S.T.R.I.K.E.

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S.T.R.I.K.E.

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Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Captain Britain Weekly #17 (February 1977)
Created by Gary Friedrich (writer)
Larry Lieber (editor)
In story information
Type of organization Intelligence agency
Roster
See:List of S.T.R.I.K.E. members

S.T.R.I.K.E. is a fictional, comic-book counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the Marvel Comics universe. The organization, that often deals with superhuman threats, was introduced in Captain Britain Weekly #17, as the United Kingdom's version of the United Nation's S.H.I.E.L.D.

The acronym stands for Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies.

Contents

[edit] Publication and fictional history

A "Beetle" squad member guns down Tom Lennox The Mighty World Of Marvel #9 (Feb, 1984). Art by Alan Davis
A "Beetle" squad member guns down Tom Lennox The Mighty World Of Marvel #9 (Feb, 1984). Art by Alan Davis

The organization was first mentioned when Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury came to a meeting with the British Prime Minister, James Callaghan, and was introduced to his United Kingdom counterpart, Tod Radcliffe. However, this is retconed the very next issue when its announced that Radcliffe is the Deputy Director of S.T.R.I.K.E[1].

It is revealed that Radcliffe is a traitor, working for the Red Skull, Commander Lance Hunter is introduced as S.T.R.I.K.E.'s director.

S.T.R.I.K.E. is later taken over by Captain Britain's enemy, the crimelord Vixen, and disbanded in the wake of Jaspers' Warp, where Mad Jim Jaspers became Prime Minister and used S.T.R.I.K.E.'s armored anti-superhuman "Beetle" squadron to hunt down superhumans within the British isles. S.T.R.I.K.E. was replaced by the Resources Control eXecutive (R.C.X.), Department of Unknown and Covert Knowledge (D.U.C.K.) and Weird Happenings Organization (W.H.O).

[edit] Bases of operation

S.T.R.I.K.E.'s original headquarters, as seen in the organizations first appearances, was an undersea air base, which contained several of S.T.R.I.K.E.'s planes which were considered superior to their American counterparts at the time.[2]

S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi division had their own headquarters.

Another headquarters was in a closed University, located in London, England; this HQ was later used by D.U.C.K.[3]

[edit] Members

Like S.H.I.E.L.D., S.T.R.I.K.E. had hundreds of agents throughout several divisions

[edit] Executive directors and deputy directors

[edit] Psi-Division

[edit] Sci-Tech Division

  • "Matthew" (codename)[20] - Recruited telepath Betsy Braddock to join S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi division. He later was recruited into R.C.X. as a regulator and given the new codename of Gabriel.

[edit] Other versions

[edit] Ultimate S.T.R.I.K.E.

S.T.R.I.K.E. in the Ultimate Marvel parallel universe was first introduced in Ultimate X-Men #15 and is still considered an English division S.H.I.E.L.D. though that is an entirely United States controlled organization. S.T.R.I.K.E. also has ties with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sister organization in Europe, the European Defense Initiative.

[edit] Known members

  • Colonel Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock[21] - A S.T.R.I.K.E. mutant agent from psi-division who later inherited the body of a young girl known as Kwannon[22] after being killed. Due to her body, Betsy was technically considered a minor thus unable to work for S.T.R.I.K.E. so she went on to join the X-Men[23].
  • Dai Thomas[24] - A Welsh S.T.R.I.K.E. agent from psi-division who was killed by Proteus. His Earth-616 (mainstream-Marvel) counterpart was a police inspector who often clashed with S.T.R.I.K.E. and its descendant organizations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Captain Britain Weekly #17
  2. ^  Gary Friedrich (w),  Herb Trimpe (p),  Fred Kida (i).  Captain Britain Weekly  #17 (February 1977)  Marvel UK
  3. ^  Glenn Dakin (w),  Paschalis Ferry (p),  Sean Hardy (i).  Plasmer  #1 (November 1993)  Marvel UK
  4. ^ Captain Britain Weekly #17 (February 1977)
  5. ^ Captain Britain Weekly #19 (February 1977)
  6. ^  Civil War: Battle Damage Report  #1 (2007)  Marvel Comics
  7. ^ Daredevils #3
  8. ^ Daredevils #3
  9. ^  Alan Moore (w),  Alan Davis (p),  Alan Davis (i). "Among Those Dark Satanic Mills (or Madwar)" The Mighty World Of Marvel  #9 (February 1984)  Marvel UK
  10. ^ Daredevils #3
  11. ^ a b c d e f g  Michael Hoskin, Stuart Vandal, Anthony Flamini, Eric Moreels (w),  Eliot Brown (p),  Eliot Brown (i).  Marvel Atlas  #1 (November 2007)  Marvel Comics
  12. ^ Daredevils #3
  13. ^ a b c  Alan Moore (w),  Alan Davis (p),  Daredevils  #3 (March 1983)  Marvel UK
  14. ^ Daredevils #3
  15. ^ Daredevils #3
  16. ^ Daredevils #3
  17. ^ Daredevils #3
  18. ^ Daredevils #3
  19. ^ Daredevils #3
  20. ^ Captain Britain vol. 2 #1
  21. ^ Ultimate X-Men #17
  22. ^  Mark Millar (w),  Adam Kubert (p),  Danny Miki (i). "Return of the King" Ultimate X-Men  #32 (June 2003)  Marvel Comics
  23. ^  Robert Kirkland (w),  Yanick Paquette (p),  Serge Lapointe (i). "Sentinels" Ultimate X-Men  #83 (September 2007)  Marvel Comics
  24. ^ Ultimate X-Men #17