Man-Killer

Man-Killer
Katrina Luisa Van Horn as Man-Killer.
Art by Jim Mooney and Gerry Conway.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceRobot: Captain America #111 (December 1968)
Katrina Luisa Van Horn: Marvel Team-Up #8 (April 1973)
Created byRobot:
Stan Lee
Jim Steranko
Katrina Luisa Van Horn:
Jim Mooney
Gerry Conway
In-story information
Alter egoKatrina Luisa Van Horn
SpeciesHuman mutate-cyborg
Team affiliationsRobot:
Hydra
Katrina Luisa Van Horn:
Hydra
Advanced Idea Mechanics
Masters of Evil
Thunderbolts
Notable aliasesKatrina Luisa Van Horn: Amazon, Wilma
AbilitiesKatrina Luisa Van Horn: Superhuman strength and durability, and size-alteration through Pym Particle exposure

Man-Killer is a name used by two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The second version, Katrina Luisa Van Horn, has been viewed by critics as a "caricature of feminists, who despised all men."

Publication history

The first version of Man-Killer first appeared in Captain America #111 (December 1968) and was created by Stan Lee and Jim Steranko.

Man-Killer first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #8 (April 1973) and was created by Gerry Conway and Jim Mooney. The character subsequently appeared in Daredevil #121 (May 1975), #123 (July 1975), Iron Man #126-127 (September–October 1979), and Marvel Team-Up #107 (July 1981), where she seemingly died. The character appeared several years later in Web of Spider-Man Annual #3 (1987), and made several appearances in the series Thunderbolts (1997-2000), eventually joining the titular group. Man-Killer received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z 2006 #7.

Fictional character biography

Robot

Man-Killer is a robotic assassin who was sent by Madame Hydra to kill Captain America. It is ultimately defeated and destroyed.

Katrina Luisa Van Horn

Katrina Luisa Van Horn was an Olympic skier and is a militant feminist. After engaging in an argument with anti-Women's Liberation skier Karl Lubbings, the two took their disagreement to the slopes. Katrina was an Olympic-level skier, but Lubbings cut her off and both skiers plunged off the mountain. Katrina was severely injured and disfigured. She was fitted with a powered exoskeleton and took the name Man-Killer. She has worked freelance and as an agent for Hydra.

Man-Killer has been a member of Crimson Cowl's incarnation of the Masters of Evil. Some time later, Erik Josten (Atlas of the Thunderbolts) finds Man-Killer working as a bartender in his team's adopted home of Burton Canyon, Colorado. When Josten becomes a regular at the bar, Man-Killer is congenial towards him, pretending not to recognize him as Atlas.

As Amazon, she was briefly a member of the Thunderbolts under Hawkeye.

Man-Killer later appears as part of Helmut Zemo's third incarnation of the Masters of Evil. During a battle with the Thunderbolts, Man-Killer is killed by Kobik.

Powers and abilities

The Katrina Van Horn version of Man-Killer was given robotic implants replacing or compounded with bones and nerves, which give her superhuman powers, good athletic abilities, and the ability to throw knives at a range of hundreds of meters. She was also given Pym particles to grow in strength proportionate to size.

In other media

The robot version of Man-Killer appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "New Year's Resolution". This version is a time-traveling assassin working for Kang the Conqueror.

References

  1. ↑ Wright, Bradford W. (2001). Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780801865145.
  2. ↑ Cowsill, Alan; Manning, Matthew K. (2012). Spider-Man Chronicle: Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. DK Publishing. p. 67. ISBN 978-0756692360.
  3. ↑ Captain America #111 (March 1969)
  4. ↑ Marvel Team-Up #8 (April 1973)
  5. ↑ Daredevil #121-123 (May - July 1975)
  6. ↑ Thunderbolts #3 (June 1997)
  7. ↑ Thunderbolts #27-35 (June 1999 - February 2000)
  8. ↑ Thunderbolts #67 (September 2002)
  9. ↑ Thunderbolts (vol. 4) #10 (April 2017)
  10. ↑ Thunderbolts (vol. 4) #12 (June 2017)
  11. ↑ Thunderbolts #100
  12. ↑ "New Year's Resolution". Avengers Assemble. Season 4. Episode 14. December 3, 2017. Disney XD.