CAPTAIN BARRACUDA

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human, advanced technology user

Occupation: Pirate

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Starkey and the rest of his crew; temporarily controlled the undersea mutates (including a son of Giganto)

Enemies: Dorrie Evans, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Iceman, Karthon the Questor, Namor, "Robinson Crusoe"

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Barracuda, Cap'n Barracuda; "One-Eye" (nicknamed by Hulk)

Base of Operations: various submarine and other undersea vessels; temporarily used an abandoned former undersea base of Captain Omen

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#120 (May, 1964)

Powers: Captain Barracuda , as Prime Eternal reminded me, has one superhuman ability: He can see through his eyepatch! Check out the top image--his right eye wears the patch. Maybe it was done with mirrors...
Captain Barracuda has used a number of advanced submarine-type ships, armed with a number of high-tech weapons. He and his crew often carry a number of conventional and advanced forms of weaponry. Among the weapons he has been known to use are:
An electrified net, capable of capturing Namor, even at peak strength.
A gamma device, which could mutate people into ape-men, or fire a gamma beam powerful enough to drop the Hulk...even when he was pretty p.o.'ed.
An Inertia-Ray, able to remove all inertia from an object, bringing it to a sudden and non-traumatic stop.
The Omni-directional Beam, aka the Sonic Magno-Directoid, was a military weapon which would allow the user to control the trajectory of any underwater weapon. It was most likely destroyed when Barracuda activated it and pulled a torpedo towards him and his crew.

The Proteus Horn, an Atlantean relic with which the user can summon and control the various monsters and mutates of the sea. Among these mutates was one of the offspring of Giganto. Presumably, a number of these creatures are Deviant mutates.

Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 210 lbs.

History: (Strange Tales I#120) - Barracuda and his crew boarded and attempted to loot the Gotham Boat line, which was a daily cruise through Manhattan. Unfortunately for them, both the Human Torch and Iceman were present on the ship. Although it took them much longer, and the crew, armed with nets and the like gave them some trouble, the heroes eventually corralled the pirates. Barracuda took Dorrie Evans hostage and attempted to flee, but he crashed into an iceberg, courtesy of Iceman, and he was arrested.

(Sub-Mariner I#10-11) - Captain Barracuda and his crew inadvertently captured Namor, alongside Karthon the Questor, who had been battling over the Serpent Crown. Barracuda had the two men bound while he claimed the Crown for himself. He then had his crew use an Inertia-Ray to capture an "American Bomber--carryin' a new kind of atomic warhead!"
Namor eventually broke free, but Barracuda fired a torpedo at a nearby American Navy ship, and Namor took off in an effort to save it. As Barracuda planned, the military mistook Namor's intent and attacked him. Meanwhile, Barracuda had the distraction he wanted so that he could steal the "Sonic Magno-Directoid", with which he could control the path of other ships, torpedoes, etc. However, in the process, Barracuda unwittingly activated the device, pulling one of the Navy's torpedoes into his ship--seemingly killing them all.

(Incredible Hulk II#220(fb)-BTS) - Barracuda discovered an abandoned undersea base, formerly used by Captain Omen. Barracuda adopted the base as his own.

(Hulk II#219-220) - In search of a missing gamma ray-powered weapon, Barracuda's sensors locked on a ship with a high gamma ray level. The ship contained not the device, but the Hulk. However, when Barracuda's men torpedoed the ship, the Hulk was knocked into the water, and ended up washing up on an island. There the Hulk found a man calling himself Robinson Crusoe, who was one of those who had developed the device. Barracuda's men ambushed them, used the device the take out the Hulk, abducted Crusoe, and used the device to mutate him into an ape-man.
However, the Hulk recovered more quickly than they had thought and stowed away on their ship, following them to Omen's old base. The Hulk freed Crusoe the ape-man, but again fell victim to the gamma-weapon. Crusoe, however, savagely attacked Barracuda, and then activated the gamma weapon, turning all of the crew into ape-men. Crusoe sent the unconscious Hulk off in an escape shuttle, and then activated Barracuda's conveniently located and labeled self-destruct device--seemingly killing them all.

(Fantastic Four I#219) - Barracuda's crew assaulted Atlantis and stole the legendary Proteus Horn. Using the Horn, Barracuda then summoned a large number of deep-sea monsters and commanded them to attack Manhattan, while his men looted the city. Barracuda went mad with power, thinking his control of the monsters made him invincible. Namor and the Fantastic Four battled the monsters, and then Namor punched out Barracuda and retook the Proteus Horn.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man Lee and Jack "King" Kirby.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:

• Barracuda of the Old West, aka Captain Barracuda, as well, @ Kid Colt#109
• Barracuda, of Heavy Mettle, @ New Warriors II#4
• Cuda, short for Barracuda, @ Darkhawk#33
• Barracuda, the song by Heart, the hardest rocking women in the business.
• Captain Omen, another undersea nutjob, leader of the Infra-Worlders, @ Incredible Hulk II#164
• The Sea Captain, Captain McCallister, from the Simpsons...who apparently went to the same school of speech training as Barracuda and some of his crew men