appearance in Marvel UK's Dragon's Claws
#5 (Nov. 1988), which led into an ongoing series of his own. The first issue prompted a letter from Stan Lee
, praising the character and creative team, but a variety of factors, such as distribution and Death's Heads smaller size ('US format') causing it to be obscured by larger comics, meant the comic was cancelled at #10.
After the cancellation of the series, Marvel UK published an origin story for the character, "The Body in Question", initially serialised in the Marvel UK anthology Strip, and later collected in a single trade paperback.
At this time, six issues of the original series were also collected in the graphic novel The Life and Times of Death's Head, together with the High Noon Tex strip, a foreword from writer Simon Furman and some concept art for the character's original design. The foreword mentioned a new limited series that was planned with a new, gothic, redesign of the character. However, this series was never published.
Death's Head returned to the main Marvel Universe in S.W.O.R.D.
#1 (November 2009), written by Kieron Gillen
. Gillen has confirmed that the character will feature in the first story arc, spanning issues 1-5. Gillen has said "if you can't bring back a time-traveling dimension-skipper, who can you bring back?") He asked Furman before using the character.
Death's Head appeared in the Panini Comics
title Marvel Heroes #33 (March 2011). He appears in the last frame of "The Hero Inside" written by Ferg Handley, with art by John Ross. Death's Head battles The Hulk
in part two "The Brute and the Bounty Hunter," written by Simon Furman. with art by Simon Williams.
to bring back the original Death's Head, but early into production Neary changed his mind and commissioned Death's Head II instead: replacing the character with a new version, creating by Dan Abnett
, Andy Lanning
, and Liam Sharp
. Originally launched as a four-issue limited series, Death's Head II then became an ongoing series - and also featured in a number of team-up limited series designed to showcase new Marvel UK characters. One of these was Death3, teaming up Death's Head II with newly created "brothers", Death Metal and his prototype Death Wreck. The recurring character throughout this was Dr Evelyn Necker
, the scientist who creates the Minion series (Death's Head II and his "brothers").
Furman has said he felt Death's Head II "lost his [DH's] most important aspect; the dark-edged gallows humour. So in and of itself I think it’s a very tight, proficient and action-packed comic that really tapped into that early 90s anti-hero vibe. But to me it was never Death’s Head. It was another character.”
In 2008, Abnett and Lanning (collectively referred to as "DnA") used Doctor Necker as a member of Project Pegasus
,while writing the ongoing Nova
series during that comic's involvement with Marvel's "Secret Invasion
" storyline. In the story, it was mentioned that Necker was working on a project to develop a cyborg called "Minion." DnA said "This is us just having fun - the Death's Head thread has recently been worked back into the Marvel Universe
via Planet Hulk, and we thought we would tie a few loose ends together."
Writer Paul Cornell
featured Death's Head in a cameo appearance in the final issue of Captain Britain and MI13, appearing alongside a number of other Marvel UK characters who hadn't appeared for several years. Paul Cornell mentioned in an interview that he wrote the splash page due to #15 being the final issue and had no plans before to use Death's Head "because the character isn't actually British".
would be artist. It was part of a wider reboot of Marvel UK, involving four titles. Leach got the job after telling Paul Neary that the character was boring and joking "we should completely overhaul him, reduce his power, lose the time travel aspect and set it in present day England" (a reference to the Jon Pertwee
Doctor Who
), only to find Neary liked the idea.
The series would have a powerful entity called the Time Keeper, meant to be watching timelines but had started creating hunting tournaments out of boredom, viciously beating DHII, depowering him, and stranding him in 90s Earth: the remaining personalities in Death's Head II's databanks form a quorum and force Death's Head to follow their dictats or they'll shut down his body. Death's Head would join a secret community underneath London, preyed upon by the hunts organised by the Time Keeper, and finally getting revenge on the Time Keeper but deciding to stay in London; the first issue would also end with Death's Head's "mask" being broken and showing his "true human face" (Leach apparently believed Death's Head II's face was a mask). However, the comic was wound up before more than #1 could be written, and the details are only known because of a November 2010 interview with Leach.
, The Aquarian
and Texas Twister
. The winning character was to be revamped and would then receive their own storyline in Marvel's Amazing Fantasy
title. Death's Head won, receiving 49% of the vote.
Death's Head creator Simon Furman stated that he contacted Marvel as soon as he became aware of the poll. Amazing Fantasy editor Mark Paniccia had already intended to contact Furman to ask him some questions about the character, and their conversation also led to Furman writing the initial Death's Head 3.0 story. The character's look was one of the Reaver cyborgs from the Incredible Hulk
storyline Planet Hulk .
The initial Death's Head 3.0 story also included a number of elements which tied it into previous Amazing Fantasy stories - Death's Head's sentience and power source comes from AIM's attempts to first capture and then replicate the power that created Captain Universe
. Issue #16 revealed the scientist that began the project was Monica Rappaccini
, mother of the new Scorpion, on the back of her attempts to capture the Uni-Power in other titles. Varina Goddard is revealed via AIM records to be Monica's granddaughter. Furman says he has "mixed feelings" about the story, as he likes it but feels that this isn't Death's Head; “I always thought it strange that poll was to bring back one character and what readers got was another entirely... I’d have much rather done the original.”
While the Minion project is mentioned as the reason for Death's Head being given his name, no other ties to the previous Death's Heads were included. However, Simon Furman has stated that he would "work in a little retroactive back story to create a kind of unified Death's Head-verse" if the character was revived in the future at some point and it has come out that he had originally intended to imply Death's Head 3.0 was the original in an early form., which the warlock Lupex would abduct and turn into Death's Head's body. Marvel rejected the idea though. In Nova #17, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning did their own version, showing the Minion project was originally based around a Death's Head "3.0" cyborg.
line, which was not greenlit. The details of the pitch are unknown, though the design for "Ultimate Death's Head" (based mainly on DHII) is available online and so is a poster image marked "Death's Head reboot pic" that showed a recoloured Minion marked with the Saint George
Cross and holding a tattered English flag. Sharp's comments on the latter were that the revival was "on the surface a real gung-ho macho nationalistic piece of work - but anybody who knows me would know it wouldn't have stayed that way for long...".
's head, travelling back in time to the 1980s in pursuit of his quarry. Realising the error he had made in placing the bounty, Rodimus followed him back, and stopped him from destroying Galvatron, forcibly returning him to the future. Transformers vol.1 Issue 120. Subsequently, Death's Head was contracted by the Decepticons to take out Rodimus Prime, a piece of business that Death's Head considered a pleasure. However, Rodimus outsmarted him, and instead paid him to terminate Cyclonus
and Scourge
.Transformers vol.1 Issue 134. Over the course of the next year, Death's Head pursued them, eventually confronting them on the Planet of Junk, where they all fell under the mental control of Unicron
.
Death's Head tried to resist the control, but was manipulated into killing Shockwave
, only to eventually help Rodimus Prime seal Unicron within the Matrix. Finally, prevented from escaping the scene by the explosions wracking the area, Death's Head forced himself, Cyclonus and Scourge through Unicron's time portal, vowing to kill them "another time".Transformers vol. 1 Issue 152. However, in the course of the time travel they became separated, and while Cyclonus and Scourge wound up on Cybertron in the past, eventually joining with Scorponok
and becoming Targetmasters, Death's Head instead encountered the Time Lord
known as the Doctor
.Doctor Who magazine Issue 135. As a matter of self-defense, The Doctor shrank him to human size and shot him off through time, leading him into an encounter with the future government's troubleshooting team, Dragon's Claws
.
Death's Head's was recovered by the Chain Gang and rebuilt (with a redesigned body) by one of their members, Spratt. In exchange for this rescue, he confronted Dragon's Claws again on the Chain Gang's behalf, defeating and capturing Scavenger. When the Claws came to recover their missing member, Death's Head defeated Dragon - but opted not to kill him, instead walking away and stating that his chronometer was "a minute slow" and his contract had therefore expired. The Chain Gang were arrested and Spratt, who had escaped arrest, opted to join Death's Head.
Death's Head and Spratt then relocated to the Los Angeles Resettlement, where Death's Head once again went into business as a Freelance Peacekeeping Agent. Death's Head was later hired to captured the Doctor and his TARDIS
, which led him to being stuck in the present day (where he confronted the Fantastic Four
)Death's Head vol.1 Issue 9 and then sent by Reed Richards to the year 2020 (where he met the Iron Man of that era
and gave him friendly advice on mercenary work).Death's Head vol.1 Issue 10. The series was ended abruptly with a cliffhanger at issue 10 due to the closure of Marvel UK
's own creative team. Death's Head vol 1 Issue 10.
In 1990, the ongoing storyline was resolved in the Marvel UK
Death's Head: The Body in Question story, which was serialized in the magazine Strip before being reprinted in the Marvel Graphic Novel
format. Strip Issues 13-20.In this story, Death's Head was becoming worried that he was starting to enjoy killing and was prolonging missions for fun rather than simply doing it for money. In addition, Death's Head's origins were revealed to him for the first time.
His mechanoid body had originally been constructed to host the life energy of the techno-mage Lupex, a psychotic who hunted beings for sport and stole their bodies upon killing them. However, a woman named Pyra, who wished to steal Lupex's secrets, ultimately decided to use the mechanoid body against him. She gave it a cold and calculating business-like mind, but before it could be used against Lupex, the body was stolen by an unknown party, enlarged to the size of the Cybertron
ians, and catapulted through time. Death's Head was used as a pawn by Pyra, who wished to get him to a point where he could kill Lupex, while Lupex begun to hunt Death's Head with the intention of gaining his body. Driven to his mental limits and nearly killed, he eventually was able to kill Lupex and, refusing to be anything like his "father", killed him quickly while declaring he "kill[s] only for profit or survival!".Strip Issue 20.
Around this time, Death's Head's also made a few appearances in some US Marvel comics, most notably the Fantastic Four
, (where he was hired by the Time Variance Authority) She-Hulk
(where he resigned from the TVA) and Marvel Comics Presents
.
In the final issue of the Incomplete Death's Head, the Doctor claims to have been responsible for sending Death's Head to the Transformers universe. The Incomplete Death's Head Issue 12. Despite being a manipulative being, especially in his seventh incarnation, it could be that this claim is false. There is nothing else within Death's Head's history to substantiate this claim.
Death's Head appears in the first five issues of the S.W.O.R.D.
ongoing series, hunting down Abigail Brand
's brother. He was given a partial redesign, with his head having some elements from the Minion version, and is his original giant size. He isn't using the term "freelance peacekeeper" until the Beast suggests it to him, and Death's Head notes that he likes it; this has been suggested to indicate this is Death's Head before he met the Transformers.
Minion. Minion was a cyborg
created by Dr. Evelyn Necker
, a long-term pet project created after years of research which included the Xandarian Worldmind being temporarily uploaded into the Minion program's gestalt matrix. By the year 2020, she was an employee of AIM and the final Minion (as well as its prototype Death Wreck
) was designed to protect the organisation from a psychically predicted threat; it killed and assimilated the minds of multiple targets as preparation for this!".
Death's Head's personality overwhelmed Minion's programming before it could take out its final target (Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four), and they became the gestalt lifeform that called itself Death's Head II. Death's Head II was partnered with Tuck
, an artificial human from the pseudo-medieval planet of Lionheart, where humans had outlawed advanced technology and waged war against androids and cyborgs. Neo-Nazi black mage Baron Strucker
IV would magically combine himself with the original Death's Head's corpse to become the supervillain Charnel, a recurring enemy for Death's Head II and the threat AIM had predicted.
With other assimilated personalities mingling with that of the "freelance peacekeeper", Death's Head changed as a character, becoming a more heroic and far less amoral figure than the original, as well as losing his unique mannerisms. He hopped across time and realities in many adventures, often fighting for the greater good; in one adventure, he volunteered for a heroic sacrifice whereas before he'd have required payment. He encountered many Marvel characters, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men
, Spider-Man
, the Hulk
, and Cable
, and crossed over with almost every Marvel UK character who was published at the time. He also made a cameo role in an Excalibur
story set in the future.
The original Death's Head was only ever seen again in flashbacks or within Death's Head II's gestalt mind, as well as the twelve-issue The Incomplete Death's Head limited series (which reprinted various Death's Head stories from the past with a new framing sequence), in which Death's Head and Death's Head II join forces to defeat a servant of an enemy of the original Death's Head.
Death's Head II's design was created by artist Liam Sharp
, and he was primarily scripted by Dan Abnett
.
Death's Head II titles included the four-issue introductory mini-series
, a sixteen-issue ongoing series
, and Death's Head II Gold, a second mini-series (written by Liam Sharp), that was cancelled after the first issue.
Death's Head's exploits ultimately came to end with the second demise of Marvel UK's in house creative team, and aside from a cameo in the Avengers Forever
limited series, was not featured in a Marvel comic again until 2009. One title he guest-starred in, Loose Cannons, featured Death's Head in a guest-star role but has only been released online. A planned Punisher-Death's Head II series never saw the light of day, and Liam Sharp pitched a revival that Marvel passed on.
Death's Head appeared briefly in the final issue of the Captain Britain and MI13 ongoing series, as one of the MI13 reserves battling against an army of vampires on the moon. Whereas the other Marvel UK characters reintroduced in the issue were accompanied with captions explaining their long absences from the Marvel Universe (e.g. "Back from space"), Death's Head was captioned as "Just... back!", and given the line "Surprise appearance, yes?!".
In 2010, Death's Head II was shown as a resident of a possible future in Avengers #2; this appearance also featured as one of the issue's alternative covers.
(vol. 2) series, Simon Furman and Geoff Senior wrote and drew a tale showing Death's Head surviving Minion's attack and later killing the cyborg; something Furman has said was "deeply satisfying and cathartic". Death's Head rebuilt his injured body into a larger, more heavily-armed form; meanwhile the Minion cyborg went on to kill Reed Richards, only to be possessed by Strucker and became Charnel itself. Evelyn Necker had to hire Death's Head to stop this threat.
Using a time machine, Death's Head went back in time to gather the surviving Fantastic Four and several other superheroes, offering them a shot at avenging Reed by ending Charnel - and then let them all get killed softening up Charnel for him. Using his firepower on Charnel and goading him at not using the full potential of his gestalt mind, he got the cyborg to access these scientific minds - knowing this would allow Reed Richard's mind (still fighting within Charnel) to take control of the cyborg's motor functions, allowing him to kill it. His mission complete, Death's Head thought about the selfless, non-profit nature of heroes: "I just hope it's not catching, yes?"
series Amazing Fantasy
, beginning in #16 (December 2005). Written by Death's Head creator Simon Furman and drawn by James Raiz, the story is set 100 years in the future and does not appear to be directly linked to the previous Death's Head stories.
Advanced Idea Mechanics
are set to make peace with the UN and become a legitimate non-terrorist organisation. Hardliner AIM Senior Scientist Patricia Goddard has decided to stop the peace treaty and force AIM back underground by assassinating the UN Secretary General, using a mysterious alien cyborg in AIM's possession codenamed Death's Head. Powered and given intelligence by an artificial variant on the Uni-Power
, the cyborg is sent out in to the field with preprogrammed objectives, but the clash between its murderous inclinations and an instinctive desire to help people leave it unsure what side it wants to be on.
The final panel of the Death's Head 3.0 story concludes with an image of the cyborg with mouth horns, alluding to the original Death's Head. It is mentioned as now operating as a deniable troubleshooter for the GEIST organisation (Global Enforcement/Intelligence Symposium Taskforce), carrying out operations they cannot be officially involved in for political reasons.
(Comic artist Simon Williams has said that Furman was going to end the story by having the character say "I'm Death's Head, yes?", to set up that Death's Head 3.0 was an early version of the original, but the "yes?" was cut off by the editor by mistake.)
This incarnation of Death's Head went on to appear on Sakaar, during the Planet Hulk
series. Similar models are used by the Hulk as soldiers during the World War Hulk
event and one is used as an AIM courier in the MODOK
's 11 limited series by Monica Rappaccini.
It is shown during Nova's Secret Invasion Issues that the Hulk's Death's Head units have been handed over to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. for study by a Dr Necker under her "Minion" Project. After Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. forces come in to shut the facility down, it is revealed that Dr Necker is an A.I.M. double agent, setting up how Death's Head was in A.I.M. possession during the Death's Head 3.0 miniseries.
More recently, during the Enigma Force tie-in miniseries of the Incredible Hulks Dark Son arc, it was revealed that this model of Death's Head were built in the Microverse during a war with K'ai thousands of years ago. Sometime after the war some of the warships they were aboard were sucked through the Great Portal of Sakaar, which is said to breach time and space.
, numerous Death Heads appaear on Sakaar.
and other reprints:
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character, a robotic bounty hunter (or rather, as he calls himself, a "freelance peace-keeping agent") appearing in the books published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. The character was created by writer Simon Furman
Simon Furman
Simon Christopher Francis Furman is a comic book writer, particularly associated with of a number of notable Transformers comics for Marvel UK, Marvel US, Dreamwave, and most recently, IDW...
and artist Geoff Senior
Geoff Senior
Geoff Senior is a British artist, best known for his work in the comic book field in the 1980s, mainly for Marvel UK. Senior is perhaps best remembered for his art for the Marvel Transformers series.-Biography:...
for the company's Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
imprint. Furman decided to use Death's Head in his Transformers stories, but believed that characters appearing in Transformers "were prone to be absorbed into that title's catchall copyright" (allowing Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
to contest their ownership) and led to a one-page strip titled "High Noon Tex" (which was subsequently published in various Marvel UK titles) being hastily created to establish Marvel's ownership of the character. Furman has stated that he chose the name Death's Head for the character while unaware of the "Nazi-connotations of the name".
The character was later redesigned and relaunched as Death's Head II, acting as one of the flagship characters for Marvel UK's 1990s expansion. This version of Death's Head also inspired two spin-off characters, Death Wreck
Death Wreck
Death Wreck is a fictional character who appears in the comic books published by the Marvel UK imprint of Marvel Comics. Created by Craig Houston and Stewart "Staz" Johnson, he first appeared in Death Wreck volume 1, #1 ....
and Death Metal
Death Metal (comics)
Death Metal is a character from the Marvel UK imprint of Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Death³ #1 and was created by Dan Abnett and Dell Barras.-Fictional character biography:...
, each of which starred in its own limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
.
Later, in 2005, fans used a poll on Marvel's website to vote for the character's return. This led to a third version of Death's Head, Death's Head 3.0, created by original Death's Head writer Simon Furman. Simon Furman said in 2011 that the character was still popular because “he’ll never change or compromise or grow or repent or agonise like most comic book characters. He’s this unchanging, uncompromising rock that other characters bounce off. But you still kind of love him. Weird.”
Death's Head
Death's Head was originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK Transformers comic, a bounty hunter who would feature in a single story-arc and then, according to writer Simon Furman, would "be discarded down the line (probably at the end of the first story arc)".Geoff Senior then showed Furman the initial character designs, at which point they decided that the character had potential beyond his planned appearance as a "generic, stock mech-with-an-attitude". As a result of this, Simon Furman also rewrote the Transformers scripts to change Death's Head's dialogue in line with the revised character concept.
To avoid Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
claiming ownership of the character as a consequence of the Transformers copyright terms they had agreed with Marvel, Death's Head had to make his debut in another Marvel comic before appearing in Transformers (this situation had also applied to another Marvel character created for use in Transformers, Circuit Breaker
Circuit Breaker (Transformers)
Circuit Breaker is a fictional comic book character in the 1980s Marvel Comics Transformers series.-Fictional character biography:After being severely injured in a raid for Earth oil by the Decepticon Shockwave, computer genius Josie Beller was left paralyzed in both legs and one arm...
). Accordingly, Furman wrote a single-page strip ("High Noon Tex", illustrated by Bryan Hitch
Bryan Hitch
Bryan Hitch is a British comic book artist. Hitch began his career in the United Kingdom for Marvel UK, working on titles such as Action Force and Death's Head, before gaining prominence on American titles such as Wildstorm's Stormwatch and The Authority, DC Comics titles such as JLA, and Marvel...
) that was published in a number of Marvel UK titles.
After the initial Transformers storylines, the character appeared in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
Magazine #135 (Apr. 1988), in a story which saw him reduced from a giant robot to a more human stature, by means of "one of the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators." He then made a guest appearance in Marvel UK's Dragon's Claws
Dragon's Claws
Dragon's Claws is a dysoptian science fiction comic book, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the eponymous law enforcers known as Dragon's Claws. It was set in the year 8162...
#5 (Nov. 1988), which led into an ongoing series of his own. The first issue prompted a letter from Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, praising the character and creative team, but a variety of factors, such as distribution and Death's Heads smaller size ('US format') causing it to be obscured by larger comics, meant the comic was cancelled at #10.
After the cancellation of the series, Marvel UK published an origin story for the character, "The Body in Question", initially serialised in the Marvel UK anthology Strip, and later collected in a single trade paperback.
At this time, six issues of the original series were also collected in the graphic novel The Life and Times of Death's Head, together with the High Noon Tex strip, a foreword from writer Simon Furman and some concept art for the character's original design. The foreword mentioned a new limited series that was planned with a new, gothic, redesign of the character. However, this series was never published.
Death's Head returned to the main Marvel Universe in S.W.O.R.D.
S.W.O.R.D. (comics)
S.W.O.R.D. is a fictional counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the . Its purpose is to deal with extraterrestrial threats to world security.-Publication history:...
#1 (November 2009), written by Kieron Gillen
Kieron Gillen
Kieron Gillen is a British computer games and music journalist, as well as a comic book author. Gillen has worked for many years as a video game journalist and has, more recently, worked on various comics. He is perhaps best known for his creator-owned comic Phonogram, created with artist Jamie...
. Gillen has confirmed that the character will feature in the first story arc, spanning issues 1-5. Gillen has said "if you can't bring back a time-traveling dimension-skipper, who can you bring back?") He asked Furman before using the character.
Death's Head appeared in the Panini Comics
Panini Comics
Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, best known for their collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy...
title Marvel Heroes #33 (March 2011). He appears in the last frame of "The Hero Inside" written by Ferg Handley, with art by John Ross. Death's Head battles The Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
in part two "The Brute and the Bounty Hunter," written by Simon Furman. with art by Simon Williams.
Death's Head Second
After the initial Death's Head stories ceased publication, the character was revamped for inclusion in Marvel UK's next wave of titles, where it became the company's biggest ever exported seller. There were plans under new editor Paul NearyPaul Neary
Paul Neary is a British comic book artist, writer and editor.His first work was for Warren Publishing in the 1970s before working with Dez Skinn at Marvel UK as well as work for 2000 AD...
to bring back the original Death's Head, but early into production Neary changed his mind and commissioned Death's Head II instead: replacing the character with a new version, creating by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
, Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning is a British comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett.-Career:Lanning works primarily at Marvel Comics and DC Comics as an inker...
, and Liam Sharp
Liam Sharp
Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer and publisher.-Early life:Liam Sharp was born in Derby at St. Mary's Hospital to parents Roger and Linda Sharp. He has a younger sister, Kerry, and younger brother, Rien. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before...
. Originally launched as a four-issue limited series, Death's Head II then became an ongoing series - and also featured in a number of team-up limited series designed to showcase new Marvel UK characters. One of these was Death3, teaming up Death's Head II with newly created "brothers", Death Metal and his prototype Death Wreck. The recurring character throughout this was Dr Evelyn Necker
Evelyn Necker
Doctor Evelyn Clarice Sarah Necker is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared as a supporting character in Death's Head #1, published by the Marvel UK imprint, and was created by Dan Abnett and Liam Sharp.-Publication history:In 2008, writers...
, the scientist who creates the Minion series (Death's Head II and his "brothers").
Furman has said he felt Death's Head II "lost his [DH's] most important aspect; the dark-edged gallows humour. So in and of itself I think it’s a very tight, proficient and action-packed comic that really tapped into that early 90s anti-hero vibe. But to me it was never Death’s Head. It was another character.”
In 2008, Abnett and Lanning (collectively referred to as "DnA") used Doctor Necker as a member of Project Pegasus
Project Pegasus
Project Pegasus is a fictional scientific base in the Marvel Comics universe which has been the location of a variety of stories for superheroes and supervillains, most notably in the title Marvel Two-in-One...
,while writing the ongoing Nova
Nova (comics)
Nova is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Upon becoming a member of the galaxy's Nova Corps , the youth gained enhanced strength, flight, injury resistance, and a specialized uniform with life support.In May 2011, Nova placed 98th on IGN's Top 100 Comic...
series during that comic's involvement with Marvel's "Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion
"Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008....
" storyline. In the story, it was mentioned that Necker was working on a project to develop a cyborg called "Minion." DnA said "This is us just having fun - the Death's Head thread has recently been worked back into the Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
via Planet Hulk, and we thought we would tie a few loose ends together."
Writer Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
featured Death's Head in a cameo appearance in the final issue of Captain Britain and MI13, appearing alongside a number of other Marvel UK characters who hadn't appeared for several years. Paul Cornell mentioned in an interview that he wrote the splash page due to #15 being the final issue and had no plans before to use Death's Head "because the character isn't actually British".
"Death's Head Quorum"
David Leach, then a Marvel UK editor on the Death's Head titles, was greenlit to write a new reboot on Death's Head II in the mid-90s, which would feature only that character and no other ties to the previous title: Leach's title for the series was Death's Head Quorum, and Simon ColebySimon Coleby
Simon Coleby is a British comic book artist who has worked mainly for British sci-fi comic 2000 AD and Marvel Comics.-Biography:...
would be artist. It was part of a wider reboot of Marvel UK, involving four titles. Leach got the job after telling Paul Neary that the character was boring and joking "we should completely overhaul him, reduce his power, lose the time travel aspect and set it in present day England" (a reference to the Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
Doctor Who
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
), only to find Neary liked the idea.
The series would have a powerful entity called the Time Keeper, meant to be watching timelines but had started creating hunting tournaments out of boredom, viciously beating DHII, depowering him, and stranding him in 90s Earth: the remaining personalities in Death's Head II's databanks form a quorum and force Death's Head to follow their dictats or they'll shut down his body. Death's Head would join a secret community underneath London, preyed upon by the hunts organised by the Time Keeper, and finally getting revenge on the Time Keeper but deciding to stay in London; the first issue would also end with Death's Head's "mask" being broken and showing his "true human face" (Leach apparently believed Death's Head II's face was a mask). However, the comic was wound up before more than #1 could be written, and the details are only known because of a November 2010 interview with Leach.
Death's Head 3.0
A third version of Death's Head was introduced in 2005, the result of an online poll on the Marvel Comics website. Fans were given the chance to choose between four existing Marvel characters - Death's Head, WoodgodWoodgod
Woodgod is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics. Woodgod is a genetically-engineered sentient life-form. He physically resembles a satyr, and was created using cloning techniques by combining human and animal DNA.-Fictional character biography:...
, The Aquarian
Wundarr the Aquarian
Wundarr the Aquarian is a Marvel Comics character created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik in Adventure into Fear #17. His first appearance is thought of as a parody of the origin of Superman.-Publication history:...
and Texas Twister
Texas Twister
Texas Twister is a fictional comic book superhero that appears in publications from Marvel Comics.-Fictional character biography:Drew Daniels was born in Amarillo, Texas. He is working as a cattle hand at a ranch when a tornado and radiation from a nearby nuclear reactor affect him at the same time...
. The winning character was to be revamped and would then receive their own storyline in Marvel's Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, and revived in 1995 and in the 2000s. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man in 1962...
title. Death's Head won, receiving 49% of the vote.
Death's Head creator Simon Furman stated that he contacted Marvel as soon as he became aware of the poll. Amazing Fantasy editor Mark Paniccia had already intended to contact Furman to ask him some questions about the character, and their conversation also led to Furman writing the initial Death's Head 3.0 story. The character's look was one of the Reaver cyborgs from the Incredible Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
storyline Planet Hulk .
The initial Death's Head 3.0 story also included a number of elements which tied it into previous Amazing Fantasy stories - Death's Head's sentience and power source comes from AIM's attempts to first capture and then replicate the power that created Captain Universe
Captain Universe
Captain Universe is a disembodied superhero in Marvel Comics' universe who was created by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden, and first appeared in Micronauts vol. 1 #8. It is the guardian and protector of Eternity...
. Issue #16 revealed the scientist that began the project was Monica Rappaccini
Monica Rappaccini
Monica Rappaccini is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #7 , created by Fred Van Lente and Leonard Kirk...
, mother of the new Scorpion, on the back of her attempts to capture the Uni-Power in other titles. Varina Goddard is revealed via AIM records to be Monica's granddaughter. Furman says he has "mixed feelings" about the story, as he likes it but feels that this isn't Death's Head; “I always thought it strange that poll was to bring back one character and what readers got was another entirely... I’d have much rather done the original.”
While the Minion project is mentioned as the reason for Death's Head being given his name, no other ties to the previous Death's Heads were included. However, Simon Furman has stated that he would "work in a little retroactive back story to create a kind of unified Death's Head-verse" if the character was revived in the future at some point and it has come out that he had originally intended to imply Death's Head 3.0 was the original in an early form., which the warlock Lupex would abduct and turn into Death's Head's body. Marvel rejected the idea though. In Nova #17, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning did their own version, showing the Minion project was originally based around a Death's Head "3.0" cyborg.
Ultimate Death's Head
In 2006, Liam Sharp and Bryan Hitch pitched a Death's Head revival mini-series, original for Marvel's UltimateUltimate Marvel
Ultimate Marvel is an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and updated versions of the company's superhero characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. The imprint was launched in 2000 with the publication of the series...
line, which was not greenlit. The details of the pitch are unknown, though the design for "Ultimate Death's Head" (based mainly on DHII) is available online and so is a poster image marked "Death's Head reboot pic" that showed a recoloured Minion marked with the Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
Cross and holding a tattered English flag. Sharp's comments on the latter were that the revival was "on the surface a real gung-ho macho nationalistic piece of work - but anybody who knows me would know it wouldn't have stayed that way for long...".
Death's Head
Death's Head's first appearance after "High Noon Tex", was in the Transformers, seeing him attempt to claim the bounty that Rodimus Prime had placed on GalvatronGalvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
's head, travelling back in time to the 1980s in pursuit of his quarry. Realising the error he had made in placing the bounty, Rodimus followed him back, and stopped him from destroying Galvatron, forcibly returning him to the future. Transformers vol.1 Issue 120. Subsequently, Death's Head was contracted by the Decepticons to take out Rodimus Prime, a piece of business that Death's Head considered a pleasure. However, Rodimus outsmarted him, and instead paid him to terminate Cyclonus
Cyclonus
Cyclonus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:The tech spec from the box art of the Cyclonus toy describes him as a compassionless Decepticon air warrior and saboteur...
and Scourge
Scourge (Transformers)
Scourge is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series. He first appeared as one of the central villains in the 1986 film The Transformers, voiced by Stan Jones. He also regularly appeared in the animated Transformers series and Transformers comic books. Since then other...
.Transformers vol.1 Issue 134. Over the course of the next year, Death's Head pursued them, eventually confronting them on the Planet of Junk, where they all fell under the mental control of Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
.
Death's Head tried to resist the control, but was manipulated into killing Shockwave
Shockwave (Transformers)
Shockwave is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers series. Throughout his incarnations, he is usually distinguished by a laser cannon in lieu of one of his hands and his distinctive face, which is featureless save a single robotic eye...
, only to eventually help Rodimus Prime seal Unicron within the Matrix. Finally, prevented from escaping the scene by the explosions wracking the area, Death's Head forced himself, Cyclonus and Scourge through Unicron's time portal, vowing to kill them "another time".Transformers vol. 1 Issue 152. However, in the course of the time travel they became separated, and while Cyclonus and Scourge wound up on Cybertron in the past, eventually joining with Scorponok
Scorponok
Scorponok is the name shared by several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. All are Decepticons that turn into Scorpoins.- Transformers: Generation 1:...
and becoming Targetmasters, Death's Head instead encountered the Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
known as the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
.Doctor Who magazine Issue 135. As a matter of self-defense, The Doctor shrank him to human size and shot him off through time, leading him into an encounter with the future government's troubleshooting team, Dragon's Claws
Dragon's Claws
Dragon's Claws is a dysoptian science fiction comic book, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the eponymous law enforcers known as Dragon's Claws. It was set in the year 8162...
.
Death's Head's was recovered by the Chain Gang and rebuilt (with a redesigned body) by one of their members, Spratt. In exchange for this rescue, he confronted Dragon's Claws again on the Chain Gang's behalf, defeating and capturing Scavenger. When the Claws came to recover their missing member, Death's Head defeated Dragon - but opted not to kill him, instead walking away and stating that his chronometer was "a minute slow" and his contract had therefore expired. The Chain Gang were arrested and Spratt, who had escaped arrest, opted to join Death's Head.
Death's Head and Spratt then relocated to the Los Angeles Resettlement, where Death's Head once again went into business as a Freelance Peacekeeping Agent. Death's Head was later hired to captured the Doctor and his TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, which led him to being stuck in the present day (where he confronted the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
)Death's Head vol.1 Issue 9 and then sent by Reed Richards to the year 2020 (where he met the Iron Man of that era
Iron Man 2020
Iron Man 2020 is a fictional supervillain. He is the counterpart of the superhero Iron Man in the future year of 2020 in the Marvel Comics multiverse...
and gave him friendly advice on mercenary work).Death's Head vol.1 Issue 10. The series was ended abruptly with a cliffhanger at issue 10 due to the closure of Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
's own creative team. Death's Head vol 1 Issue 10.
In 1990, the ongoing storyline was resolved in the Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
Death's Head: The Body in Question story, which was serialized in the magazine Strip before being reprinted in the Marvel Graphic Novel
Marvel Graphic Novel
Marvel Graphic Novel was a series of graphic novel trade paperbacks published from 1982 to 1993 by Marvel Comics. The books were published in oversized format, 8.5" x 11", similar to French albums...
format. Strip Issues 13-20.In this story, Death's Head was becoming worried that he was starting to enjoy killing and was prolonging missions for fun rather than simply doing it for money. In addition, Death's Head's origins were revealed to him for the first time.
His mechanoid body had originally been constructed to host the life energy of the techno-mage Lupex, a psychotic who hunted beings for sport and stole their bodies upon killing them. However, a woman named Pyra, who wished to steal Lupex's secrets, ultimately decided to use the mechanoid body against him. She gave it a cold and calculating business-like mind, but before it could be used against Lupex, the body was stolen by an unknown party, enlarged to the size of the Cybertron
Cybertron
Cybertron is a fictional planet, the homeworld of the Transformers in the various fictional incarnations of the metaseries and toyline by Hasbro. In the Japanese series, the planet is referred to as "Cybertron" pronounced as セイバートロン Seibātoron...
ians, and catapulted through time. Death's Head was used as a pawn by Pyra, who wished to get him to a point where he could kill Lupex, while Lupex begun to hunt Death's Head with the intention of gaining his body. Driven to his mental limits and nearly killed, he eventually was able to kill Lupex and, refusing to be anything like his "father", killed him quickly while declaring he "kill[s] only for profit or survival!".Strip Issue 20.
Around this time, Death's Head's also made a few appearances in some US Marvel comics, most notably the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
, (where he was hired by the Time Variance Authority) She-Hulk
She-Hulk
She-Hulk is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1 ....
(where he resigned from the TVA) and Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
.
In the final issue of the Incomplete Death's Head, the Doctor claims to have been responsible for sending Death's Head to the Transformers universe. The Incomplete Death's Head Issue 12. Despite being a manipulative being, especially in his seventh incarnation, it could be that this claim is false. There is nothing else within Death's Head's history to substantiate this claim.
Death's Head appears in the first five issues of the S.W.O.R.D.
S.W.O.R.D. (comics)
S.W.O.R.D. is a fictional counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the . Its purpose is to deal with extraterrestrial threats to world security.-Publication history:...
ongoing series, hunting down Abigail Brand
Abigail Brand
Special Agent Abigail Brand is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics' universe. Her first appearance was a cameo in Astonishing X-Men #3 , and she was introduced fully in Astonishing X-Men #6 . She was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday.-Origin:Abigail Brand is the commanding officer of...
's brother. He was given a partial redesign, with his head having some elements from the Minion version, and is his original giant size. He isn't using the term "freelance peacekeeper" until the Beast suggests it to him, and Death's Head notes that he likes it; this has been suggested to indicate this is Death's Head before he met the Transformers.
Death's Head II
Eventually, after many undocumented adventures, Death's Head was beheaded and his personality "assimilated" into the mind of the cyborgCyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
Minion. Minion was a cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
created by Dr. Evelyn Necker
Evelyn Necker
Doctor Evelyn Clarice Sarah Necker is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared as a supporting character in Death's Head #1, published by the Marvel UK imprint, and was created by Dan Abnett and Liam Sharp.-Publication history:In 2008, writers...
, a long-term pet project created after years of research which included the Xandarian Worldmind being temporarily uploaded into the Minion program's gestalt matrix. By the year 2020, she was an employee of AIM and the final Minion (as well as its prototype Death Wreck
Death Wreck
Death Wreck is a fictional character who appears in the comic books published by the Marvel UK imprint of Marvel Comics. Created by Craig Houston and Stewart "Staz" Johnson, he first appeared in Death Wreck volume 1, #1 ....
) was designed to protect the organisation from a psychically predicted threat; it killed and assimilated the minds of multiple targets as preparation for this!".
Death's Head's personality overwhelmed Minion's programming before it could take out its final target (Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four), and they became the gestalt lifeform that called itself Death's Head II. Death's Head II was partnered with Tuck
Tuck (comics)
Tuck is a character from Marvel UK comics. She is the partner of Death's Head, and first appeared in Death's Head vol. 2 #3. Tuck was created by Dan Abnett and Liam Sharp.-Fictional character biography:...
, an artificial human from the pseudo-medieval planet of Lionheart, where humans had outlawed advanced technology and waged war against androids and cyborgs. Neo-Nazi black mage Baron Strucker
Baron Strucker
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker is a fictional character created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #5...
IV would magically combine himself with the original Death's Head's corpse to become the supervillain Charnel, a recurring enemy for Death's Head II and the threat AIM had predicted.
With other assimilated personalities mingling with that of the "freelance peacekeeper", Death's Head changed as a character, becoming a more heroic and far less amoral figure than the original, as well as losing his unique mannerisms. He hopped across time and realities in many adventures, often fighting for the greater good; in one adventure, he volunteered for a heroic sacrifice whereas before he'd have required payment. He encountered many Marvel characters, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
, and Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, and crossed over with almost every Marvel UK character who was published at the time. He also made a cameo role in an Excalibur
Excalibur (comics)
Excalibur is a Marvel Comics superhero group, an off-shoot of the X-Men, usually based in the United Kingdom. Conceived by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer Alan Davis, the original Excalibur first appeared in Excalibur Special Edition , also known as Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn.The...
story set in the future.
The original Death's Head was only ever seen again in flashbacks or within Death's Head II's gestalt mind, as well as the twelve-issue The Incomplete Death's Head limited series (which reprinted various Death's Head stories from the past with a new framing sequence), in which Death's Head and Death's Head II join forces to defeat a servant of an enemy of the original Death's Head.
Death's Head II's design was created by artist Liam Sharp
Liam Sharp
Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer and publisher.-Early life:Liam Sharp was born in Derby at St. Mary's Hospital to parents Roger and Linda Sharp. He has a younger sister, Kerry, and younger brother, Rien. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before...
, and he was primarily scripted by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
.
Death's Head II titles included the four-issue introductory mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
, a sixteen-issue ongoing series
Ongoing series
The term "ongoing series" is used in contrast to limited series , a one shot , a graphic novel, or a trade paperback...
, and Death's Head II Gold, a second mini-series (written by Liam Sharp), that was cancelled after the first issue.
Death's Head's exploits ultimately came to end with the second demise of Marvel UK's in house creative team, and aside from a cameo in the Avengers Forever
Avengers Forever
Avengers Forever is a twelve-issue comic book limited series published from December 1998 to November 1999 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern and drawn by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino.-Publication history:...
limited series, was not featured in a Marvel comic again until 2009. One title he guest-starred in, Loose Cannons, featured Death's Head in a guest-star role but has only been released online. A planned Punisher-Death's Head II series never saw the light of day, and Liam Sharp pitched a revival that Marvel passed on.
Death's Head appeared briefly in the final issue of the Captain Britain and MI13 ongoing series, as one of the MI13 reserves battling against an army of vampires on the moon. Whereas the other Marvel UK characters reintroduced in the issue were accompanied with captions explaining their long absences from the Marvel Universe (e.g. "Back from space"), Death's Head was captioned as "Just... back!", and given the line "Surprise appearance, yes?!".
In 2010, Death's Head II was shown as a resident of a possible future in Avengers #2; this appearance also featured as one of the issue's alternative covers.
"What If Death's Head I Had Lived?"
In issue #54 of the What IfWhat If (comics)
What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is the title of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the road not traveled" by its various characters...
(vol. 2) series, Simon Furman and Geoff Senior wrote and drew a tale showing Death's Head surviving Minion's attack and later killing the cyborg; something Furman has said was "deeply satisfying and cathartic". Death's Head rebuilt his injured body into a larger, more heavily-armed form; meanwhile the Minion cyborg went on to kill Reed Richards, only to be possessed by Strucker and became Charnel itself. Evelyn Necker had to hire Death's Head to stop this threat.
Using a time machine, Death's Head went back in time to gather the surviving Fantastic Four and several other superheroes, offering them a shot at avenging Reed by ending Charnel - and then let them all get killed softening up Charnel for him. Using his firepower on Charnel and goading him at not using the full potential of his gestalt mind, he got the cyborg to access these scientific minds - knowing this would allow Reed Richard's mind (still fighting within Charnel) to take control of the cyborg's motor functions, allowing him to kill it. His mission complete, Death's Head thought about the selfless, non-profit nature of heroes: "I just hope it's not catching, yes?"
Death's Head 3.0
The third version of Death's Head was introduced in a five-part storyline within the pages of Marvel's anthologyAnthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
series Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy
Amazing Fantasy is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, and revived in 1995 and in the 2000s. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man in 1962...
, beginning in #16 (December 2005). Written by Death's Head creator Simon Furman and drawn by James Raiz, the story is set 100 years in the future and does not appear to be directly linked to the previous Death's Head stories.
Advanced Idea Mechanics
Advanced Idea Mechanics
A.I.M. is a fictional terrorist organization in the . The organization first appeared in Strange Tales #146 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.-Publication history:...
are set to make peace with the UN and become a legitimate non-terrorist organisation. Hardliner AIM Senior Scientist Patricia Goddard has decided to stop the peace treaty and force AIM back underground by assassinating the UN Secretary General, using a mysterious alien cyborg in AIM's possession codenamed Death's Head. Powered and given intelligence by an artificial variant on the Uni-Power
Captain Universe
Captain Universe is a disembodied superhero in Marvel Comics' universe who was created by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden, and first appeared in Micronauts vol. 1 #8. It is the guardian and protector of Eternity...
, the cyborg is sent out in to the field with preprogrammed objectives, but the clash between its murderous inclinations and an instinctive desire to help people leave it unsure what side it wants to be on.
The final panel of the Death's Head 3.0 story concludes with an image of the cyborg with mouth horns, alluding to the original Death's Head. It is mentioned as now operating as a deniable troubleshooter for the GEIST organisation (Global Enforcement/Intelligence Symposium Taskforce), carrying out operations they cannot be officially involved in for political reasons.
(Comic artist Simon Williams has said that Furman was going to end the story by having the character say "I'm Death's Head, yes?", to set up that Death's Head 3.0 was an early version of the original, but the "yes?" was cut off by the editor by mistake.)
This incarnation of Death's Head went on to appear on Sakaar, during the Planet Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
series. Similar models are used by the Hulk as soldiers during the World War Hulk
World War Hulk
"World War Hulk" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self titled limited series and various other titles published by Marvel Comics in 2007, featuring the Hulk....
event and one is used as an AIM courier in the MODOK
MODOK
MODOK is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #93 MODOK (acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character...
's 11 limited series by Monica Rappaccini.
It is shown during Nova's Secret Invasion Issues that the Hulk's Death's Head units have been handed over to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. for study by a Dr Necker under her "Minion" Project. After Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. forces come in to shut the facility down, it is revealed that Dr Necker is an A.I.M. double agent, setting up how Death's Head was in A.I.M. possession during the Death's Head 3.0 miniseries.
More recently, during the Enigma Force tie-in miniseries of the Incredible Hulks Dark Son arc, it was revealed that this model of Death's Head were built in the Microverse during a war with K'ai thousands of years ago. Sometime after the war some of the warships they were aboard were sucked through the Great Portal of Sakaar, which is said to breach time and space.
Film
In the film, Planet HulkPlanet Hulk (film)
Planet Hulk is a 2010 direct-to-video animated film created by Marvel Animation and released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It is based on the "Planet Hulk" storyline by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan.-Plot:...
, numerous Death Heads appaear on Sakaar.
Collected editions
Various Death's Head comics have been collected into a number of trade paperbacksTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
and other reprints:
- The Life and Times of Death's Head (144 pages, ISBN 1854002384)
- The Body in Question (64 pages, ISBN 1854002171)
- The Incomplete Death's Head (Reprint)
- Death's Head Volume 1 (collects "High Noon Tex", Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
#135, Dragon's ClawsDragon's ClawsDragon's Claws is a dysoptian science fiction comic book, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the eponymous law enforcers known as Dragon's Claws. It was set in the year 8162...
#5 and Death's Head #1-7, paperback, 204 pages, Panini ComicsPanini ComicsPanini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, best known for their collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy...
, February 2007, ISBN 1-905239-34-3). - Death's Head Volume 2 (collects Death's Head #8-10, The Body In Question, She-HulkShe-HulkShe-Hulk is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1 ....
#24, Fantastic FourFantastic FourThe Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
#338, Marvel Comics PresentsMarvel Comics PresentsMarvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
#76, Doctor Who Magazine #173, What If #56, paperback, 224 pages, Panini Comics, October 2007, ISBN 1-905239-69-6) - Death's Head 3.0: Unnatural Selection (collects Amazing FantasyAmazing FantasyAmazing Fantasy is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, and revived in 1995 and in the 2000s. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man in 1962...
#16-20, paperback, 120 pages, Panini Comics, August 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2108-0)