Marauders
Former Group Names: None.
Alignment: Evil
Status: Defunct
Purpose Classification: Mercenaries/Assassins. The Marauders are employed by Sinister to kill any he deems necessary for his experiments and perceived direction of natural selection.
Internal Structure: Pack mentality. The Marauders are a group of violent, selfish and deadly mercenaries who only respect power and strength. Most of the current crop of Marauders are actually now clones of originals and completely dependent on Sinister, if not wholly loyal to him. In combat they generally take orders from the field leader, who is effectively the most deadly and powerful member. Sabretooth first led the group during the Mutant Massacre, but leadership transferred to Malice (operating in Polaris's body) before Inferno. Following Malice's separation from Polaris, Scalphunter was given control of the group. He appeared to consolidate his position by taking Arclight as his lover, since his own physical skills were not a match for some of his subordinates.
Modus Operandi:The Marauders specialize in wholesale slaughter, using their powers to track and kill their victims. While they work well in stealthy infiltration, they usually try to overwhelm their targets with rapid volleys and Arclight's ground smashes to cause fear and disorientation and limit resistance.
Leader(s) and Membership:
Leader
 Sinister |
Recruiter
 Gambit |
Final Members
# = Field Leader
 Arclight |  Blockbuster |  Harpoon |  Prizm |
 Riptide |  Scalphunter # |  Scrambler |  Vertigo |
Former Members
 Sabretooth # |  Malice # |  Polaris |
** Marauders' real names (within the profiles) provided by Shac, ostensibly from the Wolverine Encyclopedia.
Relevant Activities:
Mission 1: Kill the Morlocks This deadly group of mutants was responsible for one of the greatest tragedies to befall
mutantkind: The Morlock Massacre. Assembled by Gambit
on Sinister's orders, the Marauders (led by Sabretooth at the time) were let into the Morlock tunnels, where they commenced a slaughter. The X-Men and X-Factor tried to stop the killing, but were themselves
gravely injured. Riptide wounded Shadowcat, Colossus and Nightcrawler before Colossus snapped his neck, while Blockbuster and Harpoon impaled Angel's wings to a wall, eventually leading to his conversion to Death I/Archangel. Years later, Sinister revealed that his motivation for the massacre was to thin the gene pool and eliminate the weaker mutants so the stronger genomes could flourish without being diluted.
Mission 2: Kidnap Chris Summers Since Sabretooth was presumed killed by Wolverine in the Alley, and was unavailable for months afterward, Sinister recruited Malice to lead his team. They were sent to San Francisco where they kidnaped Christopher Summers (who would become Cable) and they nearly killed Madelyne Pryor, his mother.
Mission 3: Inferno The X-Men, under the influence of the Goblin Night, found the Marauders in New York and attacked them. Most of the Marauders were killed. However, since their DNA remained in Sinister's records, they are cloned time and again in his service.
Mission 4: Recover Threnody Sinister sent the Marauders, now led by Scalphunter, to recover Threnody, who was on the run with X-Man.
Other Incarnations:
London, 1859:
The Marauders of 1859 were a group of criminals led by Cootie Tremble that preyed upon the weak, stealing from and even killing them. When they tried to mug Nathaniel Essex, he recognized a utility in their viciousness and offered them money to work for him.
Age of Apocalypse:
The Marauders were human assassins who used advanced technology provided by Apocalypse to put down the human resistance to the High Lord's rule.
Members:
 Arcade |  Dirigible |  Red |  Owl |
Mutant X:
Jubilee's gang
The End: