BUCK RICHLEN

Real Name: Buck Richlen

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Mercenary pilot; former security agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division)

Group Membership: S.H.I.E.L.D.

Affiliations: Val Adair, Xang Kong, Jack Kooning, Adam Manna, Spymaster

Enemies: Nick Fury, Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

First Appearance: Iron Man I#117 (December, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: Buck Richlen is an accomplished pilot. He was a typical agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and had access to a variety of devices, including guns and gas masks.

History:
(Iron Man I#119 (fb) - BTS) - Buck Richlen, Val Adair and Adam Manna were assigned by Nick Fury to engage in a hostile takeover of Stark International so that S.H.I.E.L.D. could resume using them as their main weapons supplier. However, the three men secretly conspired to have Tony Stark murdered instead in order to achieve their goals.

(Iron Man I#113 - BTS) - The three agents hired Spymaster to obtain information on Stark's stockholders, and he began to infiltrate Stark International. They armed him with devices which Stark had built himself for S.H.I.E.L.D.

(Iron Man I#116 - BTS) - Spymaster attempted to kill Tony Stark by setting off a bomb in his penthouse, but the bomb slew the Ani-Men instead.

(Iron Man I#117) - Spymaster seemingly slew Tony Stark, but was tricked by Stark's LMD stand-in. He stole information on Stark International's stockholders, but Iron Man caught up to him and defeated him, reclaiming the information. Richlen, Adair and Manna were forced to plan for another opportunity, and went on to meet with Nick Fury at the NATO/S.H.I.E.L.D. Defense Expo.

(Iron Man I#118) - When Tony Stark came to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to participate in the Defense Expo, Val Adair was assigned as his security guard, but Stark ducked away from him so that he could investigate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, having guessed from Spymaster's equipment that S.H.I.E.L.D. had hired him. Adair informed the others that Stark suspected something, and they used knock-out gas to incapacitate him and everyone else on the Helicarrier. Donning gas masks, they scooped up Stark's body and threw him off the Helicarrier. Stark revived in mid-air and returned as Iron Man. He defeated Adair and Manna, but Richlen escaped from him, and took the unconscious Nick Fury as a hostage, ordering Iron Man to turn his repulsor rays on himself, or he would kill Fury.

(Iron Man I#119) - Instead, Iron Man sent out an electromagnetic pulse that caused a ceiling camera to overload, blinding Richlen with its explosion. Iron Man then beat Richlen unconscious. Fury had Richlen and his men sent to a detention cell when he regained consciousness. Fury later admitted to Stark that he had ordered Richlen to takeover Stark International, although he had never condoned the assassination attempts.

(Iron Man IV#28) - Now drummed out of S.H.I.E.L.D., Richlen became a mercenary and wound up in the employ of the drug lord Xang Kong. When Kong arranged to assist Jack Kooning in hunting the Mandarin in an attempt to kill him, he assigned Richlen to pilot Kooning to the drop zone.

Comments: Created by David Michelinie, John Romita, Jr. and Bob Layton.

There was a fourth member of Richlen's conspirators who appeared with them in Iron Man I#117-119, but he wasn't identified.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had been played as "heavys" in Marvel stories before, this was the first time that corruption was seen as a serious issue within S.H.I.E.L.D., and the first demonstration that even Fury himself could betray his friends. Modern readers are now used to corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D., to the point where any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent appearing in a modern Marvel comic who doesn't have a pre-established history is considered suspect.

Fury I#1 claimed that the Fury in this story was an LMD working for the Deltite, but this is in error; the LMD the Deltite used (referenced in Nick Fury Vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.#3) was utilized in Iron Man I#174-175 -- a completely different story.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Buck Richlen should not be confused with:

• Mr. Richelieu, skier, befriended Northstar, @ Marvel Comics Presents#92