CAPTAIN CUTLASS and his crew

Real Name: Horatio Cutlass

Identity/Class: Human mutate (see comment; 17^th Century)

Occupation: Hunting party;
    previously captain of a ship of pirates

Group Membership: His crew, Collector's collection (Glob/Joe Timms, Akbar, a centaur, harpies, exemplars of extraterrestrial races, Neanderthal men, a mythic Hydra, "Scheherezade", a soldier of the American Civil War, a satyr, a Roman Centurion, Brachus, Tiberius and other gladiators of the Roman era)

Affiliations: The Collector/Taneleer Tivan (possessor), Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), the Glob (Joe Timms)

Enemies: Bruce Banner (Hulk), Joe Timms (the Glob)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Miniaturized ship-into the-bottle stored within the Collector's spaceship, mobile in the universe;
    previously unrevealed seas on Earth, in the 17^th Century

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#197 (March, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: Cutlass had the knowledge and experience to master the navigation of a three-mast ship in open sea, mastery including reading navigation maps, position-fixing, orienting by stars, charting the course, sails, reading the weather, and so on.

    As a Captain of a crew of pirates, Cutlass had the skills to manage a large group of criminals, to keep them in line to get the job done and to be obeyed by people usually impervious to rules and authority.

    He wielded a cutlass and he claimed he could take any man with that.

    Cutlass and his crew were less influenced by the passing of time.

History:
(Incredible Hulk II#198 (fb) -BTS) - In the 17^th Century century, Captain Cutlass, his three-mast sailing ship and his crew were captured by the Collector and added to his museum.

    The whole ship, and all the men inside were reduced in size in order to fit into a bottle. They stayed imprisoned there for about 300 years.
    Their life was prolonged by the Collector's spaceship's devices.

(Incredible Hulk II#197) - In the "Heroic Age"/modern time period, the Collector freed Cutlass and his men from the ship-in-the-bottle, for a mission that needed many eyes and hands.

    Cutlass and his men were unleashed in the Florida swamps, near Omegaville to search for the human counterpart of the Glob.

    They found the fugitive, who had escaped from the same prison where they were: the Collector's spaceship. During the capture, Cutlass hit Bruce Banner, who managed to return the blow. The Captain ordered to "let the daylight thru the slimy bilge rat" but, in the tangle, the Hulk emerged. The pirates did their best to restrain him, but they were normal men, armed with blades and fists. It took the combined action of the Man-Thing and the Glob, both mind-controlled by the Collector, to subdue the Hulk.

    Eight crewmen transported the half ton-weighing jade giant to the spaceship.

(Incredible Hulk II#198) - Back in the ship, the pirates attached the stasis-shackles to the three monstrous prisoners. The Collector, unleashing a crackling bolt of energy, hit the group of pirates, transforming them into the necessary size to fit into the bottle of his collection. Captain Cutlass and the crew were again aboard their ship.

    Later, the Hulk smashed the devices that closed the prisons. Many captives got free and abandoned the spaceship, but they met death because they were too far from the other device that had sustained their life while in the Collector's museum. On the other hand, Captain Cutlass and his crew were in a different kind of prison, still miniaturized into the spaceship.

    Neither Cutlass nor his lads wielded fire weapons, even if they were used in the 17^th Century. The pirates probably were ordered not to use them by the Collector.

    Cutlass and his crew did not age when they left the protected confines of the spaceship. One of many possible explanations is that the technology that preserved their age (and size) into the bottle, modified their bodies, temporarily or permanently.

Profile by Spidermay.

CLARIFICATIONS:
    Captain Cutlass should be distinguished from the many Captains in the Marvel Universe, in particular he should not be confused with:

• CAPTAIN CUTLASS - captain of pirate ship in 1985, dueled by sword with Dracula--Tomb of Dracula I#48
• CUTLASS - detective that helped the Defenders--Defenders I#133
• BLACKBEARD - Ben Grimm/The Thing when traveled into the past and became captain of the crew of the Scarlet Raider--Fantastic Four I#5
• CAPTAIN BARRACUDA - captain of a crew and various submarine vessels, who also fought the Hulk--Incredible Hulk II#219
• CAPTAIN FATE - another ship captain involved with the Man-Thing and immune to aging--Man-Thing II#7
• CAPTAIN OMEN - who lived under the sea in the Infra-World and met the Hulk a short time before Cutlass--Incredible Hulk II#165
• CAPTAIN TYGER - freebooter and swordsman who prayed on Spanish galleons in the 17th century--Dr. Strange III#17/2 (20/2
• CAPTAIN VASQUEZ - of a Spanish clipper attacked by Red Lucy in the 16th century--Marvel Comics Presents I#62/3
• ...and other "Captain" or "Cutlass" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

First posted: 03/17/2026
Last updated: 03/19/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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