Scourge of the Underworld

History

The Scourge Program was founded by The Avenging Angel (Thomas Halloway) a major hero of the 1940's who retired after an innocent bystander was killed by a criminal he was battling. Consumed by rage and guilt, the Angel used his personal fortune to create the program titled the Scourge of the Underworld.

Major Story Arcs

School of the Underworld

The program enlisted and trained various operatives for the intent of keeping the mystery of the person behind the Scrouge identity. Receiving extensive training in the arts of espionage, surveillance, escape artistry, martial combat, disguise, and firearms. After receiving training, the agents would be sent out on assignments across the country to kill superpowered criminals. All would assume contact via disguise and plotting the killing and authorities and villains alike could not follow the patterns to track Scrouge down as they had no clue it was not just one vigilante.

Unbeknownst to its members the organization was being backed by the villain the Red Skull. He had secretly invested in Halloway's venture with the principal intent to weed out the super criminal world of dead weight and also cause a distraction for Captain America. In his theory the Scourge program would not only train new requits to deal with lesser desirable villains. In this way he would see which villains would survive and then be part of his Skeleton Crew. The realty of the Scourge program was that Halloway thought he ran it while Red Skull was the truly in control.

The Lone Scourge

When a group of superpowered criminals united forces and met at the Bar with No Name to deal with the threat of Scrouge and find revenge for those murdered. Unbeknownst to them the bar tender was Scrouge disguised all along. In a hail of bullets every last criminal was killed and Scrouge left the bodies for authorities to discover and take note. However, the criminal known as Water Wizard had his car break down on the way to the Bar with No Name. Arriving late to the scene he had missed the massacre and saved his life.

Water Wizard was terrified and called the Captain America Hotline and once he contacted Captain America brought him to the bar revealing just how dangerous and extreme Scrouge had gotten. Captain America tracked down the killer and defeated him right before he killed the villain the Constrictor. Scrouge however managed to escape and would again attempt to make a hit on another victim. This Scrouge was not part of the central operation, his motivations were due to his past and relationship with the villain the Enforcer who was his brother, Ashamed and convinced he could atone for his brothers' criminal activities he decided to train, use disguise, and even having a mobile van equipped to track down and kill his prey. Found again by Captain America and this time defeated, he was about to be turned into the authorities when he was shot dead. The assailant shouted, "Justice is served", eliminating a Scrouge for the salvation of the rest.

Creation

The Scourge of the Underworld first appeared in the Marvel Comics series Iron Man #194 - Otherwhere! Its date of appearance was May 1985.

Members:

Angel: Thomas Halloway 1940's wartime hero who had started the operation and was eventually killed. He never realized that the Red Skull had been in control the whole time.

Domino: A brilliant tactician and computer genius who worked on the recruitment of new Scourges. He was killed during an engagement with U.S.Agent.

Caprice: Telepathic madwoman who was a founding member of the Scourge program. She fought U.S.Agent before he shut down the operation. She was later killed by Bullseye while incarcerated.

Bloodstream: A skilled warrior who worked as a recruiter for possible members to the Scourge program. He disguised himself as U.S.Agents dead brother. He would die by a ricocheted bullet from U.S.Agents shield.

Scrouge: The second man to take the name Scourge stated he was the brother of the criminal Enforcer. He would make several successful hits including killing 18 villains all at once before being defeated by Captain America. He was shot dead by another Scourge who yelled out "Justice is served", the slogan of the Scrouges.

Vagabond: Former lover of Nomad and member of the Stars and Stripes band of hero's led by Captain America. She had joined the Scrouge program and received training but repented on her first assignment to kill the matador.

Anthony Diaz: The newest Scourge who is killing corrupt police officers.