marvel hero death's head
By
Shaun Corley
Published 2 minutes ago
Shaun Corley is a Staff Writer for ScreenRant, a position he has held for five years. While he enjoys many types of comics and graphic novels, he has a particular interest in the licensed Star Trek titles.
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Only one Marvel character has fought both the Transformers and the Doctor. Over the years, Marvel’s icons have crossed over into other IPs, ranging from Alien to Star Trek. At times, the publisher has held the rights to produce comics based on The Transformers and Doctor Who, and one Marvel UK character unites them all.
Death's Head Entered Comics With a Bang
Death's Head's Earliest Adventures Saw Him Fight Both Autobots and Decepticons
Death's Head Transformers
Death’s Head, created by writer Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior, made his debut in issue 113 of Marvel UK’s Transformers comic, with a cover date of May 1987. In his initial outing, Death’s Head tracked Galvatron, of the Decepticons, through time in exchange for a substantial bounty. Things went awry when Rodimus Prime arrived to apprehend Galvatron himself.
Death’s Head would encounter other members of the Transformers. After the botched job bringing in Galvatron, Death’s Head tried to kill Rodimus, but the Autobot leader played to the “freelance peacekeeping agent’s” mercenary nature, and bought out his contract. Death’s Head's next dustup with the Transformers took him all the way to Unicron himself.
Death’s Head’s meeting with Unicron was the capstone for his adventures alongside the Transformers. These early Death’s Head stories were recently reprinted in Skybound’s Transformers UK Compendium. Prior to this release, the issues were hard to come by, especially on the secondary market in America. While Death’s Head crossovers with the Transformers can be reprinted, his next meeting cannot.
Death's Head Met One of Science Fiction's Most Popular Time Travelers
Don't Look For Death's Head's Adventures With the Doctor Anytime Soon
Death's Head the Doctor
After escaping Unicron’s clutches, Death’s Head was sent hurling through time, where he would encounter one of pop culture’s most famous time travelers: the Doctor. It would not be the only time Death’s Head and the Doctor’s paths would cross: the mercenary was later hired to kill the Doctor. The Doctor thwarted Death’s Head’s plans and left him on Earth.
Unfortunately, whereas Death’s Head Transformers UK stories have recently returned to print, the odds of the same happening with his Doctor Who adventures are slim. The Doctor Who comic book rights have bounced from publisher to publisher in the years since, negating any chance of the Marvel-owned Death’s Head from appearing with the Doctor.
Death's Head Had An Amazing Second Act in the Marvel Universe
Death's Head Met The Fantastic Four and Time Variance Authority in His Earliest Marvel Adventures
Death's Head Fantastic Four
The fact fans cannot readily access Death’s Head’s final meeting with the Doctor is a tragedy, for it sets up the character’s second act. At the end of 1988’s Death’s Head #8, the Doctor deposits Death’s Head on top of a building. Death’s Head notes that something’s off, before the shot pulls back to reveal he’s atop the Baxter Building.
In Death’s Head #9, by Furman and Senior, Death’s Head formally entered the Marvel Universe, throwing down with its First Family in the process. The character would rub shoulders with The Fantastic Four again, in issue #338 during Walt Simonson’s tenure writing the book. During this story, Death’s Head meets future MCU mainstays, the Time Variance Authority.
Marvel Brought Death's Head Into the "Extreme" 1990s
Death's Head II Was Far More Savage Looking Than His Predecessor
Death's Head 2
By this point, Death’s Head had become a cult character. He would appear in issue 24 of The Sensational She-Hulk and a handful of other early 1990s Marvel titles. By the early part of that decade, Marvel began aggressively developing its UK imprint, perhaps in response to the rising speculator market in America.
Death’s Head was a natural fit for this initiative. In 1992, Marvel UK released Death’s Head II. The four-issue miniseries, written by Dan Abnett and drawn by Liam Sharp, introduced a new, more savage-looking Death’s Head. This new incarnation was actually the first, just transferred into a new body after a botched job.
The new Death’s Head was a hit, and Marvel UK quickly commissioned an ongoing series. Debuting later that year, Death’s Head II was the flagship of the newly rejuvenated Marvel UK line. Unfortunately, the comic book market in America, which the imprint relied heavily on, collapsed, and most Marvel UK books were gone within two years. Death’s Head II was no exception.
The 21st Century Saw More Developments In Death's Head's Life
Death's Head is an Underrated Character That Marvel Needs to Stop Sleeping On
Death's Head Third
A third incarnation of Death’s Head arrived in the mid-2000s, in the pages of the revamped Amazing Fantasy. The character was victorious in a poll, prompting Marvel to reach out to co-creator Simon Furman to pen the adventures of “Death’s Head 3.0.” However, this incarnation of the character has yet to make another appearance beyond his first.
In 2014, Marvel returned to the UK imprint for the Revolutionary War event. Told over a series of one-shots, the Death’s Head installment saw the two versions of the character lock horns for the first time. This was followed by a miniseries in the late 2010s, written by Tini Howard and drawn by Kei Zama.
Death's Head Is in the Same Company as Angela and Miracleman
If Marvel Ever Needs a Hero to Cross Over With Another IP, It Can Rely on Death's Head
Death's Head 2019
Needless to say, Death’s Head has had quite an arc throughout the Marvel Universe, which is interesting, especially when fans consider he did not originate there. There are very few other Marvel characters who can make such a statement: Angela and Miracleman. In the case of the latter, he still has yet to formally debut.
Death’s Head has become firmly entrenched within the Marvel Universe, and with the Transformers and Doctor Who comic book rights at different publishers, the chances of him meeting those characters again is tragically nil. However, the Transformers and Doctor Who’s loss is the Marvel Universe’s gain. Death’s Head is a true original, and one of Marvel’s most intriguing characters.
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