The Howling Commandos is the name of several fictional groups appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team also appears in the franchises developed for other media.
Occasional other members would join for an issue or two before being killed, transferred, or otherwise leaving (such as Fred Jones in issue #81). Also daringly for the time, the series killed Fury's girlfriend, British nurse Pamela Hawley, introduced in issue #4 and killed in a Londonair raid in #18.
A second Howling Commandos team was introduced in the 2005 series Nick Fury's Howling Commandos as a supernatural unit that works for S.H.I.E.L.D. Its members were:
Frankenstein: An intelligent clone of the original Frankenstein's Monster. How this process did not produce different clones of the various individual body parts making up the original Monster was briefly mentioned in issue #1. The response was "Don't go there".
Gorilla-Man I: A previously existing character. Kenneth Hale is a man trapped in a gorilla's body. He is now a member of the Agents of Atlas.
John Doe: A zombie depicted as having normal human-level intelligence, in contrast to other zombie characters in the Marvel universe.
A third group of "Commandos" are introduced in Mighty Avengers #13. After discovering the Skrull invasion, Nick Fury assembles a team made up of the offspring of various superheroes and supervillains. This team members are:
Quake: Former S.H.I.E.L.D. member and daughter of Mister Hyde. She possesses the power to create earthquake like vibrations.
Phobos: The ten-year-old son of Ares. He possesses the power to cause fear in others by looking in their eyes.
Druid: The son of Doctor Druid who has inherited some of his father's skill with magic.
Yo-Yo: The daughter of the Griffin. She can run at superhuman speed and bounces back to the point where she began running.
Hellfire: The grandson of the Phantom Rider. He is able to charge a chain with fire to wield as a weapon.
Stonewall: Son of the Absorbing Man. Daisy Johnson bails him out of jail after he is imprisoned for hitting a cop. Possesses superhuman strength. Very little so far has been revealed about the character.
Dark Reign
In Secret Warriors #4 and #5 as seen during the Dark Reign storyline, it is revealed that 1200 S.H.I.E.L.D. agents refused to join H.A.M.M.E.R. following Norman Osborn's rise to power. Under the leadership of Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones, they became a private military company which is hired by Nick Fury to fight against both Hydra and H.A.M.M.E.R.
Black Ops version
A new incarnation of the Howling Commandos is ordered to apprehend the Punisher after he relocates to Los Angeles. The black ops version is led by Sidewinder and its members include Ruby Red, Myers, and Buzzkill.[1]
Phil Coulson's Howling Commandos
Phil Coulson later formed his version of the Howling Commandos to combat Dormammu's Mindless Plague.
The team consisted of:
In Fury and Fury: Peacemaker by Garth Ennis, the Howling Commandos were an OSS special operations unit created by Fury and modeled after the SAS. Most of the unit's lineup were wiped out following D-Day, and only Fury and two other members survived (one of whom is most likely Dum-Dum Dugan, who appears in Fury MAX).
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Howling Commandos were a US Army Ranger unit, escorting an imprisoned Wolverine during the Gulf War. The convoy was attacked by the Iraqi Republican Guard, killing all but Fury. Dum-Dum Dugan appears in the present day, hinting that he was elsewhere at the time.[citation needed]
During the Ultimate X-Men comic, Nick Fury dispatches a special S.H.I.E.L.D. unit to protect the Triskelion from elements of the Academy of Tomorrow, who came to break out one of their own.[citation needed]
During the Secret Wars storyline, a variation of the Howling Commandos resides in the Battleworld domain of Monster Metropolis which is located beneath the Kingdom of Manhattan. It consists of Frankenstein's Monster, Invisible Man, Man-Thing, Marcus the Centaur, N'Kantu the Living Mummy, and Werewolf by Night.[9]
