Silver Sable

Silver Sable
Silver Sable Issue #3 (1992)
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #265 (June 1985)
Created by	Tom DeFalco Ron Frenz Josef Rubinstein
In-story information
Alter ego	Silver Sablinova
Team affiliations	Wild Pack Intruders Outlaws Heroes for Hire
Abilities	Highly trained in hand-to-hand combat Very skilled with fire weapons and blades Excellent strategist

Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova) is a fictional character from Marvel Comics, a female mercenary, hunter of war criminals, the leader of the Wild Pack, and CEO of Silver Sable International. Though a legitimate mercenary, her methods and motives have sometimes brought her into conflict with other superheroes.

Publication history

Created by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Josef Rubinstein, Silver Sable first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #265 (June 1985). The inspiration for the character comes from safari cards bought by Tom DeFalco.^[1] After that she made occasional appearances in various Spider-Man titles, often (but not always) as an ally. Marvel Comics began to publish the series Silver Sable & The Wild Pack in June 1992, written by Gregory Wright and penciled by Steven Butler. This series lasted for 35 issues, until it was canceled along with many other Marvel series in 1995.

After the cancellation, Silver made occasional guest appearances in various comics until early 2006. At that point a limited series began featuring Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune titled Sable and Fortune. Originally solicited as a six issue series, Sable and Fortune was shortened to four issues after the release of issue one.

Fictional character biography

The operations of Wild Pack and Silver Sable International drive the national economy of the fictional small European state of Symkaria. The name Wild Pack had been used by the mercenary squad led by Cable for some time, until a legal notice forced them to change it to Six Pack.^[2]

The State of Symkaria is adjacent to Latveria, the nation that is ruled by Doctor Doom. Silver Sable and Victor Von Doom have an annual diplomatic dinner at Castle Doom, situated in Doomstadt. Apparently the friendship between these two states is deep-rooted and dates back to World War II.^[3]

The family of Silver Sable is composed of her father, Ernst Sablinova, her uncle Morty, and a young cousin, Anna (orphaned daughter of another, an unnamed uncle or aunt). Silver's mother was killed in front of her by enemies of her father, who ran a Nazi-hunting group. Due to this traumatic event and her Father's subsequent harsh training and treatment of her, Silver Sable has dedicated herself to being both as emotionless and as effective as possible in her professional life. Silver has been known only to let one emotion—rage—overcome her reason, almost uniformly when facing Nazi opponents or those who threaten her family. Other subsequent mistakes involving emotion have only added to her self-imposed need to control herself and affect an "ice queen" persona. Most notably, Silver fell in love with and was married to the Foreigner, an international assassin and the head of the 1400 Club, but they "divorced" when she discovered his real work. Their relation today varies between friendship, mere mutual tolerance, and attempts to kill each other.

Uncle Morty functions as Sable's assistant. He organizes the missions, keeps track of the accounting part, and many times tries to remind Sable to retain her focus and sense of judgment (as Silver's iron-clad emotional control and occasional fits of temper are often only softened by feelings for her family).

Silver supports Anna's boarding school education and seemingly nothing more. Her feelings were betrayed when HYDRA agents took over the school and killed Anna's best friend. Sable infiltrated the school, rescuing the survivors with the unwanted aid of Spider-Man and the aid of some of her troops, against orders.

Silver once hunted the international criminal the Black Fox to recover valuable gems stolen by the thief, but was inadvertently thwarted by Spider-Man.^[4] She was hired by a South African republic to neutralize the international terrorist Jack O'Lantern. She enlisted Spider-Man's aid against the Sinister Syndicate, and first formed an alliance with the Sandman.^[5] Some time later, she joined forces with Spider-Man, Paladin, Solo, and Captain America to track down Sabretooth and the Red Skull, who masterminded a plot to put the United States against Symkaria.^[6] The group is hired to clear up a decade's old conspiracy resulting from a failed terrorist attack on New York City.^[7]

She later hired Spider-Man to steal incriminating documents from a Maggia money launderer, and then first encountered the Outlaws.^[8] An intelligence mission in Iraq resulted in the death of a Wild Pack member, and she denied compensation to the slain man's family due to his negligence.^[9] She devised an initiation test for the Prowler to join the Outlaws, and taught him a lesson in humility.^[10] She hired the Outlaws to retrieve a Symkarian nuclear device in England.^[11] She hired the Outlaws to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Canadian official.^[12] With the help of Spider-Man, Sandman, and the Wild Pack, she rescued her niece from a kidnapping by HYDRA.^[13] She then encountered a Doctor Doom doppelganger.^[14]

Silver has collaborated with various superheroes, including the aforementioned Spider-Man, the Punisher, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Venom, Captain America, Deadpool, and many others. Sandman, a reformed Spider-Man villain, was a mercenary for Silver Sable International for a long time, heading the Intruders, the squad of superpowered mercenaries in the employ of Silver Sable International. Other heroes and reformed minor villains work for Silver Sable International on occasion.

Like her father, Sable's squad focuses on bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, though they have taken on many other types of missions. Her group often flagrantly disobeys orders if they believe it is for the greater good.

Sable's surprisingly cordial diplomatic relationship with Doctor Doom would prove almost-fatal as the annual dinner happened to fall on the time when Doctor Doom's castle had been overtaken by an alien impersonator during the Infinity War crisis. The double did look different, something Sable put down to Doom's desires to change his look. During the dinner, Sable's driver is killed by Doom's robots and a human butler is killed by the Doom double. Sable protests the brutality and is attacked herself, leading to a chase throughout the castle. Again defying her, her soldiers came to rescue her, despite Sandman himself also having been replaced.

Later, Sable was hired to protect Professor Wolfgang Von Hessler, who was holed up in the Symkarian monastery of St. Eboars. Wolfgang knew of a powerful genetic weapon and, attacked by guilt, was working on a neutralizing agent to give to the world so the weapon would be useless.

Most of Sable's Wild Pack were out on assignments, so she hired a new team. The Cat, a martial artist, Paladin, and what she thought was Nomad but turned out to be Madcap. The group fought the Heroes for Hire, who had been hired to take the Professor. Sable's team had the upper hand until Deadpool freed his Heroes allies and Power Man turned traitor, sending the professor off to the villain Master of the World.

During the Shadowland storyline, Silver Sable ends up paired up with Misty Knight, Paladin, and Shroud when Daredevil's Hand Ninjas end up secretly targeting members of the mafia.^[15]

Ends of the Earth and "death"

During the Ends of the Earth storyline involving one of Doctor Octopus' schemes, Silver Sable recovers Spider-Man and Black Widow after the Avengers are defeated by the Sinister Six—Spider-Man because of his experience with the Six and Widow simply because she was closest to Sable's cloaked plane. She joins them in an attack on a Sahara facility controlled by Doctor Octopus, with the three successfully defeating the Sandman after Spider-Man's allies at Horizon Labs helped him determine a means of identifying the one particle of sand containing Sandman's consciousness.^[16] She is apparently drowned by the Rhino in the final battle when he pins her to the ground in a flooding corridor in Doctor Octopus' base, the Rhino preferring to die after the loss of his wife and knowing that Spider-Man will blame himself for the death even if he stops Doctor Octopus' plan.^[17]

When Spider-Man was visited by Madame Web, she claims that Silver Sable did not perish in the fight within Doctor Octopus' underwater base.^[18]

Silver Sable is later seen with other dead people (including the Rhino) in a post-mortem experience by Spider-Man (whose mind was in the body of Doctor Octopus).^[19]

Powers, abilities, and equipment

Silver Sable is an athletic woman with no superhuman powers. She is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and skilled in various martial arts, and she is an expert markswoman, swordswoman, and gymnast. She also possesses strong leadership capabilities.

Silver Sable wears synthetic stretch fabric lined with Kevlar throughout the torso. She often carries a saber or rapier (dueling sword), chai (three-pronged half-moon throwing projectiles), a 9mm pistol and derringer. Silver Sable generally has the latest technology and equipment at her disposal, provided by Silver Sable International.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Silver Sable is a mercenary from Symkaria. This version of the character appeared as the central villain in an Ultimate Spider-Man story arc titled after her. She leads a mercenary organization known as the Wild Pack, and is skilled enough to best Peter Parker in hand to hand combat.^[20] She had a troubled childhood, apparently ignored by her father and abused by her alcoholic mother. In reality, her father hunted Nazis and she forgave him at his deathbed and decided to follow in his footsteps. While she has so far only appeared as an antagonist to Spider-Man, she is not actually a villain so much as a bounty hunter, and she holds no particular ill-will towards Spider-Man.^[21]

She is hired by Roxxon to capture Spider-Man for questioning. She manages to knock him out, and bring him to Roxxon. He is tied up, and unmasked. Spider-Man escapes and ends up saving Roxxon from the Vulture with Silver's help.^[22]

What If?

In the What If? storyline What If Spider-man had married the Black Cat?, after Black Cat is accidentally killed by the Paladin, Silver Sable and Spider-Man enter into a romantic relationship due to their shared grief over the loss of their loved ones. Uatu the Watcher leaves it ambiguous whether this relationship will work out or not.^[23]

In other media

Television

Silver Sable and her Wild Pack in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

• Silver Sable appeared in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" saga of the Spider-Man TV series, voiced by Mira Furlan. The Wild Pack accompanied her, and she served as an enemy to Spider-Man against both the Kingpin and Red Skull. She was first seen hired by Rheinholt Kragor (Red Skull's son) in order to gather information about the Doomsday device, capture two scientists in order to help operate it, and to keep it from falling into the hands of the Kingpin. She later kidnapped Spider-Man, Kingpin and the Insidious Six for Rheinholt.

Silver Sable in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.

• Silver Sable appeared in two episodes of MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, voiced by Virginia Madsen. In the episode "Spider-Man Dis-Sabled", Spider-Man encounters Sliver Sable attempting to assassinate the mayor of New York City and European Union Guest Harlan Tremain. As it turns out, the Tremain is really an undercover terrorist "The Piranha" planning to kill the president when he gets the chance. When Silver Sable discovers that Peter Parker had caught her on surveillance when she had attempted to kill him, she attacks Peter's apartment and kidnaps Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn and Indy. Peter later discovers that Silver Sable is also posing as Jane Perkins (the mayor's assistant) but before he can stop her from kidnapping the mayor and Tremaine, he first has to save his friends, which gives her time to get away. Spider-Man eventually catches up to her, though, and the two have a final showdown on top of the mayor's limo. It ends with the limo crashing off the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man saves the limo before it hits the water, but Silver Sable falls off and she swims away shown by her air bubbles in the water. Sliver Sable later made her last appearance in the episode "Mind Games" (Part One). She joined Kraven the Hunter who wanted to kill Spider-Man as revenge for being sent to a gulag. Sable was then caught by Spider-Man and taken to jail. In the process, she told Kraven "There are other ways to get revenge on Spider-Man.". Kraven was thus inspired to kill Mary Jane. However, Sliver Sable's appearance was an illusion and part of a scheme by the Gaines twins to manipulate Spider-Man into thinking Kraven killed Mary Jane in the hopes that he would kill Kraven. The Gaines twins sought vengeance for Kraven's murder of their father. Information on a computer screen indicates that she comes from Russia instead of the fictional country of Symkaria.

• Silver Sable appears in the second season of The Spectacular Spider-Man,^[24] voiced by Nikki Cox.^[25] This version is Sable Manfredi, the daughter of crime boss Silvermane. Silver Sable represents her jailed father in an underground bidding organized by Oscorp for a chip that contains the technology to produce super-soldiers like Rhino. However, she is opposed by Hammerhead and Roderick Kingsley. Silver Sable is defeated by Spider-Man but manages to escape police custody. She has a dislike for Hammerhead, due to the fact that they used to date. In a later episode, she shows up with her father to a Valentine's Day meeting in the opera house with Tombstone and Doctor Octopus. Hammerhead betrays them all and injects Sliver Sable with a tranquilizer.

Video games

• Silver Sable appeared in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, voiced by Jennifer Hale. She appears as an assassin trying to hunt down both Spider-Man and Venom. Apparently in the game, Sliver Sable knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man whereas she does not in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, hinting that this game is not considered canon. In the game, she first appeared sending her Wild Pack on Venom but he defeats them. She captures him in the museum later on. Afterwards, Sliver Sable uses Venom as bait for Spider-Man but he escapes her again. Later, she kidnaps Spider-Man while he is in his civilian identity but he escapes and bests her in hand to hand combat even after being shot with a tranquilizer dart. However, after several more tranquilizer shots, Venom appears and knocks Sliver Sable unconscious. Spider-Man changes into the red-and-blue costume and must defend her from Venom. After Venom is defeated, Spider-Man finally succumbs to the darts. Sliver Sable is later seen before the final battle against Venom, saying that her contract with Bolivar Trask expired and that he doesn't know how to fly the helicopter that he is using to flee Venom. When Spider-Man is about to question her of what she's doing, Sable interrupts by saying it's "business is business" before leaving him to deal with Trask.

• Silver Sable appeared in Spider-Man: Battle for New York, voiced again by Jennifer Hale. In the video game loosely based on the Ultimate Spider-Man universe, she is hired by the Kingpin to deal with his 'unpleasant business affairs'. She is a boss battle for Spider-Man and Green Goblin in the game.

• Jennifer Hale reprises her role of Silver Sable in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. This is her first playable appearance in a video game. She appears as more of a hero-type as she was one of the first people hired by Nick Fury besides Prowler, Iron Fist (captured on Tangaroa Island) and lastly Spider-Man.

• Silver Sable is a playable character in The Punisher: No Mercy for the PSN.^[26]

• Silver Sable appears in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions with Jennifer Hale reprising the role. In the Amazing universe, she and her Wild Pack are trying to capture supervillain Juggernaut for a bounty, but Spider-Man attempts to stop this even though they have a secondary bounty on him. Upon the collapse of the in-construction OsCorp building on top of both Juggernaut and Spider-Man, Sable apparently gave up on the hunt, considering it a miracle if either target survived. In the end credits, it is revealed that she found the Juggernaut sometime after Spider-Man defeated him and captured him.

• Silver Sable also appears in the MMOARPG Marvel Heroes. She appears as a gear vendor in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

References

External links

• Silver Sable at Marvel.com
• MarvelDatabase:Silver Sable
• MarvelDatabase:Character Gallery Silver Sable
• The Shrine of Silver Sable
• Profile at Samruby
• Profile at Spiderfan.org