Characters : Boomerang

Background

An Australian immigrant, Frederick "Fred" Myers moved to the States at a very young age. He had a passion for baseball and quickly rose to play for a major league team as a pitcher. However, he was caught taking bribes and was fired. Myers was taken in by the underground society known as the Secret Empire, who gave him tool, weapons and the name of Boomerang.

One of Myers first assignments was to get access to the U.S. Army's Orion missile defense as it was being used against the Hulk. Boomerang kidnapped Betty Ross to use as ransom but was, shockingly, defeated by the Incredible Hulk. The Secret Empire finally collapsed and Myers returned to Australia for several years, refining his equipment. After again finding employment in America, he became an assassin for hire. He was hired to kill Iron Fist and was defeated. Myers soon found employment from Libra and fought the Defenders.

Boomerang eventually faced Spider-Man after he was occupied by Viper (aka, Madame Hydra) to attack Nick Fury, Black Widow and Shang Chi. After that venture failed, he sought to win approval from the Kingpin by killing Spider-Man. He also attempted to break the Punisher out of prison and again battled the Hulk. Soon he was employed by Jack O'Lantern, whom formed the Sinister Syndicate and was made up of Rhino, Beetle, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon, and himself. Spider-Man, who was with Silver Sable at the time, were both saved by the Sandman. Sable then employed the Sandman as a freelance operative.

Over the following years, Boomerang met up with other costumed characters, including Loki, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Grizzly and Ghost. He has been employed by Justin Hammer and Cardiac. He made a major mistake the time he made an enemy of Daredevil. An open bounty was put on Matt Murdock's head and Boomerang quickly responded to the job. After Daredevil defeated another bounty hunter called Shotgun, he sensed Boomerang's presence on a nearby rooftop. Daredevil eventually chased him down and beat him after finding Murdock's picture in his pocket. Later, Myers tried to sue Murdock for one million dollars over the beating.

Boomerang worked with Shocker, Beetle, Jack O'Lantern (Steven Levins) and Scorpia for a $100,000 award by J. J. Jameson to find the Spider-Man clone skeleton found in a demolished smoke stack. The skeleton was protected by Ben Reilly, who feared that the body could be used to determine his identity.

Boomerang had other run ins with the wall crawler, most notably when he joined the Sinister Twelve, led by the Green Goblin. Their targets were Spider- Man and the Black Cat, but the Avengers, Fantastic Four and Daredevil showed up and put an end to the beating on Spidey.

Myers tried to be a traitor to his former boss, Norman Osborn, after Osborn became the head of the Thunderbolts. Norman viciously beat him and then forced Myers to work for him. Boomerang was briefly part of a group of other super-villains (forced to become heroes as part of the Fifty State Initiative) and took the name "Outback." He was still working for Osborn during the Siege on Asgard and fought the Avengers Resistance when they tried to attack Camp H.A.M.M.E.R.

Boomerang was later hired by the fourth Rose (Dr. Phillip Hayes) after Jackpot was getting too close to his production of the drug "Ebony." Hayes was, ironically, Sara Ehret's co-worker and he used the info to have Myers kill Ehret's husband in their home in front of her and their daughter.

Boomerang was later hired as a part of the Assassins Guild and fought Domino, X-Force and Wolverine. He was soon in prison, where he was eventually teamed with Centurius, Troll, Mr Hyde and Shocker.

He was very briefly released from prison by Hypno-Hustler. HH had used Deadpool to trick Spider-Man into breaking HH out of prison and when Spidey finally fought back, the other prisoners were released. Spider-Man quickly defeated the less than lethal foes (including the Painter) that he faced.

Myers tried to be a big shot and create his own Sinister Six after Doctor Octopus seemingly died from years of radiation exposure and beatings from vigilantes. He teamed with Shocker, Beetle II, Override (whom rode the stolen Big Wheel), the Living Brain and Speed Demon. The Six was failed by the Superior Spider-Man at Horizon Labs after they tried to steal weather control devices. The new Spider-Man was particularly harsh in his beating Boomerang, as he intended to kill the crook as a warning to all other criminals. (Superior Spider-Man #1)

Appears In...

Here is the Full Appearance List (42 Apps) for Boomerang.

By Dave Sippel (E-Mail)