Howling Commandos

The Howling Commandos is the name of several fictional groups led by Nick Fury in the Marvel Comics Universe.

World War II

Main article: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos

The first group of Howling Commandos was an elite special unit formed in World War II. The original team consisted of Nick Fury, Corporal Timothy Aloysius Cadwallander "Dum Dum" Dugan, Private Gabriel Jones, Private Robert "Rebel" Ralston, Private Dino Manelli, Private Isadore "Izzy" Cohen and Private Jonathan "Junior" Juniper who was killed in action after the first few issues. He was replaced by Private Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton, a British soldier, in issue #8. Later, Private Eric Koenig, a defector from Nazi Germany, joined the squad in issue #27. Occasional other members would join for an issue or two before being killed, transferred, or otherwise leaving (such as Fred Jones in issue #81). Also daringly for the time, the series killed Fury's girlfriend, British nurse Pamela Hawley, introduced in issue #4 and killed in a London air raid in #18.

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos

Main article: Nick Fury's Howling Commandos

A second Howling Commandos team was introduced in the 2005 series, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos. Its members were:

• Clay Quartermain, the commanding officer of Area 13. He takes over in the first issue from Dum Dum Dugan.
• Warwolf (real name Vince Marcus), the field leader. He is a werewolf who can transform voluntarily whenever Mars is in the night sky.
• Nina Price, a half-vampire and half-werewolf.
• N'Kantu, the Living Mummy a previously existing character. N'Kantu is an undead prince of Ancient Egypt.
• Frankenstein, an intelligent clone of the original Frankenstein's Monster. How this process didn't produce different clones of the various individual body parts making up the original monster was briefly mentioned in issue #1. The response was "Don't go there".
• Gorilla-Man I, a previously existing character. Kenneth Hale is a man trapped in a gorilla's body. He is now a member of the Agents of Atlas.
• John Doe, a zombie depicted as having normal human-level intelligence, in contrast to other zombie characters in the Marvel universe.

Secret Invasion

Main article: Secret Warriors

A third group of "Commandos" are introduced in Mighty Avengers #13. After discovering the Skrull invasion, Nick Fury assembles a team made up of the offspring of various super heroes and villains. This team members are:

• Quake - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. member and daughter of Mister Hyde. She possesses the power to create earthquake like vibrations.
• Phobos - The ten year old son of Ares. He possesses the power to cause fear in others by looking in their eyes.
• Druid, the son of Doctor Druid who has inherited some of his father's skill with magic
• Yo Yo - the daughter of the Griffin. She can run at superhuman speed and bounces back to the point where she began running.
• Hellfire - The grandson of the Phantom Rider, is able to charge a chain with fire to wield as a weapon
• Stonewall - Son of the Absorbing Man. Daisy Johnson bails him out of jail he is imprisoned for hitting a cop. Possesses superhuman strength. Very little has so far been revealed about the character.

Dark Reign

In Secret Warriors #4 and #5 it is revealed that 1200 S.H.I.E.L.D. agents refused to join H.A.M.M.E.R. following Norman Osborn's rise to power. Under the leadership of Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones, they became a private military company which is hired by Nick Fury to fight against both HYDRA and H.A.M.M.E.R..

Other versions

MAX and Peacemaker

In Garth Ennis' Fury and Fury: Peacemaker, the Howling Commandos were an OSS special operations unit created by Fury and modeled after the SAS. Most of the unit's lineup were wiped out following D-Day, and only Fury and two other members survived (one of whom is most likely Dum-Dum Dugan, who appears in Fury MAX).

Ultimate Howling Commandos

In the Ultimate universe, Howling Commandos were a US Army Ranger Unit, escorting an imprisoned Wolverine during the Gulf War. The convoy was attacked by the Iraqi Republican Guard, killing all but Fury. Dum-Dum Dugan appears in the present day, hinting that he was elsewhere at the time.^{[citation needed]}

During the Ultimate X-Men comic, Nick Fury dispatches a special SHIELD unit to protect the Triskelion from elements of the Academy of Tomorrow, who came to break out one of their own.^{[citation needed]}

In other media

Television

• Nick Fury and The Howling Commandos team members (Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Izzy Cohen) appeared in the The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Wrath of the Red Skull." While Nick Fury was shown in a flashback, the other three were shown partially shadowed.

• The Howling Commandos appear in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Meet Captain America." Members present include Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Rebel Ralston, Dino Manelli, Pinky Pinkerton, James Howlett (AKA Logan), and Jack Fury (the father of Nick Fury). The Howling Commandos members later reappear in the episode "The Fall of Asgard" in Niffleheim as illusions except for Logan who is presumably still alive and active as Wolverine in the show's continuity.

Film

• The Howling Commandos appear in Captain America: The First Avenger. They are essentially an amalgamation of the comics' Commandos with the Marvel Comics period World War II superhero team, the Invaders. In fact, the latter name was the intended one for the group until the son of director Joe Johnston, Henry, was invited to shoot a companion documentary film and titled the characters by the original name, which producer Kevin Feige agreed sounded more appropriate.^{[citation needed]} Members in the film are Invaders characters Captain America, Bucky Barnes and Montgomery Falsworth (who is the superhero, Union Jack, in the comics) with the Howler characters being Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita and Jacques Dernier.

External links

• Nick Fury's Howling Commandos at Marvel Appendix