Crossfire (comics)
| Crossfire | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Two-in-One #52 (June, 1979) |
| Created by | Steven Grant Jim Craig |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | William Cross |
| Abilities | Crossfire is highly proficient in various arts of espionage, is an expert marksmen, and is skilled in hand to hand combat |
Crossfire is the name of a supervillain in the Marvel Comics fictional Marvel Universe. He was created by writer Steven Grant and artist Jim Craig in Marvel Two-in-One #52 (June, 1979).
History
William Cross joined the Central Intelligence Agency with the intent to learn the secrets of the trade and to make contacts which might one day prove useful. .Specializing in information gathering and extraction, Cross was already building his own rogue covert operations when he romanced federal corrections officer Rozalyn Backus with whom he developed ultrasonic brainwashing technology. Backus was unaware of Cross' illicit activities, and they were engaged to be married until Cross stole the technology and disappeared. In his disappearance he faked his own murder and framed Backus for the murder. Cross used his skills and resources to begin a number of highly profitable criminal operations including drug trafficking, extortion, and assassinations. Assuming the codename Crossfire, he diverted a portion of his profits to hire a small army of mercenaries. Crossfire's goal became to foment disorder and subversion within society in order to make a profit.
At one point in his career, certain of his enemies booby-trapped his headquarters. The ensuing explosion robbed him of an eye and an ear; he replaced them with cybernetic implants. Crossfire eventually located the men who had injured him and eliminated them personally. Crossfire eventually decided that the existence of superhuman crime fighters posed a threat to his operations. He poured his monetary resources into the refinement of his ultrasonic brainwashing device with which he hoped to brainwash all super humans into battling one another to the death. To test the effectiveness of his machine, he arranged to abduct the Thing. Coincidentally, the Thing's capture was witnessed by Moon Knight, who in the guise of Marc Spector and had known Cross in his CIA days. Together, the Thing and Moon Knight managed to destroy the machine. Crossfire himself, however, escaped.
Despite this setback, Crossfire secretly rebuilt his operations and began work on the construction of a new, advanced model of his ultrasonic brainwashing device. Certain components he arranged to have constructed at Cross Technological Enterprises, a firm founded by his cousin, Darren Cross. When Hawkeye and Mockingbird investigated the company, Crossfire decided Hawkeye would make an ideal test subject for his super hero mind control plot, because Hawkeye was prominent enough in the super hero community to attract them en masse at his funeral ,where Crossfire would use his machine to control them, and weak enough to be an easy target. To capture Hawkeye, Crossfire hired a trio of costumed criminals: the Silencer, Oddball, and Bombshell. Although they managed to take Hawkeye and Mockingbird captive, Hawkeye thwarted the brainwashing, captured the criminals, and rescued Mockingbird, whom he married shortly thereafter.
A vengeful Crossfire subsequently stalked the newlyweds to the estate of former film star Moira Brandon who helped the heroes recapture Cross and was then declared an honorary Avenger. The criminal mercenary jugglers known as the Death-Throws freed Cross from police custody, but when he proved unable to pay them, they held him for ransom until Captain America, Hawkeye, and Mockingbird captured the whole gang. Crossfire later escaped and placed a bounty on Hawkeye's arm, hoping to destroy the hero's archery skills and break his spirit. Cross and his small army of superhuman bounty hunters were defeated and captured by Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Trickshot.
At some point during one of his prison stays he befriended Vector of the U-Foes whose secret power nullification technology Cross had hoped to exploit. Recaptured following an encounter with S.H.I.E.L.D., Cross was imprisoned in the Vault where Rozalyn Backus (long since exonerated) was a member of the Vault's Guardsman force. Seemingly aiding and then foiling an escape plot by the U-Foes and Crossfire, Backus turned the criminals against each other, faked her own death, and stole a fortune in cash and goods from the criminals, including Vector's power nullification chamber (which Backus later claimed she secretly destroyed since she felt it was too dangerous to preserve). The criminals were later transferred to the new Raft super-prison and all escaped during Electro's mass breakout, with Crossfire leading a gang of his fellow mind-manipulators: Controller, Corruptor, Mandrill, and Mister Fear (Alan Fagan). Pursuing Backus, the chamber and their grudges against each other, the U-Foes and Crossfire's gang fought a super-powered gang war in New York until the Avengers broke it up. Crossfire and his gang were recaptured (except the Corruptor) and Backus surrendered herself to the authorities.