Edge Rewrite
location Source code View original
// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a25865789a2e51f9

Jump to content

Death's Head (Marvel Comics)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Death's Head II)
Death's Head
A comic illustration of a silver robot wearing a green vest, brown gloves, and a red cape. He has a head resembling an animal skull with red horns and he is holding a large green gun. Two speech bubbles are coming from him. The first speech bubble says "The name's Death's Head!" and the second speech bubble says "Heard of me, yes?"
Death's Head in The Transformers #113
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Transformers #113 (1987)
Created bySimon Furman
Geoff Senior
In-story information
Team affiliationsAutobots
Time Variance Authority
Imperial Guardians

Death's Head is a fictional character appearing in British and American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior and initially debuting in the Marvel UK publication of The Transformers, the original incarnation of Death's Head has had notable appearances in the Transformers series, Doctor Who Magazine comics, and the Marvel Universe, appearing as both a hero and a villain. Death's Head is a time-travelling robotic alien bounty hunter known for his hyper-capitalist desire for money, his idiosyncratic speech pattern, and his brutal efficiency.

The character has seen various different iterations from multiple writers. In the 1990s, the character was rewritten as a new cyborg character called Death's Head II, and a version called Death's Head 3.0 debuted in the 2000s.

Publication history

[edit]

1980s

[edit]

According to comic book writer Simon Furman, Death's Head was envisioned as "pure and concentrated commercialism", and "a child of Thatcher's Britain pushed to the nth degree".[1] He was initially created as a one-off character to serve as a bounty hunter in The Transformers storyline "Wanted: Galvatron – Dead or Alive". However, Furman stated that the design by Geoff Senior had captured "an elusive 'wow' factor", and that he would eventually serve as more than just a supporting character.[1] Death's Head is portrayed as a character that can "never change or compromise or grow or repent".[1] His initial role was inspired by Spaghetti Western films directed by Sergio Leone.[2] After seeing Senior's design for the character, Furman rewrote the character to give him a more humorous personality, mannerisms, and a tendency to end sentences as questions with the interjection "yes?".[1]

According to Furman, to prevent the rights to the character being owned by Hasbro rather than Marvel, he enlisted Bryan Hitch to create a one-page story for Death's Head titled "High Noon, Tex" that would be published prior to his first appearance in the Transformers comic.[1] However, "High Noon, Tex" was actually first published in 1988, one year after the character's first appearance in The Transformers.[3][4]: 109 

After appearing in The Transformers #113, he appeared twice more in the series. After this, the character appeared in Marvel's Doctor Who Magazine as an opponent of the Seventh Doctor. After his Doctor Who run, he was reused again in Dragon's Claws and his own comic series, Death's Head: The Body in Question, and other Marvel Universe comic series.[1] Death's Head's solo series was cut short owing to distribution and formatting issues due to differences between American and British comic formats at the time.[2]

1990s

[edit]
In the 1990s, Death's Head was redesigned as the cybernetic Death's Head II, who killed his previous self.

In the early 1990s, Furman and Senior began work on a comic series involving Death's Head and the Fantastic Four. The series would have been about Death's Head facing the death penalty and what he did to get to that position. The comic was unfinished when they were removed from the project.[5]

In 1992, Liam Sharp created a new design for Death's Head inspired by the designs of the Terminator and Predator. He sent the design to Paul Neary, who loved the design and removed Furman and Senior from the series, cutting short their work. The new iteration of the character was named Death's Head II. Neary hired Dan Abnett to write the new comic and Andy Lanning for inking. Death's Head II killed off the original Death's Head before starring in his own comic series. He also crossed over with the Avengers and X-Men.[2] In 1993, Furman wrote issue #54 of Marvel's What If. In this comic, the original Death's Head returns and kills Death's Head II.[1] The Death's Head II series ended after Marvel UK downsized and ultimately shut down in 1995.[2]

21st century

[edit]

In 2005, Marvel put out a fan poll for a character to be included in Amazing Fantasy, and Death's Head won the vote. Furman returned and wrote the new version of the character, dubbed Death's Head 3.0. After this, Death's Head saw minimal use in comics, having brief cameos in Captain Britain and MI13 and S.W.O.R.D. comics. In 2007, Sharp and Hitch collaborated to pitch a series called Ultimate Death's Head to Marvel, but it was rejected.[2] In the 2010s, the character saw a revival because of writers that grew up reading the original comics as children.[6] The original version of Death's Head and Death's Head II both appeared in the Revolutionary War comic series.[7][8] Kieron Gillen, a fan of the original 1980s version of the character, used him for a key role in his Iron Man comics, and Christopher Yost used him in Avenging Spider-Man #17 as an opponent of Spider-Man.[2]

In 2012, Death's Head won a fan vote for inclusion in the tabletop game HeroClix, and he was added to the game in 2013.[9] A new Death's Head limited series written by Tini Howard and illustrated by Kei Zama was released in 2019.[10] In this series, Death's Head crosses over with the Young Avengers and clashes with an upgraded version of his younger self.[11] Tini Howard stated that the series is about a "fear of obsolescence".[8] Another alternate version of the character, named Death's Head 22, appeared in Marvel's Ultimate Universe in the 2026 series Ultimate Endgame.[12] In issue #5 the 2026 series Imperial Guardians, Death's Head appears as the leader of a villainous team comprising Quasar, Nightwatch, Century, and U.S. Agent.[13]

Fictional character biography

[edit]

Death's Head is a time-traveling and universe-hopping robotic bounty hunter, although he rejects that label and insists on being called a "freelance peacekeeping agent".[12][7] Owing to his ability to travel through time and across universes, writer Kieron Gillen stated that Death's Head is "probably a walking paradox several times over", but that "he really doesn't seem to care".[2]

In his first appearances in The Transformers, Death's Head was hired by Rodimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, to hunt down Galvatron, the leader of the Decepticons.[14] Death's Head hunted down Galvatron's lieutenants, Scourge and Cyclonus, ultimately traveling back in time to chase them down. After facing off against the planet-devouring Unicron, he fell through spacetime into the Doctor Who universe in the year 8162 before the Seventh Doctor shrunk him down to the size of a human and dropped him off on the Earth of the Dragon's Claws series in the Marvel Universe.[1]

After various adventures in the Marvel Universe, including working for the Time Variance Authority, Death's Head was killed in 2020 by Minion, a cyborg created by Advanced Idea Mechanics. Minion had the power to absorb the personalities of those that it killed, and it absorbed Death's Head. However, Death's Head's personality took over Minion, becoming Death's Head II.[8] Death's Head II pursued a villain named Charnel to Earth-616 where he teamed up with the Avengers from an alternate future. Charnel killed the Avengers, but Death's Head II managed to kill him by sending him simultaneously to the past and future, ripping him in half. He was also transported back in time again by the Doctor to help his past self fight against the robot Hob. Death's Head II has multiple potential futures: Phaedra, a character with precognition, foresees that he will rule a galaxy and bring about a millennium of peace, and that he will become the godlike being Psyphon, whom he had previously met. Death's Head is also shown dying in multiple timelines, including the Days of Future Past timeline. Owing to his nature as a universe-traveling temporal paradox, these futures may all come true.[15]

Reception and legacy

[edit]

Death's Head's appearances in the Marvel UK comics of the 1980s was impactful on a generation of British Marvel fans, with Kieron Gillen stating that "Death's Head was our Wolverine".[2] Stan Lee was also a fan of Death's Head, and he wrote a letter to Furman and Senior praising their work and describing it as "sensational".[1] Comic artist Nick Roche stated that Death's Head is his favorite Marvel character.[8] GamesRadar+ listed Death's Head as the best Marvel character to debut in 1987.[16] On Marvel's website, writer Ryan Penagos noted that despite Death's Head having multiple incarnations such as Death's Head II and 3.0, the original remains the most beloved by fans.[7] An action figure of the character debuted at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con through Hasbro's Marvel Legends toy line.[17][4]: 109 

Outside of Marvel Comics, Death's Head served as the inspiration for the Transformers villain Lockdown. Lockdown debuted in Transformers: Animated and served as the antagonist of the 2014 live-action film Transformers: Age of Extinction.[18]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Interview: Simon Furman, Creator of DEATH'S HEAD". STARBURST Magazine. Archived from the original on 2026-04-28. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Arrant, Chris (2013-09-20). "DEATH'S HEAD Is Cool, Yes? Marvel's UK Import Poised for Push". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2026-07-20.
  3. ↑ Johnston, Rich (24 August 2015). "Speculator Corner: So What Is The First Appearance Of Death's Head Anyway?". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2026-04-20. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  4. 1 2 Piatti-Farnell, Lorna; Wilson, Carl (2025). The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies. Routledge Companions. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-032-43354-7.
  5. ↑ Freeman, John (2016-10-21). "To The Death: Simon Furman And Geoff Senior talk world building and roads not taken on Death's Head". downthetubes.net. Archived from the original on 2026-04-19. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  6. ↑ McKinney, Peter (2025-01-07). "An interview with Simon Furman". The Hindsight Hut. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  7. 1 2 3 "Everything You Need to Know About Death's Head". Marvel Comics. Archived from the original on 2026-04-20. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Freeman, John (2019-03-26). "Marvel's Death's Head is back, new series launches later this year". downthetubes.net. Archived from the original on 2026-04-18. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  9. ↑ Freeman, John (2013-10-31). "Death's Head comes to Heroclix". downthetubes.net. Archived from the original on 2026-05-18. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  10. ↑ Hickson, Colin (2019-03-24). "Marvel Comics Announces Death's Limited Series". CBR. Archived from the original on 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
  11. ↑ Sava, Oliver. "Death's Head and the Young Avengers blow up killer robots in this exclusive". AV Club. Archived from the original on 2026-04-30. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  12. 1 2 Johnston, Rich. "Ultimate Endgame Introduces The Ultimate Death's Head (Spoilers)". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2026-04-29. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  13. ↑ Ayala, Nicolas (2026-07-18). "A Classic Hero Returns For Marvel's Next Guardians Of The Galaxy Roster". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  14. ↑ Corley, Shaun (2025-11-29). "Only 1 Marvel Character Has Fought Both the Doctor and the Transformers". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 2025-12-29. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  15. ↑ "Death's Head (Minion)". Marvel Comics. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  16. ↑ Marston, George (2021-05-26). "The top Marvel Comics character debuts - 1980 to 1989". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
  17. ↑ Roberts, Tyler (2024-06-28). "Exclusive Marvel Comics Death's Head Figure Revealed from SDCC 2024". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2026-04-27. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  18. ↑ Meenan, Devin (2020-06-19). "10 Best New Transformers Characters Introduced Since Generation One". CBR. Archived from the original on 2025-07-23. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death%27s_Head_(Marvel_Comics)&oldid=1366232177"