Whiplash is the name of multiple fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Each Whiplash is a supervillain in the Marvel Universe, with the first and latest appearing as prominent members of Iron Man's rogues gallery. The first Whiplash (Mark Scarlotti) also went by the name Blacklash. The newest Whiplash (Anton Vanko) is based on the version of the character that appears in the 2010 film Iron Man 2.

Biography

Mark Scarlotti

Mark Scarlotti is originally a gifted electrical technician at Stark International's Cincinnati branch, but desires a life of luxury and becomes a professional criminal. With a costume and a sophisticated metal whip of his own design, the character becomes Whiplash, a weapons designer, special agent, and assassin for the criminal organization the Maggia. On behalf of the Maggia, Whiplash fights the hero Iron Man – secretly inventor Tony Stark and Scarlotti's former employer – and AIM agents attacking a Maggia gambling ship.

Scarlotti is assigned to work undercover for the Maggia at Stark International's Cincinnati plant, and becomes Head of Research. As Whiplash, Scarlotti then has another inconclusive battle with Iron Man and flees the scene, quitting the Maggia. Whiplash, together with fellow supervillains the Melter and Man-Bull, is recruited by other-dimensional villain the Black Lama to form the team the Death Squad and fight Iron Man. They enter a "super-villain war" to win the Black Lama's Golden Globe of Power, but are all defeated.

Whiplash rejoins the Maggia and battles the heroes Spider-Man and Iron Man in New Jersey, eventually being defeated by the vigilante Wraith. Criminal mastermind Justin Hammer hires Whiplash, and with the Melter and the original Blizzard attempt the robbery of an Atlantic City casino, but are stopped by Iron Man. Whiplash is released from prison by Hammer and battles Iron Man again as one of Hammer's costumed operatives, and despite overwhelming odds the hero defeats the villains.

Scarlotti is re-employed by an unnamed consortium, financed by Hammer, to kill Stark employee Vic Martinelli, and is provided with an upgraded costume and weaponry and the new alias Blacklash. Despite the upgrades, however, Scarlotti is defeated by Iron Man and humiliated by being dragged before his employers. Scarlotti makes a brief appearance as Whiplash as a paid employee of the master villain the Mad Thinker in a failed attempt to kill the hero the Thing who is recuperating at a New York hospital.

Scarlotti is eventually diagnosed as manic-depressive by prison psychiatrists. He attempts to reform, but rejected by his parents and residents of his home town, Scarlotti becomes Blacklash again. Blacklash attempts an assassination for the Maggia, he is confronted by Spider-Man whom he weakens with his whip, but is defeated by the second Iron Man. Spider-Man beats Blacklash once again and is also apprehended by Captain America while committing several robberies. Blacklash is rehired by Justin Hammer and sent with the Beetle and the second Blizzard to assassinate Hammer's former agent Force. Iron Man, Jim Rhodes and Force, however, defeat the trio.

At Hammer's request Blacklash, Boomerang, and the second Blizzard stop industrial sabotage by the vigilante the Ghost. Blacklash is sent to work with Iron Man and Jim Rhodes against the saboteur, but betrays them. Together with Spider-Man villain the Rhino, Blacklash hunts down fellow rogue agent the Scorpion, who fails to return stolen weaponry to Hammer.


Scarlotti decides to renounce his criminal identity and marries and has a child. A lack of money forces Scarlotti to assume his identity again, and he becomes the target of an assassin, who kills his wife when she returns to their apartment. As Blacklash, Scarlotti then finds and kills the assassin, and vows to abandon the identity of Blacklash forever. Scarlotti, however, is hired by a rival of Stark and returns as Whiplash, with an upgraded costume and new weaponry. Whiplash manages to battle Iron Man to a standstill in their first encounter, but is killed several weeks later by Iron Man's new sentient armor, which crushes Scarlotti's throat against Tony Stark's wishes.
Leeann Foreman

The second Whiplash is Leeann Foreman, a professional criminal that was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She was a mutant with unrevealed abilities and used adamantium wires connected to her gloves as whips. She was part of Critical Mass's mutant Band of Baddies. The Baddies kidnapped a mutant girl and her father in order to coerce them to join their band. They forced the daughter to knock out Spider-Man and Wolverine, but they quickly recovered. The daughter then unleashed her powers, blew up the warehouse they were in, and defeated all of the Baddies. Whiplash disappeared after the daughter's telekinetic explosion enabled her to get free.

She later joined the Femme Fatales, and was hired by the Chameleon to lure Spider-Man into a trap by threatening a United Nations ambassador. Spider-Man defeated the Femme Fatales and saved the ambassador. The Fatales then joined forces with the Scorpion and the Tarantula, but all of them were defeated by Spider-Man and the Black Cat. The Femme Fatales later received an invitation to join Superia and her organization of female criminals, the Femizons. They accepted, and were among the superhuman females aboard Superia's cruise ship, where they battled Captain America and the Paladin. Whiplash also traveled to Superia's private island to be one of her new Femizons.

After the group disbanded, Whiplash teamed up with Orka, Shockwave and Killer Shrike in a plot to take over a retired aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid. She and her allies were defeated by Heroes for Hire. She was later seen in "Bar With No Name" and in a black market auction for the Venom Symbiote.



Unnamed
Two villains, a woman called Whiplash and a man called Blacklash, appear during the outset of the Superhuman Civil War. Both are past associates of the Swordsman (Andreas von Strucker) and frequenters of BDSM events before becoming supervillains. The duo are forcibly recruited into the Thunderbolts.


Anton Vanko

Anton Vanko (Russian: Антон Ванко) is a young scientist from a small Russian village by the name of Volstok who has no relation to the original Crimson Dynamo. One day, the village is attacked by someone wearing a stolen suit of Iron Man armor, who murders a number of townspeople, including Vanko's father Igor Vanko (Russian: И́горь Ва́нко) in an attempt to frame Tony Stark.

Using a specialized rifle, Vanko is able to shoot the impostor just before he flees, causing the chest plate on the armor to come off. Vanko becomes obsessed with exacting vengeance on Stark, still believing him to be the man who attacked his village, and decides to use the chest plate to fashion a suitable weapon to do so. Over the next six months, he reverse engineers a suit of body armor equipped with energy whips, and vows to kill Stark in order to avenge his father.

After breaking into the prison where Stark is being held for his alleged crimes, Vanko kills several guards and attempts to track down and murder Stark and his confidant Pepper Potts. Stark fights off Vanko using a crude suit of Iron Man armor fashioned from parts of various machines around the prison, and forces him to flee. After Stark tracks down the criminal syndicate who framed him, Vanko arrives at their headquarters, intent on finishing off Iron Man once and for all. It is there that Vanko learns that Stark was indeed framed and that the syndicate was hired to destroy Volstok by secret international consortium funded by several governments including USA and Russia, notably Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in order to wipe out an activist who was creating anti-Putin sentiments. Despite learning of Iron Man's innocence, Vanko makes one final attempt to kill him, claiming that even though he did not destroy the village, his technology did. After the building catches fire, both men are ultimately forced to run to safety, and Vanko then makes his escape. Following this, Stark is cleared of his alleged crimes, and helps rebuild Volstok. As this is happening, Vanko is seen in Moscow approaching Saint Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square preparing to properly exact vengeance this time around.

Whiplash is later recruited by Max Fury as a member of the Shadow Council's incarnation of the Masters of Evil.

During the Infinity storyline, Whiplash is among the villains recruited by Spymaster to help him in a plot to attack the almost-defenseless Stark Tower.

He later attacks Squirrel Girl and her sidekick Tippy-Toe when he mistakes her for Iron Man, since she was wearing one of his armors, but is later defeated.

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