Viper II

*Eric J. Moreels* · Aug 18, 2002, 08:31 am

Viper II

Real Name: unrevealed
Known Aliases: Madame Hydra I, Meriem Drew, Leona Hiss, Mrs. Smith
First Appearance: Captain America (1st series) #110 (as Madame Hydra I), Captain America (1st series) #180 (as Viper II)
Known Relatives: unnamed parents (deceased)
Group Affiliation: Hellfire Club V, Hydra, formerly Serpent Society, Serpent Squad, FANGS
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 140 lbs
Eyes: green
Hair: black, often dyed green
Other distinguishing features: former facial scarring over right eye, currently none

The woman who would become the Viper was orphaned at a very young age by the death of her parents in a political revolution in Eastern Europe. After escaping the revolution, she fell victim to an accident, the details of which have never been revealed, that scarred her right eye and face. As a result, she took to wearing her hair in such a manner that it covered much of the right side of her face. For most of her adolescence and young adulthood, she struggled for survival in a transient existence throughout Europe, as well as visiting the island nation of Madripoor. Eventually, she managed to earn enough money to survive by performing various criminal activities.

Relying on her wits, she gravitated to the highest levels of international criminal espionage, eventually being recruited by the subversive terrorist organization known as Hydra. Viper rose quickly through the ranks, and eventually, following the death of then-Supreme Hydra Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and the subsequent fragmentation of the Hydra organization, she seized control of Hydra's New York City operations. Taking the name Madame Hydra, she took to wearing an all-green costume and green lipstick, and dyed her hair green to symbolize the organization she now commanded.

As Madame Hydra, her first known major enterprise as a Hydra leader was the attempted contamination of New York City's water supply. She was thwarted by the super soldier named Captain America, earning her enmity and subsequent failed assassination attempts on his life. During one such attempt, Madame Hydra was seemingly killing by heat-seeking missles. However, she had not died thanks to the unexpected interference of the alien Space Phantom, who took on her physical form and transported her into the extratemporal Limbo dimension. During the years that the Space Phantom plotted against Captain America and his teammates in the super-powered Avengers team, Madame Hydra remained trapped in Limbo.

Upon the Space Phantom's defeat, he returned Madame Hydra to Earth. No longer occupying the position of a Hydra leader, she sought to regain her place among the international criminal elite. Her first measure was to reorganize the defunct band of costumed criminals known as the Serpent Squad. In doing so, she murdered the first costumed criminal known as the Viper and adopted both his criminal alias and a modified version of his costume. Although the new Viper still sought power, she now proclaimed a nihilistic view of life that served as her rationale for her actions. As leader of the Serpent Squad, the Viper formed an alliance with Krang, warlord of the undersea nation of Atlantis, who had come into possession of the ancient object of power called the Serpent Crown. Wearing the Crown, the Viper sought to achieve world domination through the Serpent Squad, but was opposed by Captain America, then using the alias of the original Nomad, security forces from the Roxxon Oil company, and the police. The Viper seemingly perished within a burning, collapsing building.

Once again, however, the Viper escaped death and went on to organize her own international organization that became an active force in crime, espionage, and terrorism. The Viper employed the Japanese ronin known as the Silver Samurai to become her personal bodyguard and principal aide. Subsequently, the Viper's attempted her most spectacular scheme yet when she sought to crash the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier into the United States Capitol Building during a presidential address to Congress, thereby killing most of the United States government's highest ranking officials. This plot was thwarted by the costumed crimefighter Spider-Man, the martial artist Shang-Chi, the Russian spy the Black Widow, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s then-director, Nick Fury.

Later, after a battle with the original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, Viper was placed under a magic spell by the elder demon Chthon who made the Viper believe herself to be Merriem Drew, Spider-Woman's mother. Chthon sought to use the Viper as a weapon against Spider-Woman, and briefly replaced the Viper's right eye with a black orb capable of projecting others into a magical dimension. The Viper ultimately defied Chthon, freeing herself from his thrall. Soon after, the Viper and the Silver Samurai clashed with the team of adolescent trainee mutants known as the New Mutants when they attempted to coerce the motorcycle stunt riding Team America into stealing the cavourite crystal.

Later still, Viper, alongside numerous other snake-inspired costumed villains, infiltrated the criminal organization known as the Serpent Society with the intent of taking it over. The Viper subsequently entered into a brief alliance with the murderous Red Skull. However, this alliance was short lived as the two criminals soon double-crossed each other.

Recently, when the throne of Madripoor was left without an heir, the Viper brainwashed many of the women in the life of the feral mutant Wolverine, then a member of the team of superhuman mutants known as the X-Men, and had him brought to her to fulfill an old debt. Following his code of giri, or honorable debt, Wolverine agreed to marry the Viper. The Viper had gambled that Wolverine's respectability in Madripoor would enable her to sieze the throne. She also used him, along with the feral mutant Sabretooth and the young X-Man Shadowcat, to foil both Hydra's and the Hand's attempts to control the island. Soon after, the Viper was installed as the ruling princess of Madripoor.

Following an illegal Bloodsport tournament hosted on the island, in which Wolverine was a participant at the Viper's request, the demonic ninja spirit named Ogun attacked and, after failing to possess Wolverine, possessed the Viper. In order to expunge the spirit, Wolverine seriously wounded the Viper, and Ogun's spirit was dissipated. In return for ensuring she received medical treatment, Wolverine made the Viper agree to divorce him. During this time, the Viper also seemingly had plastic surgery to repair her facial scarring, as she no longer bore scars on the right side of her face.

Shortly thereafter, the Viper helped organize a resistance force against an attempted alien invasion of Earth which had made its beachhead in Madripoor. She ran afoul of the X-Treme X-Men team, and betrayed their leader, the weather-manipulating mutant named Storm, who was subsequently captured by the aliens. Ultimately, the invasion was repelled, and Viper returned to ruling Madripoor.

Viper has recently returned to Hydra and tried to persuade the Silver Samurai to work with Hydra and the Hand. It turned out that Hydra had given Spider-Woman her powers back and was paying her for information of the Avengers' activities. Madame Hydra had to let Spider-Woman capture her but soon forced her to let her escape from the flying Avengers Quinjet. She then flew her anti-gravity boots back to Osaka.

The Viper is a brilliant and cunning criminal strategist. She has been rigorously trained in various martial arts, and is a skilled markswoman and tactical combatant. She is also adept at using a bullwhip as a weapon, and has access to some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the world through her criminal contacts. During her time with Hydra, the Viper employed a teleportation ring that was activated when it was twisted.

The Viper is very well knowledged in the properties and uses of all sorts of toxins, poisons, and snake venoms, and often creates her very own poisons for whatever a given situation dictates. The Viper herself is immune to most toxins, and has always found interesting and different ways for spreading her toxins, such as hollow fangs or poisoned lipstick. The Viper carries a set of throwing darts tipped with a lethal poison based on the chemistry of snake venom.

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #366-367
Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) Annual #23
Avengers (1st series) #107
Avengers (1st series) Annual #18
Beast #1-3
Captain America (1st series) #110-111, 113, 180-182, 281-283, 341-345, 394-398
Daredevil (1st series) Annual #5
Excalibur (2nd Series) #11-13
Generation X #54
Marvel Team-Up (1st series) #83-85
New Avengers #11-13
New Mutants #5-6, 32, 53-54
Punisher (2nd series) Annual #2
Punisher War Journal #45-47
Spider-Woman (1st series) #42-44
Uncanny X-Men #172-173, 448-449, 452-454
Wolverine (2nd series) #125-126, 128, 131, 139, 167-169
X-Men (2nd series) #109
X-Treme X-Men #10-12, 17

Mesran · Aug 18, 2002, 08:35 am

Just added FANGS and Serpent Squad into affiliations.

jimcomics · Aug 18, 2002, 05:41 pm

i believe she also used the alias of Leona Hiss and she should be listed under known aliases as Madame Hydra I,she was also a former ally of Red Skull I & was a member of both Serpent Squad II & IV

Silverbolt · Aug 28, 2002, 01:53 am

Now is Viper - Viper we are talkin about here.

Green Hair, Psychotice, Ex-Wife to Wolverine.

Cuz if it is, I really think Storm should be added to her list of Major enemies. After what happened in recent issues of X-Treme I get the strongest feeling that those 2 dont like each other very well.

Storm: Viper!
Viper: Yes darling!
Storm: Are you wearing Kevlar?

Bang!

Great scene.

Slipstream

Wolverine · Sep 7, 2002, 07:13 am

yeah absolutly smashing scene eh?

Monolith · Sep 8, 2002, 02:03 pm

Also appeared in Hawkeye (2nd Series) #1-4.

shibia · Sep 8, 2002, 02:57 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Slipstream
Now is Viper - Viper we are talkin about here.

Green Hair, Psychotice, Ex-Wife to Wolverine.

Ex-wife ? Althought she promised to divorce if he sent an ambulance, we never saw that happen, did we ?

Jodoria · Nov 12, 2002, 03:40 pm

ummm...shouldnt Jessica Drew and Captain America be add to the major enemies list

*Eric J. Moreels* · Dec 22, 2002, 04:41 pm

Just added a headshot, edited the bio text, and added a fairly comprehensive history for Viper!

Jacer2001 · Mar 4, 2003, 02:35 pm

She also appeared in the Captain America Annual from 1991

mikey g · Mar 13, 2003, 03:50 am

Who was the first Viper?

atxbomber · Mar 13, 2003, 05:53 am

A Captain America villain.

He was a member of the original Serpent Squad, and his brother was the original Eel. He was killed by this Viper so she could take his codename.

Jacer2001 · Mar 13, 2003, 03:30 pm

Is that really necessary? Couldn't she have just asked to borrow it?

Monolith · Mar 13, 2003, 05:26 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Jacer2001
Is that really necessary? Couldn't she have just asked to borrow it?

That's cute. Don't ever lose that child-like naivete.

Gonzalo84 · Dec 6, 2004, 10:18 pm

New alias: Warrior White Princess.

New Allies: Sebastian Shaw/Lord Imperial, Roberto DaCosta/Black King, Satyr-9/Courtney Ross II/White Queen IV. Viper II has just joined the Lords Cardinal of the newly reformed Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Sep 8, 2002, 02:03 pm	#6
Monolith Slayer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gainesville, FL Country: Posts: 1,671	Also appeared in Hawkeye (2nd Series) #1-4. __________________ Bah weep grah nah weep ni ni bong!

Dec 22, 2002, 04:41 pm	#9
Eric J. Moreels 'Living Tribunal' Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Adelaide, Australia Country: Posts: 7,828	Just added a headshot, edited the bio text, and added a fairly comprehensive history for Viper! __________________ Eric J. Moreels Comixfan Owner/Publisher Co-Writer, Marvel Encyclopedia Vol 2: X-Men Co-Writer, Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe 2004-2009 Co-Writer, Official Index to the Marvel Universe 2009 Writer, Astonishing X-Men Saga e-mail: webmaster @ comixfan.cjb.net Buy Classic ComiX-Fan Gear featuring original art by Chris Giarrusso! Visit Comixfan on Facebook! Join Comixfan on Xbox Live! Join Comixfan69 on PlayStation Network!

Dec 6, 2004, 10:18 pm	#15
Gonzalo84 Clone Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lima Country: Posts: 61	Re: Viper II (Madame Hydra I) New alias: Warrior White Princess. New Allies: Sebastian Shaw/Lord Imperial, Roberto DaCosta/Black King, Satyr-9/Courtney Ross II/White Queen IV. Viper II has just joined the Lords Cardinal of the newly reformed Hellfire Club's Inner Circle. Last edited by Gonzalo84; Dec 8, 2004 at 10:52 am.

Aug 18, 2002, 08:31 am	#1
Eric J. Moreels 'Living Tribunal' Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Adelaide, Australia Country: Posts: 7,828	Viper II Viper II Real Name: unrevealed Known Aliases: Madame Hydra I, Meriem Drew, Leona Hiss, Mrs. Smith First Appearance: Captain America (1st series) #110 (as Madame Hydra I), Captain America (1st series) #180 (as Viper II) Known Relatives: unnamed parents (deceased) Group Affiliation: Hellfire Club V, Hydra, formerly Serpent Society, Serpent Squad, FANGS Height: 5' 9" Weight: 140 lbs Eyes: green Hair: black, often dyed green Other distinguishing features: former facial scarring over right eye, currently none The woman who would become the Viper was orphaned at a very young age by the death of her parents in a political revolution in Eastern Europe. After escaping the revolution, she fell victim to an accident, the details of which have never been revealed, that scarred her right eye and face. As a result, she took to wearing her hair in such a manner that it covered much of the right side of her face. For most of her adolescence and young adulthood, she struggled for survival in a transient existence throughout Europe, as well as visiting the island nation of Madripoor. Eventually, she managed to earn enough money to survive by performing various criminal activities. Relying on her wits, she gravitated to the highest levels of international criminal espionage, eventually being recruited by the subversive terrorist organization known as Hydra. Viper rose quickly through the ranks, and eventually, following the death of then-Supreme Hydra Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and the subsequent fragmentation of the Hydra organization, she seized control of Hydra's New York City operations. Taking the name Madame Hydra, she took to wearing an all-green costume and green lipstick, and dyed her hair green to symbolize the organization she now commanded. As Madame Hydra, her first known major enterprise as a Hydra leader was the attempted contamination of New York City's water supply. She was thwarted by the super soldier named Captain America, earning her enmity and subsequent failed assassination attempts on his life. During one such attempt, Madame Hydra was seemingly killing by heat-seeking missles. However, she had not died thanks to the unexpected interference of the alien Space Phantom, who took on her physical form and transported her into the extratemporal Limbo dimension. During the years that the Space Phantom plotted against Captain America and his teammates in the super-powered Avengers team, Madame Hydra remained trapped in Limbo. Upon the Space Phantom's defeat, he returned Madame Hydra to Earth. No longer occupying the position of a Hydra leader, she sought to regain her place among the international criminal elite. Her first measure was to reorganize the defunct band of costumed criminals known as the Serpent Squad. In doing so, she murdered the first costumed criminal known as the Viper and adopted both his criminal alias and a modified version of his costume. Although the new Viper still sought power, she now proclaimed a nihilistic view of life that served as her rationale for her actions. As leader of the Serpent Squad, the Viper formed an alliance with Krang, warlord of the undersea nation of Atlantis, who had come into possession of the ancient object of power called the Serpent Crown. Wearing the Crown, the Viper sought to achieve world domination through the Serpent Squad, but was opposed by Captain America, then using the alias of the original Nomad, security forces from the Roxxon Oil company, and the police. The Viper seemingly perished within a burning, collapsing building. Once again, however, the Viper escaped death and went on to organize her own international organization that became an active force in crime, espionage, and terrorism. The Viper employed the Japanese ronin known as the Silver Samurai to become her personal bodyguard and principal aide. Subsequently, the Viper's attempted her most spectacular scheme yet when she sought to crash the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier into the United States Capitol Building during a presidential address to Congress, thereby killing most of the United States government's highest ranking officials. This plot was thwarted by the costumed crimefighter Spider-Man, the martial artist Shang-Chi, the Russian spy the Black Widow, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s then-director, Nick Fury. Later, after a battle with the original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, Viper was placed under a magic spell by the elder demon Chthon who made the Viper believe herself to be Merriem Drew, Spider-Woman's mother. Chthon sought to use the Viper as a weapon against Spider-Woman, and briefly replaced the Viper's right eye with a black orb capable of projecting others into a magical dimension. The Viper ultimately defied Chthon, freeing herself from his thrall. Soon after, the Viper and the Silver Samurai clashed with the team of adolescent trainee mutants known as the New Mutants when they attempted to coerce the motorcycle stunt riding Team America into stealing the cavourite crystal. Later still, Viper, alongside numerous other snake-inspired costumed villains, infiltrated the criminal organization known as the Serpent Society with the intent of taking it over. The Viper subsequently entered into a brief alliance with the murderous Red Skull. However, this alliance was short lived as the two criminals soon double-crossed each other. Recently, when the throne of Madripoor was left without an heir, the Viper brainwashed many of the women in the life of the feral mutant Wolverine, then a member of the team of superhuman mutants known as the X-Men, and had him brought to her to fulfill an old debt. Following his code of giri, or honorable debt, Wolverine agreed to marry the Viper. The Viper had gambled that Wolverine's respectability in Madripoor would enable her to sieze the throne. She also used him, along with the feral mutant Sabretooth and the young X-Man Shadowcat, to foil both Hydra's and the Hand's attempts to control the island. Soon after, the Viper was installed as the ruling princess of Madripoor. Following an illegal Bloodsport tournament hosted on the island, in which Wolverine was a participant at the Viper's request, the demonic ninja spirit named Ogun attacked and, after failing to possess Wolverine, possessed the Viper. In order to expunge the spirit, Wolverine seriously wounded the Viper, and Ogun's spirit was dissipated. In return for ensuring she received medical treatment, Wolverine made the Viper agree to divorce him. During this time, the Viper also seemingly had plastic surgery to repair her facial scarring, as she no longer bore scars on the right side of her face. Shortly thereafter, the Viper helped organize a resistance force against an attempted alien invasion of Earth which had made its beachhead in Madripoor. She ran afoul of the X-Treme X-Men team, and betrayed their leader, the weather-manipulating mutant named Storm, who was subsequently captured by the aliens. Ultimately, the invasion was repelled, and Viper returned to ruling Madripoor. Viper has recently returned to Hydra and tried to persuade the Silver Samurai to work with Hydra and the Hand. It turned out that Hydra had given Spider-Woman her powers back and was paying her for information of the Avengers' activities. Madame Hydra had to let Spider-Woman capture her but soon forced her to let her escape from the flying Avengers Quinjet. She then flew her anti-gravity boots back to Osaka. The Viper is a brilliant and cunning criminal strategist. She has been rigorously trained in various martial arts, and is a skilled markswoman and tactical combatant. She is also adept at using a bullwhip as a weapon, and has access to some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the world through her criminal contacts. During her time with Hydra, the Viper employed a teleportation ring that was activated when it was twisted. The Viper is very well knowledged in the properties and uses of all sorts of toxins, poisons, and snake venoms, and often creates her very own poisons for whatever a given situation dictates. The Viper herself is immune to most toxins, and has always found interesting and different ways for spreading her toxins, such as hollow fangs or poisoned lipstick. The Viper carries a set of throwing darts tipped with a lethal poison based on the chemistry of snake venom. Appearances: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #366-367 Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) Annual #23 Avengers (1st series) #107 Avengers (1st series) Annual #18 Beast #1-3 Captain America (1st series) #110-111, 113, 180-182, 281-283, 341-345, 394-398 Daredevil (1st series) Annual #5 Excalibur (2nd Series) #11-13 Generation X #54 Marvel Team-Up (1st series) #83-85 New Avengers #11-13 New Mutants #5-6, 32, 53-54 Punisher (2nd series) Annual #2 Punisher War Journal #45-47 Spider-Woman (1st series) #42-44 Uncanny X-Men #172-173, 448-449, 452-454 Wolverine (2nd series) #125-126, 128, 131, 139, 167-169 X-Men (2nd series) #109 X-Treme X-Men #10-12, 17 Last edited by Michael Regan; Dec 30, 2009 at 08:48 pm.

Aug 18, 2002, 08:35 am	#2
Mesran Mushroomhead Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Sydney Country: Posts: 2,444	Just added FANGS and Serpent Squad into affiliations.

Aug 18, 2002, 05:41 pm	#3
jimcomics Applicant Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Montreal,PQ Country: Posts: 173	i believe she also used the alias of Leona Hiss and she should be listed under known aliases as Madame Hydra I,she was also a former ally of Red Skull I & was a member of both Serpent Squad II & IV

Aug 28, 2002, 01:53 am	#4
Silverbolt Maximal Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Who Knows Country: Posts: 530	Now is Viper - Viper we are talkin about here. Green Hair, Psychotice, Ex-Wife to Wolverine. Cuz if it is, I really think Storm should be added to her list of Major enemies. After what happened in recent issues of X-Treme I get the strongest feeling that those 2 dont like each other very well. Storm: Viper! Viper: Yes darling! Storm: Are you wearing Kevlar? Bang! Great scene. Slipstream __________________ "Silverbolt Maximize!" GWEN STEFANI FOR DAZZLER! !!!X-FACTOR!!! Check Out My Gallery

Sep 7, 2002, 07:13 am	#5
Wolverine X-men :swear::swear::swear::swe ar::swear::swear: Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Gold Coast Country: Posts: 2,541	yeah absolutly smashing scene eh? __________________ " This is my family. This is my vision. God Help Us all." Destiny: Millenial Visions 2001 Phoenix will rise Again... Save StormWatch!

Nov 12, 2002, 03:40 pm	#8
Jodoria Metahuman Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: The 216(Ohio). Country: Posts: 414	ummm...shouldnt Jessica Drew and Captain America be add to the major enemies list __________________ "That ain't the sun. Make yer peace with God, people. . ." -Wolverine- (New)X-Men # 153

Mar 4, 2003, 02:35 pm	#10
Jacer2001 Chibi Join Date: May 2002 Location: US Country: Posts: 13	She also appeared in the Captain America Annual from 1991

Mar 13, 2003, 03:50 am	#11
mikey g Metahuman Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Perth, Western Australia Country: Posts: 194	Who was the first Viper? __________________ HELLFIRE CLUB LADIES ONLY

Mar 13, 2003, 05:53 am	#12
atxbomber ~ Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Austin, TEXAS Country: Posts: 2,073	A Captain America villain. He was a member of the original Serpent Squad, and his brother was the original Eel. He was killed by this Viper so she could take his codename. __________________ UNIATE!!

Mar 13, 2003, 03:30 pm	#13
Jacer2001 Chibi Join Date: May 2002 Location: US Country: Posts: 13	Is that really necessary? Couldn't she have just asked to borrow it?

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