This is the latest in a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me. Here is a collection of all of the installments in the feature so far.

Today we look at all of the various murders committed by the first Scourge of the Underworld throughout the pages of various Marvel Comics throughout 1985 and 1986!

Enjoy!

NOTE: There are so many images in this piece that i'm splitting it into two pages.

Organized by Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald (which, as we noted in this week's Comic Book Legends Revealed, he later regretted doing), the mysterious Scourge of the Underworld began his spree of supervillain killing with the Enforcer in early 1985's Iron Man #194 by Denny O'Neil, Luke McDonnell, Ian Akin and Brian Garvey...





Next, in Thing #24 by Mike Carlin, Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott, one of the Fanastic Four's earliest foes, Miracle Man, meets his end...



Secret Wars II #2 by Jim Shooter, Al Milgrom and Steve Leialoha show an odd one as the Hate-Monger is killed (he is not a human, though, but a construct of the Psycho Man)...





Walter Simonson kills off Megatok in Thor #358...



There is an amusing one in Marvel Age Annual #1 by Kurt Busiek, Jim Fry and Keith Williams, where they show a parody of the whole Scourge story in a melee at the Marvel Bullpen...



One of the odder villains to be killed occurred in late 1985 in Avengers #263 by Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer, when Melter, an original member of the Masters of Evil, was killed...



Thing #33 is a tricky one. It doesn't REALLY count since it is clearly not the first Scourge himself, but another operative, but eh, it happened in the midst of all of the original Scourge's killings, so I think it's worth including here, as the original Titania (the Grappler) meets her fate at the hands of someone posing as a new Grappler (in a story by Mike Carlin, Ron Wilson and Kim DeMulder)...



We're into 1986 now as John Byrne and Al Gordon say goodbye to the Basilisk in Fantastic Four #289...





Marvel Fanfare #29 came out at the end of the year but it typically told stories set earlier in continuity, so I think that this story was meant to be part of the original Scourge storyline.

The Hulk (during the time he was split from Banner) meets a guy in the desert...



The Hulk is then attacked by Hammer and Anvil



but then suddenly...







(the Scourge was disguised as the guy that the Hulk encountered at the beginning of the story)

Go to the next page for more killing "fun"!

In Amazing Spider-Man #276, by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding, the Human Fly is killed...



Gruenwald has the Scourge first shoot down the Death Adder's plane and then when he tries to escape in a cab, the following happens (in Captain America #318 by Gruenwald, Paul Neary and Denns Janke)...



I had this issue chalked up as the Death Adder kill issue, so I forgot that it ended with ANOTHER villain being killed, as it was the end of the road for the Blue Streak. Thanks to commenter Erich for the head's up (although I'm sure others would have noted it, as well. By the way, just as a note - there were other Scourge appearances at this time where he DIDN'T kill people, so I'm not featuring them here - like he ALMOST killed Kraven in an issue of West Coast Avengers)...





The next issue (with Joe Sinnott replacing Janke as the finisher of Neary's breakdowns), the Scourge makes his biggest killing yet...







Amazing Spider-Man #278 takes place right after Captain America #319, so most folks presume it was another Scourge, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was intended by the writers of the issue, Tom DeFalco, Jo Duffy and Peter David (the issue was drawn by Mike Harris and Vince Colletta), to be the original Scourge who first tries to kill Flash Thompson (at the time framed as the Hobgoblin) but when that fails, kills the Wraith instead...



The original Scourge's reign of terror ended in Captain America #320 by Gruenwald, Neary and Janke, where Cap hunts him down and they have a final confrontation where we learn his origins (or at least what we THINK are his origins - Gruenwald later made it so amazingly complicated down the road - it's actually kind of funny how he made it complicated and then upped his own original complications of the idea later on)...







And then the first Scourge is killed...



And thus ended the year-long Scourge storyline. A fun little exercise in the power of the shared universe.