DIAMONDBACK

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Real Name: Rachel Leighton
Aliases: None
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Former agent of SHIELD, Mercenary
Citizenship: United States Citizen with a Criminal Record
Place of Birth: Austin, Texas
Known Relatives: Mrs. Leighton (mother), Daniel Leighton (brother), Ricky Leighton (brother, deceased), Willy Leighton (brother, deceased), Frank Schlichting (fiancé, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Serpent Society, BAD Girls, Inc.
First Appearance: Captain America #310
History: Born in Austin, Texas, Rachel Leighton spent most of her years in Lower East Side of New York, along with her brothers Danny “Cutthroat” and Ricky, who were members of a violent gang by a man named “Bing.” When Rachel had made an effort to join the gang, she was violently beaten, and apparently raped by the man known as “Bing.” Bing would go on to be the deadly mercenary far better known as “Crossbones.”

Determined to become something, Rachel later adopted the name “Diamondback” and began training as one of Taskmaster’s villain academies, where she received training from Anaconda. Rachel was an expert in hand-to-hand combat, gymnastics, and thrown weaponry, and knew how to use her seductive measures to her benefits. She used diamond-shaped projectiles which either exploded, were laced with acid or poison.

Recruited into the Serpent Society, Diamondback was a part of their first mission – to find and terminate M.O.D.O.K. which they’d successfully done – but that battle had brought them into conflict with Captain America, whom after fighting him, had become smitten with him. She picked up an assignment from the villain Porcupine to take down Captain America, but this in truth had been a trap, as Porcupine had retired from being a villain. Upon realizing it was a trap, Diamondback threw one of her diamonds and badly damaged Porcupine’s costume. So enraged that his last thing he owned had been so badly damaged he’d tried to attack Diamondback, but was fatally wounded by his own costume, and died. This had bought time for the Serpent Society to escape.

Diamondback would once again run into Captain America when she alerted him that there’d been villains seeking the Bloodstones, formerly worn by Ulysses Bloodstone. Together, they fought Batroc, Machete, Zaran and Baron Zemo. Diamondback would once again encounter Crossbones, who captured her and imprisoned her for a short time before she had managed to escape.

Captain America and Diamondback would eventually go on their first date, as civilians, protected by Anaconda, Asp, and Black Mamba, who ensured no villains would interrupt their date. However, it was just after that, that Diamondback fought the Avenger, Black Widow, who was unaware that Diamondback was no longer truly a villain.

Diamondback would later help form, BAD Girls, Inc. along with Black Mamba and Asp, though it was short lived. She would eventually, yet again, be captured by Crossbones who kidnapped her, starved her, and abused her, until she agreed to steal packages of Captain America’s blood. She did so and Red Skull used her to ensure that she would not betray him, by injecting a sample of Captain America’s blood into hers – which greatly increased her physical abilities, but had also made her unstable. Diamondback, during one of the missions, killed Superia’s agent, Snapdragon. Diamondback went to Superia for help, and agreed to serve as the new Snapdragon after being cured. However, Superia would later be (apparently) killed by Red Skull, which released Diamondback from that obligation.

Diamondback became a member of the Initiative, during Civil War. When Camp Hammond was shut down and turned into Camp HAMMER by Norman Osborn, she joined (but in truth, she was an inside agent for the Avengers). She developed a relationship with Constrictor during this time, who discovered the truth about her. When she assured him that her feelings for him were sincere and not a part of the operation, he kept her secret, fearful she might get killed if the truth were discovered.

Diamondback served as an agent of SHIELD, working closely with Dum Dum Dugan, before retiring with her fiancé, Constrictor, who had also retired. However, their peaceful life would be tragically cut short, since Frank passed away from a terminal illness.

The new Viper (Jordan Stryke) found Diamondback struggling and recruited her into the new “Serpent Society” that he dubbed “Serpent Solutions.” Part of their mission was taking down Captain America, who ironically had come to her seeking information about the Serpent Solutions’ activities. She revealed she was a part of them and helped in the ambush and took Captain America down. She opposed the idea of killing him and in the end, switched sides again, and helped Captain America and his ally, Joaquín Torres, defeat Serpent Solutions.

She reappeared, yet again, working for Serpent Society.

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 142 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown, Dyed Pink

Powers: Originally, Diamondback had no super powers until being given a blood transfusion with the blood of Captain America, which then granted her peak human abilities, including strength, stamina, speed, reflexes and agility.

Note: She is an expert at gymnastics, and an Olympic-level athlete as well as an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, including the use of jujitsu.

She also learned Egyptian, thanks to her friend and former teammate, Asp, and is able to speak and understand it, though not able to speak it fluently.

Weapons: Diamondback wields a number of four inch diamond-shaped throwing spikes that she calls “diamonds”, and though they appear to look like diamonds, they are not. The “diamonds” are used to explode on impact, contain poison and/or powerful acidic material, all of which has proven lethal.