Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile, formerly the U. S. S. R.

First Appearance: Daredevil I#217 (April, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: The Cossack is a large man, granting him considerable strength, and is presumably trained in armed and unarmed combat. He was no match for Daredevil. He once used a weapon able to cause temporary blindness, either over an area of several blocks, or even at distant sites through a targeting beam. He can speak both Russian and English, and possibly other languages as well.

History: (Daredevil I#217)- The Cossack was formerly employed as an intelligent agent in Russia. However, at an unknown point in time, he betrayed his superiors, was expelled (and likely fled from execution), and became a freelance agent.

The Cossack's previous activities are unrevealed, but he was first observed after meeting Dr. Hermann Shreck. Shreck was an East German Defector who had developed a weapon to cause temporary blindness. The relationship between the Cossack and Shreck was not revealed, but the Cossack came to the Black Widow II with a proposition to use the device for extortion. When she refused, he used it on her, and catching her by surprise, threw her out of a high story building. The Black Widow was saved by Daredevil, and she revealed the Cossack's plot to him.

The Cossack attempted to extort fifteen million dollars in gems from the city of New York with the threat of his blindness weapon. When the mayor told reporters he refused to be intimidated by cheap threats, the Cossack threatened "Death would rain down on foolish New York" unless he is paid. Realizing the Cossack planned to use the weapon regardless of whether he was paid, Daredevil reasoned that the comment about death raining down referred to crashing airplanes. Daredevil traveled to "an airport," which turned out to be the one the Cossack was attacking. The Cossack had already used the weapon to blind the air traffic controllers, but Daredevil easily stopped him and his agents before they could turn the weapon on the airplanes. The Cossack was arrested, but his fate was not disclosed.

Comments: Created by Denny O'Neil and David Mazzuccheli.

A Cossack is a member of a group of frontiersmen of southern Russia organized as cavalry in the czarist army. (straight from the dictionary).

Obviously this story took place before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR.

The Cossack's weapon, when used on the air traffic controllers, also blinded everyone else in the vicinity, including the assassin known as the Gael, who was preparing to murder Glorianna O'Breen. His sudden blindness allowed her to escape, and made him an easy target for Daredevil. The Gael's not the kind of guy you want as an enemy.

Last updated: 07/22/04

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