Blacklash

**Blacklash** appeared in 1967 Marvel Comics called *Tales of Suspense*.

Whiplash served the Maggia well, establishing his reputation early on by battling Iron Man to a stalemate. Eventually, Scarlotti was assigned to go undercover for the Maggia, and under the guise of Mark Scott, he infiltrated Stark International's Cincinnati plant, where he became its head of research, and was engaged to plant manager Vicki Snow. There, he again encountered Iron Man and escaped the battle unscratched.

Quitting the undercover assignment without his superiors' permission, Whiplash joined forces with the Melter and the Man-Bull as the Death Squad, in order to vie for the Golden Globe of Power offered by the mysterious extra-dimensional being known as the Black Lama. It was then that Whiplash was decisively defeated by Iron Man for the first time; he was taken to jail, and his identity was revealed to the authorities. The Maggia paid his bail and took him on once again as a contract agent. On assignment, Whiplash encountered the Wraith, whose mental powers drove him to the brink of insanity.

Upon recovery, he was sent to Ryker's Island Prison to serve time for his various crimes. He was freed by criminal financier Justin Hammer, who was gathering a small army of costumed criminals, for whom he would finance operations in exchange for a share of their profits. Hammer provided Scarlotti with the funds and facilities to totally revamp and update his arsenal. Scarlotti renamed himself Blacklash, and went back to the Maggia as a freelance mercenary to look for an assignment. The Maggia contracted Blacklash for a job, but despite his new arsenal, he was soundly defeated by Iron Man before he could complete it.

After losing custody of his son, Scarlotti reverted to his older ways as Whiplash. He was hired by a rival businessman to eliminate Tony Stark. Whiplash went back to working for Justin Hammer, fighting against the Beetle and the Thunderbolts. When he took another strike on Tony Stark, however, Whiplash didn't expect to encounter the new Iron Man Sentient armor. Judging Whiplash to be a criminal and a threat, the Sentient armor refused Stark's commands to stop and killed Scarlotti while Tony was inside it.

## Arsenal

* **Body Armor:** Blacklash wore a battle-suit woven out of steel mesh and his cloak was capable of stopping medium caliber bullets.
* **Cybernetic Whips:** Whiplash's primary offensive weapons were his two cybernetically controlled whips, composed of woven boron-filament-impregnated sapphire strands plus steel braid. These whips could be snapped by a person with normal human strength with the tip reaching twice the speed of sound, whereas a normal leather whip barely reaches the speed of sound. It could be spun so fast that it deflected bullets. The tip was capable of piercing 3-inch steel. Besides its use as a simple whip, the weapon could retract partially into its handle and be converted into a nunchaku or be extended to its full length and stiffened to become a pole for vaulting. The whip was detachable from its handle and contained a remote control concussion charge. The entire whip and handle could be stored in a special sheath in Blacklash's gauntlets. Whiplash carried a pouch with other, special weaponry including a bola with discs that generated an artificial gravity field. He also wielded a "necro-lash" through which he could channel all the electrical energy his gauntlets could generate.