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OUTLAWS

Membership: Prowler (Hobie Brown), Rocket Racer (Robert Farrell), Sandman (William Baker), Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova), Will O' The Wisp (Jackson Arvad);
formerly Paladin

Purpose: To save innocent people; formerly to save Spider-Man's reputation

Affiliations: Avengers, Calculus, Excalibur, M. Eduard LeBon, Michelle Tiers LeBon, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wild Pack

Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Quasar/Wendell Vaughn, Sersi, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Thor), Boussard and his extremists, the deadly swarm imprisoned by the Arcane Order of the Night, Excalibur (Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Rachel Summers, Meggan Puceanu, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde), the Space Phantom, Professor Walshe and his clones (Shepherd and others), Winston Walker

Base of Operations: Mobile across the globe; formerly the State of New York, USA

First Appearance: (Unnamed) Web of Spider-Man I#50 (May, 1989); (named in title) Spectacular Spider-Man II#169 (October, 1990); (officially adopted the name) Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7 (August, 1991)

History:
(Web of Spider-Man I#50) - Spider-Man was accused of thievery at Winston Walker's mansion through some clear photos taken by Nick Katzenberg, printed in the Daily Bugle.

    Many people who knew Spider-Man could not believe the news and were sure that he was innocent; people like Hobie Brown and Robert Farrell. Others believed that Spider-Man had deceived them or that he had changed his way of life, people like Thomas Fireheart and Will O'The Wisp.

    Fireheart flew to New York and in his Puma identity ambushed Spider-Man, accusing him to have dishonored and humiliated him. Spider-Man did not have the time to explain his mission and fled, losing a beeper in the process.

   Prowler and Rocket Racer instead had gone to the crime scene to find evidence that there was a set-up against the superhero. When Racer spotted Prowler he believed to have found the real criminal and a fight ensued. They stopped after a while, uncovering a member of the Wild Pack on the roof. The mercenary had the task to warn Spider-Man and Silver Sable of Walker's departure, communication that he had already given. The two heroes went searching for Silver Sable.

    Furthermore Will O'The Wisp felt himself betrayed by Spider-Man and tried to capture him. They fought outside New York, where Spider-Man seized a cylinder from Walker. Will O'The Wisp was shot by Davis, one of Walker's men; annoyed he hypnotized Davis to render him inert. But when he tried to grab Spider-Man, he had to approach some high voltage cables, whose electromagnetic field interrupted with his powers. Spider-Man could flee and Will O'The Wisp followed him when he recovered.

    They all met in an abandoned warehouse on Ellis Island where Spider-Man gave the cylinder to Silver Sable. A massive battle ensued during which Sandman defended Silver Sable and attacked Rocket Racer and Prowler, while Silver Sable had to fight Puma outside, then Will O'The Wisp arrived.

    Spider-Man had to give the cylinder to Puma to explain the situation. The cylinder contained documents proving that Walker was guilty of various crimes. The theft served to force him to reveal the true hideout of the documents and it had worked.
    Before leaving Silver Sable offered a job to the superheroes because she liked how they fought together.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#168) - Kingpin came in possession of an old building which had a secret crypt in its basement. 100 years ago an explorer named Ambrose Carpathian had brought a chest from South America and had hid it in the crypt. Calculus of the Young Gods calculated that the danger contained in the chest was on the verge of coming to light, destroying the world. Calculus set into motion a plan to counteract the danger.

   Calculus had the Space Phantom impersonate She-Hulk and lure Spider-Man to free the threat in the chest. A deep black cloud sprung out, a cloud that flew over the city, giving chills to anyone who noticed it. Even Puma shivered seeing the cloud outside the window.

    The Avengers did not believe Spider-Man when he explained that he had been attacked by She-Hulk; Spidey knew that something was wrong and was sure that She-Hulk lied.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#169) - So he sought the help of others, who would believe him: Sandman, Prowler, Rocket Racer and Puma.
    The Avengers watched from far, surprised that a hero like Spider-Man could be related to these "Outlaws".

    While the black cloud grew, eating the flesh of some apes at the zoo, Puma and Prowler sneaked into Wilson Fisk's office. There they found information about the building of the crypt.

    At the NY Department of Building and Safety Sandman and Rocket Racer found the microfilm of the basement; in that instant Sandman attacked Rocket Racer, but the boy managed to escape from the attack. Actually the Space Phantom had disobeyed Calculus' orders and had impersonated Sandman during the meeting with Spider-Man. Afterward the Space Phantom restored Sandman to his previous place in the building.

    One hour later it was Rocket Racer who attacked Sandman, who obviously did not remember anything. Spider-Man, Prowler and the others realized that something was wrong and that probably also She-Hulk had not lied about not attacking Spider-Man.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#170) - The Avengers reached the building where Spider-Man and his friends were, and in that moment the Space Phantom replaced Spider-Man. He attacked Captain America, forcing the two groups to fight each other. However, Puma found the Phantom after he revereted to his true form and knocked him down, handing him over to the Avengers.

    Questioned, the Space Phantom revealed that he did not know the real identity of his master. He only knew that everybody were pawns in his master's plan.

    Gathering the information, the heroes learned about Carpathian, the Arcane Order of the Night, and about a rite that failed to control the threat inside the chest.

    They left to capture the cloud, that had become larger, after the victims it had eaten. Thor's hammer and Quasar's rays did not have any effect on the cloud as it seemed invulnerable. But Spider-Man speculated that it was not a single entity, but a sort of swarm. The heroes changed tactic and attacked to drove the black entity into Sandman's suffocating embrace, and when Spider-Man tore a hole in the sandy trap, the swarm spurted out right into the chest held by She-Hulk. The chest was held shut by Quasar's light and Spider-Man's web; Thor threw Mjolnir with the chest attached to it into outer space. Mjolnir returned to the God of Thunder, but the chest was lost in outer space. The human race was safe.

    Before going away, Prowler, Rocket Racer and Sandman agreed with Spider-Man that the experience had been positive.

    With the Avengers gone Spider-Man tried to speak to the "master", his Spider-Sense had perceived him. Calculus became visible and told him that if the chest had been found by Kingpin, the result would have been lethal for the human race. Nonetheless, his status as a Young God, prevented him to directly interfere with the situation.

(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - When a Sykmkarian bio-nuclear simulator was stolen, Silver Sable took the Outlaws to England to retrieve it from Darkmoor Research Center. Prowler spent three weeks under cover to study the layout of the Center. That done, the plan was to rendezvous in the buildings most obscure sector.

(Excalibur I#36) - Silver Sable and Sandman were outside Darkmoor Research Center in amongst a crowd demonstrating against nuclear power when Excalibur arrived on the scene. Captain Britain ordered the crowd to disperse. Sandman asked Silver Sable what to do, but she told him to stick to the plan as she'd been expecting Excalibur.

(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - Silver Sable, Sandman, Paladin and Rocket Racer regrouped and prepared for the rendezvous.

(Excalibur I#36) - Meanwhile, Prowler was inside waiting for the rendezvous when he saw Excalibur arrive, guided by Professor Walshe. The other Outlwas burst through a wall in a massive explosion. Silver Sable ordered Excalibur to stand away from Walshe, announcing their intent to recover the stolen technology. Captain Britain refused, prompting Sandman to sand blast Captain Britain and Phoenix. Nightcrawler tackled Prowler to the ground, thinking him an unpowered bystander in his lab coat, and was promptly sent flying away by a burst of compressed air. Prowler, having removed his disguise, considered making it a priority to get a real job. Sandman tried to contain Captain Britain in one of his sand constructs. Silver Sable attempted to restrain Meggan, only to be telekinetically levitated by Phoenix. Paladin came to Silver Sable's rescue, but Phoenix was only dazed by his gun. Silver Sable suggested he kept her distracted, and Paladin impulsively kissed Phoenix. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler managed to out manoeuvre Rocket Racer sending him flying out of control. Prowler fired another blast of air at Nightcrawler, but this time the mutant dodged. Meanwhile, Meggan recovered and mimicked Sandman in order to restrain Silver Sable. Nightcrawler hurled Prowler, who collided with Shadowcat. Shadowcat as they tumbled together they discussed her intangibility powers and Prowler suggested using pneumatics as a way to improve her control over them just as she phased them both through a wall into a darkened room.

(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - Prowler and Shadowcat discovered a hidden lab where Walshe was keeping the bionuclear simulator.

(Excalibur I#36) - Meanwhile, Captain Britain finally broke free of Sandman's restraint and punched him so hard that all his sand dispersed. Suddenly Shadowcat called the rest of Excalibur and the Outlaws through to the next room where they saw irradiated clone bodies strung up from the ceiling around the simulator. They listened as Walshe explained his plan to use the simulator to create a strain of humanity capable of surviving a nuclear holocaust, before revealing that he was a faulty construct of Arnim Zola's. The simulator started to overload, affected somehow by the battle. The clones and the Shepherd, another of Walshe's creations, run amok and broke through to the outside where there were still innocent protesters. While the Outlaws helped Excalibur evacuate the crowd, Meggan mimicked Sandman's powers to disrupt Walshe's ESP box, causing the clones, Shepherd and simulator to shut down safely, her empathic abilities telling her that Walshe wanted to die so he could save everybody. Sandman picked up the simulator, and the Outlaws departed on good terms with Excalibur. Especially Paladin and Phoenix who simultaneously asked each other to call sometime!

(Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25) - Silver Sable wanted to create a rescue team for particularly dangerous missions that the ordinary soldiers of the Wild Pack were not able to deal with.

    Sable called Prowler and Rocket Racer. She also wanted to call Will O'The Wisp but she did not know how to contact him. Instead, Will O'The Wisp "perceived" that Sable wanted him, so he appeared in the middle of the meeting. Hobie Brown was a bit scared by Will O'The Wisp.

    Silver Sable named the group the "Outlaws", because of their career; they started as criminals but eventually they redeemed themselves.

    She informed the Outlaws about the mission: to free the Michelle Tiers LeBon, the teenage daughter of Eduard LeBon. The teenager was prisoner of an extremist group, politically opposed to LeBon and led by Boussard. Brown suggested that if the extremists were so dangerous, it would have been better to call another ally into the Outlaws, one stronger than the three of them together: Sandman. Sable informed them that this was impossible because Sandman was already working for Boussard!

(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11) - In central Quebec, the Wild Pack had the Monastery where Boussard and the extremists were under observation.

    Hobie Brown kept on getting nervous due to Will O'The Wisp's presence, while Farrell was happy about the job.
    Sable unleashed the Outlaws. Rocket Racer used some smoke grenades to distract the guards; with his mini-rockets he opened the gate of the monastery to Sable and Prowler could land in the court. The fanatics were armed and opened fire, but Sable returned the favor, hitting every enemy she saw. Rocket Racer used his rocket-punch to knock out an enemy but was overwhelmed by a very painful sonic wave. He was powerless, but Prowler saved him, destroying the wave generator. Four hooded extremists had them cornered, fortunately Will O'The Wisp's glowing sphere appeared. Four arms came forth from the sphere, grabbed the men and smashed their heads against each other. The way seemed clear but Sandman appeared.

(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6) - The physical-based attacks of Prowler, Rocket Racer and Silver Sable were totally useless against Sandman. But Will O'The Wisp resisted. Augmenting his own density he allowed the fist of Sandman smash against him, then hypnotized Baker. Racer shot two mini-rockets, apparently destroying Sandman, but actually freeing him from his contemplative status. Sandman became a sandstorm. Silver, understanding that she was losing precious time, ordered the other Outlaws to deal with Sandman while she continued the mission.

    She found Michelle Tiers prisoner of Boussard, who pointed his gun at the girl's head. Sable did not try to shoot. Meanwhile Racer and Prowler could do nothing against Sandman, who realized why Sable was missing. Will O'The Wisp perceived Sandman's thoughts and acknowledged a strong conflict. Even though he didn't understand why, Will O'The Wisp felt that Sandman had no evil intentions, so he let him go.

   Sandman reached the helicopter where Boussard, who was still pointing the gun at the girl, invited Sandman to flee with him. Sandman hesitated for a moment then acted quickly. He blocked the helicopter's rotors and disarmed Boussard, enabling Sable to shoot him with a tranquillizer dart.

    Later Sandman confessed to Sable that he had infiltrated the extremist organization to free the hostage, but he did not manage to do it alone. He wanted to be taken back into the Avengers' roster, but he was sure he had failed.

    Silver Sable offered him a contract and a place in the Outlaws.

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks).

    The initial group comprised of Puma, Rocket Racer, Prowler, Sandman and Will O'The Wisp was not named in its first appearance, being an almost casual assembly.

    The second gathering was absolutely not casual, as a result of Calculus' plan and Spider-Man's calling, however, the cause was not Silver Sable's as it could have seemed from the end of the first meeting. The group's name was on the cover and was repeated by Captain America, but in a generic sense.

    Silver's group (in Excalibur#36) consists of herself Paladin, Prowler, Sandman, and Rocket Racer. Though they are referred to in a text box says the world regards them as "outlaws" but the team name isn't used in the issue. The cover, however, says: "Excalibur in an Outrageously Overwhelming, Omnifarious, Out and Out Onslaught against the Outlandish Outlaws."
    Though Phoenix does snark "Yeah, right." as Excalibur stand there in total victory, and there's some major alliteration going on with all the O's, I quite like "Outlandish" as a descriptor for the team.
    There is a note that the issue takes place prior to Sandman joining the Avengers.--Changeling

    I'm not sure whether considering Paladin member of the Outlaws or not. In my opinion, he is the most mercenary among them and Sable included him in order to reach a sufficient degree of "firepower" and experience for the mission in the United Kingdom. Moreover, Paladin probably consider himself a solo player, and for this reason he did not create a bond with the others.--Spidermay

    The fourth roster, logically did not include Puma, who was a mercenary on his own and for sure did not need Sable's money. The group name was made official by Silver Sable, but how could she know that it had already been used by Cap? Anyway, it served to Sable as a general test before creating an Elite Squadron inside the Wild Pack.

Profile by Spidermay and Changeling.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Outlaws has no known connections to:

Walshe has no known connections to:

Shepherd has no known connections to:

Winston Walker has no known connections to:

Davis has no known connections to:

Michelle Tiers LeBon has no known connections to:

The Monastery of Saint Croix has no known connections to:


Winston Walker

    Winston Walker was a very rich man living in New York.
He earned his money through illegal activities, even laundering dirty money for the Maggia.
The Department of Justice had only suspicions but no real evidence that he was connected to any criminal organization.
Walker was in possession of many documents proving his crimes, but he was smart enough not to keep them in his mansion in New York.

    A group of private citizens hired Silver Sable to find the necessary evidence. Sable's agents discovered that the documents were at Staten Island, but not exactly where.
Sable asked Spider-Man to steal something from Walker's mansion.
When Walker read the news in the Daily Bugle he got worried about the compromising documents and went to check the hiding place on Staten Island. Spider-Man followed him and took the cylinder with the needed documents from Walker. Will O'The Wisp also showed up on the scene. Walker ordered to kill both, but Spider-Man escaped with the documents and Will O'The Wisp followed him.

--Web of Spider-Man I#50


Davis

    Davis was one of the two bodyguards of Winston Walker.
Davis was armed with an Uzi.

Davis and his colleague had to ensure Walker's privacy and safety, but they failed when Spider Man stole from the mansion.

    They escorted Walker outside New York, where he had buried the safe with the compromising documents, but again they were surprised by Spider-Man. Davis was astonished to see Will O'The Wisp's shining globe, but soon recovered and shot at him. The bullets passed through the body of the super-being, who hypnotized Davis and sent him home.

--Web of Spider-Man I#50


Michelle Tiers LeBon

   Michelle Tiers was the young daughter of Eduard LeBon, a high officer of the Parliament of Canada.

    Michelle was kidnapped by Boussard, an extremist who politically opposed LeBon. She was taken prisoner at the Monastery of Saint Croix in Central Quebec.

She was saved by Silver Sable and the Outlaws, who had been hired by her father.

--Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11/2 ([Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25/3], Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11/2, Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6


images: (without ads)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#170, cover (The Outlaws, with Spider-Man)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p5, pan2 (head shots)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p6, pan1 (Walker, head shot)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p23, pan6 (Davis shooting to Will o'the Wisp)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6, p10, pan5 (Silver Sable's Outlaws)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6, p9, pan2 (Michelle Tiers LeBon)


Appearances:
Web of Spider-Man I#50 (May, 1989) - Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Salicrup and Tom DeFalco (editors)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#169 (October, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils and inks), Bob Sharen and Renèe Witterstatter (colors), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#170 (November, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils and inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Salicrup and Tm De Falco (editor)
Excalibur I#36 (April, 1991) - Scott Lobdell (writer), David Ross (artist), Al Milgrom (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)
Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)


First Posted: 03/19/2017
Last updated: 03/19/2017

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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