- "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to welcome you to this historic matchup between the S.H.I.E.L.D. Eagles and us, rivals and underdogs, the... Slicing... Talons?"
- ―Calvin Zabo[src]
The Slicing Talons were a team of supervillains created and led by Calvin Zabo from people listed on the Index.
History[]
Zabo's Vengeance[]
- "S.H.I.E.L.D.... Nah, not so mighty anymore. A handful of agents. Director is a door-to-door salesman of a man."
"Still, I'm... I'm not powerful myself."
"None of us are. But together, we're a force." - ―Calvin Zabo and Karla Faye Gideon[src]
Skye, Calvin Zabo's biological daughter, felt that her father was a monster[1] and wanted nothing to do with him, especially after she saw him beating the man she loved like a father, Phil Coulson. Zabo, who already hated S.H.I.E.L.D. because HYDRA agents in that organization helped in the death of his wife Jiaying,[2] grew jealous of Coulson and promised Skye that after she transformed to an Inhuman that S.H.I.E.L.D. would not know how to handle her.[3] Learning from Raina that Skye had transformed, Zabo began the process of forming his own team of supervillains, choosing people from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Index who were, in his opinion, mistreated by the organization because they had a power.[4] He believed that this would be his best chance to show her what S.H.I.E.L.D. did to people like her, who are different.
Zabo's first recruit was master hacker Wendell Levi, whom he found in the Mojave Desert. Levi had a chip implanted in his arm that prevented him from getting too close to technology. Zabo removed the chip and Levi decrypted the Index for him.
Zabo then used the Index to find and recruit Francis Noche, a former mob enforcer who gained enhanced strength after taking experimental steroids. Then he located and recruited Karla Faye Gideon, a former nurse with razors permanently grafted onto her fingers. Zabo's final recruit is David Angar, a man who gained a catatonia-inducing voice from an experimental cancer treatment. Angar was in a prison beneath the Brynmore Psychiatric Facility. Zabo had the others free Angar as he left taunting clues for Coulson as to where he wanted a showdown.
Zabo took his team to a high school in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where Robert Coulson, Phil's father, worked prior to his death. Stopping at a diner, Zabo explained to them why he wanted revenge and the group sympathized with his plight; they decided that S.H.I.E.L.D. and Phil Coulson needed to be taught a lesson.
At the school's football field, the restraining mask worn by Angar was removed. Upon Zabo, Levi, Noche, and Gideon placing headphones onto their heads, Angar released a scream that caused the cheerleaders and athletes to fall into a state of catatonia. It was so powerful birds crash-landed on the field. The super villains then waited for Coulson's arrival.
Coulson brought Bobbi Morse with him and called Melinda May for assistance. May took the Bus from the Playground to the high school, but she, in her haste to help, brought Skye and Andrew Garner without their permission. Though Skye wanted to help, May and Garner felt that she could not handle the emotional trauma a battle with her father would create because her power to make tremors was emotionally-based. Skye convinced the two that her presence could be used as an advantage.
Zabo used a microphone to taunt Coulson onto the football field; Morse hid beneath the bleachers to act as a surprise. When the newly named "Slicing Talons," except Gideon who was with a group of catatonic students on the bleachers, took the field to confront Coulson, May displayed Skye at gunpoint. This caused Zabo to hesitate for his daughter's safety and to explain his motives to Coulson and for all to hear over the microphone. Zabo then passed the microphone to Angar, asking him to scream. However, before Angar made a sound, Gordon showed up. After getting a look at Skye, he teleported Zabo off the field of combat.
This confused the Slicing Talons who were now without their leader. Gideon then took command and ordered an attack. May told Garner to take Skye away from the field, but she only went a few yards before she stopped to watch the battle.
Gideon was surprised by Morse and the two fought. Coulson incapacitated Angar removing the team's most dangerous member. May faced Noche in unarmed combat.
Skye watched as Coulson attacked Levi who begged for Coulson not to hit him. Skye saw the ferocity that Coulson displayed and an earthquake began. All stopped fighting and turned their attention to the girl. Suddenly, the quakes ceased as Skye internalized her power.
With the exception of Zabo who was taken as a prisoner to Afterlife, the rest of the members of the Slicing Talons were apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D..[5]
Members[]
Name | Position | Status |
---|---|---|
Calvin Zabo | Leader | Alive |
Wendell Levi | Member | In Custody |
Francis Noche | Member | In Custody |
Karla Faye Gideon | Member | In Custody |
David Angar | Member | In Custody |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Slicing Talons are the first supervillain team to be featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, loosely following a vein similar to that of various comic book organizations like the Masters of Evil, the Sinister Six, and the Frightful Four.