COTTONMOUTH
COTTONMOUTH
Real Name: Cornell Cottonmouth (?)
Identity/Class: Human (mutate)
Occupation: Criminal, druglord
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mr. Slick, Mike and Ike (agents);
Enemies: Flea, Power Man (Luke Cage); Bossman Morgan and his gang (rival); Willis Stryker (Diamondback, stole from him)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Top floor of mid-town office building, Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: Power Man#18 (BTS; April, 1974), Power Man#19 (real appearance; June, 1974)
Powers: Cottonmouth appears to have some
degree of superhuman strength (comparable to Cage, @ Class 10)
and durability. He has some experience in hand-to-hand combat,
learned on the streets, although he mostly just relies on his
strength.
He was head of a large drug operation, and has a number of
dealers and enforcers serving under him.
Cottonmouth likes to polish off his enemies by sending them a
package containing venomous snakes. He also has access to other
types of poisons.
History: Cottonmouth's origins are unknown. The source and nature of his abilities are unknown. He established a large drug operation in New York City.
(Luke Cage, Hero for Hire#1(fb)-BTS) - When Willis Stryker wanted to frame Carl Lucas, he stole a shipment of heroin from Cottonmouth's organization.
(Power
Man#18-BTS) - Lucas, now Luke Cage/Power Man, attempted to track
down the origins of the drugs used to frame him (in hopes of
clearing his own name). Cage used a number of his informants,
including Flea, in that search. Flea succeeded in learning that
Cottonmouth had been the source, but his investigations were
discovered. Flea was poisoned by agents of Cottonmouth, although
he managed to pass Cottonmouth's name on to Cage before dying.
(PowM#19, 20) - After learning Flea was working
for Luke Cage, Cottonmouth got the idea of recruiting him into
his own organization. He sent his trademark package of snakes
over to Cage's office, "to show him he means business."
He then sent two of his enforcers, Mike and Ike, to make the
offer. Cage easily took care of the snakes and Mike and Ike, and
then forced Mike to tell him Cottonmouth's location.
Cage met up with Cottonmouth and after the pre-requisite
struggle, agreed to join his organization (obviously hoping to
learn where his records were kept). Cottonmouth tested Cage's
loyalty by sending him to steal a shipment of heroin from his
rival, bossman Morgan, which Cage did successfully. Cage earned
Cottonmouth's trust and worked for him for a few days, before
being caught attempting to find his records. Cottonmouth attacked
Cage, battering him around, until he was distracted by his
assistant, Mr. Slick, who was trying to put a bullet in Cage.
Cage knocked Cottonmouth into Slick, who fell out the window to
his death on the streets below.
After the death of Slick, the fight seemed to go out of
Cottonmouth. Cage demanded his records, but Cottonmouth told him
that all of his records had been kept in Slick's mind, and were
now lost forever. Furious, Cage picked up Cottonmouth and smashed
him into his own oak desk. Cottonmouth was knocked out cold, and
Cage called the police to pick him up.
Comments: Created by Len Wein and George Tuska.
Cottonmouth is not dead (not that it would mean anything in the MU if he were), so there's no reason he couldn't make a comeback. He's one of my favorites of all of Cage's goofy villains from the early 1970s.
Actually, I'd like to see some goofy story featuring a Serpent
Squad featuring all the lesser known characters who never made it into the
original groups, or the Serpent Society.
They're all from the mainstream, Earth-616, Marvel Universe (i.e.
not the New Universe, not the Ultraverse, not 2099, etc.) I did
include a few from the Old West Era, but none from the Hyborian
Era, etc.
I'll be covering them all eventually, and I'll link them here as
I go.
Adder
Asp
Bushmaster
Cobra
Copperhead
Copperhead(yes, there are two)
Cottonmouth--that's Cornell, featured in this profile.
Diamondback
Faire de Lain
King Kobra
Rattler
(Old West, Rawhide Kid foe)
Rattler
(Two-Gun Kid foe)
Rattler
(Spider-Man foe)
Silver Sidewinder
Professor Viper
and I wasn't going to include these guys, but they are kind
of snakey...
Snake
Snake Marston
Morris "The Snake" Diamond
Snakebite
Snake Dance
Snake Eyes
Snake Eyes (yes, there are two of them)
Snakeskin (2 of them)
Snakeroot
Serpentyne
(I didn't include objects, like the Cobra and
Serpent Crowns, or places, like Serpent Valley, or groups/races,
like the Serpents, Serpent's Teeth, or the various incarnations
of the Serpent Men...)
...and let me know who else I missed.
Thanks, good luck, and, HEY, let's be careful out there.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Mr. Slick has no connection to:
Mike and Ike are named after the tasty candies of the same name, but are otherwise unconnected to them.
He was an agent of Cottonmouth. He apparently
had some degree of photographic memory, and he kept all of
Cottonmouth's records in his head. It was Slick's idea to test
Cage's loyalty by sending him to steal from Morgan. He ended up
as street pizza after getting in the middle of the final fight
between Cage and Cottonmouth
--Power Man#19 (20
They were a couple of muscle-men enforcers for
Cottonmouth. They tried to coerce Cage into listening to them,
and got their butts handed to them by him.
--Power Man#19
Appearances:
Power Man#18 (April, 1974) - Len Wein (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Power Man#19-20 (June-August, 1974) - Tony Isabella (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Last updated: 11/29/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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