Silver Sable

Background

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Powers & Abilities

Silver Sable is a highly skilled martial artist, acrobat, markswoman, gymnast, climber, fencer, parachutist, stealth and intrusion expert, and commando – among other talents. She also has media training and is an experienced mission planner and business manager.

Her strength, reflexes, perceptiveness, endurance, agility, pain tolerance, hand-eye coordination, etc. are all very high, though closer to a cinematic  level than a super-heroic level. She was, for instance, clearly outmatched by a late 1980s Sabretooth.

She can afford hiring the best trainers, including Japanese martial arts expert such as ninja. her extensive daily training routine always includes full contact sparring, often with blunt weapons.

Sable is also fluent in at least four languages (Symkarian, Japanese, French and English). She further developed a useful network of contacts and informers over the years.

At this stage Silver Sable is vastly superior to any number of ordinary troops or goons, and can take on these without breaking a sweat. However, she’s limited by her lack of offensive power. If her opponent is bulletproof or too difficult to hit, there isn’t much she can do except run and try to find something in the environment she can use against them.

Likewise she can’t take a lot of hits. This further encourages her to fight defensively unless she knows she outmatches her opponents. Nevertheless she is very confident and almost always assumes that she’ll prevail in the end.

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In charge

Though Sable is much more dangerous than her operatives, she seldom works in the field at the beginning of this era. She feels that this is beneath her, and will only do so when circumstances encourage this. For instance when she is short on manpower, needs to bolster SSI’s success rate, or gets offered a huge bonus if she handles the case personally.

By 1989 or so, it has become normal for her to lead Wild Pack units in the field. The reasons for this change aren’t stated.

Since in the US Sable works out of the Symkarian embassy, and has something of an official position, it is likely that she has some sort of diplomatic status. However, there isn’t any reference to this in the material during this era, so we have left it out of our game stats.

Main weapons

Sable uses distinctive metallic throwing weapons of her invention, called “chai”. These are flat disks with the front machined into trident-shaped blades. A skilled user can throw them either as edged or blunt weapons. These are often described as being half-moon shaped.

She has 6 of those on her belt – chai are fairly large, and are normally thrown one at a time. She carries her chai belt whenever there’s a faint chance of conflict. As time goes by she gradually adds more chai to her costume – 4 on a bandoleer around her right biceps, then 5 on a garter bandoleer.

When in the field, Sable will also pack two pistols in shoulder holsters. These vaguely resemble lighter .45s of that time such as the Colt Combat Commander, with a satin nickel finish and custom pearl grips. They can be loaded with comic book “mercy bullets” whenever needed.

Sable once refers to her pistol as a gyrojet weapon. Yet it behaves just like an ordinary firearm and this is never mentioned again.

Other equipment

Our game stats assume that the tight silvery jumpsuit she wears in the field includes layers of bullets-resistant and fireproof fabrics. Back then that would presumably be Kevlar™ and Nomex™. However, that is not demonstrated in the material.

The costume includes a small set of lockpicks hidden in the collar. The headband is occasionally laced with hidden explosives that can only be detonated using focused heat, such as a laser. The headband has also been used as a makeshift bandage or as an improvised brace for a damaged ankle.

Sable carries specialised equipment when needed, such as intrusion gear or syringes with interrogation serum. She also occasionally has:

• A backup switchblade.
• Throwing knives.
• Smoke grenades.
• Handcuffs.
• Binoculars.
• A fake tooth with a tiny laser built in.
• Knockout gas grenades.
• And perhaps some sort of silent concussive grenade (it… wasn’t clear).

She also once produced a collapsible MANPAD  – or perhaps a guided rocket launcher. When collapsed this weapon can be held in a small backpack and somehow looks like a very large pistol. One assumes that Pym particles are involved.

The Wild Pack

See the organisation profile for Silver Sable International.

The usual chronological nonsense

Silver Sable is one of the Marvel characters with clear chronological to World War Two. She thus brings to a painful halt the official “heroic age forever starts 10-12 year ago” stance. Again.

Using the writeups.org methodology, based on publication dates, things are much more straightforward. The Wild Pack is founded in 1945, and Sable’s father is aged perhaps 25 at this point. A likely date of birth for Silver is the late 1950s — say, 1958 — if we assume it occurred late in her father’s life.

Since Silver seems to be at most 20 when she takes over the Pack, this means that her father is killed in the late 1970s. The creation of the Silver Sable International structure and the repurposing of the Wild Pack presumably occur circa 1980.

This means that Silver Sable is 27 or so when she first appears in 1985, which sounds about right. At this point, being a super-hero comic book character, she starts ageing in very slow motion.

See our León Genetic Sequence article for more about comic book ageing, sliding time scales, publication dates, etc..

History

At this stage, Silver Sable is known to be daughter of a Symkarian man who founded the Wild Pack. The Pack is a military organisation dedicated to hunting down Nazi war criminals.

Her mother was gunned down by unspecified terrorists when she was 7. This lastingly scarring her psyche and made her hair go grey and then silver. Ever since the death of her mother, Silver was marked by anger issues.

Her father was absent for most of Silver’s youth. He was constantly leading Wild Pack missions abroad. He also was exceedingly demanding about the adolescent Sable’s training regimen, treating her coldly even by Symkarian standards.

She was mostly raised by her uncle Mortimer, also a Wild Pack employee. She lived in luxury, in a manor with manservants. One of the maids, named Madeline, is still working for her during this era.

When she was about 16, she changed her legal name to Silver Sable.

Sable is also known to have been married to the world’s best assassin – the Foreigner.

Silver Sable International

As the number of wanted Nazis dwindled, Sable repurposed the Wild Pack into a for-profit corporation called Silver Sable international. This presumably took place circa 1980. SSI became a mercenary outfit. It generally takes contracts to capture high-value targets such as major international criminals, and is known for its professionalism.

It is also the major source of foreign revenue for its tiny homeland, though many Symkarian old-timers resent the mercenary outlook Sable gave to the Wild Pack. In Sable’s assessment, Symkaria’s economy isn’t sustainable without the money her activities bring, and the country would be much poorer without SSI money.

Silver Sable International chiefly works for :

• Large international insurance companies.
• Countries that cannot afford extensive intelligence services and special ops troops.
• Other organisations issuing large bounties.

The Fox and the Spider

In 1985 SSI was chasing international jewel thief the Black Fox (Raul Chalmers) in New York City, in cooperation with the NYPD. However, Spider-Man misunderstood the situation and his intervention allowed Black Fox to get away.

The Wild Pack found their quarry a second time, but Spider-Man again let Black Fox slip away – though he pick-pocketed the gem Chalmers had stolen. Spidey then handed the jewel over to Silver Sable. Sable was satisfied that the bounty for the gem was worth her while and apparently did not pursue Black Fox further. Presumably, this would have not been cost-effective.

Sable developed an interest in Spider-Man’s extraordinary capabilities during this case. She soon approached him to hire him. However, while financially distressed, Spider-Man was very reluctant to work with a ruthless bounty hunter such as Sable. He declined… this time.

Jack O’Lantern

In 1986, the Pack went after brutal mercenary Jack O’Lantern (Jason Macendale). Macendale thrashed the entire tactical team, leaving several men critically wounded.

Discovering the carnage, Silver Sable was left short on manpower. Yet having more men transferred from Symkaria to the New York City embassy would lead to political difficulties back home. Upon learning that Spider-Man had fought Jack O’Lantern in the past, she decided to handle the matter herself and find a way to have Spider-Man back her up.

While awaiting for an answer from Spider-Man, Sable randomly ran into a New York robbery, during which a passerby was gunned down in front of her child. Painfully reminded of the similar loss of her mother, Sable found herself compelled to intervene – even though there was no money in it, which was contrary to her every principle.

After stopping half the gang, she tracked down the remainder. She wanted the murderer’s hide. As it turned out, this led to a confrontation with Jack O’Lantern and his men, who had been tracking her. Sable captured Macendale’s men and forced him to flee.

She then had something of an episode, savagely beating up the passerby’s murderer as symbolic revenge for the death of her own mother.

Sinister Syndicate, first encounter

Silver Sable did secure Spider-Man’s assistance. Peter Parker needed to raise money for the legal defence of Flash Thompson, who was wrongly accused of being the Hobgoblin. On his end, Macendale hired the whole Sinister Syndicate, and even Spider-Man and Silver Sable found themselves outgunned.

However, the Sandman (William Baker) joined the fight out of hatred against Sinister Syndicate member Hydro-Man. Spider-Man quit during the fight as he wanted to help the Sandman despite Silver Sable’s orders, thus losing his pay. Sable then made a recruitment offer to the Sandman.

She was successful, and the powerful Sandman started regularly working for SSI.

Sinister Syndicate, second encounter

The Syndicate soon resurfaced – in Europe, and more specifically in Belgriun. They had been hired as muscle for a successful pro-democracy coup, deposing the tyrannical monarch. But they also served secret interests looking to loot the royal treasury.

SSI was approached and took the contract, though Sable’s motivation was actually to prevent the King’s daughter from being killed or orphaned. Spider-Man reluctantly agreed to join, and Sandman was hired.

Silver Sable rescued the King and his daughter from Hydro-Man. Meanwhile, Spider-Man discovered that the real paymaster of the Syndicate was Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus was caught in the destruction of the royal castle, and Silver Sable shot down the helicopter carrying away the loot. This scattered the riches pillaged by the King all across the area.

J. Jonah Jameson hired Sable some months later to apprehend Spider-Man. She took the contract for one million. One attempt by her agents failed, and Silver Sable then dropped the contract. Apparently she had been requested to do so by her ex-husband, the Foreigner – who was also clashing with Spidey. What happened exactly remains unrevealed.

Trick shots and red skulls

In 1987, Silver Sable International was retained by the French government to help with the capture of international hitman Trick Shot. SSI intelligence revealed that Trick Shot had ties to Hawkeye (Clint Barton), whom he had recently challenged to a duel. Sable decided to use the archer Avenger as her lead to Trick Shot.

She illegally arrested Hawkeye, knowing that he would be able to escape then take her and her men to Trick Shot. However, Trick Shot abducted Hawkeye right as he escaped from the castle where Sable’s unit was based. After a discussion with Hawkeye, Trick Shot surrendered to be imprisoned and receive medical care in France.

Sable having been quite impressed by Hawkeye’s skill, she retained his services. The job was to arrest the Red Skull impostor (Albert Malik) in Algeria, and free a SSI agent who had been captured during a previous attempt. She also retained the services of French crime-fighter Peregrine (Alain Racine), who regularly worked for SSI.

Racine and Barton successfully arrested the Red Skull and rescued the agent, who turned out to be the Sandman.

As Hawkeye was leaving, he ran into terrorists holding part of the airport hostage. Silver Sable reluctantly agreed to help along with the Sandman for a symbolic sum, as she was interested in the bounties on the terrorists’ heads.

Death trap !

In 1988 the Wild Pack was hired to test the security of new business building in Manhattan. The client’s head of security insisted that she conduct an intrusion test personally. However, Spider-Man discovered that it was a trap. The security man was a Nazi attempting to gain revenge against the Wild Pack for the arrest of his father years before.

Spider-Man warned Sable in time, and SSI was for the first time in years hired to hunt a Nazi, to Sable’s satisfaction. However, the Wild Pack fire team that found their quarry was repelled with heavy casualties. Sable again hired the Sandman and the Spider-Man to help her deal with enemy infantry and armor. This mission was successful.

Sable then had the Sandman raid an arms deal between Madame Menace and Doctor Octopus. The mission half-failed as neither criminal could be captured.

Taking care of business

In 1989, SSI was hired to get proof of a money laundering operation. She hired Spider-Man to fake a robbery of the launderer’s townhouse. Her goal was to scare him into checking that his other safe locations had not been compromised. This in turn would lead Silver to the secret safe holding the documents she was after.

The ploy worked, but Spider-Man was photographed during the “robbery”. A number of adventurers reacted violently to his apparent crimes for personal reasons – Rocket Racer, Will O’ the Wisp, Puma and the Prowler.

They separately tracked Spidey down and ended up engaging Silver Sable, the Sandman and Spider-Man in a huge melee. The air was eventually cleared, and after ensuring that the documents would be transferred to the client Silver Sable handed over business cards to the assembled costumes as potential hires.

A few months later, SSI intelligence found clues about some sort of plot against Symkaria, likely targeting the King’s silver jubilee celebration. For the American part of the investigation Sable hired the mercenary Paladin.

Spider-Man accidentally interfered with Paladin’s investigation. He offered his services out of contrition. The investigation led to criminal survivalist corporation the Life Foundation. Sable discovered that they had been contracted to hide an assassin in the US right after the Symkarian royal jubilee.

Though Paladin had to leave, Sable hired Spider-Man to help with the security back in Symkaria. It was eventually discovered that the men targeting King Stefan of Symkaria were ULTIMATUM operatives. They benefited from the help of a traitor, the ambitious Prime Minister Limka.

An ULTIMATUM assault on the palace resulted in the deaths of Limka and Princess Vivian. Clues were found incriminating the CIA as likely backers of the plot.

With Captain America’s help, it was ultimately revealed that everything was a machination by the Red Skull (Johann Shmidt) to trigger a cold war between Symkaria and the US. This would have been a problem even for the US given the skill of the Symkarian military’s assassination squads – but Cap and Spider-Man defused the situation.

Men of war

In 1990, Silver Sable International was hired by the Bosqueverdian government to kidnap ex-mercenary Marc Spector. Spector had been instrumental years before in launching the reign of terror of dictator Emmanuel Raposa in Bosqueverde.

Spector managed to repel Sandman and evade Silver Sable and Paladin, but eventually surrendered. SSI transferred him to Bosqueverdian intelligence in New Jersey.

Some months later, SSI learned that the unofficial amnesty granted by the US to Nazi war criminal Wolfgang von Lundt was falling apart. They moved in. Von Lundt was losing American protection due to his vendetta with the aged adventurer Dominic Fortune (Duvid Fortunov), whose son Jerry he murdered.

The Nazi hired numerous mercenaries to eliminate witnesses who could incriminate him, including Fortunov. Silver Sable had the Wild Pack move in pro bono, since it was another chance to resume her father’s mission.

With Spider-Man’s help a Wild Pack fire team led by Sable defeated von Lundt’s mercenaries at one of the witnesses’ place. They then helped Fortunov and his mercs repel another assault. The joint forces cornered von Lundt and overcame his troops, but the criminal escaped.

Fortunov and his men found him but were defeated. However Spider-Man, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack came in in time to save the day.

Outlaws

In 1991, Silver assembled most of her costumed contractors as the Outlaws — Sandman, Paladin, Prowler and Rocket Racer — to recover Symkarian technology stolen by a British lab. The muscle was there as she expected to run into Excalibur. Her guess proved correct, as Captain Britain had ties to that laboratory.

During the fight it became clear that the head researcher of the lab was actually an Arnim Zola bio-construct. The two teams allied to stop experimental clones from rampaging, and bring the stolen tech under control.

Silver Sable later assembled the Outlaws (this time Prowler, Rocket Racer and Will O’ the Wisp) to free a hostage in Québec, as Sandman was reported to have sided with the opposition.

As it turned out, Sandman was trying to infiltrate the terrorists to prove that he wasn’t a criminal after his poor stint with the Avengers. But he handled it daftly and ended up fighting the Outlaws. He nevertheless helped save the hostage, and Silver rehired him.

Fear itself

In early 1992, a former Nazi footsoldier on his deathbed volunteered information to the Wild Pack. He told them about a discussion he had overheard as a guard in Hitler’s bunker.

According to him, some hours before his death the Führer promised to Baron Heinrich Zemo that he would enjoy immortality. From context, Hitler was referring to a process similar to the one he employed to come back as the Hate Monger.

This clue uncomfortably matched intelligence about a new terrorist financier called the Baroness, who had been active since 1990. She had alleged to be Baron Heinrich Zemo reborn.

SSI investigated and attempted to stop the Baroness’ agents from stealing from Osborn Chemicals in the US. But Silver and her team were defeated by the White Ninja.

Since the stolen chemicals could be used as a WMD, Silver Sable recruited Spider-Man to accompany her to Bavaria and investigate the Baroness. The Wild Pack raid very nearly failed, but the plans of the Baroness were defeated in the nick of time, preventing a major global terrorist strike.

Description

At this point, Sable is still drawn as being about half a head shorter than most men, such as the 5’10” Spider-Man. But she gradually gets drawn taller, gaining an inch or two over this era.

Some early art depicts her with features and a hairdo reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe.

As she represents Silver Sable International, Sable makes a show of wealth, class and confidence when in public. She’s always dressed in flattering silver dresses or jumpsuits with matching accessories. She is driven around in a silver Rolls by a chauffeur – unless she’s driving her Ferrari.

She has an ample designer wardrobe, all in white and pale silver tones. Generally she has something of a playgirl/glamour star lifestyle — or at least the comics book perception of same — but this side of the character’s look-and-feel gradually recedes during this era.

Personality

At this point, Silver Sable is primarily presented as being extremely businesslike and hard-nosed. She runs her operations with a strong emphasis on minimising her costs and maximising her profits.

She is extraordinarily demanding, and will react very poorly if her and her operatives do not meet the highest standards of performance. Her methods will become ruthless whenever she thinks this is necessary to protect her country, as she puts her staunch patriotism above her principles.

Patriotism seems to be Silver’s core motivation. Yes, at first and second glance she seems entirely motivated by raking in as much dough as possible. But the point is that the money goes into her country’s coffers and allows it not to live in poverty and squalor.

Attacks against her country can make her downright brutal, and she is much more likely to react violently to those than to maintain her usual cool.

Cold as metal

Silver is also famous for being ice-cold, pushy, in charge and not caring about anything but her margins and displaying very little empathy even for her own troops. She normally refuses to do anything unless properly compensated. She will seem positively heartless to non-Symkarians – by Symkarian standards she is merely hard-nosed.

However, she will sometimes do a small gesture, such as agreeing to assist Hawkeye for $1 (though she knew that she could make money off bounties by doing so). She also has a well-hidden soft spot when it comes to protecting children.

Sable has an anger problem ever since the death of her mother, which was stoked by the absence of her father. It is not readily apparent, though – to almost everyone it seems that she’s just an authoritarian, heartless hard-arse. By the mid-1980s she has matured enough that it is very unlikely that her anger will affect her decisions.

However, if one of her red buttons — a child losing their mother or the safety of her country — is pushed, it is possible that she will go amok.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

Sable lives a high glamour lifestyle of luxury, designer clothing, handsome wealthy men courting her, prestigious social events, etc.. She is a C-list celeb who can appear on TV when needed. This is presumably a mean to be in contact with potential clients, though she enjoys it for its own sake.

Sable likes Spider-Man (Peter Parker), but he also annoys her. His strong principles and good intentions have a tendency to derail her operations as Spidey objects to her more ruthless decisions and can’t tell when she’s bluffing.

She’ll often chew him off for being naïve and an amateur, and/or threaten to drop him like an old sock after he takes unwelcome initiatives during an operation.

Sable is stated to have an “old enemy” regularly trying to kill her, though no identity is given yet. She is also known to have been married to the Foreigner. At this point they seem estranged but not on completely awful terms.

Writer Peter David apparently intended to introduce a sinister side to Sable through the Foreigner connection, but that was not followed up.

Quotes

(Surveying a badly wounded Wild Pack fire team) “So many casualties. This is bound to raise my medical insurance rates.”

Silver Sable (facing the Sinister Syndicate): “This is terrible, Spider-Man ! The night is turning out so much worse than I ever imagined !”
Spider-Man: “Do the odds concern you ?”
Silver Sable: “No, the foes ! There isn’t a decent bounty among them !”

“Form on me ! Single file ! Now !”

“I did what was necessary ! If you object to my methods, I suggest we discuss it later !”

“King Stefan is vital to the Symkarian people. If he were to be killed, their spirit could be broken. Symkaria could sink into a new dark age.”

“I am as my father made me. Silver in spirit – all colour drained from me, all emotions wiped clean. Sable in form – fierce and supple in body.”

“Inform his widow that her husband’s negligence resulted in the death of two agents and serious injury to another. His benefits will be denied her and her family.”

“Silver Sable International is the cornerstone of Symkaria’s economy. For my country… I do what I must.”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Helper(s): Capita_Senyera.

Writeup completed on the 30^th of June, 2013.