From Marvel Database
Characteristics
Unusual Features
Dyed Hair
Status
Occupation
Professional mercenary
History
Rachel Leighton was born in Austin, Texas. However, she spent her formative years in the Lower East Side of new York City. She was once a part time sale clerk at a boutique, but later became a mercenary. One of the members of the original Serpent Society, Diamondback was a seductively sly woman with expertise in hand-to-hand combat, being trained by Anaconda at
Taskmaster's academy. Her gimmick was that she threw acid-laced or poison-tipped diamonds at her enemies. After her first confrontation with Captain America while on assignment to find
MODOK, she was instantly smitten. Diamondback was assigned to take
Captain America into custody from the Porcupine. She later attempted a partnership with Captain America to locate the Scourge of the Underworld. Viper staged a coup of the Serpent Society, causing several of her underlings to infiltrate as new members and setting Viper up to take over by force. Diamondback and their current leader, Sidewinder, escaped, recruiting Captain America and his allies to rescue the Serpents who were still loyal to Sidewinder. After a fierce battle, in which Viper was defeated, Sidewinder abandoned the Serpent Society. Diamondback stayed on for a while under the new leader, Cobra. Rachel was later revealed to have resigned from the Serpent Society, and somehow temporarily switched bodies with the X-Man,
Dazzler. This led, in part, to a confrontation between the Serpent Society and the X-Men. Diamondback later alerted Captain America to the Bloodstone Hunt. She aided Captain America in combat with
Batroc,
Machete,
Zaran, and
Baron Zemo. She also encountered
Crossbones for the first time.Diamondback later accompanied Captain America to the Red Skull's Skullhouse. Diamondback and Captain America eventually went on their first date, aided by Rachel's friends in the Serpent Society, Asp, Black Mamba, and Anaconda. She then battled the Black Widow, and acquired a new costume. Diamondback was eventually put on trial by the Serpent Society for her consorting with the enemy (most of the Society assuming, incorrectly, that Diamondback had betrayed their secrets to Captain America) and found guilty for her actions, and almost executed. She escaped with Captain America and Paladin's help, and later hired Paladin to help get revenge on the Serpent Society. Along with her best friends Black Mamba and Asp, she formed "BAD Girls, Inc." After a failed kidnapping attempt from Anaconda, Diamondback was taken aboard Superia's ship, and joined her Femizons under duress. While aboard Superia's ship, she was attacked by the Femizon Snapdragon, of whom Diamondback developed a phobia. After being rescued and then being used as a test subject by the Red Skull to see if the blood packets that Crossbones brought was really Captain America's blood, the super-soldier serum enhanced Diamondback tracked down and confronted Snapdragon, who died in the fight.Later, there was a glitch discovered in the serum that Cap was suffering and Diamondback went to Superia in hopes for a cure. Using her as a test subject, there was a 50/50 chance that the cure would either work or kill Diamondback and if it worked, Diamondback had to serve Superia as the second Snapdragon. The experiment was a success, but she later got out of this deal when Superia was killed.BAD Girls disbanded after that. Some time later, Diamondback was infected with "mind-control nanoprobes" by Baron Zemo. Diamondback suffered extensive neurological damage from the experience and spent an extended period of time recovering in S.H.I.E.L.D. care.BAD Girls, Inc. recently reappeared in Cable & Deadpool, with the original lineup intact.Rachel's brother Danny is also known as Cutthroat. It was Danny and another of her brothers, Ricky, who originally fell in with a gang lead by a man known as "Bing." Yearning to be included, she approached Bing alone. Upon claiming she would do anything to join the gang, Rachel was beaten and apparently raped by Bing, who years later became Crossbones, kidnapped her, starved her, and abused her until she agreed, with ulterior motive, to steal packages of Captain America's blood from Avengers Mansion. Bing/Crossbones murdered Danny/Cutthroat, who was attempting to replace him as aid to the Red Skull, and also killed Rachel's third brother, Willy, when, despite being crippled in the military, he sought revenge by rifle for the brutality inflicted on his sister soon after she was originally mistreated.
Civil War/The Initiative
She later turned up along with Asp and Black Mamba during the Civil War as a member of the Secret Avengers.Rachel has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1. Diamondback appears in Camp Hammond, as an official recruit for the Initiative, along with Ant-Man, Crusader, Melee, Geldoff, Dragon Lord, Geiger, and Red Nine. After the Skrull Invasion, Diamondback handed out assignment to the graduates.
When Camp Hammond was shut down by newly appointed Director Norman Osborn, Diamondback joined the staff at the newly established Camp H.A.M.M.E.R.
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Diamondback is an Olympic level athlete who excels in gymnastics, an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, and expert thrower of knives and other sharp objects.
Strength level
Normal human female with intensive regular exercise.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Transportation
Formerly Serpent Saucer.
Weapons
Diamondback wields an undisclosed number of 4-inch long elongated diamond-shaped throwing spikes. She refers to these weapons as "diamonds," even though they are not made of actual diamond (which would be far too expensive for use). Stored in her boots and gloves and possibly elsewhere on her costume, these diamonds are needle-sharp and sometimes filled with various substances. Known diamonds in her arsenal have contained a lethal fast-acting snake venom-derived poison, an impact-detonated explosive with the concussive force of 10 pounds of TNT, a highly corrosive concentrated hydrochloric acid, and a fast-acting sleep-inducing narcotic.
Trivia
Known Vices: Diamondback has been seen smoking cigars on several occasions.
Links
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