Rick Mason (Earth-616)

The Agent
Name	Rick Mason
Current Alias	The Agent
Aliases	Various assumed identities
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	S.H.I.E.L.D.
Relatives	Phineas Mason (father); Deborah Watts Mason (mother, deceased) Unidentified son (deceased)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′11″ (1.8 m)
Weight	195 lbs (88.45 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Brown
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	New York City, New York
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Mercenary
Education	College graduate; extensive martial arts training
Base of Operations	Mobile
Creators and Appearances
Creators	James Hudnall, John Ridgway
First	Marvel Graphic Novel: Rick Mason, The Agent #1 (December, 1989)
First	Marvel Graphic Novel: Rick Mason, The Agent #1 (December, 1989)

 She's lying to us, Rossi. She was held prisoner by this man. Tortured by him--she's not there to follow and observe! She's going to kill him before we have the chance to find out what he's done with Ascension! 

—Rick Mason

History

Rick Mason was a mercenary who specialized in the non-lethal handling of superhumans, having grown up exposed to advanced technology necessary for such tasks as the son of Phineas Mason, the criminal inventor known as the Tinkerer. Other sources of his education included Nick Fury, Sir Denis Nayland, and Alexi Vazhin, among others; the experience he gained working alongside them helped develop Mason into a highly trained covert operative.

Going freelance, he could only be found online under the codename: "The Agent". His clients included government agencies of America, the United Kingdom, Israel, France, etc. Mason was hired to kill a CIA mole code-named "Vitamin" in Berlin. He blew up a hotel in an attempt to kill him, but he was under observation by Michael Rossi and Carol Danvers. They tracked him across the city but he escaped using one of the Tinkerer's devices to become invisible.

"The Agent"

While working for the UK, the Agent fought three renegade members of China's China Force super-team, who were seeking to undermine the then in power British government in Hong Kong. This was followed by a similar situation in South America he was brought into by Nick Fury, during which he incapacitated or eliminated a quintet of super-powered mercenaries, thus allowing American-backed rebels to take over Costa Brava and install their leader as president. In the aftermath, Mason learned one of his old mentors, the Chinese geomancer Teng Yun-Suan, was responsible for these attempted coups, and was forced to kill him in the resulting face-off. Following this escapade, Mason was taken hostage by the criminal organization "The Corporation" in a failed attempted to force the Tinkerer to work exclusively for them. Mason managed to escape by himself, but encountered Luke Cage and Dakota North, whom the Tinkerer had hired to rescue him, and together they defeated the Corporation.

Apparent Death

Unfortunately, Mason was apparently killed later on, murdered by an unidentified supervillain, after which his activities as the anonymous Agent became public knowledge.

Revival

Mason received a message about "Ghazi Rashid" who was reported to be alive. It told him to go visit Michael Rossi's grave. Captain Marvel had also been sent the same letter to meet at the grave. Rossi appeared revealing that he had faked his death and needed their help. Mason and Danvers teamed up and used a Spider-Tracer to lure Spider-Man to them. During the investigation they learned about Norman Osborn's operations and the sale of "Ascension" to Rashid. They travelled on a jet to Hong Kong where it was revealed he was running his criminal empire. They kidnapped Zhou Chao from the Victoria Banking Initiative to trace the money to Rashid. Carol was sent to meet with Rashid. He revealed that Rossi was in fact the criminal known as "Vitamin" who attacked them years ago in Berlin. As Carol seemingly exploded in a blast of overloaded power, Rick tried to confront Rossi, but he was gone, leaving a bomb in his place; Rick only just made it out in time. Rick tracked Rossi to Brazil where he shot him. He then spoke with Osborn to get his father released from prison. As he left he threatened him for causing the death of Carol.

Attributes

Power Grid

Abilities

• Martial Artist: Mason is a highly trained fighter, and skilled in multiple forms of martial arts.

• Weapons Proficiency: Mason is proficient in modern weaponry.

• Multilingual: Mason is a fluent linguist.

• Intelligence Network: He has contacts with most of the world's major intelligence agencies.

Trivia

• Mason's son, who was in the 5th grade, died in Stamford, Connecticut when Nitro exploded.

See Also

• 9 appearance(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 6 image(s) of Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 2 quotation(s) by or about Rick Mason (Earth-616)
• 3 victim(s) killed by Rick Mason (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Rick Mason on Marvunapp