Copperhead (Marvel Comics)

Copperhead is the name of a number of fictional characters in the Marvel Universe. The first two are similar characters that mimicked old pulp magazine heroes, wearing a suit of copper armor and shooting paralyzing or lethal darts, while the third is a member of the Serpent Society.

Publication history
Copperhead first appeared in Daredevil #124-125 (August–September 1975), and was created by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Gene Colan.

The character subsequently appears in Human Fly #9 (May 1978), Daredevil #1/2 (1998), and Daredevil/Spider-Man #1-4 (January–April 2001).

Copperhead received an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3 (2006).

Fictional character biography
Lawrence Chesney grew up hearing the tales of a pulp fiction hero named Copperhead from his father, who was the model for the covers of the Copperhead pulps and came to believe he himself was Copperhead. Chesney, warped by his father's madness, assumes the Copperhead guise, and leaves his calling card of copper pennies on the eyes of his victims. His murders of the writer and the publisher of the Copperhead pulps brings him the attention of Daredevil. As he fights Daredevil, Copperhead is struck by lightning and killed by electrocution.

After death, Copperhead becomes the agent of a demon. He is sent back to Earth to retrieve Spider-Man’s soul, but fails after battling Spider-Man and Daredevil.

Publication history
The second Copperhead appeared in Human Fly #8-9 (Apr-May 1978), and was created by Bill Mantlo and Frank Robbins.

Fictional character biography
Arthur Reynolds discovered that his former co-worker at the museum, Lawrence Chesney, had been Copperhead, and had been killed. Reynolds broke in to Chesney’s apartment and stole a spare Copperhead costume, assuming the identity. His plan to rob the museum were defeated by White Tiger and the Human Fly.

Davis Lawfers
Copperhead (Davis Lawfers) is a fictional supervillain from Marvel Comics. He was a member of the Serpent Society. Very little has been revealed about Copperhead's past and his origins.

Fictional character biography
Davis Lawfers was born in Rochester, New York. He was a civil servant before becoming an agent of the Viper and professional criminal. Copperhead was the leader of the fourth Serpent Squad, consisting also of Fer-de-lance, Black Racer, and Puff Adder. The quartet robbed a Las Vegas casino and battled Captain America, Falcon, Nomad, and D-Man in order to attract the attention of Sidewinder, then the leader of the Serpent Society. The Serpent Squad was freed from jail by the Sidewinder, and were inducted into the Serpent Society. In truth, they were sent by the Viper so she could infiltrate the organization and take over as its new leader. After the coup was staged, Copperhead was assigned by the Viper, along with the Cobra and Boomslang to put a mutagenic agent into the water supply of Washington D.C. During that mission, he and Cobra had personality conflicts and did not get along, and battled Captain America and Diamondback. After the Viper's plot was foiled, the Society re-organized with Cobra was the new leader. Copperhead did not stay long and quietly disappeared from the ranks of the Society.

Secret Invasion
In Secret Invasion, Lawfers rejoined the Society. The Society held a number of civilians hostage in a compound in the American Midwest claiming they were protecting themselves from the Skrulls. However, they were easily defeated by Nova and his new Nova Corps.

Powers and abilities
Copperhead has no superhuman powers. He has moderate experience in hand-to-hand combat and street fighting techniques, but mainly relies on his weaponry.

He wears finger-shooters on his gauntlets which project electrical discharges ("poison-blasts"); a spring-loaded, telescoping, rapid-retracting, wrist-mounted, titanium steel alloy grapping hook ("shooting fang"), with 30 ft cable line; exploding magnesium flare-bombs stored in his snake-head helmet compartment ("copper-bursts"); micro-suction cups in gloves and boots, enabling adhesion to walls and ceilings. His equipment was designed by technicians hired by the Viper. His gauntlets need to be recharged regularly using the spare poison-blast cartridges in his belt.

For protection, Copperhead wears a copper suit of scale mail, which functions as light body armor made of micro-mesh chain-mail covered with reinforced synthetic chain-mail tunic.