Skull the Slayer

Skull the Slayer (James Patrick Scully) is a fictional Marvel Comics character that debuted in his own book in August, 1975.

Publication history

Skull the Slayer had his own ongoing series starting in August 1975, which ran for eight issues.

Fictional character biography

Skull the Slayer is a trained soldier turned superhero who wears a Scorpion power belt that enhances his strength and durability. The belt also has preservative effects on his body's metabolism. On one occasion, Scully was able to funnel energy into explosive force. The full capabilities of the belt are unknown.

Jim Scully was an adventurer whose plane went through a time warp in the Bermuda Triangle, marooning him and three companions in an alternate Earth where dinosaurs, primitives, and aliens co-existed. Scully and his three companions were eventually rescued and returned to their own world by the Thing of the Fantastic Four.^[1] He served in Doctor Druid's team of occult investigators the Shock Troop alongside Sepulchre and N'Kantu, the Living Mummy.^[2] He was attempting to find a way to remove the power belt which had recently been damaged and had altered his appearance. His skin had become transparent showing only a green glowing skelton. During this time, he had adopted the alias of the obscure Golden Age hero, the Blazing Skull.^[3] He crossed paths with heroes such as Quasar and Captain America, while a member of the team. Eventually, Doctor Druid was able to restore him to his normal appearance and he left the team. Sometime later, attempts to remove the belt caused him lose the youthful metabolism the belt provided.^[4] He gained weight and lost much of the physical shape the belt had kept him at over the years. While serving as a bodyguard, he met and had an adventure with Hawkeye.

There and Back Again

Skull the Slayer found his way back to the alternate earth as the member of a prospecting expedition, along with Lee Forrester, and sent a message back to our earth asking to be saved. The Future Foundation found the message buoy and contacted the X-Men (since Forrester, who had recorded the message, had specifically asked for Cyclops and Magneto), and the two teams travelled through the portal to the other world.^[5] The heroes discovered that time passes differently in the new realm and the survivors had experienced three years passing since the buoy had been launched. After an invasion attempt by the alien Emperor against both groups' native Earth was thwarted by the efforts of the heroes, Skull and Lee, who had fallen in love with each other, decided to stay behind and safeguard two artifacts which would ensure peace between the alternate Earth's tribes.^[6]

Powers and abilities

Skull the Slayer has no superpowers but wears a Scorpion power belt that enhances his strength and durability.

References

External links

• Skull the Slayer at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe