Man-Killer

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Amazon (comics) redirects here; for the Amazons of DC Comics, see Amazons (comics).

Man-Killer

The Man-Killer
Art by Jim Mooney
Gerry Conway
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Marvel Team-Up volume 1 #8 (April 1973)
Created by Jim Mooney
Gerry Conway
In story information
Alter ego Katrina Luisa Van Horn
Team affiliations Advanced Idea Mechanics
Masters of Evil
Thunderbolts
Notable aliases Amazon, Wilma
Abilities Superhuman strength and durability

The Man-Killer (real name Katrina Luisa Van Horn) is a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics' universe, who first appeared in Marvel Team-Up volume 1 #8 (April 1973) by Gerry Conway and Jim Mooney.

Contents

[edit] Fictional character biography

Katrina Luisa Van Horn was an Olympic skier and is a militant feminist. After engaging in an argument with anti-Women's Liberation skier Karl Lubbings, the two took their disagreement to the slopes. Katrina was an Olympic-level skier, but Lubbings cut her off and both skiers plunged off the mountain. Katrina was severely injured and disfigured. She was fitted with a powered exoskeleton, and took the name Man-Killer (she no longer wears the exoskeleton so it is probable her strength has been enhanced somehow). She has worked freelance and as an agent for Hydra. She has been a member of the Masters of Evil under the Crimson Cowl. As Amazon, she was briefly a member of the Thunderbolts under Hawkeye. She had fought Spider-Man on some occasions.

[edit] Feelings regarding men

During an altercation with the Thunderbolts, Katrina told Songbird that she'd rather not fight her, as she had no problems with women, just with men. (Songbird attacked her anyway.) Some time later, however, Erik Josten—Atlas of the Thunderbolts—discovered Katrina working as a bartender in his team's adopted home of Burton Canyon, Colorado. When Josten became a regular at the bar Katrina was congenial towards him, pretending not to recognize him as Atlas. Whatever animosity Katrina may or may not bear towards men, she has proven herself capable of working alongside them with a minimum of personality conflicts.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Robotic implants replacing and/or compounded with bones and nerves, which give her superhuman powers, good athletic abilities, and the ability to throw knives at a range of hundreds of meters.

[edit] Notes

  • While not confirmed it has been strongly implied that Katrina is a lesbian. One example of this occurs in Thunderbolts v.1 #71 when she, Cyclone and Harrier decide to abandon Songbird and Plantman to be captured by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Hawkeye and Gypsy Moth capture the trio and attempt to coerce them into going back for Songbird and Plantman, before a S.H.I.E.L.D. search party catches up with them and forces them to fight for their freedom. While Cyclone and Harrier remain tied up, Katrina is freed and subdues a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who is about to drag them away to be incarcerated. Cyclone asks that she untie them so they can escape, referring to her as "Man-Killer." She makes no move to help them escape and says that she'd rather be called "Amazon", her heroic, Thunderbolts name. Cyclone realizes that she now intends to join Hawkeye and Gypsy Moth in acting noble and laments "One more goes to the other side..." Katrina, apparently misunderstanding, responds "I was born on that side, Frenchie."
  • Other less obvious clues to her lesbianism include:
  • Katrina once used the alias Wilma when she was working as a bartender. Presumably this was an homage to the famous feminist Wilma Mankiller.


[edit] Bibliography

[edit] As Man-Killer

  • Daredevil vol. 1 #121, 123, #107 ("death")
  • Iron Man vol. 1 #126-127
  • Marvel Team-Up vol. 1 #8
  • Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z 2006 #7
  • Thunderbolts vol. 1 #3, 18-20, 23-25, 27, 30, 35, 39-42

[edit] As Amazon

  • Marvel Universe: The End #5-6, 71,73-75
  • New Thunderbolts #18-19
  • Thunderbolts vol. 1 #64-65, 66, 69, 71, 73-75, 80-81

[edit] References