NEEDLE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Vigilante, tailor

Group Membership: Night Shift

Affiliations: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Moon Knight
     formerly Satannish

Enemies: Armory (Violet Lightner), Avengers (Hawkeye, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Living Lightning, Mockingbird, Moon Knight, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter), Tigra, USAgent, Vision, Wonder Man), Blazing Skull, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Dr. Strange, Jerry Hunt, Locksmith, Dr. Karl Malus, Power Proker (Curtiss Jackson), Satannish, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)
     formerly: Tick-Tock

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Tower of Shadows, Los Angeles, California
     formerly unidentified tailor shop, Hollywood, California

First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#9 (December, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: The Needle's one good eye gives off a hypnotic and paralyzing stare that can freeze other human beings where they stand. He carries an 3' long, oversized sewing needle with him, which he can use as a weapon, as well as numerous standard needles which he uses to stitch the mouths of his victims shut. The Needle has remarkable, if not superhuman, agility and above-average endurance, able to recover quickly from  Spider-Woman's venom-blasts. The Needle is mute, though it is unrevealed if he was already like this or lost the ability to speak during the attack that released his hypnotic powers. During the brief period he was empowered by Satannish, the Needle possessed athlete level strength, stamina, durability and agility. He is an expert tailor and fair hand-to-hand combatant.

Height: 6'     Weight: 140 lbs.    Eyes: Blue    Hair: White, mostly bald

History:

(Spider-Woman I#9 (fb)) - The elderly man who would become the Needle was attacked by a group of hoodlums as he left his tailor shop. He was hospitalized , having lost the use of one of his eyes in the process. While laying in the hospital bed, the rage within the old man grew until he was able to use his remaining eye to cause paralysis in others with just a stare.  Six months later, he was released from the hospital, and began designing a costume, intent on striking out at young males like the ones who had brutally beat him.

(Spider-Woman I#9) - Jerry Hunt came across the Needle as he was attacking a young man and the man's girlfriend in an alleyway. Hunt tried to stop the vigilante, but was paralyzed by the Needle's stare. To punish Hunt for interfering, the Needle sewed his mouth shut just as he had his previous victims. The Needle then fled. Hunt's friend Spider-Woman began to investigate later, and came across one of the Needle's fresh victims, but was unable to capture the vigilante. He returned to his tailor shop, content that he had exacted revenge against four more men that night. The next night, the Needle once again came across Hunt, who was searching for him with the help of Spider-Woman. The Needle paralyzed Hunt yet again, but before he could mutilate Hunt a second time, Spider-Woman arrived. The two fought briefly, with the Needle thinking he had succeeded in paralyzing the hero. However, as he moved in to stitch her mouth shut, she zapped him point blank in the chest with one of her venom-blasts. This was enough to stun the Needle, and with the police arriving at that moment, the Needle was taken into custody.

(Spider-Woman I#50 (fb)-BTS ) - At some point, the Needle was captured by Locksmith and Tick-Tock and placed in their personal prison along with several other Los Angeles-based superhumans.

(Spider-Woman I#50) - Needle was placed in a cell with a blindfold covering his eye to keep him from using his power. After Locksmith captured Spider-Woman, she was able to break free and defeat Locksmith after releasing several of the other prisoners (Needle not among them).

(Captain America I#330 (fb)-BTS) - The Shroud recruited Needle into the Night Shift, though Needle was unaware of Shroud's true motives.

(Captain America I#330) - Needle was among the Night Shift members who arrived in time to help Captain America fend off a group of the failed mutates dumped in the Los Angeles sewerways by the Power Broker. Captain America and the Night Shift then led a surprise assault on the Power Broker's mansion, and as the vigilantes keeping the bodyguards busy (with Needle stabbing one through the back), Captain America left to find the Broker.

(Captain America I#331) - Needle and the rest of the Night Shift departed after the battle, but returned that night with the mutates they had rounded up, in order for Jackson to cure them.

(Solo Avengers#3/2) - Needle and the Night Shift watched as Shroud battled Moon Knight in a test to see if Moon Knight was worthy of taking over the leadership of the Night Shift.

(West Coast Avengers II#40) - After their teammate Digger was captured by the inactive Avenger Mockingbird, the rest of the Night Shift (sans Shroud) attacked the Avengers' West Coast compound in an attempt to demand his release. Needle tried to hold the housekeeper Yolanda hostage, but Wonder Man's timely arrival led to the Shift's defeat. Shroud, previously unaware of his team's venture, arrived and freed the Shift.

(Avengers West Coast#76) - When the Hangman (secretly working for Satannish) ousted Shroud as leader of the Night Shift, he led them on an assault on Hollywood filmmaking, playing up their secret desires. They twice attacked the set of a movie Hangman had once been part of, and fought Wonder Man, who had a part in the film. They ended up capturing Hawkeye, USAgent and Spider-Woman (Carpenter). Needle and and the Shift then held a ceremony calling forth Satannish.

(Avengers West Coast#77) - The other Avengers arrived in time to stop the sacrifice, but after another fight, the Shift escaped. They next took Wonder Man and others on his film hostage.

(Avengers West Coast#78) - Needle and the others continued forcing the kidnapped crew to film their vanity project movie, and when USAgent tried to stop them, they took him captive as well.

(Avengers West Coast#79) - Needle and the others, granted heightened abilities by Satannish set out to get their next battle with the Avengers televised across the world. As they battled, Satannish appeared, growing stronger within Earth's dimension as more people watched the incident on television. When Dr. Strange arrived, he revealed that Satannish had taken partial souls from the Night Shift members, and, enraged, Needle joined his teammates as well as the Avengers in sending Satannish back to his own realm. Needle and the others lost their Satannish-powers in the process, and were handed over to the authorities.

(Captain America I#420) - After the Blazing Skull (Jim Scully) attacked Digger, Needle joined Misfit and the Brothers Grimm in coming to his rescue and finding that Captain America had joined Scully. Needle was knocked out by Captain America during the fight.

(Avengers: The Initiative Annual#1/2 (fb)) - The Needle was defeated by neophyte hero Armory (Violet Lightner) in San Francisco.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Carmine Infantino and Al Gordon.

Profile by Madison Carter.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Needle has no known connections to

• Needle, murderous former nurse @ Nomad II#12
• or any other similar characters

images: (without ads)
OHOTMU Update '89#5, Night Shift entry
Spider-Woman I#9, page 11, panel 3 (back of head)
                                   page 15, panel 4 (using power)

Other Appearances:
Spider-Woman I#9 (December, 1978) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Carmine Infantino (penciler), Al Gordon (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Spider-Woman I#50 (June, 1983) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Brian Postman (penciler), Sam DeLaRosa (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#330 (June, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Tom Morgan (penciler), Sam DeLaRosa (inker), Don Daley (editor)
Captain America I#331 (July, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Vincent Colletta (inker), Don Daley (editor)
Solo Avengers#3 (February, 1988) - Roger Stern (writer), Bob Hall (penciler), Stan Drake (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers II#40 (January, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Al Milgrom (penciler), Gustovich (inker), Howard Mackie???(editor)
Avengers West Coast#76-79 (November, 1991-February, 1992) - Roy & Dann Thomas (writers), David Ross (penciler), Tim Dzon (inker), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Captain America I#420 (October, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative Annual#1/2 (January, 2008) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Clayton Henry (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Molly Lazer (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort (editor)
 

Last updated:12/10/07

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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