PHOENIX

MEMBERSHIP: Kragg, two other unidentified costumed men seen, several other uncostumed men (including Charlie), presumably many more unseen

PURPOSE: Accumulation of wealth to promote Kragg's political aims and acquisition of power

AFFILIATIONS: "Slugger" Sloan;
    formerly owned Kid Gawaine

ENEMIES: Daredevil, "Pop" Fenton, Kid Gawaine, "Foggy" Nelson

BASE of OPERATIONS: New York City (at least Long Island and Manhattan)

FIRST APPEARANCE: Daredevil I#68 (September, 1970)

HISTORY:
(Daredevil I#68 (fb) - BTS) - Phoenix obtained the rights to middleweight boxing contender Kid Gawaine. They kept the name of Phoenix out of the papers, so that only a "mysterious sports syndicate" was named. District Attorney Foggy Nelson investigated the purchase, leading Kragg and two costumed goons to try to coerce him into backing off.

(Daredevil I#68) - Daredevil arrived in time to stop Kragg and his men who fled, warning that neither Daredevil or Foggy had seen the last of them. Foggy told Daredevil about the mysterious purchase, and Daredevil investigated as Matt Murdock after learning that Kid Gawaine was being trained by "Pop" Fenton, who had also been the trainer of "Battlin'" Jack Murdock. Two member of Phoenix weren't happy to see a visitor at Kid Gawaine's training camp, which was contrary to Kragg's orders, but they figured that a blind man couldn't do too much harm. Upon receiving the description of the visitor, Kragg recognized him as Murdock, who was closely affiliated with Foggy Nelson. Kragg led his two costumed men to try to confront Murdock off at gunpoint. While Murdock had to feign helplessness, Kragg pushed Gawaine over the edge by punching Pop, and Kid personally fought off the trio. Kid Gawaine told Kragg he would quit being his agent after the next fight.
    Later, a trio of uncostumed agents ambushed Kid Gawaine in an effort to soften him up and force his compliance, but Daredevil arrived and helped fight them off.

(Daredevil I#68 - BTS) - Kragg bet a large sum of money on Kid Gawaine's opponent in the upcoming championship bout, "Slugger" Sloan. He somehow acquired a "Neural"-something, which could fire an energy beam that blinded its target. Kragg intended to use it on Kid Gawaine during the fight, and he informed Sloan of his plans.

(Daredevil I#68) - During the fight, Matt Murdock overheard two of Kragg's men talking about using the weapon against Kid Gawaine. Not knowing exactly what the weapon was or what it did, Murdock pinched a nerve in Kid Gawaine's neck, knocking him out, and then used theatrical makeup to impersonate Gawain and take his place in the ring. At the appointed time in the fight (during which Murdock had avoided allowing any punches to his face that might dislodge his makeup), Kragg fired the weapon, which made Murdock's optic nerves tingle but otherwise did nothing since Murdock was already blind. Murdock quickly finished the fight and then rushed to confront Kragg, but Gawaine recovered first and confronted Kragg himself. Kragg pulled out a gun and shot Kid Gawaine at least twice, after which Daredevil arrived, dodged further gunfire, and punched out Kragg. Kid Gawaine was not fatally wounded, but Kragg's career was (fatally wounded!).

COMMENTS: Created by Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, and Syd Shores.

If there was supposed to be something more about Phoenix than just being Kragg's agents, I don't think we're going to ever get it.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

Kragg

 

    The apparent leader of Phoenix, he hoped to gain enough wealth to promote his extremist political aims and ultimately to gain power.

 

    He was reasonably skilled with a gun and was more than happy to try to bully others into doing his bidding, though he usually preferred three-to-one odds in his favor. He was skilled enough to aim and fire the neural weapon.

 

--Daredevil I#68 (68 (fb) - BTs, 68

 

 

 

 

Neural dealy-o

 

    Its designers unidentified, it could fire a beam of energy that would affect the optic nerves, causing temporary blindness. It had minimal effect on Daredevil.

 

--Daredevil I#68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

images:
Daredevil I#68, p7, panel 2 (Kragg + minions)
            panel 3 (Kragg)
        p15, panel 4 (Neural Neutralizer)

Appearances:
Daredevil I#68 (September, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), Syd Shores (inker), Stan Lee (editor)

Last updated: 11/07/11.

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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