MANSLAUGHTER MARSDALE

Real Name: Marsdale (first name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Boxing agent, Criminal

Group Membership: None; formerly Gang-With-No-Name (Clown, Death Reaper, Trapster, Whirlwind, Zodiac)

Affiliations: Black Spectre (Robert Plesko), Man Mountain Marko, Red Ronin;
formerly Madame Fang, his gang

Enemies: Luke Cage, HAMMER, Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn), Jimbo, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Crusher Hogan, Bobby Chance

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Hydra airship at a scrapyard in McKeesport, Pennsylvanna;
formerly Hunzigger's Gym, the Bowery, New York City, NY

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#271 (December, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Manslaughter has permanent analgesia (he is unable to feel pain). He is also very strong (possibly above human levels, but that is not clear).

Height: 6'1" (by estimation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Black

History:
BTS - At some point in the past, Manslaughter underwent an operation that made him completely unable to feel pain and possibly augmenting his strength.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#271) - Manslaughter and Madame Fang ran a boxing gymnasium somewhere in New York City. Their finest boxer was Bobby Chance, but he did not want to renew his contract. When Manslaughter was about to attack (and probably cripple) Chance, the janitor of the gym, Crusher Hogan (the wrestler that faced Spider-Man waaaaay back in Amazing Fantasy 15) hit one of Manslaughter's goons with a broomstick. The ensuing fight (and shots) attracted Spider-Man, who defeated Manslaughter and his gang (with the help of Hogan and Chance) Spider-Man left the scene with the villains webbed, and Hogan and Chance exultant. He was presumably taken to jail.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#309) - Looking for information about a kidnapped Mary Jane, Spider-Man hit various shady spots, including Hunzigger's Gym, where he easily took down Marsdale. Spider-Man attempted to force him to reveal who took MJ or where she was, but Marsdale had no idea. Webbing Marsdale to a wall by his arms, Spider-Man left, and the other fighters who had watched the conflict decided that they shouldn't be intimidated by Marsdale, but instead feel free to quit working for Madame Fang. However, Marsdale ripped the wall to pieces getting out of Spider-Man's webbing, and the other fighters decided that maybe they'd stick around after all.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#3 (fb) - BTS) - Zodiac ambushed Marsdale in his neighborhood to get a chance to duplicate Marsdale's inability to feel pain. Leaving Marsdale comatose, Zodiac stole the power.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#1 (fb) - BTS) - Weeks later Zodiac got Marsdale out of the coma. Marsdale was so thankful that he joined forces with Zodiac, unaware that Zodiac was the one that put him into the coma in the first place.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#1 (fb) ) - Marsdale told Clown everything he needed to know about the abandoned Hydra airship Zodiac's team used as their headquarter. They felt both inspired by Zodiac and Marsdale told Clown why he owed Zodiac for bringing him out of a coma.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#1) - Two days later Zodiac called Marsdale to ask him if their mole, Whirlwind, had called in that day. He hasn't, but Marsdale was sure Whirlwind would find a moment to do so.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#2) - Marsdale, Trapster and Clown set up explosive charges in the basement of the hospital where Human Torch was brought after Zodiac attacked him. Zodiac blew up the building, but Invisible Woman saved her brother and everyone else in their vicinity within a force field.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#2) - Marsdale attended the first official meeting of Zodiac's Gang-With-No-Name where Zodiac informed Marsdale, Clown, Trapster and Death Reaper how he hacked into HAMMER's security system to play out the scenario of an attack by Galactus on Earth to distract HAMMER from their activities. Zodiac's plan included sending the stolen Red Ronin robot to NYC to cause chaos.

(Dark Reign: Zodiac#3) - Marsdale used the distraction to go after Bobby Chance. He beat Bobby and everyone in the bar he found Bobby in to death.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Power Man and Iron Fist III#5) - Marsdale shook down a hot dog vendor for protection money and in addition demanded a hot dog with extra kraut for free. He threatened the man with violence, but by pure chance Luke Cage dropped from the sky and Marsdale received a beating from him and Iron Fist instead. Marsdale lost a few teeth and received a few broken bones in the fight, which was filmed by a bystander and uploaded to the internet.

   Marsdale was going to take revenge on radio show host Jimbo for covering the fight and making fun of him, but coincidentally Luke Cage and Iron Fist were at the station to tell the truth about the previous fight with Marsdale and gave him another beating and then just avoided his attacks until Marsdale collapsed from exhaustion.

(Savage Avengers I#14) - Marsdale hung out at the Bar With No Name.

(Moon Knight IX#7 - BTS) - Moon Knight was looking for Zodiac and was told by 8-Ball that Marsdale had once mentioned working with him.

(Moon Knight IX#7) - Moon Knight tried to beat the whereabouts of Zodiac out of Marsdale, but Marsdale stayed loyal to Zodiac because he had saved his life and didn't tell Moon Knight a thing, even though he was beaten into unconsciousness by him.

(Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal Infinity Comic#8) - Marsdale was among a group of criminals in jail wanting to beat up Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal, but he seemed to be annoyed when he realized the guy in front of him was also called Manslaughter.

(Moon Knight IX#25) - Black Spectre (Robert Plesko) hired Marsdale to become part of a gauntlet for Moon Knight on Hart Island. Marsdale and Man Mountain Marko worked together against him, but Moon Knight cut Marsdale's throat with a Crescent Dart to take him out of the fight.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz.

I think there's a slim chance that he didn't kill Bobby, but beat him only close to death. First, he doesn't actually say he's killed Bobby. Second, he's digging his boot into Bobby's ribs, presumably to inflict more pain, something you probably wouldn't bother doing to a corpse. And third, he says that Bobby is "rethinking his career choices"; he might just be being very facetious about Bobby being dead, but he might be taking pleasure from Bobby being in pain. And that's the thing - for a man who can't feel pain himself, Marsdale likes inflicting pain on others, so letting Bobby live might be the crueler option. After all, that would allow him to keep coming back to hurt Bobby every time he recovers a bit. The other people in the bar though? They're dead, given the various objects they'd been impaled on. - Loki

Thanks to Loki for the new and improved images and to Markus Raymond for the recent updates.

Profile by Cisco. Update by Markus Raymond (2016-2023).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Manslaughter Marsdale has no known connection to:

• Manslaughter - of the Defenders and Dragon Circle--Defenders I#133

Madame Fang has no known connection to:

• Any other Madames or Fangs

images:
Amazing Spider-Man I#271, p4, pan1 (main image)
Amazing Spider-Man I#271, p4, pan6 (in action)
Dark Reign: Zodiac#2, p1, pan4 (now)
Amazing Spider-Man I#271, p5, pan4 (Madame Fang)
Amazing Spider-Man I#271, p4, pan5 (Bobby Chance)
Dark Reign: Zodiac#3, p7, pan1 (Bobby beaten, to death?)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#271 (December, 1985) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Jim Owsley (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#309 (November, 1988) - David Michelinie (writer), Todd McFarlane (artist), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Dark Reign: Zodiac#1-3 (August-September, November, 2009) - Joe Casey (writer), Nathan Fox (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Power Man and Iron Fist III#5 (August, 2016) - David Walker (writer), Flaviano (artist), Jake Thomas (editor)
Savage Avengers I#14 (January, 2021) - Gerry Duggan (writer), Patrick Zircher (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Moon Knight IX#7 (March, 2022) - Jed MacKay (writer), Federico Sabbatini (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal Infinity Comic#8 (October, 2022) - Frank Tieri, John Cerilli (writers), Jacob Chabot (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Moon Knight IX#25 (September, 2023) - Jed MacKay (writer), Partha Pratim, Alessandro Cappuccio & Alessandro Vitti (artists), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 05/20/2002
Last updated: 05/10/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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