SOLO: Page 3 of 4

Publication Date: 21st Sep 2023
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Douglas Mangum.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

Not much is known about what happened to James Bourne’s mind and his psychology in the months that followed. For some time to come, his behavior can best be described as… inconsistent. When next he appeared, Solo’s quick trigger and bravado were perhaps even more pronounced than before. He attacked Wolverine in the streets when the X-Man was possessed by an alien entity and seemingly on a rampage. He was ripped apart by Wolverine’s claws alongside Black Widow and Cardiac. [Wolverine (2nd series) #134] Weeks later, he sought out a rematch along with Cardiac, fighting with the sane Wolverine in order to seek payback until Nightcrawler explained the situation. [Wolverine (2nd series) #140]

As Solo’s mindset changed, he mostly discarded his old values regarding counter-terrorism, and reduced himself to a mere mercenary, fighting for the almighty dollar. As Cable gained enormous power and founded his own island called Providence, his saber-rattling began making the powers-that-be nervous. His former comrade G.W. Bridge reformed the Six Pack under S.H.I.E.L.D. jurisdiction with former members Domino and Hammer, plus Solo, Anaconda and Constrictor added as mercenaries to fill out the roster. Six Pack’s sabotage mission on Providence was easily routed by Cable. Nathan convinced Domino of his good intentions, but his other former teammates Bridge and Hammer were placed in stasis when they refused to work with him. Again, Solo was lumped in with Constrictor and Anaconda… mercenaries who switched sides to help Cable simply because he was willing to pay better than S.H.I.E.L.D. [Cable / Deadpool #7-10]

After Cable was physically and mentally reduced in a fight with the Silver Surfer, his sometime-friend Deadpool extracted Cable to his Swiss safehouse. Six Pack was back in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s employ and sought him out, but Cable’s unstable telepathic powers drew Six Pack inside his damaged mind while he recovered. As the Six Pack became cartoon-ish representations of themselves inside Cable’s mind, Solo was pointedly depicted as a literal empty suit of guns and armor, possessing no identity outside of his oversized weapons. [Cable / Deadpool #11-12]

When the Superhuman Registration Act passed through Congress, “super-heroes” and vigilantes were more heavily regulated than ever before, forced to reveal their identities to the government and submit to official regulations. Solo initially appeared with a loose confederation of anti-registration vigilantes like Typeface, Network, Gladiatrix and Battlestar. They tried to get their story out through Sally Floyd of Frontline, but Iron Man and his Cape-Killers brought the hammer down upon them. Solo was among the vigilantes caught up in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s sweep. [Civil War: Front Line #3-4] He later appeared when Captain America led an assault on the Negative Zone prison 42, freeing the unregistered vigilantes for the final battle which spilled over into New York. [Civil War (1st series) #6-7]

G.W. Bridge used his influence with S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Solo released into his custody and back onto the Six Pack. Solo agreed and fully registered, receiving a pardon for his anti-registration crimes. [Civil War Battle Damage Report #1] Cable had overthrown ULTIMATUM’s occupation of Rumekistan and become the temporary ruler of that country. S.H.I.E.L.D. feared Cable’s long-term plans and sent the Six Pack in to sabotage the effectiveness of his rule. However, Cable was prepared for them and the Pack’s efforts publicly backfired on the world stage. [Cable / Deadpool #33-34] Solo also appeared as a hired gun for Josef Huber and Purity, an amoral mercenary knowingly keeping the heavy-hitters Monet and Siryn distracted and away from X-Factor Investigations while Huber tried to manipulate the rest of the team for his purposes. This version of Solo, who would do anything so long as he was well compensated, was very different from the James Bourne of the past. [X-Factor (3rd series) #22-23]

[Note: Cable / Deadpool #33 inaccurately referred to Solo as a mutant teleporter.]

Solo returned to his mission against terror and began hunting a domestic terror cell he’d been after for years known as P.T.S.F., “Peace Through Superior Firepower.” Intel suggested a disavowed NSA operator known as the Kingmaker had information on P.T.S.F., and Solo infiltrated an NSA black site prison to speak with the agent. The Kingmaker was actually the father of notorious assassin Bullseye, who got himself captured and sent to the prison in order to leave his father to burn to death inside. Solo located the Kingmaker just in time to save his life and teleport them both to safety, the only conceivable exit from the locked down black site.

Unbeknownst to Solo, the Kingmaker was actually responsible for P.T.S.F., a deep cover NSA “false flag” operation to gather intelligence from other terrorist groups. The Kingmaker was a master manipulator, and he dangled possible leads and cryptic “need-to-know” spook language to get Solo to act as his personal agent. Kingmaker wanted revenge on Bullseye for leaving him to die, and so he used Solo to set up and manipulate his son. During Osborn’s reign in H.A.M.M.E.R., Bullseye was currently posing as Hawkeye on the Avengers, chaffing under the restrictions of not killing in public whenever he wanted. Kingmaker and Solo crafted a plan to make him doubt his own grip on sanity.

At Kingmaker’s direction, Solo killed a P.T.S.F. cell in Manhattan and set it up to look like Bullseye’s kills. He then appeared to “Dark Hawkeye” wearing a Bullseye uniform, taunting the real Bullseye as a “figment of his imagination,” urging him to return to his old ways. Solo’s teleporting ability allowed him to vanish on command, leaving Bullseye off balance and convinced he was talking to himself. Eventually, though, Bullseye was fast enough to get his hands on Solo, and realized he was no delusion. He used a piece of glass to take out Solo’s eye before what remained of P.T.S.F. all appeared in Bullseye costumes to take him on. Bullseye / Hawkeye killed them all but Solo / Bullseye recovered in time to stun him unconscious.

Solo brought Bullseye paralyzed before the Kingmaker. His instinct to follow orders waned when Bullseye revealed that Kingmaker was his father. Solo listened in on the father and son chat which followed, where Kingmaker admitted his involvement in P.T.S.F. while gloating over his son. Bullseye broke free, and Kingmaker still managed to convince Solo to teleport him to safety, if he ever wanted real answers. While Kingmaker made his getaway, Solo stood up to Bullseye one last time. Now that he knew he was facing a teleporter, though, Bullseye got Solo’s rhythm and planned a ricochet to strike him just as Solo predictably teleported behind him. Badly injured, Solo barely managed to teleport away to safety, leaving Bullseye and Kingmaker to resolve their problems alone. [Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1-5]