Scalphunter | Comics Price Guide

Scalphunter

Super Name: Scalphunter

Real Name: John Greycrow

Nickname:

Universe: Earth-616

John Greycrow was a Native American from an unidentified tribe who was taught to use firearms from an early age by his father. He fought in World War II for the United States of America, but was executed for murdering his fellow officers. He was shot by a firing squad and was believed killed. However, because of his regenerative powers he survived and became a mercenary. Decades later, he worked at a diner in Millstone, Arizona with Remy LeBeau and Claire DeLuc. LeBeau later recruited him to join the Marauders on behalf of Mister Sinister.

Greycrow became a member of the Marauders, a band of assassins who were gathered together by the mutant thief Gambit at the request of the enigmatic mastermind known as Mister Sinister.

For their first mission, the Marauders were tasked with the assassination of Sinister's former pawn Madelyne Pryor. Sinister had formerly erased any proof of her existence.

Along with Arclight, Greycrow posed as a paramedic while Madelyn was the sole survivor of a plane crash in San Francisco. She tried to escape but was hunted by Greycrow, Arclight, Prism, and Harpoon, and was eventually shot by Greycrow and left for dead, only for her to recover in a hospital.

Sinister next sent the Marauders to murder the entire population of the underground mutant community known as the Morlocks.

In Los Angeles, the Marauders led by Greycrow attacked the Morlock Tommy, killing her friend and Hellfire Club agent Richard Salmons, and letting her escape, only for her to involuntarily lead them to the Alley, the Morlocks' secret home in the tunnels beneath New York City. After finding the Alley, Greycrow shot Tommy, and the Marauders entered the tunnels.

Over the course of this mutant massacre, Greycrow killed countless Morlocks, including Annalee and her babies. He also clashed with the X-Men and Power Pack.

He was also tasked with the assassination of Polaris alongside Arclight and Sabretooth. Destroying her house and tracking her, they were unsuccessful in eliminating Polaris, as she was already possessed by Malice who used the magnetic powers of her host to defeat the three Marauders. Taking the leadership of the team from Greycrow as Sinister intended, she also revealed that the mission was only a test of her power.

Later, the Marauders were chastised by Sinister, as Madelyne Pryor wasn't dead, and he threatened to kill one of the Marauders if the mission wasn't accomplished. The Marauders consequently assaulted the San Francisco Memorial Hospital, and Greycrow headed to Madelyne's room where he killed a nurse but was stopped in his execution by Rogue. Pryor used that opportunity to fight back, long enough for Dazzler to hit him with a blast thanks to Psylocke's telepathic monitoring.

Following that brawl, both X-Men and Marauders scattered across town. Greycrow took position on the Golden Gate Bridge, intending to shoot down Rogue, but was stopped by Longshot and Wolverine. He was quickly backed up by Scrambler and Sabretooth, and the two X-Men fell from the Bridge. The Marauders then retreated from the city.

Later, the Marauders relocated their base to the Morlocks' tunnels, and Greycrow and Sabretooth were sent to scout for intruders, only to be both defeated by Dazzler. The Marauders escaped from the sewers, only for the battle to continue in the streets, right in the middle of the "Inferno" demonic invasion of New York City. Both mutant teams were also attacked by Demons and the armored soldiers of the Right. Greycrow himself targeted Rogue who took revenge on him for their San Francisco encounter. All of the Marauders were killed during the invasion.

Clones of the Marauders later clashed with the dimensionally-displaced young mutant known as Nate Grey after they attempted to assassinate Sinister's former servant, Threnody. Greycrow's clone was killed in this conflict, as X-Man telekinetically pulled the trigger of his gun, killing Prism and wounding Riptide, before being killed by the explosion of his munitions, again caused by X-Man.

Greycrow was one of the still-powered mutants living in tents on the Xavier Institute lawn after almost all mutants were depowered on M-Day. However, when Apocalypse came seeking people for his cause, Greycrow chose to serve him. When Havok warned him, along with Fever Pitch and Skids, that they were in way over their heads, Greycrow replied that Apocalypse had explained it all to them and was on their side. Also during his time as a member of the 198, he became romantically involved with his Marauders compatriot, Arclight.

He left the institute at the request of Sinister and re-joined the Marauders and fought the X-Men to lay claim to the Mutant Messiah, Hope Summers. In the aftermath of Messiah Complex, Greycrow was scared of the X-Men and ran away from the Marauders. He was located by Nightcrawler, who apparently converted him to Christianity.

He later joined the X-Men on Utopia after being brought in by Weapon Plus to deliver new versions of Predator X to attack the X-Men. He was granted sanctuary after warning the X-Men and helping them slay the beasts. Greycrow fought alongside the X-Men during Second Coming, and was also a part of the Age of X, an alteration of reality by the mad mutant Legion.

Later, Greycrow was tracked down by Magneto, who seemingly severed his arms and legs leaving him crippled.

He later returned with his limbs restored and became a pawn of Magneto along with the other Marauders to be used by Magneto for his own uses.

Greycrow and the Marauders struck off on their own, once again massacring the Morlock population. This led an angered Chamber, their new leader, to rejoin the X-Men. When the X-Men re-encountered the Morlocks, the Marauders fought briefly, but ultimately surrendered, professing their innocence. Not believing them, Chamber burned them to death with his psionic flame.

Greycrow later appeared revived, presumably resurrected by the Five, and accepted Xavier's invitation to all mutants to join the nation of Krakoa. Being the only Marauder to join the island, however, he quickly fell into trouble after engaging in a shootout with multiple Morlocks, who sought revenge on him for his actions in the Mutant Massacre on the anniversary of the event. As punishment, Greycrow was placed on a new iteration of the Hellions led by Mister Sinister, as a chance for rehabilitation, with their first job to capture Greycrow's ex-teammates in the Marauders who refused to come to the island. Greycrow took the job of handling the feral Wild Child on missions.

During their first mission, he was captured along with Nanny and Orphan-Maker while the others were off battling the rest of the Marauders and Goblyn Queen. While being cut open by a decaying, perverse Arclight, he was saved by his teammates Wild Child and Psylocke, and Havok, who blew up the house, defeated the rest of the Marauders.

The team's next mission was to Amenth, allegedly to prevent a conflict between Krakoa and Arakko. During the mission, Sinister allowed Empath to control Greycrow's mind and make him meek and subservient to him as revenge for killing him in their previous mission. When they arrived, they were confronted by the Locus Vile and realized Sinister had manipulated them in order to take DNA samples from the Arakki mutants. During the confrontation, Empath broke his control over John, but he kept up the ruse while fleeing back to Otherworld to escape them. At the last minute, John revealed he was no longer in Empath's control and killed him a second time. After going through the gate back to Krakoa, the real Mr. Sinister appeared, having sent a clone in his place, and killed them all so they couldn't tell the council about his deception. Upon being resurrected, he was immediately dismissive of the claim that they had all sacrificed themselves to save his life, but, when the team tried to confront him on it, Psylocke protected him.

On another mission, they fought The Right and an army of Smiley robots until the robots became self-aware and turned against their master Cameron Hodge. Although the conflict was resolved, Psylocke revealed to him that she was under orders from the Quiet Council to never let a robot designed to hunt mutants develop consciousness, and for this reason was going to have to upload a virus into the Smiley's stripping them of their intelligence. Understanding how it felt to be burdened by the guilt of taking lives, John stayed with her and offered her support as she did this. During this time, the two became closer and he began to develop romantic feelings for her.

For their fourth mission, they very unenthusiastically went to search for Mr. Sinister, who had gone missing. Shortly after leaving, Krakoa the whole team was captured by Mastermind and Arcade and taken to Murderworld for mental torture. John was eventually freed from this mental prison when his mind connected with Psylocke's. From here they were seemingly able to free all their teammates from Mastermind's control. In reality, however, Mastermind was still in control and had been working for Sinister all along. He made the team think that they had defeated Arcade and destroyed Murderworld but, in reality, Sinister had claimed Murderworld as his new secret cloning lab and sent the team home none the wiser.

When Sinister insisted on Psylocke and Havok accompanying him to the Hellfire Gala, to which the rest of the team wasn't invited, John was put in charge of the team for the night, but, wishing to spend more time with Psylocke, he had the team gatecrash the party. When they got there, Psylocke threatened Quentin Quire into letting them stay, but this opportunity for the two to spend time together away from Sinister's control was short-lived as he had to break up a fight between Wild Child and Daken, and afterwards the group was kicked out by Magneto and Magik. Psylocke met them outside the gate and used her telepathy so the team could watch the "fireworks" together. In spite of this, he soon noticed Psylocke becoming distant and pulling away from him.

-Marvel Fandom

1ST APPEARANCE

THE UNCANNY X-MEN #210

Volume 1 • October 1986