According to Joe Quesada, one Marvel hero owes their existence to the Valiant Universe; or rather, a specific hero within the Valiant universe. On his YouTube show Joe Q's Mornin' Warm Up, Marvel's Executive Vice President revealed that Ronin's initial design sprung from a redesign he did of Valiant's super-spy martial artist Ninjak.

Quesada explained to special guest Kevin Smith that when Valiant was re-launching, he was asked to do a re-design for Ninjak. After Valiant declined to use that design, Quesada -- who was Marvel's Editor-in-Chief at the time -- decided to re-purpose it for Ronin. The first character to assume the Ronin mantle was Maya Lopez (formerly Echo), who debuted the persona in 2005's New Avengers #11.

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Quesada helped co-create Ninjak alongside writer Mark Morretti in 1993. British aristocrat Colin King trained in ninjitsu and espionage, serving as one of British Intelligence's greatest assets. Ninjak recently served as the focus of the Ninjak Vs The Valiant Universe web series.

Multiple character in the Marvel Universe have assumed the Ronin identity over the years, with perhaps the most well-known being Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye. In fact, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Hawkeye recently dawned the ninja garb on the big screen in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Interestingly enough, however, writer Brian Michael Bendis actually originally intended for Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, to be the original Ronin -- though the idea was scrapped due to conflicting plans.

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