This weekend, Superman will engage in some subterfuge and espionage. Well, not really, but actorHenry Cavill stars The Man from UNCLE, a movie remake of the cult 1960s TV show. The Man from UNCLE is a relic from the spy craze of the 1960s, when Hollywood hoped to capitalize on the popular James Bond movies with a deluge of spy dramas and comedies. But super spies didn’t just appear on television and in the movies; a wave of suave and deadly agents arrived in superhero comics as well.Some of the best characters in comics have been spies, and to celebrate The Man from UNCLE‘s release, let’s take a look at five of the medium’s best.
Nick Fury
Cool, calm, collected. Nick Fury is comics’ first and best super spy. Created by comics legend Jack Kirby, Fury was originally the star of a combat series set in World War II. After seeing the popularity of The Man from UNCLE series, Marvel retooled the character a few years later as a super spy working for his own acronymed organization, the international peacekeeping organization SHIELD. As an agent of SHIELD, Fury experienced many mind-blowing, trippy adventures fighting HYDRA and saving the world from plenty of other secret evils. Fury rose to the head of SHIELD and became an invaluable ally to the Marvel superheroes, leading them against the constant threat of HYDRA. After SHIELD fell during Secret Invasion, Fury took his fight against SHIELD to a new level, recruiting a team of secret warriors to root out HYDRA once and for all. Recently, the murder of the Watcher exposed Fury’s second life as a secret defender of Earth against weird extraterrestrial threats. Too old to effectively protect Earth, Fury passed the job of protecting Earth from alien threats to the Winter Soldier as he replaced the Watcher on the moon.
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Back Widow
A classic femme fatale, Natasha Romanoff was the perfect Soviet spy. Trained via a tortuous black ops program that included brainwashing and physical modifications, Romanoff became one of the USSR’s deadliest Black Widows, carrying out assassinations and spy missions with brutal efficiency. However, a run in with Iron Man during a corporate espionage mission changed everything. Romanoff became caught up in the world of superheroes and supervillains and recruited the rogue archer Hawkeye to be her partner. Hawkeye changed Romanoff’s outlook on the world, causing her to defect to the United States and reform.
While Romanoff has long been a part of the superhero community, she’s never adopted their garish costumes or flashy mannerisms. Armed with a pair of “Widow’s Stings” gauntlets, Black Widow is one of Marvel’s deadliest hand to hand specialists, able to fight the likes of Captain America and Shiang Chi to a standstill. How important is Black Widow to the Marvel Universe? She was the first female superhero to be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has played a central role in four different Marvel movies.
Dick Grayson
While his training was in superheroics instead of espionage, it turns out Dick Grayson is pretty good at being a spy. Grayson went underground at the end of Forever Evil after the Crime Syndicate of America exposed his identity as the first Robin to the world. Batman faked Grayson’s death and set him on the path to infiltrate Spyral, an international spy organization collecting information on the superhero community. Armed with new mindbending implants to help mask his identity, Grayson teamed with Helena Bertinelli to save both the superheroes and Minos from a spy within their own ranks. Grayson’s proved to be a natural at spycraft, although a running joke across several series is that his perfect rear end keeps giving away his identity. His perfect ass might have to go if he wants to keep up the spy games.
Nemesis
DC’s master of disguise, Tom Tressler was a top government agent working for the CIA. Dressed in a very Archer-like outfit of a black turtleneck and shoulder holster, Nemesis was a mainstay in the Suicide Squad and often popped up in various comics whenever a superhero ran into a shadowy government organization or conspiracy. Tressler’s biggest comic arc to date was when he started working for the Department of Metahuman Affairs and partnered with Wonder Woman, who at the time was disguising herself as secret agent Diana Prince. Tressler was the victim of a savage bee sting during Amazon Attacks, which led Batman to utter the infamous line “A deadly bee weapon…Bees. My God.” as Wonder Woman applied basic first aid to save Nemesis’ life. After the Amazon war was over, Wonder Woman showed interest in dating Nemesis, but he rejected her after discovering that she didn’t actually love him, but only wanted to start a family.
A New 52 version of Nemesis has appeared in Grayson, framing the title character for a series of murders.
Velvet
Comics’ newest super spy, Velvet Templeton is the brainchild of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, the creators behind the epic Captain America Winter Soldier saga. But their creator-owned venture stars Velvet, a semi-retired spy working as the Personal Assistant for the head of a British spy agency. After a mole murders England’s top spy and frames Velvet, she shows her true stripes by going on the lam and hunting her old friend’s real murderer down. Sexy, fearless and complex, Velvet is a fantastic addition to comics’ proud tradition of superspies. Velvet is still a relatively new series for Image and new readers shouldn’t have much problem getting caught up with the book. If you want to see what would happen if Moneypenny was just as skilled as James Bond, check out Velvet today.
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Who are your favorite comic book super spies? Let us know in the comments!
