Thursday, November 3, 2022

The Sting Of Seduction

 

Can YOU
Name This Marvel Villain??


A nasty piece of work in more ways than one, Elaine Coll makes her first appearance in 1995 as a hired killer of the cyborg Maggia figure known as Silvermane during a war between the crime syndicates that has also drawn in the Hell's Kitchen Mob (which Silvermane has struck an alliance with). Attempting to stem the sweeping tide of violence are Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher, and, of all people, Deathlok, whom Silvermane has taken a particular interest in. As for our Ms. Coll, she benefits from a nom de guerre and abilities introduced over twenty years prior (our time) by the now-retired Mac Gargan, though with significant technological enhancements--and after securing an agreement with Silvermane that the Colls receive their share of the city when the war is over, our new villainess departs for her assignment ready and more than willing to fulfill with extreme prejudice.


And so the new Scorpion Scorpia joins a battle already in progress between Deathlok and Hydro-Man with the goal of bringing in Deathlok, but soon draws the attention of Spider-Man and the Beetle. But while Scorpia's strikes are effective to some degree against Deathlok, Spider-Man has sufficient motivation for putting her down.


(Apparently that force field which is part of Scorpia's suit was a little too micro-thin. If the phrase "heads will roll" comes to Scorpia's mind, she's sure to take it literally when it's time to lay the blame.)

As for Deathlok, he decides to allow his own capture in order to enable the other heroes to track him to Silvermane's lair--and we finally learn of Silvermane's plans for appropriating the body of Deathlok for his own use.


Scorpia is then unleashed on Spider-Man and Daredevil, who arrive in the nick of time (apparently, but more on that in a moment). The vixen lady gives a good accounting of herself, even as she taunts her prey with enough sexual innuendo to melt this lab's circuitry--but fortunately, the battle between the three has given Deathlok the chance to regain his freedom.



What our two rescuers don't realize, however, is that Silvermane has succeeded and is now in residence in Deathlok's form and in partial control of it (though Deathlok is still struggling on that front). His plan now is to trick Spider-Man and Daredevil into helping him achieve his goals, before executing them. But between DD's senses and the wall-crawler's spider-sense, the jig is up for Silvermane's deception, and both men attack, though they don't succeed. It's only Deathlok's continued resistance inside the form that prevents Silvermane from slaying them--and, frustrated, he leaves their bodies and walks off to tend to his agenda.

But in the bad timing department, it's unfortunately Scorpia who awakens first--and, furious with Silvermane, she decides to use the heroes to track him before she strikes. Soon enough, she's in the thick of things--only to fail against the power of Mainframe.


In the end, Scorpia gets her licks in (probably not the best phrase to use, considering this woman's libido) against Silvermane before falling to the cyborg's strength, though Deathlok eventually triumphs over Silvermane's control. Thanks to everyone then becoming busy trying to disable the complex's unstable reactor, Scorpia is able to slip away, to sting another day.

The character would go on to have several more dealings with Spider-Man, as well as other characters such as Deadpool (now there's a pairing), the Black Cat, the Defenders, and the Uncanny Avengers.


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