Swordsman (Marvel)

Swordsman (Jacques Duquesne) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. His first appearance was in Avengers Vol.1 #19 (Aug. 1965) and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck. The Swordsman was introduced as an enemy of Hawkeye and the Avengers. The character has since appeared as both a supervillain and a superhero.

Fictional character history
Jacques Duquesne grew up as a privileged youth in the (fictional) Southeast Asian nation Sin-Cong, then under French rule. Unlike his father and other European residents, Duquesne held no prejudice against the Sin-Cong natives, and after performing an act of kindness for a native servant, he was invited to join a communist rebellion against French rule. As the costumed Swordsman, Duquesne, fancying himself a swashbuckling freedom fighter, helped liberate Sin-Cong, only to learn the rebel leader Wong Chu had killed Jacques' father. Devastated and disillusioned, Duquesne departed Sin-Cong to seek adventure.[1] Nothing else is known of Duquesne's early career, but he eventually joined the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders; although his swordplay made him one of the carnival's star attractions, he gradually descended into gambling and drunkenness, his youthful idealism long behind him.

Eventually Duquesne, by now in his thirties or older, took a young runaway named Clint Barton under his wing and taught him how to use bladed weapons, while another performer, Trick Shot, taught Barton archery, at which he proved to be a master.[2] The young Clint stumbled upon Duquesne stealing money from the carnival's paymaster to pay a gambling debt. Clint attempted to turn his mentor over to the law, but he was pursued by Duquesne and badly beaten. Before Duquesne could deliver the fatal blow, Trick Shot stepped in to save the young boy. Duquesne then fled the carnival and adopted his swordsplay act to become a costumed supervillain.[3]

Years later, the Swordsman attempted to join the Avengers (whose members included Clint Barton, now known as the superhero Hawkeye) in order to take advantage of the benefits that go with an Avenger ID. He was refused entry into the team, largely due to Hawkeye's protests and the fact he was wanted in different states, and threatened to kill Captain America after capturing him, but the rest were able to rescue him.[4] After failing the first time around, he was accepted into the Avengers. However, he was secretly an agent of the Mandarin, who had teleported him to his castle before the Avengers could capture him, and created a pseudo-image of Iron Man to recommend the Swordsman to the Avengers. The Mandarin also fitted the Swordsman's sword with extra powers, such as firing artificial lightning bolts, though he warned the Swordsman if they were ever pointed at him they would reverse. Soon after joining the Avengers, the Swordsman revealed his true intentions and betrayed the team, planting a bomb on the control panels which could be activated by remote-control. He soon had a change of heart and betrayed the Mandarin to save the Avengers. Despite his heroics, the Swordsman left the ranks of the Avengers, knowing the Mandarin would now be against him.[5]

The Swordsman went back to being a supervillain for hire and battled the Avengers on numerous occasions. Under Black Widow's leadership, the Swordsman teamed with the original Power Man and fought the superhero team, capturing nearly all of its members.[6] With Power Man, he fought against Captain America as agents of the Red Skull.[7] The Swordsman also participated in the Mandarin's attempt at world conquest, along with other villains.[8] He later battled Captain America again, as a member of Batroc's Brigade,[9] was employed by Egghead where he battled Hawkeye (in his Goliath persona).[10] Along with Power Man, the Swordsman joined the supervillain group the Lethal Legion and battled the Avengers.[11]

Eventually, the Swordsman briefly rejoined the Avengers in a war against Ares in Olympus[12] Later, he met with Mantis, an ally of the Avengers,[13] and then rejoined the Avengers after he secretly fell in love with her.[14] He subsequently participated in the Avengers/Defenders war.[15]

Death
In his last mission, Duquesne aided the Avengers in the conflict that involved Kang's quest for the "Celestial Madonna". In order to facilitate his plans, Kang had captured the Avengers present at the time - Vision, Thor, Iron Man, Mantis, The Scarlet Witch, and their guest Agatha Harkness - but left Swordsman behind because he considered him useless. Humiliated but determined to show Kang his true worth, Swordsman tracked the captive Avengers to Kang's pyramid base in Gizeh, where he encountered Rama-Tut, Kang's chronological alter ego. With his help and the assistance of Hawkeye, who had just returned from a leave of absence, Swordsman managed to free his fellow Avengers. It was later revealed that Mantis was in fact the "Celestial Madonna". After Kang's plans were foiled and he decided not to leave the Madonna to anyone else, the Swordsman sacrificed his life by intercepting Kang's energy blast which was meant for Mantis.[16]

Mantis soon after married the eldest of Earth's alien Cotati, who had resurrected and possessed the Swordsman's corpse and infused a portion of its own consciousness into it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17">[17] Mantis and Swordsman went on to have a son together.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[18] After battling the Avengers, the Cotati-possessed Swordsman crumbled to dust.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">[19]

Dead Avengers
During the Chaos War storyline, Swordsman is among the deceased heroes released by Pluto in order to defend the Underworld from Amatsu-Mikaboshi.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[20] Returning to Earth, the Swordsman joins a team of "dead" Avengers, led by Captain Mar-Vell, who take it upon themselves to protect their unconscious teammates from the Grim Reaper.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">

Powers and abilities
The Swordsman is an athletic man with no superhuman powers, and is a cunning criminal strategist and highly adept at unarmed combat. The Swordsman was a master in the uses of bladed weapons, especially swords, and his main weapon was a sword created by the super-villain Mandarin from Makluan technology. By pressing one of the buttons on the sword's hilt, the Swordsman could project a concussive force beam, a disintegrating ray, a large jet of flame, electrical energy in a form resembling lightning, or a stream of nerve gas that induced temporary unconsciousness. He also carried various throwing knives and daggers as needed.

Role in Ultima
In Ultima, Swordsman appears in EMH style form as a member of the Ultimate Avengers, gathered together by the Watcher and Nick Fury to battle the Organization and help the Society save the world from the forces of darkness. Swordsman used to be a servant for the Mandarin, but he is currently reformed and is doing quite well as an Avenger so far.