Jebediah Fate was first mate to Maura Hawke, aboard the Serpent’s Crown pirate ship.
Maura had learned of a tiny uncharted island containing a strange treasure tower, and she led her crew to take a small boat ashore. Maura scaled the otherwise sheer wall, then tossed a rope to the crew to help them to the top. There they found “booty beyond all of their dreams,” which they had just begun to collect when the tower’s creator, the satyr Khordes,
appeared. Khordes told them that they could have all of the treasure they desired, if they would give him in exchange a woman with whom he could mate. Fate and the others betrayed Maura, leaving her behind with Khordes as they took their leave. Khordes removed the magical prison that held Maura, but she responded by skewering him with her cutlass. Maura was furious to learn that her crew had truly left her, and she cursed them all to never reach port, never enjoy their new found wealth, and to sail on forever, beyond time, beyond death. The dying Khordes used his magic to empower her curse, but similarly cursed Maura: “Thrice shall you live and die e’re you return to the sea–three lives to learn the meaning of love–e’re we meet again.” Khordes tower then sank into the sea, while the Serpent’s Crown lifted off the water into the sky.
The Serpent’s Crown materialized in the air above the Marietta cargo ship, which was exploring the Bermuda Triangle on a research mission for oceanographer Dr. Maura Spinner. Fate led the crew to board the Marietta, where they easily overpowered that ship’s crew, abducting Maura Spinner as well as the Man-Thing, which they had found in a nearly dead state aboard the Marietta. Returning to the Serpent’s Crown, Fate revealed that Maura was their queen and that they needed her for the battle against Khordes. However, her screams of protest revived the Man-Thing, who attacked Fate’s crew. After losing many shipmates to Man-Thing, Fate had his men join together and force him off the ship. As their ship was in the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere, Man-Thing froze solid.
Fate and his men apparently regained the mortal forms after capturing Maura. Fate had Maura dressed in pirates clothes and began laughing when she attacked his crewman; he stopped laughing when she brandished a stolen blade at his throat. Fate told her of the ancient curse, while at the same time, the Man-Thing, who crashed to the ocean floor in a fiery plume, he was then re-formed by Khordes magic, and Khordes was reborn as well. Khordes‘s tower raised anew and Fate, Maura, and the crew confronted the aged satyr, who promised to lift the curse if Maura would remain with him and accept his love. Maura refused and sent the pirates to kill Khordes, but the Man-Thing intervened fighting the pirates off. However, with Man-Thing occupied, Maura and Fate cornered Khordes, intending to kill him, but then Captain Matson, head of the Marietta’s crew, arrived and shot Fate. The Man-Thing disposed of the remaining pirates, while Maura finally accepted Khordes‘ offer after he revealed that she would have soon died at Fate’s hand if he had not kept her on his isle centuries before. Khordes island sunk once again, and Khordes transported the Man-Thing back to the Everglades.
Fate was resurrected and granted power by Thog in order to acquireJohn Daltry as an agent. The Serpent’s Crown appeared in the sky above an airplane and Fate led the crew in assaulting it, abducting its female passengers and crew before knocking it out of the sky. Fate himself skewered the captain with the Magus Sword, leaving him pinned to the control panel as the ship crashed into the Florida Everglades.
The crashed airplane was investigated by the authorities with Sheriff John Daltry acquiring the Magus sword for Barbara Bannister, who thought she might be able to learn about the cause of the crash from it. Meanwhile, Fate sent his crew to recover his sword, only for them to run into the Man-Thing, who slaughtered all of them, except Abel Barlow, whom Fate slew after reporting the failure. Fate’s crew located the Magus Sword on their second attempt, capturing Daltry, Bannister, and the Man-Thing along with it.
Daltry assaulted Fate, who had him hurled into the brig, alongside the Man-Thing, intending for the monster to slay Daltry. The sheriff managed to calm the Man-Thing, and Fate twice refused Dalty’s challenges to trial by combat, slaying crewman Mr. Pitt when he questioned his captain. Meanwhile, Khordes’ tower rose anew alongside the similarly raised the Athena, on which Khordes and Maura Spinner traveled towards a confrontation with Fate and the crew of the Serpent’s Crown. Captain Fate sought to “romance” Bannister, but the Athena arrived in time, assaulting the Serpent’s Crown. Man-Thing joined the fight against the pirates, while Daltry, using the Magus Sword, attacked Fate. After a short struggle, the Man-Thing shattered the mast, knocking both Fate and Daltry off of it. Man-Thing confronted Fate, who shouted that he wasn’t afraid of the creature; the truth was revealed as the Man-Thing’s claw burned his face.
Khordes sent the remaining pirates to their long overdue final reward, but Fate was nowhere to be seen. As the former prisoners left the Serpent’s Crown, Daltry, still holding the Magus Sword, found himself unable to leave. The Serpent’s Crown took off, while Fate’s laughing image appeared in the sky; Khordes was powerless to stop it.
After many years, Daltry was freed from Captain Fate by British superhero force MI:13 as part of their war with Dracula with the Black Knight seperating Daltry from the Magus sword before taking him through a portal.