Saboteur |
 |
File
Name: Unknown
Known aliases: The Faceless Master;
Snake-Eater; Jason B. Lee
|
Birthplace: Unknown; possibly Vietnam |
Military Specialties:
Sabotage, Demoltions
and Terror |
Status: At Large |
|
First Appearance: G.I.
JOE #24 (June 1984)
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| "The Firefly is a man of international repute."
— The Baroness
|
During the 1940s, a
plantation
owner and anti-Japanese guerilla in French Indochina (Vietnam) spared
the
life of a young Japanese officer, who was also the son of the grand
master
of the Koga Ninjas. Eventually, the Viet-Minh turned on the guerilla
and
murdered him. His son was adopted by the ninjas. Nothing is known about
his son's life after his adoption, but he became adept at the Koga
style
of ninjitsu. He eventually became a mercenary and named himself
"Firefly".
Over the years, the name Firefly became infamous as one of the world's
most feared saboteurs and mercenaries. Shortly after the Vietnam
war,
the man who would become Cobra Commander approached Firefly and hired
him
to kill a man known as Snake-Eyes. The Commander's brother had died in
a car accident in the recent past. It made little difference to him
that
Snake-Eyes family had also been killed in the accident. He blamed the
family's
surviving son for his brother's death. Firefly cared little about why
he
was hired to kill Snake-Eyes, as long as he was well paid. Using his
status
as a master of the Koga clan, Firefly gained entry into the Arashikage
ninja clan's dojo. Snake-Eyes had become an honorary member of the clan
thanks to his friend, Tommy (later known as Storm Shadow). Firefly
became
known as "The Faceless Master" due to the fact that he never allowed a
clear photo of himself to be taken. One day, while watching Snake-Eyes
and Storm Shadow practicing, Firefly realized he was no match for
Snake-Eyes
skills. Unfortunately, he had already been paid. Instead, he referred
Cobra
Commander to Zartan, another mercenary. Zartan, too, gained entry into
the dojo, and with Firefly's help, acquired an arrow belonging to Storm
Shadow. When time came for the assassination, a mistake was made and
the
Hard Master, the clan leader and Storm Shadow's uncle, was murdered
instead.
Zartan escaped in a helicopter piloted by Firefly himself. The death of
the Hard Master left the Arashikage clan in ruins and Storm Shadow
branded
a murderer and a traitor.
Even if Firefly knew
the
damage
he'd caused, he didn't care. It was just one of his more difficult
jobs.
Firefly's reputation grew, and he was eventually brought into Cobra.
Ironically,
Firefly's first job for Cobra brought him face-to-face with his old
partner,
Zartan. After a battle in the Florida Everglades against the G.I. Joe
team,
Firefly was abandoned, left in the swamps by Cobra Commander, who
returned
to Cobra headquarters. Firefly found Destro nearby. He, too had been
left
behind, and the two men plotted revenge. Before returning to
Springfield,
Destro and Firefly took on a mission to get in the Commander's good
graces.
Along with Fred Broca, they followed a G.I. Joe C-130 transport plane
and
discovered Snake-Eyes' mountain retreat. They attacked his cabin, but
were
surprised to find Spirit and Airborne nearby. A battle followed, and
the
Cobras lost, though they escaped into a river. Upon the return to
Springfield,
an assassination attempt was made on Cobra Commander by his
long-estranged
son, Billy. All of the Cobra high command were involved in the tribunal
that decided Billy's fate, including Firefly. There was little time for
deliberations, since Billy was set free by Storm Shadow. A short time
later,
the Soft Master showed up in Springfield. He had discovered the
identity
of the Hard Master's killer, but aroused the suspicions of the
Springfield
police, all of whom were Cobra agents. He escaped, but was pursued by
Firefly,
Scrap-Iron and Buzzer. They were stopped at a railroad crossing, where
Billy and Ripcord's girlfriend had been in a car accident. As a freight
train drove past, Firefly signed the death sentences of the Soft
Master,
Billy and Candy, with nothing more than a "thumbs down." That signalled
Scrap-Iron to fire two missles. The first killed the Soft Master. The
second
killed Candy and put Billy in a coma and cost him a leg and an eye.
Some
time later, Firefly and Scrap-Iron captured Ripcord, who had
infiltrated
Cobra's secret base of Springfield. Unfortunately for Cobra, Ripcord
had
enough time to inform the Joes of Springfield's location, leading to
the
Joes' invasion of Springfield. After the
invasion of
Springfield,
Firefly undertook several missions for Cobra. He fought the October
Guard
in Afghanistan and battled the Joes around the world -- everywhere from
atop an arctic glacier, to the Baltic Sea. Later, he attempted to steal
the G.I. Joe Vector fighter jet from an airshow, but the theft was
foiled
by Maverick and a airshow pilot. In a later attempt to
return
to get back on Cobra Commander's good side, Firefly and Dr. Mindbender
led a force of Cobras on a new island that formed near Cobra Island,
trying
to claim it for Cobra. During the battle with the Joes, Firefly and
Mindbender
constantly argued and the Joes had nearly won, but the unstable island
sunk beneath the waves. Firefly saved Mindbender's life, but only after
the scientist promised to take the blame for losing. Firefly later
teamed
with Mindbender and Cobra Comander to steal computer disks from a top
secret
government installation. The plan was thwarted by a team from G.I. Joe
and "the original Joe."
It was later discovered
that the real Cobra
Commander had been replaced
by an imposter. When the true Commander returned, he locked his enemies
-- Firefly among them -- in an old
freighter and buried it beneath a
volcano
on Cobra Island. After Firefly was presumed dead for quite a long time,
he reappeared, leading a group of Red Ninjas against the G.I. Joe Ninja
Force, led by Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow. Firefly revealed that he had
escaped the freighter in a rather
treacherous way. In a hidden corner
of
the freighter, Firefly found damaged Battle Android Troopers. He
programmed
the robots to dig out of the freighter and to the surface. To keep his
escape a secret, he put his uniform on the dead body of Serpentor,
which
was being stored on the freighter by Dr. Mindbender. Leaving the others
to die, the mercenary eventually escaped. Months later, he came upon a
group of Red Ninjas who once worked for Zartan. They had been members
of
the Arashikage clan, but now swore vengeance against Storm Shadow for
his
supposed destruction of the clan. Using his knowledge of clan
teachings,
Firefly convinced them he was a ninja master. After telling the truth
about
his involvement in the Hard Master's death, Firefly used some sort of
gas
to render the Ninja Force unconscious, proclaiming himself a new kind
of
ninja that used advanced technology, in combination with the ancient
arts.
For a time he used the Brain-wave Scanner to keep them under his
control
but they eventually escaped.
Firefly returned to Cobra Island only to
discover
it had been abandoned months before. When he kidnapped Zarana and
Cesspool,
he tried to use them as hostages against Cobra Commander. He was
surprised
to find that the Commander didn't want Cobra Island back, and for all
he
cared, Firefly could keep Zarana and Cesspool. A short time
later, Duke, Roadblock, Lady Jaye and Snake-Eyes
infiltrated
Cobra Island and found it guarded by an army of Cobra BATs, a group of
Red Ninjas and Cobra ninjas Slice and Dice. They were all under the
control
of Firefly. After a brief fight, the Joes defeated the BATs, and
Snake-Eyes
used the famed Arashikage Mind Set to break Firefly's minions free of
his
mind control. They all were about to exact their vengeance, when the
Joes
left the island. They last saw Slice, Dice and the Red Ninjas moving to
make Firefly pay for what he'd done. What happened next is unknown, but
Firefly wasn't heard from for years.
In 1995, Cobra
was defeated by a international
military force and its high command scattered, while the G.I. Joe team
was disbanded. Less than a year after Cobra's break up, reports of
Firefly once again working as a mercenary had begun to surface, and the
U.S. government was searching the globe for former agents of Cobra.
Former Joe team members Duke and Chuckles were working for a top secret
government organization and eventually made contact with Firefly. While
posing as an arms dealer, Chuckles was contacted by Firefly, who was in
the market for weapons for his unknown employer. Chuckles asked Firefly
to first destroy a competitor's main factory. Firefly didn't know that
the factory had been abandoned years earlier and that it had only been
set up as a trap for him. A military team known as the Hammer Team was
there under Duke's orders to capture Firefly. Snake-Eyes and his young
apprentice, Ophelia were also there. Firefly arrived to destroy the
factory, but realized something was wrong and detonated a series of
bombs that killed most of the Hammer Team. As he made his escape,
Ophelia tried to stop him, but Firefly killed her and made his escape.
The only remaining member of the Hammer Team was Sean Collins, son of
the former Crimson Guardsman Wade Collins. Both he and Snake-Eyes were
scarred by the incident, leading Snake-Eyes to call off he and
Scarlett's wedding. Sean found Snake-Eyes at his mountain cabin and
soon began training as his new apprentice.
Nearly a year later, Jinx
called Snake-Eyes and Sean to tell them that she had news on Firefly's
whereabouts. Jinx had begun a bounty hunting business in Japan with
Budo as her partner. She found out that Firefly was arriving in Tokyo
working for a mysterious figure known as "Nowhere Man". Snake-Eyes and
Sean headed to Japan and tracked down Firefly as he met with a man who
the Nowhere Man hoped to recruit for his organization. When the former
Joes realized the man was Storm Shadow, Snake-Eyes attacked his sword
brother, who he had last seen as a brainwashed slave of Cobra
Commander. As the Joes tried to capture Firefly and stop Storm Shadow,
Nowhere Man and his troops arrived. They were surprised when Duke and
Chuckles -- who had actually been working with Storm Shadow to trap
Firefly -- arrived to rescue them. Firefly got away, but the Joes
learned where he was going, and learned that the Nowhere Man was
actually Mikhail Derenko, another member of Hammer Team that had been
presumed dead. Beneath a dance club in Tokyo, Firefly and Derenko tried
to access a Cobra vault hiding a secret weapon. Unknown to anyone, they
has enlisted Wade Collins to their cause, since as a former "Fred
series" Guardsman, he could access the vault. Their plan was disrupted
by the Joes and though the plot was foiled, both Firefly and Derenko
escaped. Collins died in his son Sean's arms, after explaining that he
had joined the mercenaries to stop their plan. A few years later, it
was revealed that Derenko had been recruiting former Cobras for the
true leader of his organization: a revived Serpentor. The group was
known as the Coil and spent years building an army to bring Serpentor
back to power.
Firefly next
encountered the Joes after the team was
reinstated in 2001. He arrived in Chicago as both Joes and Cobra agents
were attempting to stop a rogue Battle Android Trooper loose in the
city. He had been hired to recover the BAT, though before he could do
so he was confronted by Jinx. She tried to fight Firefly, but he wasn't
interested in fighting, so he fled to complete his assignment. After
that job, Firefly's next stop was Cobra Island where Serpentor was
readying the troops of The Coil for an attack on various countries
around the world. Firefly joined Serpentor's effort. Eventually, G.I.
Joe and Cobra both arrived to stop Serpentor and rescue a number of
captured Joes and Cobra Commander. The Coil was defeated and Serpentor
presumed dead, but Firefly escaped during the fighting.
More than a year after the defeat of Serpentor,
Cobra Commander infiltrated the White House, replacing and posing as
Chief of Staff Garret Freedlowe. Working closely with the President,
"Freedlowe" created a new team called the Phoenix Guard, which he
intended to use to destroy and take the place of G.I. Joe. The team's
roster was made up of former Cobra agents using false identities.
Firefly joined the group in the guise of a soldier code-named
Snake-Eater. The Phoenix Guard's commander General Rey was unaware of
his soldiers'true identities, and lead them on a raid of the new Joe
team's headquarters. Against his wishes, the team relied too easily on
deadly force, injuring many Joes and killing many of their support
staff. The Joes soon defeated the Phoenix Guard, arresting all its
members except for Firefly who found General Colton, Scarlett and
Kamakura in the wilderness outside the base. Firefly nearly shot
Colton, but was forced to flee when reinforcements arrived. His current
whereabouts are unknown.
Artwork: G.I. JOE #126
(interior)
by Andy Wildman and Randy Emberlin; Hasbro action figure artwork; G.I. JOE: Master & Apprentice #2 (interior) and (cover) Stefano Caselli & Sunder Raj.
|
Appearances:
- G.I. JOE: #24-33, 38, 43,
47, 49,
50, 52, 73, 80, 86, 98, 117 (dossier), 123, 124, 126-134
- G.I. JOE Special Missions: #1, 2, 12, 24
- G.I.
JOE: Order of Battle: #3
- G.I. JOE Yearbook: #2
- G.I. JOE vol. 2: #1 (photo), 12-14, 22, 23
(photo), 24-26
- G.I. JOE: Battle Files: #2
- G.I. JOE: Master & Apprentice: #1-4
(compiled with help from Bryon Hake)
|
Action
figure/filecard links at YoJoe.com :
|
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