Swordsman (comics)
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The Swordsman is the name of several fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe. Each of the men to use this name has essentially been a superhero, albeit a hero with no special powers, only skill with a sword. The first two Swordsmen have acted as supervillains at times. All of the Swordsmen save for the most recent one have been members of the Avengers.
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[edit] Jacques Duquesne
The original Swordsman, Jacques Duquesne, trained the Avenger Hawkeye when both men worked in a circus alongside Hawkeye's brother Barney and the archer called Trickshot. Both Hawkeye and the Swordsman turned to crime, only to later attempt to reform and join the Avengers; however, the Swordsman's reform was only half-hearted, as he betrayed the team and left their ranks. He has tried to battle the Avengers in several occasions, in team with Egghead or joining the supervillain group the Lethal Legion. However, he also assisted the Avengers on several later occasions, like in the Avengers' attack on Olympus and in the conflict that involved Kang's quest for the "Celestial Madonna", who was in fact Mantis, an ally of the Avengers. The Swordsman fell in love with Mantis, and she only realized that she felt the same for him when he died saving her life from Kang. She soon after married an alien Cotati that had assumed his form, and would eventually bear the alien a son.
While the Swordsman was an outstanding fighter, his main weapon was a sword created by the super-villain Mandarin from Makluan technology. Besides serving as a melee weapon, it could fire energy blasts of various types.
[edit] References
First details about his carnival performer career and the involvement of Clint (and Barney) Barton appears in classic The Avengers (vol. 1) #19 (August 1965) and #65 (June 1969). The #19th issue is also the first appearance of this Swordsman, and in #20, joins briefly the Avengers.
More origin details, with the involvement of Trickshot, appears on Solo Avengers series, many years later.
The joining with Lethal Legion appears on The Avengers (vol. 1) #78-79.
The long story-arc with Mantis started in The Avengers (vol. 1) #114 (brief appearance in #112). The long Kang/Legion of Unliving saga (including Vision "origins") appears in The Avengers (vol. 1) #129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.
[edit] Philip Javert
The second Swordsman, Philip Javert, hailed from an alternate universe, and was recruited from there alongside Magdalene to join Proctor and his Gatherers. They travelled to Earth-616 (the primary Marvel Earth), where they attacked the Avengers, particularly Sersi (whose counterparts in the Gatherers' native worlds had gone mad and become evil) and the Black Knight (who was Proctor's counterpart on Earth-616). The Swordsman and Magdalene turned against Proctor and joined the Avengers briefly. Some years later, they would team with the Avengers and the Squadron Supreme and leave Earth-616 for parts unknown.
[edit] Heroes Reborn
The third Swordsman was a native of the Heroes Reborn world, which was created by Franklin Richards and later became the second Counter-Earth. He and his world were created after the Avengers "died" battling Onslaught. He joined the Avengers for the duration of their stay on that world, and was revealed to actually be that world's counterpart of Deadpool during his time with the cast-off heroes called the "Remnants".
[edit] Thunderbolts (Andreas von Strucker)
The fourth Swordsman appeared recently in the pages of New Thunderbolts,
At the request of Baron Zemo, Purple Man used his powers to take control of Andreas Strucker and trained him to be a better fighter so he could be the new Swordsman and infiltrate the Thunderbolts. Andreas and his twin sister Andrea previously could only access their mutant energy powers when touching. After Baron Helmut Zemo murdered Andrea, Andreas flayed Andrea's flesh from her corpse, tanned it and made it the hilt of his sword, thus he retains his mutant power, but now he channels it through his sword.
- It was strongly implied that Andrea and Andreas were raped by the Purple Man.
[edit] In Other Media
The original Swordsman appears in one episode of Avengers: United They Stand.
