SAVAGE FINSTER

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-49124 - see comments); otherwise unrevealed

Occupation: Superhero

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Unidentified robot

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

 

First Appearance: Strikeback!#1 (October 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Savage Finster possessed immense superhuman strength and durability.

Height: 5'10"; (to top of fin) 6'6" (see comments)
Weight: 450 lbs. (see comments)
Eyes: Red
Hair: None

 

History:
(Strikeback!#1) - The Savage Finster was attacked by a robot and crashed to the ground near two heroes, Rascal and Midnight Devil, who were entirely unconnected to his problem and had been caught by surprise by his explosive impact. Midnight Devil jokingly commented that the new arrival had been brought by the stork, and wondered if they could call him the Finster, prompting the comment's target to angrily (one could say savagely) respond that he was the Savage Finster. Savage Finster then demanded to know if the robot that had attacked him was theirs, but before he could finish the question said automaton grabbed him and carried him into the sky. As he was taken the Savage Finster yelled back at Rascal and Midnight Devil, promising that if the robot was theirs then they wouldn't get away with it, and that he would be back.

 

Comments: Created by Jonathan Peterson and Kevin Maguire.

 

   Strikeback! had a somewhat irregular publication history. A creator-owned series, it was initially planned to be an Image Comics publication (and I'll come back to that shortly), but then after at least the first issue was ready to go the decision was made to go with Malibu's new Bravura line of creator-owned titles instead. The first issue noted that this was part 1 of 6 on the cover and in the indicia, but then the second issue noted that it was part 2 of 4, and the third issue concurred with that new total, but then the Bravura line collapsed and that promised fourth (and supposedly final) issue didn't materialize. Two years later the series finally got a chance to be completed when it resurfaced back at its originally planned home of Image Comics. The first three issues were reprinted, and then two more concluded the tale - yep, neither six nor four proved to be the correct count, but five. Sadly, given it was actually a pretty fun story, we never got a second series, though the lead characters did manage to make one additional appearance - and again, I'll come back to that.

 

   Savage Finster is an extremely minor character in the story - every panel he appears in (all three of them) are on this page. And he serves no real purpose in the narrative - he just randomly shows up, shouts at the lead characters, and then departs as swiftly as he arrived. And he's clearly, I mean ridiculously so, an expy for the Savage Dragon. This makes more sense once you realize that he actually was always intended to be the Savage Dragon - not a "not quite him, obscured by a paper-thin disguise to avoid copyright issues" version of Dragon, but the actual character. As mentioned above, this series was originally going to be published by Image, and Erik Larsen had given permission for Dragon to make a cameo appearance, presumably to help boost sales - something Larsen had always been very generous about if you look back at Dragon's history of such cameo appearances. The first issue was already completed before the move to Bravura, so Dragon had been redrawn as Savage Finster, though the introduction page still carried a thanks to Larsen anyway for his generosity. But it gets better, because when the series returned to Image, Savage Finster vanished and Dragon was reinstated - look to the right for the comparison. The rest of the first three issues were (afaik) straight reprints, but the three panels that included Savage Finster now showed Dragon.

 

 

   So, for those of us who care about such things, what does this mean in terms of the multiversal reality the story is set in? Do we have two versions of the story, one set in the main Image Comics reality, and another set in Strikeback's own separate reality? Yes, kind of. You see, there's actual in-story evidence and precedence to explain this character swap. Here's how it seems to work:

 

   We know from statements made by the TVA (Time Variance Authority) in She-Hulk II#3 (a.k.a. She-Hulk#100) that if timelines are altered and a character is removed from history, then often another character who is somewhat analogous to them will fill in and carry out the actions they would have done - see left. Be it the universe in general, or intervention by an entity such as Eternity, Infinity or someone else, the timeline seeks to compensate for the absence. And we also know, for an indisputable fact, that the characters of Strikeback were added and then removed from the Image Comics universe - not just published by the company, but added within the context of the universe. Remember I said I'd get back to the fact that the Strikeback characters had another appearance outside of their own title? In the mega-crossover Shattered Image, the Image Universe suffered massive reality upheavals that ultimately split their previously singular universe into several separate ones. And in Shattered Image#2 on page five we see this happening in action. The major heroes of the Image Comics universe have gathered to discuss their crisis when someone present (I think perhaps Pitt, given the apparently clawed hands, bulky build and a name that allegedly started with P) vanishes as they become no longer part of this reality - and they aren't just removed from the universe, but from its history, with everyone present suddenly struggling to recall the departed's name, and even that they were ever there to begin with. Then, almost immediately, Rascal's team Strikeback appears, and after a moment of confusion everyone agrees that they were always there. The next page Strikeback (and many others) are gone again, no longer part of this reality.

 

   In other words, within the story itself Strikeback was temporarily part of the Image universe, and when it was, it always had been. And then it no longer was part, and never had been. It's not just the few seconds that were shown in Shattered Image, as that momentary merging of realities rippled backwards and forwards through time so that they had forever been part of that universe...even if only for a brief moment. While part of Image, Midnight Devil and Rascal encountered Savage Dragon; when not part of Image, they instead encountered Savage Finster. The version of Strikeback from Earth-49124 (the reality where they weren't part of Image) IS the same version as the one from Image's universe (which we're not going to number here, not least because that's outside this profile's remit), but they are also distinct from one another because such mergers followed by divergences inevitably leave behind additional realities where the separation never occurred. Both versions happened and are equally valid, but if someone was to time travel to this specific moment it's unsure whether they'd find Savage Dragon or Savage Finster present until they got there - Schrodinger's Dragon, as it were.

   Since he's literally a like-for-like replacement for the Savage Dragon, I presume his height and weight match that individual.

   This profile was completed on 04/13/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Strikeback.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Savage Finster is, in a way:

but has no known connections to:

Robot

An unidentified robot of unrevealed origins attacked Savage Finster (or maybe Savage Dragon) for reasons unknown.

--Strikeback!#1

images: (without ads)
Strikeback!#1, p13, pan3 (main image)
Strikeback!#1, p14, pan1 (fighting the robot)
Strikeback!#1, p13, pan2-4/Strikeback! (Image)#1, p13, pan2-4 (Savage Finster to Savage Dragon comparison)
She-Hulk II#3, p19, pan2-3 (She-Hulk replaced in history by Valkyrie)
Shattered Image#2, p5 (history alters, removing Pitt and bringing in Strikeback)
Strikeback!#1, p14, pan1 (robot)

Appearances:
Strikeback!#1 (October 1994) - Jonathan Peterson (co-writer, co-creator, co-producer), Kevin Maguire (co-writer, co-creator, co-producer, art), Kara Lamb (editor)

First Posted: 09/21/2026
Last updated: 04/13/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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