SNAKES

Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)

Identity/Class: Sentient mass of snakes (gestalt?), perhaps magical, Northern Irish

Occupation: Superhero;
   any other occupation unrevealed 

Group Membership: The Union (Britannia, Bulldog, Choir/Ruth, Kelpie, Union Jack/Joseph Chapman)

Affiliations: Detective Inspector Kate Fraser, Selwyn James;
   formerly Steve Darwin

Enemies: Doc Croc's unnamed gang (Doc Croc/Croker Dyle, Craig, Lady Shimmering Lights, Shifter, Volcanna/Anna), Knull, Steve Darwin, Symbiote Dragon, Symbiotes, unidentified security guards (both before and after they were possessed by the Symbiotes);
   formerly Skreem/Ruth 

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Presumably Northern Ireland

First Appearance: The Union#1 (February 2021)

Powers/Abilities: Rather than being a single person, Snakes appears to be a mass of individual snakes of varying sizes and species, all intertwined into the rough shape of a very large man, but capable of splitting apart in a second to becoming a veritable horde of serpents. He has the strength of ten men. Despite having so many bodies composing the whole, there seems to be a single mind directing the body, which can communicate telepathically with others - or perhaps one snake acts as the leader and spokesperson for the group. When he disassembles into his parts, each snake seems to speak telepathically but more "quietly" than when they are gathered together, which might suggest their combined mind weakens when split apart. He also seems to need a reasonable amount of time to reassemble 

Height: 7'10" (by estimation); variable
Weight: 330 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Various
Hair: None

History:
(The Union#1 (fb) - BTS) - Snakes was a superbeing from Northern Ireland. He communicated telepathically, and always referred to himself in the third person.

(The Union#3 (fb) - BTS) - As suggested by his name, Snakes was composed of a mass of snakes assembled in roughly human shape and hidden beneath human clothing, complete with a hood, from within which only two red glows, presumed by others to be eyes, were visible.

(The Union#1 (fb) - BTS) - Hoping to promote a sense of national unity and pride, the British government decided to assemble a team of superheroes drawn from all four member nations of the United Kingdom, with funding provided by tech billionaire Steve Darwin.

(The Union#2 (fb) - BTS) - Another reason for the new team's formation was to ensure that the U.K. would be ready to face any hostile threats now that it was no longer part of S.H.E.D. (the Super Hero European Directive).

(The Union#1 (fb) - BTS) - The well-respected Britannia, a heroine with decades long pedigree defending the U.K., was asked to head the initiative, which was dubbed the Britannia Project in her honor; the actual name for the team would be decided by a public vote, a publicity stunt designed to increase awareness and interest in the team.

   Britannia recruited Snakes to be the Northern Irish representative on the team.

(The Union#2 (fb) - BTS) - Snakes and his two fellow recruits, Scotland's Kelpie and Wales' Choir, agreed to join not out of any sense of heroism, duty or patriotism, but because it was Britannia's dream, and they viewed her as something bigger and better than the country she represented.

(The Union#3 (fb) - BTS) - The diminutive Bulldog was penciled in to be the team's English representative, but he didn't "play well" with his teammates, with an unspecified but negative event taking place between him and Snakes. For these reasons, it was deemed politik to remove Bulldog from the frontline team prior to the public being informed about them. Kelpie, Snakes and Choir however all came to consider each other friends (perhaps mutually bonding because all three were normally rejected as outcasts by wider society). Despite their friendship, the others remained unaware that under his hooded robes Snakes was literally composed of a mass of intertwined serpents.

(The Union#1 (fb) - BTS) - Both for training and as part of the the publicity for the team's launch, Snakes and his teammates, including Britannia, took part in a capture the flag game against Union Jack and a squad of eleven guards,...

(The Union#4) - a fully trained and combat-ready military unit working for Darwin Tech,...

(The Union#1 (fb) - BTS) - ...on Brean Down Fort, located on the Brean Down promontory in the Bristol Channel, their match televised via flying camera drones supplied by Darwin Tech. Despite having superior numbers, Union Jack's team were picked off one by one by Snakes' side, until only Jack and one guard were left.

(The Union#1) - The game ended soon afterwards when Britannia successfully took the flag from Union Jack.

   Afterwards both sides took time to rest in their respective teams, and watched Union Jack and Selwyn James, the Government Minister with Special Responsibility for Super Heroes, do a live interview for Good Morning TV. Once that concluded, one of the guards moved over towards the resting super beings and derisively called them freaks. When Choir responded by bringing the man to his knees with a painful but low level sonic attack, another guard stepped up to protect his colleague and tried to stop Choir by throwing the contents of his water bottle at the Welsh superhuman. Seeing this, Kelpie turned the flung water into sharp blades that flew towards the second guard's face, and she taunted him over about being scared of a little water. Snakes also stepping up menacingly and told a guard to "walk away, little man." Union Jack hurriedly intervened, urging both sides to dial things back and play nice.

   The brief moment of calm this provided was ended almost immediately by the arrival of a Symbiote Dragon, part of a worldwide attack launched by the Symbiote God Knull. As the guards opened fire, Britannia leapt into the air and beheaded it, but as it plummeted towards the ground the decapitated beast's razor-sharp tail whipped round and skewered Britannia through the abdomen. Snakes joined the others gathered round the fallen Britannia, and watched as his friend died in Union Jack's arms. Unfortunately, though the dragon had been slain, its corpse split silently into a horde of Symbiotes which took over the guards while the super beings were distracted witnessing Britannia's final moments.

(The Union#1 - BTS) - Unknown to her friends and colleagues, Britannia's spirit survived, secretly taking refuge within Union Jack. 

(The Union#1) - Announcing their presence, the Symbiote-guards made clear their hostile intentions, prompting the super beings to rally in preparation for battle.

(The Union#2) - As the Symbiote-guards surrounded the super beings Union Jack instructed them to fight defensively and remember that their foes were just normal people underneath the controlling Symbiotes. In response, as he picked up one of the possessed men, Snakes informed Union Jack that he would be gentle, and not crush their opponents' heads beneath his feet, then he swung his captive around so his legs whipped round to hit another guard, and added that he would use their feet to crush their heads. However, the Symbiotes swiftly overwhelmed Choir and possessed her too, causing her to emit a sonic boom that apparently stunned most of her teammates.

(The Union#2 - BTS) - The Symbiotes also tried to take over Snakes and Kelpie, but found their unusual biologies problematic to possess. Abandoning the fight to seek fresh targets, the Symbiotes departed for the mainland and the nearest town, Weston-Super-Mare. 

(The Union#2) - Union Jack, who had been knocked out by Choir during the fight, woke, and when told what had happened wondered why the Symbiotes hadn't tried to possess him. Snakes derisively suggested it was because he was a bit useless. With the Symbiotes having taken the available vehicles, Kelpie provided transportation to pursue them, carrying her allies over the sea atop a solid wave of water. Reaching the seaside town they found the Symbiote-hosts, including Choir, at the Funland theme park on the beach front, threatening the locals, and battle commenced once more. Swiftly realizing that with the guards now Symbiote-powered the good guys were outgunned as well as outnumbered, Union Jack shouted to his allies that they needed a distraction. Taking this as permission, Kelpie summoned a gigantic tidal wave that struck Funland, ending the fight abruptly. The waters swiftly receded until they were only ankle deep, but though some of the Symbiote-hosts had been knocked out, several of them, Choir included, recovered as fast as the heroes did. While Union Jack tried to reason with Choir, Steve Darwin hastily wired Britannia's sword to one of the funfair ride's electrical outlets, then threw the blade to Union Jack; catching it, Jack plunged the weapon into the water as Darwin turned on the power, electrocuting the Symbiote-hosts. Vulnerable to electricity, the Symbiotes were slain, freeing their hosts.

   A little time passed, sufficient for the emergency services to arrive. In the aftermath Kelpie, Snakes and Choir approached Union Jack to inform the shocked hero that with Britannia dead so too was her dream, and that they were quitting the Project. Declaring themselves done, they departed, leaving a nonplussed Union Jack to watch them walk away.

(The Union#3 - BTS) - Having been found by her former employer, the crimelord Doc Croc, Choir fled from him and made a hasty call to Kelpie on a public phone, but was only able to inform her friend that she needed help before being found by Croc's gang and forced to flee again. Kelpie and Snakes headed to Choir's home in North Wales, determined to help for their friend. Having been trying to lay low, Choir had been living in an isolated caravan in the middle of nowhere; Kelpie and Snakes found it burned to an empty husk. The police, including Detective Inspector Kate Fraser, and Selwyn James were also alerted (whether by locals, their own sources, or Kelpie and Snakes remains unrevealed).

(The Union#3) - Kelpie and Snakes were at the caravan site when Selwyn James arrived with Union Jack and Bulldog. Seeing Snakes, Bulldog asked "how you doing, pal?" and apologized for what had happened last time they saw one another, but rather than accepting the apology Snakes simply responded that he was not Bulldog's pal. Before the discussion could progress much further Bulldog alerted them to his suspicion that a stray dog loitering near them was not a real canine. His observation was proven correct when he picked it up and it suddenly transformed into a butterfly which then spoke in a human voice, identifying itself as Shifter, a shapeshifting supervillain associated with Doc Croc. When Union Jack caught the butterfly out the air, it transformed into a full sized tiger, breaking from his grip. Shifter then lunged at Kate Fraser, screaming that he would tear them all apart, but Jack tackled Kate out the way while Kelpie unleashed a jet of water that caught the beast mid-air. Adapting, Shifter became a dolphin, still suspended in the stream, so Snakes hauled him out and slammed him to the ground. Shifter morphed into a gorilla and hoisted Snakes aloft, but when he tried to rip Snakes apart Shifter merely tore open the clothes Snakes' component serpents were inhabiting, shocking everyone. The individual snakes rained down on a terrified Shifter, who reflexively reverted to his humanoid form. While Snakes was slowly reforming Selwyn tricked Shifter into taking him as a hostage and take refuge in his car; secretly a reformed super villain able to temporarily steal other's powers, once concealed from their view inside the vehicle Selwyn drained Shifter's powers, shot him dead, then claimed Shifter had committed suicide. 

(The Union#4) - After Doc Croc made a televised threat against the U.K., and promised Britannia's teammates would be his first targets, the team gathered together with Darwin and Selwyn in tow at the Tower of London, with Darwin Tech's guards added to the Tower's normal defenders for additional security in light of Croc's warning. Mere moments later Croc's gang (including Choir, intimidated into rejoining under her former villain codename of Skreem) gassed the guards unconscious and entered the Tower. Alerted to this, the team moved to stop them, but the first to reach them, Kelpie, was swiftly taken down by gang member Lady Shimmering Lights. With the team seeking to delay the intruders while Union Jack enacted a plan, next it was Snakes' turn to confront them. Seeing their team included a small corgi (the cybernetically-enhanced Craig), Snakes told them he didn't want to a hurt a dog, but when Craig took that as an excuse to launch himself at Snakes and bite him on the arm, Snakes tossed him through the air while kicking the heat-powered Volcanna violently into Lady Shimmering Lights. However Doc Croc stepped up, confirmed that Snakes was the "strong man" and fired some bands of light from a device round his wrist. The bands wrapped round Snakes, binding him so he was unable to move, and the villains continued on, though Skreem paused momentarily beside her former teammate to whisper she was sorry.

(The Union#4 - BTS) - Bulldog was also taken down to by Croc's gang, but when they reached the Keep they found Darwin had already knocked out Union Jack and snatched for himself the prize Doc Croc had come for, the Empire Stone, a magical gem that granted vast powers to whoever held it.

(The Union#5 - BTS) - Making a choice not to be dragged back into villainy despite Croc's threats, Choir turned against the crimelord, while Britannia's spirit revealed herself, emerging from the unconscious Jack to attack Darwin now that the billionaire had revealed his megalomaniacal intent.

(The Union#5) - When Darwin explosively exited the Tower and Croc's gang fled, Britannia's ghost reached out mentally to her teammates, reviving those who had been knocked out, while Snakes escaped his bonds by splitting into his individual serpents. Spotting Darwin floating above Tower Bridge and heading towards Downing Street, Union Jack told the others to delay him. Bulldog turned to Snakes and and asked him if he could do a fastball special, but instead of throwing Bulldog as that maneuver intended, Snakes, either ignorant of what that was or taking the opportunity to get payback for their prior disagreement, picked Bulldog up by the arms, then punted him at Darwin. Nevertheless, his aim was true and Bulldog crashed into the villain and knocked him from the air. The rest of the group then confronted him on the bridge. Claws out, Kelpie lunged at Darwin, but he turned immaterial and she passed through him, inadvertently knocking a bystander off the side of the bridge. Snakes grabbed the woman, but having left his concealing robe back at the castle she saw that her savior was a writhing mass of snakes and reacted in terror. Taking pleasure at the growing crowd of onlookers' fearful comments about the team, Darwin derided them as freaks and monsters, then flew off, leaving them to face the terrified bystanders.

(The Union#5 - BTS) - They pursued, finally catching up with Darwin outside 10 Downing Street, where Union Jack, bolstered by Britannia's spirit, had taken the billionaire down, only for Doc Croc to snatch the Empire Stone.

(The Union#5) - The team arrived just in time to witness Selwyn Jones use the last of Shifter's power to get the stone off Croc. Snakes watched as Choir then knocked Croc out with a sonic scream.

(The Union#5 - BTS) - Britannia's spirit departed, and while the team was officially still on call, ready to respond to emergencies, the members, Snakes included, dropped off the radar, prompting the government to close down the Britannia Project.

(The Marvels#5 (fb) - BTS) - Though the Project was officially closed, the group decided they would uphold their promise to Britannia and come together as a team when needed to protect the U.K.

(The Marvels#5 - BTS) - The team, now called the Union, battled a giant monster that threatened London. The battle was shown on the television news; Snakes wasn't visible, but whether he had quit, was absent, or simply off camera, remains unrevealed.

Comments: Created by Paul Grist, Andrea Di Vito, Drew Geraci and Le Beau Underwood.

  In case anyone is wondering why I keep using "super beings" rather than "super humans" or "super heroes" or, indeed, the team's name in the history, it's because neither Snakes nor his teammate Kelpie are human, and to call most of the team "heroes" is fairly debatable, at least initially - thanks to Britannia they are on the side of the angels, but its clear that this is new to them and doesn't come naturally. And since the group doesn't have a team name until after their debut miniseries concludes, I couldn't call them the Union in the early part of the history, despite that being the name of the series. However, they ARE called the Union, as evidence by the team's appearance in The Marvels#5.

  In Union#3 we don't see who Choir specifically calls; she makes a single call, and Kelpie later says "we got a phone call," so in theory it might have been Snakes who was on the other end of the line, but between Kelpie and Snakes, the latter comes across as far less likely to have a phone.

   This profile was completed on 09/28/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent The Union.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Snakes has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
The Union#2 John McCrea variant cover (main image)
The Union#4 design variant cover ("handbook" pose)
The Union#1 cover (with teammates - to give a sense of scale, Union Jack is over 6' tall)
The Union#3, p15, pan1 (Snakes is snakes)
The Union#5, p6, pan1 (escaping bonds)
The Union#5, p9, pan2 (in assembled form without clothes obscuring him)

Appearances:
The Union#1 (February 2021) - Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito with Paul Grist (pencils), Drew Geraci and Le Beau Underwood with Paul Grist (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
The Union#2-5 (March-July 2021) - Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (pencils), Le Beau Underwood (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
The Marvels#5 (November 2021) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Yildiray Cinar (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 09/29/2026
Last updated: 09/28/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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