Origin
After their brother was killed at the hands of a local thug who would one day become the villain Crossbones, Rachel and Daniel Leighton both pursued different paths in becoming costumed criminals. While Rachel fell in love with Captain America and went straight, Daniel was hired by the Red Skull to lead the Skull’s ” Skeleton Crew” after killing the Mangler and Deathstroke in an “audition” for the job.
Creation
Cutthroat was created by Chris Claremont and Mike Nasser in 1980 and first appeared in Marvel Team-Up # 89.
Story Arcs
Cutthroat clashed often with Crossbones, who did not trust or like him, particularly since Cutthroat had expressed an attraction to the Red Skull’s “woman” Mother Night and had usurped the command of the Skeleton Crew, when Crossbones fell out of favor with the Skull. While under the Skull’s command Cutthroat was disgusted with the way in which the Skull treated the devoted Mother Night. Horrified at the beatings, humiliation, and depravities Mother Night had to endure as the Skulls lover, Cutthroat attempted to convince her to run away with him. During one nighttime rendezvous Cutthroat nearly succeeded in persuading her to leave with him, only to be fatally stabbed in the back by Crossbones, who had been aware of his underlingâs deceptions.
Cutthroat would later resurface as a member of The Hood’s Gang. It was not revealed whether Daniel Leighton survived Crossbones attack or this was another man who had assumed the Cutthroat identity.
Norman Osborn manipulated a number of D-list villains Emmy Doolin, the Inquisitor and Cutthroat to breakout the mutant, Moses Magnum during a court hearing at the Federal Courthouse. They free Magnum Moses and Cutthroat breaks the neck of the Aryan Brotherhood member that started the riot. Cutthroat and the rest of his crew are unaware that Osborn was using them in a scheme to make Daken look good in the eyes of the media. The villains are hiding out in some warehouse and begin to suspect that something is wrong when Daken conveniently appears out of the shadows. Cutthroat agrees to surrender but Daken slashes his face and a fight ensues. Cutthroat recovers and charges Daken with his blade but the Dark Avenger grabs the Inquisitor’s hammer and smashes Cutthroat’s face. Daken is nearly killed by a seismic blast from Magnum and the weakened Daken is overpowered by Cutthroat and the Inquisitor. They leave Daken lying in a pool of blood and run away. Cutthroat and the rest of the gang realized that Osborn set them up and attempt to blackmail him with some video footage of him speaking to Doolin. Osborn agrees to help them if they allow Daken to publicly apprehend them on live television. Osborn tells Doolin that he would expedite them through the legal proceedings and turn them loose when no one’s looking. The media films Daken as he enters the house where the villains are hiding in. Osborn detonates a trap bomb in that house and everyone inside is supposedly killed. Osborn would tell the media that the explosion was caused by Moses Magnum. However Daken survived and helped the villains escape from the housing project. Daken finds the villains in Chelsea and slaughters them himself. Daken apparently sliced off one of Cutthroat’s arms during the bloodbath.
Powers & Abilities
Cutthroat is a highly skilled mercenary that has mastered various forms of unarmed combat. He also uses various knives and carries an adamantium edged blade as his weapon of choice. He can retract a blade from the tip of his boots to slice or cut his enemies as he kicks. He also wears lightweight body armor and sometimes uses a gun that fires rockets that explode upon impact or trigger a “sonic screamer” which induces pain to anyone within close proximity.