STINGER

Real Name: James Valkon

Identity/Class: Technology using human, Avengers villain

Occupation: Former business spectator, would-be professional criminal

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Tinkerer (designed weaponry)

Enemies: Avengers (Beast, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Wasp, Wonder Man, Vision, Yellowjacket), Bloodhawk, Teacher

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City

Appearances: Avengers I#179 (January 1979)

Powers: None. Stinger employed several weapons contained within his costume. His first primary offensive weapon was a vibratory "Shocker" within his gauntlets capable of dropping Iron Man and Wonder Man, and at its highest setting was believed to be able to take down Thor. His other major weapon was his "Sting," which was composed of a slender strand of filament that had a hook-like barb on its end, which contained a drug capable of causing rapid unconsciousness. His uniform also contained a vibro-generator which allowed him moments of invisibility. He either could not use this while using the Stunner, or he did not think to do so. His uniform was presumably well-padded, as he instantly recovered from a hammer to the chest from Thor.

History: (Avengers I#179-180) - The man known as Stinger was a moderately successful legitimate businessman until he became frustrated by and envious of the wealth others accrued through illicit means. He managed to contact the criminal weapons-designer known as the Tinkerer, and liquidated all of his assets to pay for the design of his costume and weapons.

He planned to use his costume to defeat and capture the Avengers and then sell them off to the highest bidder. As hard as it may be to be to believe, he was nearly successful. He started by taking out the Black Panther, whom he caught unawares with his Sting. After half of the Avengers split up to return the accompanying Bloodhawk and his Teacher back to Muara, the Stinger snuck into the mansion by knocking on the door and slipping past Jarvis while invisible. In rapid succession, he took down the group of Yellowjacket, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and Jarvis. He took out Iron Man when he returned to the mansion by himself.

Stinger set himself up in the mansion and placed the captive Avengers on his oh-so-convenient immobilization wall. He dropped the returning Vision and Beast, and possibly would have finished off Thor as well, but Bloodhawk sacrificed his life taking Stinger's Shocker blast. Having lost the element of surprise, Stinger turned invisible and fled. However, the Beast's metabolism enabled him to recover rapidly from the Sting drug, and he had freed the rest of the Avengers. Thor generated a rainstorm inside the mansion to outline Stinger's form, and the team of Avengers took him down in a swift fashion. He was almost certainly turned over to the police.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Jim Mooney.

His real name was revealed in Tinkerer's profile in OHOTMU A-Z HC#12

Clarifications:
This Stinger is not to be confused with the plethora of other Stingers out there:

• Stinger-an enemy of the golden-age Angel, who also appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes III#7/2
• Stinger-a punk mutant in the Alliance of Evil, first in X-Factor#5
• Stinger-Blowden Reese, a marvel UK character from the team Genetix, first in Codename:Genetix#1
• Stinger-a clone of Ant-Man (Scott Lang) as part of the Master's team, Strike Force One, in Heroes for Hire#12
• Stinger of EMC2-an alternate future counterpart of Cassie Lang, and member of that era's Avengers or A-Next, first in Spider-Girl#1, which contained a preview of A-Next#1
• Stinger, Blowden Reese of the Genetix @ Codename: Genetix#1