Howling Commandos

For the monsters-team, please see the S.T.A.K.E. page.

Origin

The Howling Commandos of World War II, a Ranger squadron of the United States Army, was under the field leadership of Sergeant Nicholas Joseph Fury, with Captain Samuel Sawyer, nicknamed Happy Sam, serving as its Commanding Officer. It earned its nickname during a mission in Italy when its members commandeered a sound truck and let out a cry of "Wah-HOOOOOOOOO" to scare off the enemy.

Creation

The Howling Commandos were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Sgt. Fury issue 1 (1963).

Major Story Arcs

The Howling Commandos, World War Two

Known members of the World War II Howling Commandos were Sergeant Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury; Captain Samuel Sawyer, nicknamed Happy Sam; Corporal Timothy Dugan, nicknamed Dum-Dum and noted for wearing a bowler hat at nearly all times on duty; Percival Pinkerton, nicknamed Pinky, who had joined the unit from the British Special Operations Executive; Robert Ralston, nicknamed Rebel; Dino Manelli; Gabriel Jones, whose brother Fred had been a founding member but who was disabled in action; Isadore Cohen, nicknamed Izzy and Eric Koenig, who had once been a member of the German Wehrmacht but had left it to join the Allied cause after realizing what and who Adolf Hitler really was.

King George V Windsor of Great Britain bestowed the honor upon the "Howlers" of becoming the first United States Army Ranger squadron to become Commandos in His Majesty's Army.

After the war, Fury, Dugan, and certain other former Howling Commandos became active in international intelligence, and eventually came to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., then the Supreme Headquarters of the International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division, whose Public Director Fury became.

Another wizard claiming to be Merlin escapes from a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment base dubbed the Warehouse. He travels to the UK where he turns the entire country into a fantasy realm. The Howling Commandos are charged with stopping him.The team is headquartered in Area 13, a classified base run by S.H.I.E.L.D. Paranormal Containment Unit. It also serves as a research facility, specializing in the supernatural. Later the team was sent to Afghanistan to interrupt a meeting between the Lords of the Living Lightning and terrorists.

Dark Reign : Howling Commandos P.M.C.

After the Secret Invasion many S.H.I.E.L.D agents were given chances to work for H.A.M.M.E.R. Many of the former Howling Commandos whom worked for SHIELD didn't accept this change and formed the Howling Commandos PMC. Among it's members where Dum Dum Dugan, Gabriel Jones, Jasper Sitwell and Eric Koenig. It was however difficult task to select their clients. When Nick Fury contacted them, he offered to employ them full-time. It was also during this time that it was revealed a couple of the former Howlers' had died, Percy Pinkerton had died of cancer, and also Dino Manellie had perished, although the circumstances of his death remain unclear. Now with Nick Fury back in the lead position of the all new Howling Commandos, their first target would be the Dock, a H.A.M.M.E.R. hellicarriers facility. After the battle, which also included an attack from HYDRA, most of the surviving H.A.M.M.E.R. agents joined the Howling Commandos. The battle against HYDRA had however a large tall to pay, as members Eric Koenig and Gabriel Jones died during the fight.

Monsters Team: S.T.A.K.E.

Before the events of Dark Reign, a SHIELD squad was formed that was made out of many former Marvel Monsters, funded by and shaped into a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike-force team. Beyond the name, this team has nothing to do with the original Howling Commandos. This with the exception of Clay Quartmain, whom was the team's briefing officer and sometimes helped the team on their missions. The team had a few missions, but was disbanned afterwards.

The New Team

Recently, a new team of Howling Commandos was created by SHIELD, under the supervision of Dum Dum Dugan. It consisted of a few of the original members and a few new faces. This team of Monsters was however officialy called S.T.A.K.E. and thus are no longer known as Howling Commandos.

Black-Ops Team

A Howling Commandos back ops unit has been dispatched to Los Angeles to hunt down the Punisher. Frank managed to escape from them when they made their first move. They later decide to kidnap one of Frank's distinct relatives to lure The Punisher back to them, but only only end up being defeated by Frank.

Variants

Earth-1610 (Ultimate Universe)

When the Dark Ultimates took over the world, they had defeated most of the Ultimates. With no one left to save the world Nick Fury gathered a team of his own to take the fight to the Dark Ultimates, The Howling Commandos. A team consisting of Cassie "Stature" Lang , Sam "Falcon" Wilson ,Frank "The Punisher" Castle, Abigail "The Alien" Brand, Dan "Dum Dum" Dugan, Danny "the ghost" Ketch, Emil "The Abomination" Blonsky, and Hercules, son of Zeus.

Multiversal

A version of the Howling Commandos was assembled and tested by a Deathlok from a possible future, Robbie Reyes of Earth-616, and a variant of Tony Stark who became Ant-Man instead of Iron Man. It consisted of multiple variants of Steve Rogers, an army of Captain Americas, to join them in a fight against Mephisto, and his multiversal armies: The Council of Red and The Masters of Evil.

Other Media

Movies

Captain America: The First Avenger

Most of the team-members are seen in the movie, although Nick Fury is replaced by Bucky Barnes (mainly because Nick Fury was already portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in some Marvel movies in recent time). Bucky Barnes however has quite a similar look to Nick Fury as he looked in the comics during his days as a Howling Commando.

Television

Agent Carter

A small team of Howling Commandos appears in the ABC TV series, Agent Carter, in season 1 episode 5, titled "The Iron Ceiling." As an agent of SSR, Peggy Carter reunited with Dum Dum Dugan and new members: Junior Juniper, Pinky Pinkerton, and Happy Sam Sawyer. She called them in to be escorts into Byelorussia (now Belarus) to investigate a Leviathan base. During this mission, they were forced to fight a child Black Widow program trainee.

Neal McDonough reprises the role of Dum Dum Dugan.