COMMANDER LANCE HUNTER, AGENT OF S.T.R.I.K.E.

Real Name: Lance Hunter

Identity/Class: Human, armed with high-tech gadgetry.

Occupation: Commander, Director of S.T.R.I.K.E.

Group Membership: Head of S.T.R.I.K.E.
former member of the Royal Navy

Affiliations: Captain America, Captain Britain, Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine, Nick Fury, Joseph Hauer, SHIELD (presumably), Alistaire Stuart, Union Jack, Pete Wisdom

Enemies: Lord Hawk, Red Skull, Tod Radcliffe;
Dai Thomas (unfriendly rivalry)

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations:  

First Appearance: Captain Britain Weekly#19 (16 February 1977)  

Powers/Abilities: Trained special agent, expert on munitions with a lot of experience in demolitions work.

History: (Captain Britain Weekly#19) - The empty coffins of Captain Britain and Captain America were lying in state in St Paul's Cathedral after they were apparently killed in a bombing run led by Tod Radcliffe, a S.T.R.I.K.E. traitor secretly working for the Red Skull. Nick Fury, who had been on one of the planes but unable to stop them from delivering their deadly cargo, sat vigil by the two flag draped caskets. His grieving was disturbed by the arrival of Commander Lance Hunter, the Director of the Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies, Britain's answer to Fury's own SHIELD agency. Hunter pointed out to Fury that grieving and recriminations would have to wait until after they had captured the Skull and his army. They headed off to SHIELD's Helicarrier, currently hovering over London.

(Captain Britain Weekly#20) - Shortly after that, Fury and Hunter met with Prime Minister James Callaghan. He berated them for their lack of progress thus far, reminding Fury that he was a visitor in Britain, but promised to co-operate however as best he could to deal with the threat at hand. Hunter assured him that he and Fury, "old hands" that they were, would be able to work effectively together. Later, at S.T.R.I.K.E.'s underwater base, Hunter changed into his combat uniform while he and Fury compared notes on the Skull's recent activities. Hunter told him that they had numerous reports of Nazi activities in the Docklands area, and that they had a large number of agents in the area; until one of them reported something definite, all they could do is sit tight and wait.

(Captain Britain Weekly#21) - Hunter got the shocking news that the Red Skull had kidnapped the Prime Minister, teleporting him right out of Downing Street. The two officers waited anxiously for further news of the developing crisis, but when a call came in from Captain America, still alive, the switchboard operator reported it to them as a crank call. Eventually the Skull's ransom demand came in -- the British government had until six p.m. to surrender or Callaghan dies -- and then the midnight after that the Skull would detonate a deadly germ bomb over London, wiping out millions!

(Captain Britain Weekly#22) - Fury wanted to head out and track down the Skull himself, but Hunter pointed out the futility of trying to do that in a city of eight million people -- they had to wait for a lead. The two men looked out onto the people in the street outside (either they were no longer in the undersea base or they were getting pictures from outside displayed on the wall for them) where the populace were just finding out about the kidnapping of the P.M., but not of the germ bomb. Fury demanded to be allowed to bring SHIELD in, but Hunter felt the interference of a foreign agency would provoke an international incident, and when Fury persistsed, Hunter sedated him to prevent his hot-headedness from interfering in the operation to thwart the Skull. With less than an hour to save the P.M., Hunter addressed Parliament, telling them they must choose between surrendering to buy time, or standing firm at the cost of Callaghan's life to show the Nazi that his ambitions were futile.

(Captain Britain Weekly#23) - Parliament voted to surrender, and Hunter delivered the message to the Skull over the phone just in time to prevent the execution of the P.M. and the two Captains, who had also been captured. A few hours later Hunter woke Fury and updated him to the situation. They still hadn't found the hostages, but the germ bomb had been planted in Big Ben, set to detonate at midnight. While Hunter went to defuse it, he asked Fury to oversee S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Command Centre. Unable to locate the device amongst the machinery inside the gigantic clock, Hunter ordered the clock stopped, hoping this would buy him more time. He located the bomb wired to the back of the large hand, but as he scaled the outside of the building the Skull restarted the clock by remote.

(Captain Britain Weekly#24) - With the clock running again, Hunter was left precariously hanging from one of the hands.

(Captain Britain Weekly#25) - Commander Hunter's was trying to disarm the bomb while clinging on to the minute hand of the giant clock, when the Red Skull teleported in near to him, followed seconds later by Captain Britain.

(Captain Britain Weekly#26) - While Captain Britain tried to hold off the Skull, Hunter continued to disarm the germ bomb, insisting that "the bomb hasn't been made that I can't pull the pin on". When the Skull nearly fell, Hunter took a few seconds from what he was doing to try and catch him, but the villain was prepared for such an eventuality and demonstrated his jet boots, proudly proclaiming that he would leave them to die when the bomb exploded. Captain Britain tackled him from the sky, leaving Hunter to admit defeat -- he could not disarm the device. Nick Fury and Captain America arrived, both wearing jet packs, and carry their respective counterparts off of the tower, seconds before it struck twelve. However the bomb did not go off -- when Fury led an assault on the Skull's base minutes earlier, the attack destroyed the computer that would have sent the detonation signal. London was safe!

(Captain Britain Weekly#27) - The four made it to the ground seconds too late to stop the Skull teleporting away. The heroes retired to SHIELD's Heli-carrier, where they made their fairwells. With the American departed, Hunter tried to convince Captain Britain to become an agent of S.T.R.I.K.E., but he declined. Hunter however was silently certain that eventually the law would come down on the self-appointed crime-fighter, and that when that happened Cap would either have to give up being a superhero or work for him.

(Captain Britain Weekly#32) - Only a few days later, a Code Red request for Air Commando support reached Hunter. Captain Britain, in battle with the villainous Lord Hawk, was being carried over the city by the villain's mechanical hawk. Hunter ordered in his men, stating that it was time they repaid the hero the debt they owed him.

(Captain Britain Weekly#33 (fb) ) - Commander Hunter personally apprehended Lord Hawk, who had lost his remote control for his killer bird to Brian Braddock's rival Jacko Tanner.

(Captain Britain Weekly#32) - When Cap finally made it back to Earth he was confronted by both Jacko and Chief Inspector Dai Thomas, who tried to arrest the injured hero. But as he prepared to take him away to the cells, a voice cried out, telling him to stop what he was doing: "Captain Britain will be coming with me -- now!!"

(Captain Britain Weekly#33 (fb) ) - Having made his bold proclamation to Thomas, Hunter took custody of the semi-conscious hero, much to the police officer's annoyance. When Jacko Tanner tried to claim credit for bringing Captain Britain down, Hunter informed him that if the hero didn't recover, Hunter would bring down Tanner in return.

(Captain Britain Weekly#33) - Cap regained consciousness in a medical room in S.T.R.I.K.E. HQ. He informed the hero that their scanners suggested he should recover, and when the hero demanded to know if they unmasked him while he was asleep, Hunter told him he didn't care who he really was; he just wanted him to join S.T.R.I.K.E. Cap fell unconscious again, and Hunter worried that he might be more seriously injured than they first thought. His alarm grew when Cap's amulet began to glow, and then his E.E.G. went flat indicating brain death, even though the heart was still going strong. The doctors and Hunter were perplexed, as they had no way of knowing that Cap's spirit had been summoned to another dimension by Merlin, where he was currently doing battle with a monstrous giant. An injury to the hero's leg sustained in this spirit realm transfered to his real body back on Earth, further confusing them. Hunter ordered the doctors to keep working to save the stricken hero.

(Captain Britain Weekly#34) - The doctors did their best, but had to admit to Hunter it was out of their hands.

(Captain Britain Weekly#35) - Still waiting by the hero's side, Hunter took a call from Dai Thomas, who demanded that the instant the hero was up and about again he be handed over into custody. Hunter told Thomas to "go take a walk till your hat floats!" He told the Doctors there must be a reason and a remedy for Captain Britain's coma.

(Captain Britain Weekly#37) - With Cap no longer displaying either pulse or heartbeat, Hunter finally admitted defeat and declared him dead. However the hero's spirit returned seconds later, healing his body's wounds, and then he slipped out of the base unseen, further shocking the S.T.R.I.K.E. commander.

(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - Lance Hunter, Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine and Alistaire Stuart briefed Joseph Hauer, Pete Wisdom, Captain Britain and Union Jack on the details of the British Superhuman Registration Act.

Comments: Created by Gary Friedrich, Herb Trimpe and Fred Kida.

Tod Radcliffe is introduced as the "Head Honcho" of S.T.R.I.K.E. in CB I#17, yet when we meet Lance Hunter he says he is (1) the director of the agency and (2) he recruited Radcliffe into the organisation. Radcliffe met the P.M. with Fury, which does support him being the head of the agency. Possibly Hunter might have been the man who picked the top agents, but until the death of Radcliffe he himself wasn't a member of the agency, instead working for another, more senior branch of the secret service. This would fit with him wearing civilian clothes when we first see him; once he changes into his para-military S.T.R.I.K.E. uniform the next issue we never see him in civilian gear again. It would also fit with his comments regarding being an "old hand", a "professional". Another explanation is that Hunter set up the agency, and then like, most members of the British military, was rotated onto a new post after a couple of years; in such circumstances he might well have picked his successor. Now, with the country in crisis and the agency in need of a trusted head who knows how it operates, he has been re-instated in his former post.

Hunter introduces himself as Commander to Colonel Nick Fury, and is often refered to as such. This being a Naval rank, it seems likely he is a former member of the Royal Navy, now seconded to intelligence work. (Think Commander James Bond). This would also tie in with his experience in demolitions work mentioned in CB I#23.

I'd have to believe that Hunter was killed during the Vixen and Mad Jim Jaspers coup against STRIKE--Snood.

Certainly, he'd never have allowed it if he was still part of the organisation and was alive. However in the British armed forces, and specifically the Royal Navy, you are assigned to a post for two years at a time. After two years, you may be assigned for a second stint at the same job. Otherwise, or certainly after 4 years (two postings) you are moved on to another job, and possibly promoted if things warrant it. As I suggested in this profile, I'm convinced Lance Hunter would have to have been a Navy man - the rank being the clincher. And his being Director when Tod Radcliffe had been stated as the boss to me suggests he was brought in, did the setting up of the organisation getting it operational in his two years (thus being the guy who recruited Radcliffe) and then moved on, with Radcliffe taking over at his recommendation. When Radcliffe was killed, Lance was put back in the job as the only man with sufficient knowledge of STRIKE to take over during the middle of a crisis. All of which means that he may well have finished his time in post and been stationed somewhere else, maybe even the other side of the world. Seeing how capable he was I doubt Vixen could have successfully usurped control if he'd been around. I know I'm looking for an excuse for him to be alive, and someday return, but I can't let the British equivalent of Nick Fury die off camera and not even rating a mention of his death! - Loki

Profile by Loki

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Other appearances:
Captain Britain I#20-23 (February 3rd-March 16th, 1977) - Gary Friedrich (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Captain Britain I#24-27 (March 23rd-April 13th, 1977) - Gary Friedrich & Larry Lieber (writers), John Buscema (pencils), Tom Palmer (#24, 26-27) & Fred Kida (#25) (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Captain Britain I#32-35 (1977) - Gary Friedrich & Larry Lieber (writers), Ron Wilson (pencils), Bob Budiansky & Fred Kida (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Captain Britain I#37 (1977) - Larry Lieber, Bob Budiansky & Len Wein (writers), Ron Wilson (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1 (2007)

Last updated: 12/16/02

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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