First Appearance: X-Men (2nd series) #8 (flashback); Ghost Rider (3rd series) #26 (members in full)
BEFORE
- The Assassins Guild of New Orleans has served for generations as high-tier and professional killers-for-hire. Their lineage dates back to the Old Kingdom, a legendary civilization lost to myth that predates Atlantis and Lemuria. Some unknown event led to the fall of the Old Kingdom, as well as severing the original unified Guild into the Assassins Guild and the Thieves Guild.
- At some point, the Assassins Guild came under the patronage of Candra of the Floating Spires, a mutant External who would serve as benefactress to the guild. Candra’s mutant powers and sorcery allowed her to locate any mutagenic potential in an assassin and unlock it, allowing the guild access to superhuman abilities in exchange for loyalty and tithes given to Candra. Several elite families rose to prominence in the Assassins Guild, possibly because they had the proper genes for Candra’s powers to access, passed down in the bloodlines. Among these was Clan Boudreaux.
- Candra also supported the Thieves Guild of New Orleans, providing them the Elixir of Life which made the thieves virtually immortal, so long as they remained in her good graces. The Assassins were therefore Candra’s personal bodyguards on command while the Thieves acquired objects of interest to her plans, particularly artifacts and lore regarding the Old Kingdom. Each guild coveted the others’ gift, though, and a bitter rivalry grew between them over generations.
- Tante Mattie was a traiteur skilled in empathic magick. Decades ago, she pledged her services to both guilds and often served as an intermediary during their feuding.
- Years ago, Jean-Luc LeBeau of the Thieves Guild and Marius Boudreaux of the Assassins Guild attempted to broker peace by forcing a wedding between their children, Remy and Bella Donna. Belle’s brother Julien opposed the union and challenged Remy to a duel after the vows were exchanged. Remy won the duel and killed Julien, but also employed his mutant powers during the fight, which tainted his victory in the eyes of some. Instead of executing Remy, he was sent into exile by both Guilds, leaving his new bride behind.
- Candra grew bored with her guilds in their current state and sought to shake up the status quo. She used the Elixir of Life to revive Julien Boudreaux, intent on using him as a renegade agent. However, the mad Julien also fell under the influence of the Brood Queen.
CHRONOLOGY
Julien Boudreaux recruited from the Assassins Guild, bringing many to the Brood Queen to be infested with her eggs. However, Julien retained enough free will independent of the Brood’s plans that he murdered a number of the Thieves Guild instead of recruiting them, especially Clan LeBeau. With the Brood’s involvement unknown, the Guilds only saw the aftermath of an Assassin killing Thieves, and war threatened to break out fully between the guilds. Remy LeBeau’s exile no longer served its purpose, so Bella Donna Boudreaux took it upon herself to find Gambit and bring him back to New Orleans, with his X-Men allies in tow.
The X-Men found the Brood Assassins in the catacombs beneath the city, along with the Brood-infested Ghost Rider. As the fighting continued, the X-Men discovered many captured Thieves had yet to be turned into Brood, and the children of both guilds were also being held by the Brood 
traitors. Bella Donna seemingly sacrificed her life helping the X-Man called Psylocke free Ghost Rider from his Brood embryo. Gambit ordered the freed Thieves to take care of Bella Donna’s body while he and the others sought out the children. Gambit, Wolverine and Ghost Rider confronted the last of the Brood Assassins and even killed the Brood Queen, but Julien escaped without consequences, or even being recognized by Remy. [Ghost Rider (3rd series) #26-27, X-Men (2nd series) #8-9]
The Brood were no longer an issue, but Julien continued his brazen attacks on both Guilds, with the secret support of Candra. Julien found like-minded individuals in both Guilds willing to cast aside the old ways and claim both the Power and the Life from Candra’s gifts. Of a personal concern, Julien developed a rare affliction where he became addicted to the Elixir of Life after Candra revived him. The former Assassin now needed the Elixir, physically and psychologically, in order to continue on. Marius Boudreaux was focused on the care of his comatose daughter Bella Donna, who somehow survived the Brood attack, but he denounced the demon with the face of his lost son.
Henri LeBeau went to Westchester and alerted his adopted brother Gambit that Julien and Bella Donna were alive and the Guilds were back on war footing. However, Assassins loyal to Julien shot an arrow through Henri’s heart. Gambit chased the Assassins to an abandoned warehouse and was approached by Julien to finish their duel. Julien lost this duel as well, but the Elixir in his veins still kept him from dying from Remy’s sword. He and the Asssassins teleported away, warning Gambit to stay out of New Orleans. Gambit naturally refused and traveled to Louisiana with Rogue to learn what was happening.
At Boudreaux House, Marius and Remy quarreled over Bella Donna’s sleeping body. Marius blamed Remy for Belle’s condition and challenged him to deny his Guild’s ways and use the Elixir of Life to restore Marius’s daughter. Gambit couldn’t promise this, but he and Rogue took Bella Donna from Marius’ home in any case. Julien attacked his father once more, furious that he would 
disgrace their name by letting LeBeau take his sister again. Julien and his men continued their anarchistic efforts, violating the pact by attacking Candra’s inviolate Tithe Collector himself to steal the vials necessary to brew the Elixir of Life.
Julien’s Assassins next assaulted Candra directly to steal the vials of Elixir. Although she was still technically his patron in this plot, Julien had grown more desperate for another dose of Elixir. The Thieves Guild had refused to share the Elixir with Gambit, so Remy was also there in Paris to entreaty Candra. Gambit was forced to keep Julien off of Candra until he could get the Elixir vials, but he knew that Candra was only using both of them. Julien was ultimately expelled from the penthouse by Candra’s telekinesis as the other Assassins were defeated. Gambit managed to assemble the vials of the Elixir on his own without Candra's permission and was prepared to save Bella Donna. Julien was actively decaying by this point and became a mad dog desperate for the Elixir’s properties. In the meantime, Candra and the Tithe Collector tried to assert their dominance by assembling Thieves and Assassins alike to hunt down Gambit for stealing from her.
At Bella Donna’s bedside, Julien intervened to steal the Elixir from Gambit. Despite his claims of loving his sister, he clawed at the Elixir and ended up shattering the vial before either of them could taste of it. Although furious, Remy found Julien pathetic and refused to dirty his hands anymore. It was Marius who shot his son in the back, killing him when Julien tried to pounce on the retreating Gambit. Candra attempted to retake 
the initiative, but Gambit rallied the Guilds against allowing her to manipulate them any further. Jean-Luc and Marius both denounced the benefactress and planned to lead their Guilds independent of her “gifts” in the future. Gambit managed to wring out a small dose of the Elixir from where Julien spilt it and restore Belle’s health. Her memories were damaged by her ordeal, and so Gambit exited her life, leaving Marius to tend to his recovering daughter. [Gambit (1st series) #1-4]
Months later, Marius Boudreaux died when his heart gave out, or so the medical report said. As his heir, Bella Donna rose to become guildmaster of the Assassins Guild. [X-Men (2nd series) #39] Bella Donna was a changed woman as she revived from her coma. Rogue had accidentally made contact with her in her sleep, robbing Belle of much of her memory. Her connection to Remy had been stripped from her, leaving her bitter and resentful, lacking sympathy towards both of them and angry about that lack at the same time. When Candra came to Belle at Marius’ funeral with suggestions about a revenge plot and renegotiating the old pacts, Belle Donna needed little convincing.
Bella Donna assembled her closest confederates – Gris-Gris, Questa, Fifolet and Singer – to begin a campaign against Rogue. The Assassins Guild kidnapped Cody Robbins, the boy that 
Rogue put into a coma for life when her powers first manifested. Bella Donna spoke to Rogue through Singer and declared her need for revenge. While Rogue and Gambit dealt with a cadre of Assassins led by Gris-Gris to slow them down, Belle had Cody brought to New Orleans and cared for by Tante Mattie. She agreed to Candra’s terms, willing to turn Gambit over to the benefactress once she was done with him.
Rogue left Gambit behind and faced a gauntlet of Assassins herself. At House Boudreaux, she learned that Gambit had been captured after they separated anyway. Rogue fought through Gris-Gris, Fifolet and Questa to reach the captives. Bella Donna and Rogue prepared to fight, but the bored immortal Candra intervened. She used her telekinesis to temporarily disable both women’s powers, forcing them to fight hand-to-hand. Bella Donna felt disrespected by Candra, but was too furious at Rogue to let her attention be swayed. The two women fought through the house but, in the end, it was Rogue who won out over Belle’s rage. [Rogue (1st series) #1-4]
Bella Donna moved on after that, focusing on her Guild and leaving Gambit, Rogue and Candra behind her. Or so she thought. An encounter with the dream investigator Fontanelle left Belle actively questioning again whether she loved or hated Remy LeBeau. [Gambit (3rd series) #13] Therefore, it was somewhat of a surprise to Gris-Gris and the Assassins Guild when Bella Donna revealed she had accepted a contract for the guild to assassinate Gambit. Remy had recently been named head of the Thieves Guild, and the open contract seemed to be a consequence of that. Tante Mattie actively spoke against the contract in her role as shared guild traiteur. Mattie thought the death of Marius and the departure of Jean-Luc meant a time of new beginnings, perhaps even unifying the guilds. Instead, Belle countered that a contract was a sacred bond for the Assassins Guild, already paid for, and Remy LeBeau’s fate was sealed. [Gambit (3rd series) #15-16]
A one-million-dollar contract brought out many takers, however, leaving the Assassins to fight for their right to claim Gambit’s head. Questa, Fifolet and Gris-Gris combined their powers to disturb Bullseye with a trio of Daredevil images to prevent him from killing LeBeau before they could. The Assassins traced a fleeing Gambit back to the Thieves Guild and their den, but Constrictor had already absconded with the injured LeBeau. And by the time they found Constrictor, Deadpool had 
beaten him to claim LeBeau, only to lose him as well. The night was becoming a farce, but Bella Donna kept the Assassins in pursuit of Gambit until they found him fighting with the X-Cutioner at an abandoned construction site. Bella Donna moved to secure Gambit while the Assassins distracted X-Cutioner. However, the masked hunter’s damaged weapons system went off, causing the half-finished building to collapse on top of Bella Donna and Gambit.
With their leaders trapped in the rubble, the Assassins Guild forged a truce with the arriving Thieves Guild. The authorities arrived at the demolition site, forcing both Guilds to retreat before finding Gambit and Belladonna. They became occupied when Crossbones, Batroc and Zaran showed up and tried to kill the competition before pursuing Gambit further. Working together, the Thieves and Assassins disposed of their opponents. Gambit’s increasing powers finally allowed him to safely blast him and Belle free from the wreckage, and they reunited with the Guilds. The truth came out that Gambit’s rival the New Sun had hired the other mercenaries, but Bella Donna had not been among them. She misled her own Guild in order to have an excuse to work through her feelings about Gambit, up close. In the aftermath, the truce between the Guilds held. With Tante Mattie’s blessing, Bella Donna and Remy agreed to oversee a permanent unification of their two Guilds. [Gambit (3rd series) #17-19]
IN-BETWEEN
- As the Unified Guild was forged, Remy LeBeau acted as patriarch while Bella Donna accepted the role of viceroy. The reunification fulfilled ancient prophecies which signaled the resurrection of the Old Kingdom, the lost civilization where the two Guilds were originally split. The return of the Old Kingdom was foretold to mean “Heaven on Earth.” In the days that followed, however, the dark nature of the prophecy was revealed. Le Diable Blanc (Gambit) would host the mystical energies serving as essence of the Old Kingdom, supercharging his bio-kinetic powers to cascade across the planet with “the burning light of Heaven on Earth,” wiping out all of civilization. Gambit’s rival, the New Sun, was his doppelganger from another Earth where the resurrection occurred, and he tried to kill Gambit to prevent him from fulfilling the prophecy on this Earth. Ultimately, Gambit cast his excess power into the New Sun, leaving him to die in the ashes of his world while preventing the same fate from befalling Gambit’s Earth. Though the goal of the Old Kingdom was gone, the Unified Guild awkwardly remained together afterwards, under Bella Donna. [Gambit (3rd series) #21-24]
- Belladonna tried to rule the Unified Guilds alone for a time, and her new lover Bandit ostensibly joined her in representing the Thieves’ interests. Bandit secretly intended to use Belle to take over both guilds, however, and his toxic presence drove away Tante Mattie, Jean-Luc and other old confidants of Belladonna. The power struggle eventually led the Guild members to reject all their potential leaders, and the Thieves and Assassins apparently split and reorganized back into separate families. [Gambit (4th series) #11-12]
- Candra had been killed fighting the X-Men several years ago. As an External, she had already returned to life once, but this time she struggled to maintain her living form. Using a form of magic to absorb life essences, Candra began feeding off of the lifeforce released during a kill in order to sustain her return to life. Somehow, she reconnected with the Assassins Guild and forced them to serve her. Candra instilled a religious devotion and fear into Belladonna and the Assassins, who began to worship her as the Red Death, drawing strength and power from each kill performed in her name. [Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #19]
- Around the same time, the Assassins Guild was also reorganized away from the structure of clans and guild families which defined them for generations. They were now willing to work with outside subcontractors, mercenaries and super-beings unrelated to the Guild’s history. Whether this was a direct result of the Red Death’s demands is unknown.
CHRONOLOGY
Amanda Mueller, the Black Womb, hired the Assassins Guild to eliminate a set of targets. Mister Sinister had orchestrated his Cronus Project to be reborn in the body of select people whom he secretly prepped as children to receive his psychic essence if he died. Cronus was an automated signal set to continue until one of the bodies accepted his presence. Mueller had secretly engineered her own version of Cronus and implanted herself with it, hoping to gain Sinister’s power while retaining her independence. She hired the Assassins to execute the other Cronus potentials – Charles Xavier, Sebastian Shaw, Cain Marko and Carter Ryking – to ensure Cronus settled on her as the last viable target. The Guild only sent non-powered assassins, however, and they ultimately failed to successfully eliminate any of their targets. [X-Men: Legacy (1st series) #211-214]
The Assassins Guild became aware of the Hand operating in New Orleans, running human trafficking through their city. To maintain control of their territory, the Guild intended to make a show of force against the intruders. They hired the mercenary Domino to have luck on their side during the conflict. As the fighting began on the docks, Domino discovered the girls being transported by the Hand. Unaware until that point about the slave trading, Domino abandoned the Guild to the Hand and got the girls to safety aboard a stolen truck. Only afterwards did she realize the truck contained the payment for the sale… $237 million dollars.
Belladonna dispatched Razor-Fist and her assassin elites to find Domino and the money. Domino went to Wolverine of her X-Force team, escalating the situation. Belladonna called in all available contractors, including Boomerang, Black Mamba, Bullet, Bushwacker, Clay and Nakh. A truce was also negotiated with the Hand until the woman who stole from both of them could be dealt with. However, the Hand betrayed the truce and killed Clay at the airport, allowing Wolverine and Domino to land and make contact with the Assassins Guild. Belladonna expected her show of 
force to bring Wolverine to the negotiating table, returning the money in exchange for Domino’s life. Instead, Wolverine promised to let Belle and the Assassins live if they stopped pursuing Domino. Belladonna was therefore provoked into a fight, but X-Force killed or disabled all the Assassins and the Hand who were shadowing them. In the end, Belladonna was forced to agree to Wolverine’s terms in order to save her own life. [X-Force: Sex & Violence #1-3]
An open contract was named for the redeemed vampires known as the Forgiven, and their leader, Raizo Kodo. They were located on an island in the South China Sea, bringing out numerous killers such as Deadpool, Black Axe, Scorpion and Lady Bullseye. Marcus Fifolet was present representing the Assassins Guild, along with a unit of assassins. The contract was complicated by the present of the X-Men, looking for their member Jubilee, who was a guest of Raizo. Fifolet was beaten by a mix of X-Men and vampires, and his men were driven back into the sea. [X-Men (3rd series) #25-26]
After Terrence Mitchell’s wife and daughter died in a car accident, he blamed Doctor Donald Meland for failing to save them. In his grief, Mitchell hired the Assassins Guild to murder Meland. The Assassins’ initial sniper failed because Doctor Meland was friends with Houston’s local hero, the Scarlet Spider. The sniper and the Spider fought, and the killer dropped a gas grenade which forced the Scarlet Spider to unmask. The Assassin recognized his opponent as the former contract killer, Kaine, a one-time rival of the Assassins Guild who took out contracts in their jurisdiction without authorization. The sniper brought this information to Belladonna in exchange for his life after failing the kill. The Assassins Guild sent several specialists to kill Kaine, including Harvester, Smithy, Flower and a Hand ninja under their debt. The Scarlet Spider cut off Harvester’s leg, broke Smithy’s hands and killed the ninja (several times), but the Guild would just keep coming. Kaine contacted Belladonna and agreed to do a hit at the time and target of her choosing, in exchange for his and Meland’s lives. [Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4]
In time, Belladonna contacted Kaine and sent him to kill Wolverine out of revenge over the Domino incident. Instead, Kaine joined forces with his target and came back to New Orleans with Wolverine. They assaulted the Assassins Guild, and the skirmish drew out Candra, the Red Death. Candra found she could not sustain her precarious grip on life and fight the two men simultaneously. In her need to replenish her life essences, Candra began killing the assassins as well to feed her addiction, including Smithy. Belladonna couldn’t believe her newfound goddess had turned on them, but the Hand ninja, Flower, and Harvester joined forces with Wolverine and 
Scarlet Spider to fight back. Once Candra overtaxed herself, she proved too weak to sustain her artificially-maintained life, and collapsed back into a dead state. Bella Donna remained loyal to her goddess and prepared to lash out at her foes, but the Arranger and a full fist of Hand ninjas arrived representing Wilson Fisk. Kaine had contacted the Kingpin before the mission, giving him a tip that the lucrative Assassins Guild would be ripe for a hostile takeover. In their weakened state, Belle and the Assassins were forced to accept the dominion of the Kingpin. [Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #17-19]
IN-BETWEEN
- Although the Kingpin took over the Assassins Guild, his stronghold of the Hand called Shadowland fell quickly afterwards, apparently severing his hold over the organization. [Superior Spider-Man (1st series) #14] Somehow, the Assassins Guild fell under new management, with a secretive child telepath and her allies directly the guild’s activities.
CHRONOLOGY
Long ago, a hired killer named Cape Crow began killing other assassins and stealing their contracts. This behavior led the Assassins Guild to send Sabretooth, Bullseye, Taskmaster and Scalphunter to kill him. They failed, but Cape Crow went into retirement anyway to avoid the spotlight. Years later, a DNA-scanning satellite picked up Crow’s trail, and so the Assassins Guild put out an open contract on his head. Among the takers was the Australian cannibal Bloody Lips and Scalphunter, working with Lady Bullseye and looking for revenge.
However, a separate contract was sent to the Matchmaker to bring Cape Crow in alive. Matchmaker reached out to Elektra for the job, and together they intervened on the assassins’ hunt. They learned the second contract was filed by Kento Roe, son of Cape Crow looking to 
protect his father. Elektra removed Scalphunter and Lady Bullseye from their path, but Bloody Lips proved more difficult. Eventually, all parties met up at Cape Crow’s arctic safehouse. Elektra killed Bloody Lips and promised to fulfill her contract and protect Cape Crow and Kento from the Assassins Guild. [Elektra (3rd series) #1-5]
One after another, the Assassins Guild sent a growing number of specialists after Cape Crow and his protectors. Elektra defeated Whiplash, Blizzard, Crossbones, Boomerang, Shocker, Jack O’Lantern, Blackout, Tiger Shark, Whirlwind and Puma, alone or in small bands. Next, she fought through the Serpent Society (Sidewinder, Black Mamba, Anaconda and Death Adder), plus a super-powered Lady Bullseye, augmented by the Assassins Guild and seeking revenge. Elektra forced Sidewinder to teleport her to his contact with the guild in New Orleans, but the guild telepath she met had been warned silently by Sidewinder. Elektra fought through augmented versions of Tiger Shark, Whiplash and Jack O’Lantern before getting her audience with a guild negotiator. The guild offered to cancel the contracts if Elektra came to work for them, but she shot their representatives instead. Elektra let Sidewinder go after learning Bullseye knew how to contact the guildmaster. [Elektra (3rd series) #6-7]
Elektra retrieved a catatonic and paralyzed Bullseye from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and penetrated his mind with Kento Roe’s help. They learned the guildmaster was in Jakarta, Indonesia. Elektra was shocked when she discovered the guild was led by a powerful telepathic child. While Elektra was hunting her, the guildmaster had made a deal with the Hand to restore Bullseye. He surprised and beat Elektra, but Bullseye then turned on the guildmaster and prepared to take over the Assassins 
himself. Elektra recovered and drove Bullseye off, saving the guildmaster’s life. In exchange, the guildmaster turned control of the Assassins Guild over to Elektra. Rather than lead the Assassins, Elektra and Cape Crow gathered them together to totally dismantle the guild and all its members. [Elektra (3rd series) #8-11]
Elektra’s efforts gave Belladonna the opportunity to return and re-establish the Assassins Guild to suit her interests. The Guild was hired to kill a businessman named Charles Helder, sending out Nakh, Harvester and Razor-Fist with a cadre of elite assassins for a local job in New Orleans. However, Deadpool was hired to provide protection for the same client. He killed all the assassins before learning what a scumbag his client was, then executing the man himself. Belladonna dispatched Blackout, Threnody and the Harkspur Brood to murder Deadpool for his interference. Deadpool killed the Brood, then killed them again when Threnody revived the hillbillies as zombies. Attracted to his death energy, Threnody switched sides and Blackout was beaten as well. Deadpool snuck into the Guildhouse to deal with Bella Donna. He waived any compensation for Helder’s death, letting the Assassins claim the contract. He also offered to do a job for the Assassins in the future, in exchange for him and Threnody going free. [Deadpool: Assassin #2-3]
Although she allowed Deadpool to leave that night, Bella Donna was furious at the lack of respect Deadpool gave her during his bargaining. She called out an open contract for Deadpool, for Threnody, for Deadpool’s handler Weasel and anybody else associated with him. The elite assassin cadre attacked Weasel’s home with his wife Clarice, followed by heavy-hitters Bushwacker and Jack O’Lantern. Weasel called in Deadpool, and they managed to escape safely. Deadpool made contact with the mercenary supplier Hellhouse for a raid on the Assassins’ guildhouse. After cannon fodder on both sides was winnowed down, Deadpool confronted Bella Donna personally. She brought out the rest of her costumed assassins on retainer, including Death Adder, Black 
Mamba, Crossbones, Mimeyoshi, Boomerang, KIA, Scorpia and Lord Deathstrike. Deadpool was not deterred and fought his way through all his opponents, apparently killing at least Death Adder and Mimeyoshi. Belladonna finally recognized the mistake she had made and was willing to negotiate with Deadpool again. Wade wasn’t playing around anymore, though, and stabbed Belle through the chest, leaving her for dead atop the bodies of her fallen assassins. [Deadpool: Assassin #4-5]
Belladonna recovered from her injuries, but the Assassins Guild fell back under the influence of Candra. Newly resurrected again, but this time in the body of a preadolescent, Candra offered power and favoritism to the Thieves and Assassins again if they helped her reclaim her full strength. Belle reluctantly agreed on behalf of her Guild. In order to consolidate power (and gain a measure of revenge), Candra wanted her two Guilds to get rid of the King of Thieves, Remy LeBeau. Belle was unwilling to go that far (even after Remy married Rogue without telling her), and secretly worked with Jean-Luc to warn him. The new couple was still captured by the Thieves and Assassins, and Candra prepared a ritual sacrifice in order to regain her power. Out of vindictiveness, Candra turned on Belladonna and had her strung up next to Rogue, forcing Gambit to choose which of these two women would be killed for Candra’s glory. Gambit rejected Candra’s games and freed himself, with Rogue and Belladonna joining him against the Thieves and Assassins. Candra was beaten again and Gambit reasserted his authority as King of Thieves. Belladonna reclaimed power over the Assassins Guild, and the former benefactress was detained in their custody for now. [Mr. and Mrs. X #11-12]
MEMBERSHIP
Candra (Red Death)
First appearance: Gambit (1st series) #1
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #18-19, Mr. and Mrs. X #11-12
Powers: Telekinesis allows her to levitate and propel objects, fire concussive bursts of mental energy, generate protective or constraining force fields, and manipulate individual genetic potential to unleash latent powers or temporarily disable existing ones
Note: As benefactress of the Thieves and Assassins Guilds, Candra was an independent proprietor of the Guilds for most of her history. Above are listed only her time as the Red Death, directly exerting influence on the Assassins.
Marius Boudreaux
First appearance: Gambit (1st series) #2
All appearances: Gambit (1st series) #2, 4, Gambit (3rd series) #13, X-Men Origins: Gambit #1
Last appearance: X-Men (2nd series) #39 (death reported)
Powers: Energetic charge increases the destructive power of his sword
Note: Though Marius died of “his heart giving out,” it was implied something else may have been responsible. The only real candidate is Candra, but this was never confirmed.
Belladonna Boudreaux
First appearance: X-Men (2nd series) #8
All Guild appearances: X-Men (2nd series) #8-9, Ghost Rider (3rd series) #26, Gambit (1st series) #2-4, X-Men (2nd series) #39, Rogue (1st series) #1-4, Gambit (3rd series) #4, 13, 15-19, X-Force: Sex & Violence #2-3, X-Men Origins: Gambit #1, Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4, 17-19, Deadpool: Assassin #2-6, Mr. & Mrs. X #11-12
Powers: Plasma blasts and astral projection
Julien Boudreaux
First appearance: Ghost Rider (3rd series) #26
All Guild appearances: X-Men (2nd series) #8-9, Ghost Rider (3rd series) #26-27, Gambit (1st series) #1-4, X-Men Origins: Gambit #1
Powers: Exceptional agility, talon-like claws on the end of his gloves
Note: It was implied Julien should be hosting a Brood embryo, but this was never followed up on after the queen’s death. It also wasn’t clear whether he possessed superhuman attributes or was merely acrobatic and athletic.
Gris-Gris
First appearance: Rogue (1st series) #1
All Guild appearances: Rogue (1st series) #1-3, Gambit (3rd series) #13, 15-19
Powers: Channel kinetic energy into objects, increasing the destructive force they can deliver on impact, also skilled in voodoo arts, including the use of mind-warping and fear-inducing chemicals
Note: Gris-Gris held the title of First Kill, second to Belle’s matriarch and guildmaster role, and was old enough to have served her father Marius since Belle was a little girl.
Fifolet, Marcus
First appearance: Rogue (1st series) #1
All Guild appearances: Rogue (1st series) #1-3, Gambit (3rd series) #16-19, X-Men (3rd series) #25-26
Powers: Convert into an energy state, able to release bright light, coherent beams, and become selectively intangible which producing a paralytic shock on contact
Questa
First appearance: Rogue (1st series) #1
All Guild appearances: Rogue (1st series) #1-3, Gambit (3rd series) #17-19
Powers: Illusionist able to directly manipulate the optic nerves of others, disguising their physical appearance, the appearance of others, or casting remote three-dimensional images, all culled from the strong emotional memories of their target
Note: Questa was a woman with long white hair in the Rogue series, and a dark-haired man in the Gambit series. Not outside the realm of possibility for a disguise artist, but their true appearance remains in question.
Singer
First appearance: Rogue (1st series) #1
All Guild appearances: Rogue (1st series) #1, Gambit (3rd series) #17-19
Powers: Self-levitation, remote audio-visual projection allows her to cast blinding light, transmit a psionic image of herself to observe or communicate with a second location, or act as a conduit for someone else to be seen and heard through her from a remote location
Razor-Fist (Douglas Scott)
First appearance: Master of Kung Fu (1st series) #105
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #1-3, Deadpool: Assassin #2
Powers: Prosthetic blades in place of his hands, occasionally engineered as retractable hydraulic weapons or attached to fully-functional bionic hands
Note: After the death of the original Razor-Fist, Scott and his brother debuted as a pair of Razor-Fists, with one weapon appendage each. After his brother died, Scott became a double Razor-Fist like the original.
- Several of Deadpool’s kills from the Assassin limited series have resurfaced alive and well, including Razor-Fist in Domino (3rd series) #4-5. As related above, though, there have been several Razor-Fists over the years.
Black Mamba (Tanya Sealy)
First appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #64
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2-3, Elektra (3rd series) #6, Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Bionic augmentation provides her with mesmerizing abilities to coerce someone into seeing an image of their one true love and triggering orgasmic euphoria, so that they submit their will to the image’s provocative behavior, a power which can be combined with her talent to summon a semi-solid supply of Darkforce to create a “Darkforce lover” which will passively asphyxiate her victim, or can also create a “second skin” where the Darkforce is cloaked in her own self-image and attacks her opponents directly through constriction and suffocation
Bushwacker (Carl Burbank)
First appearance: Daredevil (1st series) #248
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2, Deadpool: Assassin #4
Powers: Bionic transforming arms contained in self-healing liquid flesh, able to reconfigure themselves into different weapon forms such as a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, sniper rifle, flamethrower, chainsaw, etc.
Clay
First appearance: Madrox #1
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2
Powers: Self-replication ability allows him to create multiple independent copies of himself
Note: Clay was killed by the Hand in X-Force: Sex & Violence #2. Given the nature of his powers, though, it’s probable he survived.
Bullet (Buck Cashman)
First appearance: Daredevil (1st series) #250
All appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2-3
Powers: Superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and resistance to physical injury
Nakh
First appearance: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2-3, Deadpool: Assassin #2
Powers: Enhanced durability and shadow-melding ability to become near invisible or possibly even teleport through darkness, carries knives and a barbed chain for strangling
Boomerang (Fred Meyers)
First appearance: Tales to Astonish #81
All Guild appearances: X-Force: Sex & Violence #2-3, Elektra (3rd series) #6, Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Exceptional hand-eye coordination and intuitive accuracy, equipped with boot rockets and various gimmicked boomerangs, including explosive, razor sharpened, sonic, smoke, gas, electrical, tracers, and splitting multi-rangs
Smithy
First appearance: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4, 17-18
Last appearance: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #18
Powers: Teleporter able to transport himself and others or summon items from a remote location into his hands, giving him access to a full arsenal of guns at his fingertips
Harvester
First appearance: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4, 18-19, Deadpool: Assassin #2
Last appearance: Deadpool: Assassin #2
Powers: Superhuman running speed, bionic legs, carries bladed weapons
Note: If somebody has natural super-speed and you cut off their leg, would giving them a bionic leg really fix the problem? Also, he’s sometimes called Harvest instead of Harvester.
Hand Ninja
First appearance: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4, 19
Powers: Undead ninja animated by supernatural forces, allowing him to ignore pain and injury
Note: The presence of a Hand ninja in the Assassins Guild is remarkable, as they are typically seen as rivals. It’s possible he served as a liaison, or peace offering after the Domino affair.
Flower
First appearance: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #4
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #4, 18-19
Powers: Superhuman strength
Kingpin (Wilson Fisk)
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #50
All Guild appearances: Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #19
Powers: Olympic-class strength, endurance, and resilience, carries a trick cane with a laser or disintegrator beam in its hilt
Note: Despite taking over the Assassins Guild in Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #19, Kingpin never actually appeared in command of the group. Fisk was grandmaster of the Hand at the time, seeking to consolidate the two organizations. When his sanctuary Shadowland fell in Superior Spider-Man (1st series) #14, he lost control of the Hand and, presumably, the Assassins as well.
Scalphunter (John Greycrow)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #210
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #1-2
Powers: Excellent vision and accuracy, regenerative healing factor, technoforming ability allows him to intuitively understand mechanical systems and assemble components into working weapons or other devices
Bullseye (Lester)
First appearance: Daredevil (1st series) #131
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #1, 10-11
Powers: Intuitive accuracy allows him to hit virtually any target, Adamantium strips bonded to his skeleton
Taskmaster (Tony Masters)
First appearance: Avengers (1st series) #195
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #1
Powers: Chemically-derived mnemonic primer grants him photographic reflexes to copy the physical actions of anyone he views for more than a few seconds, including sleight-of-hand, culinary skill, vocal mimickry, and fighting skills, employs various weapons to facilitate copied skills such as discus shield, billy club, web-shooters, handguns, sai daggers, bow and arrows, and a broadsword
Sabretooth (Victor Creed)
First appearance: Iron Fist (1st series) #14
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #1
Powers: Accelerated cellular regeneration gives him superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and resistance to physical injury, expands his perceptions to give him animal-like senses, and grants him a healing factor that repairs his body at an advanced degree, as well as razor sharp finger claws
Bloody Lips
First appearance: Elektra (3rd series) #1
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #1-5
Powers: Supernatural cannibal who adapts the memories and abilities of creatures that he consumes, from a shark’s ability to breathe underwater to the learned skills or superhuman powers of human beings
Lady Bullseye (Mari Matsumoto)
First appearance: Daredevil (2nd series) #119
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #2, 6-7
Powers: Skilled martial artists and weapons master; briefly transformed by nanotech with the ability to become living vapor in order to avoid direct harm
Blizzard (Donald Gill)
First appearance: Iron Man (1st series) #223
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6
Powers: Micro cryo-stats in armor can produce intense amounts of cold and freeze internal water supply to create ice formations
Whiplash (Anton Vanko (II) )
First appearance: Iron Man vs. Whiplash #1
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6-7
Powers: Repurposed StarkTech armor gives him exoskeletal strength, reaction time, and resistance to physical injury, repulsor arc generators and mono-filaments combine into electro-lashes that cleave between molecules and produce a destructive charge; briefly given additional arms to wield extra whips simultaneously
Shocker (Herman Schultz)
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #64
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6
Powers: Vibro-shock units generate powerful vibratory fields which can be directed as shockwave discharges to shatter or crumble nearby objects, additional force behind his fists, and a vibro-field along the surface of his padded costume that makes it difficult to hold or strike him
Crossbones (Brock Rumlow)
First appearance: Captain America (1st series) #359
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6, 11, Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Olympic-level strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reaction time, carries throwing crossbones, crossbow, explosive mines, knives, retractable wrist dagger
Jack O’Lantern
First appearance: Venom (2nd series) #1
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6-7, Deadpool: Assassin #4
Powers: Chemical stimulation increases his strength, endurance, reaction time, and tolerance for pain, padded costume with gas-filtering flaming helmet that spews incendiary fluid, uses rocket-propelled flying broomstick, scythes, acidic hard candies, flamethrowers, ghost grabbers, robotic devil dolls that fly autonomously, can spit fire, explode, or hypnotically impose his identity onto others, letting Jack act through surrogates
Blackout
First appearance: Ghost Rider (3rd series) #2
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6, Deadpool: Assassin #2-4, 6
Powers: Lilin crossbreed with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and resistance to physical injury, exceptional night vision, surgically implanted metal teeth, and a sensitivity to light compensated for with a light-dampening field, amplifying existing darkness, neutralizing mechanically generated light sources, etc.
Tiger Shark (Todd Arliss)
First appearance: Sub-Mariner (1st series) #5
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6-7
Powers: Genetically engineered with the genetic patterns of an Atlantean and a tiger shark, giving him superhuman strength, speed, endurance, reflexes, thick resilient flesh with high resistance to physical harm, gills for breathing underwater, strength that increase while in contact with water, aquatically adapted vision, a large dorsal fin and razor tipped fangs and claws
Whirlwind (David Cannon)
First appearance: Tales to Astonish #51
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6, 11
Powers: mutant with superhuman reflexes able to rotate himself at phenomenal speeds, allowing him to spin at high velocities to propel himself forward, deflect projectiles, direct jet streams of hurricane force wind, and create small tornados, uses wrist-mounted blades or buzzsaws and shuriken launched from his belt
Puma (Thomas Fireheart)
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #255
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6, 11
Powers: Mountain lion avatar able to transformed into a furred state with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, hyper-keen senses, healing abilities, fangs and claws
Sidewinder (Seth Voekler)
First appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #64
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6-7, 11
Powers: Nth Projector chip implant allows him to teleport through extra-dimensional space guided by his cybernetic cloak, mask equipped with defensive ray blasts called “side effects”
Note: Although multiple Sidewinders exist in the Marvel Universe, this was presumably the original as he referenced his past personal relationship with Black Mamba and coming out of retirement for this job.
Death Adder (Theodore Scott)
First appearance: Nova (4th series) #19
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6, Deadpool: Assassin #5
Last appearance: Deadpool: Assassin #5
Powers: Bionic augmentation gives him increased strength, speed, agility, reflexes, amphibious capabilities an artificial tail for striking opponents or underwater propulsion, retractable finger talons coated with a lethal toxin
Note: Roland Burroughs, the original Death Adder, was killed by the Scourge of the Underworld. He was brought back by the Hood, but killed again as a member of the Savage Six. This Adder was probably his replacement who debuted around the time of Civil War. However, a Death Adder has reappeared since Deadpool: Assassin, leaving it uncertain whether a third villain has assumed the name, or one of the previous Death Adders has been resurrected.
Anaconda (Blanche Sitzinski)
First appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #64
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #6
Powers: Superhuman strength, endurance, and resilience, gills for breathing underwater, able to morph her limbs into snake-like appendages by merging her digits into flipper form and elongating her arms or legs into flexible and constricting coils
Guildmaster
First appearance: Elektra (3rd series) #10
All Guild appearances: Elektra (3rd series) #10-11
Last appearance: Elektra (3rd series) #11
Powers: Telepathic powers suitable for long range communication and directing the activity of animals
Harkspur Brood
First appearance: Fear Itself: The Fearless #8
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #2-3
Last appearance: Deadpool: Assassin #3
Powers: quarter of survivalists armed with blades, axes, and chainsaws
Threnody (Melody Jacobs)
First appearance: X-Men (2nd series) #27
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #2-3
Powers: Sense and absorb “death energy” emitted by the dead, the dying, and those often found in the presence of the dead, converting this energy for biological sustenance, necroplasmic force blasts, and redistribution to raise and direct zombies
Lord Deathstrike
First appearance: Wolverine (4th series) #9
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Technologically equipped assassin using phasing tech, wall-walking boots, and bullets which can explode, release acid, trace victims, or return on command
KIA (Michael van Patrick clone)
First appearance: Avengers: The Initiative #8
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Bonded to the Tactigon, a multi-dimensional alien weapon sleeve able to analyze threats and reshape itself into any number of different forms, crafting razor-wire strands, energy blasters, chemical injections, etc.
Note: In Fantastic Four (6th series) #43, Doctor Doom was revealed to be in possession of the Tactigon. What happened to KIA is unknown, but probably not great for him.
Assassin (Mimeyoshi)
First appearance: Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #3
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Robot assassin with augmented strength, reflexes, and durability, optical lasers, retractable garrote wire, poisoned finger talons, and adaptive pseudo-skin to assume different appearances
Note: Deadpool decapitated Mimiyoshi in Assassin #5, although its not apparent whether a living robot like her would really be deactivated like that.
Scorpia (Elaine Coll)
First appearance: Spider-Man: Reign of Terror #2
All Guild appearances: Deadpool: Assassin #4-5
Powers: Exoskeletal costume provides her with enhanced strength and speed, force field “skin” for additional protection, pincher gauntlets and mechanized tail equipped with lasers, plasma bolt, electrical discharges, and microwave emitters