Solo (Marvel)
Solo is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
James Bourne was a male human who was born in the modern age.
When he was younger, he wanted to make a difference in peoples lives during a time when terrorism was on a high and that the West suffered from it. At first, he joined the U.S. Army where he was stationed in West Germany in the time after the discontent. During this time, he met Melinda Wallace with the two falling deeply in love with each other. They were happy but shortly afterwards a terrorist attack struck in a town near the base leading to Melinda being murdered as a result. He was heartbroken as a result with Bourne feeling that a part of him died that day. A few months later, he was selected to join a new top-secret special forces operation where he participated in gruelling training over a period of 10 months. During this time, he along with his compatriots were forged into a team and it was in this time he found love against in fellow soldier Rowena Maclean despite the disapproval of his superior officer Emil Tessler. The candidates for the program were also equipped with cyber-chips that linked with a spatial displacement system giving them the power to teleport making them a rapid reaction force. Thus, he joined N.A.T.O. alliance forces where he was among twelve of the finest operatives of Omega Strike. (Solo v1 #1)
The Omega Strike team was soon sent to their first mission to Italy where some terrorists had hijacked a plane. James was given the lead of hostage recovery unit and Rowena and Gabriel Gant leaded the terrorist termination unit. Upon the jump from the plane, each of James’ team were killed in a matter of seconds. He was also wounded himself, but managed to teleport to the passenger section of the plane. When he arrived he saw that Grant had killed all of the terrorists, hostages, and even his teammates except Rowena. James wanted an explanation and Grant told him that he and Tessler had been paid to make the mission a failure. James was also told that they are going to start their own terrorist organization when they collected enough money, and then shot James hitting him in the stomach. Rowena tried to stop Grant, but as too late. Rowena said to James that she didn’t have a choice and that she will always love him. She also hanged a golden necklace on his neck before she and Grant teleported away. Soon after they left, James himself teleported away and got his injuries treated. Shortly after healing his injuries, he tried to find Rowena. He discovered that she and Grant had died in a plane crash and that Grant left false evidence incriminating Bourne. At that moment, James Bourne died and Solo was born. (Solo v1 #1)
While tracking terrorists, Solo encountered a ghost from his past in the form of Gabriel Grant, who now called himself Deathstorm and Grant had staged his own death. Black Cat has been hired to infiltrate a stronghold and steal back a stolen painting. During the robbery he teleported in and killed every guard. Solo told Black Cat that she should go but she continued after the painting. Solo and Deathstorm fight it out in another part of the compound. Solo gained the upper hand and begins to fire at Deathstorm's head, but Deathstorm teleported away. Black Cat came back and finds solo alone. She asked what happened and Solo yells at her to just leave. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #27) Grant now ran his own terrorist organization called A.R.E.S. The two fought, but Deathstorm eventually escaped. Solo tracked him to Manhattan, where he found Rowena stealing Omega Strike files. (Solo v1 #1) Rowena teleported away before he had time to react. Solo turned around and saw a bomb on the table and quickly teleported away. Back at his hideout, Solo went over copies of the old Omega Strike files on his computer. The memories overwhelmed him as he burst into tears. Holding the necklace Rowena gave him tightly in his fist, he vowed to save Rowena by any means necessary. (Solo v1 #2) Solo saw the news coverage of Spider-Man fighting A.R.E.S. agents and he quickly teleported himself directly in the middle of the fight. The two quickly won the fight, but Deathstorm still managed to escape. Later, Solo and Spider-Man teamed up multiple times to take on A.R.E.S. After one of these encounters, Spider-Man decided that he would not let Solo escape. He eventually defeated Solo and turned him in. However, when he was being transported, Solo managed to escape by subduing the two guards. He tracked A.R.E.S. down and managed to stop Tessler from killing several people. When he was about to shoot Tessler, Rowena jumped in the line of fire. Solo asked why she stopped him and Rowena explained that Tessler was her father. Tessler used the confusion to teleport away. When Solo noticed, he followed with Rowena right behind him. (Solo v1 #3)
He teleported to the scene at an embassy in West Berlin that had been taken over by terrorists with hostages. Using his teleportation technology, he arrived at the scene to ambush the terrorists and eliminated them all allowing counter-terrorists to arrive to free the unharmed hostages. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #19)
Solo killed a squad of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. agents in the sewers under Paris, while looking for Major Weil. Captain America asked Spider-Man to join him and Silver Sable in a raid of ULTIMATUM's hideout, but they were interrupted by Solo who arrived to kill Weil. Cap stopped Solo, explaining they needed Weil alive, but Weil escaped in the confusion. Sable interrogated a captured ULTIMATUM agent and learned that Sabretooth killed Limka. She was informed that tensions between Symkaria and the USA were rising and the American ambassador has been recalled. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #324)
Solo was later tracking down the Red Skull where he found an estate that was the site of a secret project for the villain. During this time, he found Spider-Man similarly tracking down the same quarry where the two decided to reluctantly work together. Once inside the building, they were confronted by the Taskmaster who had been commissioned by the Red Skull to train a trio of agents for a battle against the Avengers. These three were Death-Shield, the Jagged Bow and the Blood Spider who were sent to battle the two intruders with this deemed a test run of their skills. Solo and Spider-Man managed to defeat them but Taskmaster escaped where Bourne revealed that his investigation into the Red Skull's activities showed that the supervillain intended to disrupt the America Day celebrations. Spider-Man then decided that the two should work together and agreed to meet one another to stop the Skull's plans. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #367)
Shortly after his last encounter with Spider-Man, Solo had a run in with Nick Fury while he was stopping Viper from stealing nuclear missiles. Fury did not really appreciate Solo's help and blamed him of Viper's escape. Solo did not like Fury's attitude and teleported away leaving him alone in the factory. (Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. v3 #45) While tracking terrorists, Solo encountered a ghost from his past in the form of Gabriel Grant, who now called himself Deathstorm and Grant had staged his own death. Black Cat has been hired to infiltrate a stronghold and steal back a stolen painting. During the robbery he teleported in and killed every guard. Solo told Black Cat that she should go but she continued after the painting. Solo and Deathstorm fight it out in another part of the compound. Solo gained the upper hand and begins to fire at Deathstorm's head, but Deathstorm teleported away. Black Cat came back and finds solo alone. She asked what happened and Solo yells at her to just leave. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #27)
Grant now ran his own terrorist organization called A.R.E.S. The two fought, but Deathstorm eventually escaped. Solo tracked him to Manhattan, where he found Rowena stealing Omega Strike files. (Solo v1 #1) Rowena teleported away before he had time to react. Solo turned around and saw a bomb on the table and quickly teleported away. Back at his hideout, Solo went over copies of the old Omega Strike files on his computer. The memories overwhelmed him as he burst into tears. Holding the necklace Rowena gave him tightly in his fist, he vowed to save Rowena by any means necessary. (Solo v1 #2)
Bourne was later recruited by Deadpool to become part of his own version of Heroes for Hire where they engaged in superhero acts whilst earning a profit. Initially, he dressed as Deadpool and attempted to steal a drive from Seoul in South Korea but was thwarted by the White Fox. (Deadpool v4 #1)
He was then recruited by Dum Dum Dugan for an assignment to rescue a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that had been captured by a criminal arms syndicate operating from a secret site called the Zoo. Grant now ran his own terrorist organization called A.R.E.S. The two fought, but Deathstorm eventually escaped. Solo tracked him to Manhattan, where he found Rowena stealing Omega Strike files. (Solo v2 #1)
Solo eliminated the Zoo family only to learn that someone else was supplying them high-tech equipment. Thus, he used an image inducer to pretend to be Leo of the Zoo family to meet the dealer who revealed that the source of the advanced equipment was actually from the alien space pirate Yondu and his Ravagers with them using an abandoned space station as a drop-off site. He helped expose the operation allowing for S.H.I.E.L.D. to raid the site whereupon Solo teleported back to Earth in order to spend time with Catita and their daughter. (Solo v2 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He often left a calling card on a note stating, "While I Live, Terror Dies" which he left on scenes where he completed his mission at eliminating terrorists. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #19) He was capable of operating in a non-lethal mode though he preferred to killing his targets. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #367)
Solo preferred to work alone and believed that compromise was weakness. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #367)
Bourne said that he was a man of his word and often kept his promises. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #367)
Solo's favorite movie was said to be Yojimbo (1961), starring Toshiro Mifune and directed by Akira Kurosawa. (Solo v2 #3)
He later came to be involved with a black woman named Catita who had a child and he used the money he gained to help her financially. (Deadpool v4 #3) She said that the child was his daughter and was the only reason she maintained ties with him as she wanted them to have a family life. (Solo v2 #5)
Powers and abilities
He was capable of wielding nunchaku in close-quarter fighting. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #367)
From his time in Omega Strike, he became one of a few people provided cyber-chips in his brain that linked to his adrenal glands and worked in conjunction with a process of spatial displacement discovered by military scientists. Through this system, he was able to teleport at will allowing him to enter in and out of an engagement in the blink of an eye. (Solo v1 #1)
He has a gifted intellect, and is a master of many forms of hand-to-hand combat. He is highly adept in the use of conventional weapons and firearms and is an expert marksman.
Solo wears bullet-proof quilted Kevlar with pouches to hold weapons and ammunition. He carries an arsenal of portable conventional weaponry, including sub-machine guns, automatic rifles, automatic pistols, hand grenades, combat knives, etc., and has been known to use ninja climbing claws.
Notes
- Solo was created by David Michelinie and Marc Silvestri where he made his first appearance in Web of Spider-Man v1 #19 (October, 1986).
Appearances
- Web of Spider-Man v1: (1986)
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Solo v1:
- Deadpool v4:
- Solo v2:
External Links
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