A mercenary for hire, Raoul Bushman gains a reputation as a brutal killer. Leading drug and arms trades, he often finds himself going up against his former mercenary ally, the vigilante Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight!
Brutal Life
Born in the small African nation Burunda, Raoul Armand Bushman grows up in a Domi tribe of farmers, but at a young age, Bushman’s family is driven off their land. Bushman grows to hate the indignity his family suffers and turns to violence, operating as a mercenary and terrorist for hire.
To strike fear into his enemies, Bushman gives himself a “death’s head” facial tattoo and fits his jaws with steel teeth. Bushman works alongside other mercenaries including Marc Spector and JeanPaul DuChamp, AKA Frenchie, but both men feel unsettled by Bushman’s needlessly brutal methods.
While in the Sudan, Bushman leads a raid on Selima, near where archeologist Dr. Peter Alraune had unearthed Seti III’s tomb. Bushman hopes to plunder the tomb for its gold, and when Dr. Alraune tries to murder Bushman from behind, Spector reflexively shouts a warning; Bushman tears out Alraune’s throat with his steel teeth. Appalled, Spector helps Alraune’s daughter, Marlene, escape Bushman’s forces. When Bushman begins mass executions of Selima’s populace, Spector turns on him, but Bushman bests him, then dumps him in the Sudan desert to die. Spector comes across upon Seti III’s tomb and the Egyptian god Chons, AKA Khonshu, picks him as his instrument of vengeance, adopting the Moon Knight identity. Alongside Frenchie and Marlene, Moon Knight decimates Bushman’s army and drives him from Selima.
Brutal Combatant
Bushman is an adept swordsman, marksman, and unarmed combatant. He has extensive experience in guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics. He often wields firearms, swords, and knives. His jaws are lined with sharpened steel teeth that he also uses in combat.
Arch Enemies
After Marc Spector receives power endowed by Khonshu, Bushman grows jealous and believes that Spector owes him for his origin. He often goes after Spector through any means and especially targets Spector’s love interest and confidant Marlene.
After conquering the nation of Burunda and setting up a drug trade, Bushman faces a rival drug cartel who hires the mercenary Gordon Campbell, AKA Arsenal. Bushman in turn hires Spector but is soon betrayed and his army defeated by Spector and the nation’s locals.
Mercenary Allies
Bushman gathers fellow mercenaries and minions to order around and do his bidding, even goes so far as to coordinate a coup. He gives himself titles that enable him to rule over whole nations like Burunda.
A History of Violent Acts
To rebuild his following, Bushman eventually resurfaced in Harlem, New York, operating in drug trafficking and gambling. Bushman confronted Moon Knight, but was badly beaten and left for the police. Escaping custody, Bushman became convinced Moon Knight owed his origin to him, not Khonshu, and decided to prove the point. Knowing that Spector had a strong affinity toward Khonshu’s statue, which he brought to Manhattan from the Selima tomb, Bushman hired the Midnight Man to steal the statue from Spector’s mansion. When Moon Knight finally located the statue, Bushman destroyed it with explosives; believing he derived power and purpose from the statue, Spector went insane until Marlene told him the destroyed statue was a fake. After this, Moon Knight raided Bushman’s new Brooklyn base, again capturing him.
Bushman subsequently returned to Burunda and staged a coup, claiming the president’s office and dubbing himself “General Bushman.” Under Bushman’s reign, entire towns were burned to the ground and its citizens put to death. Exploiting his status as a foreign ruler, Bushman opposed Moon Knight through New York’s Burunda consulate, hiring the Glitch Brothers to track Moon Knight’s activities and secure Marlene’s capture. Bushman brought Marlene to Burunda with him and ransomed her for $10 million, but Moon Knight bested him and rescued Marlene. When Bushman attempted to revive Burunda’s economy with cocoa fields, intending to create a production system for cocaine, a rival central African drug cartel moved against him, employing the mercenary Arsenal to combat Bushman’s army. In turn, Arsenal recruited Moon Knight. Learning Arsenal’s motivations, Moon Knight broke ties and then helped the local rebels overthrow Bushman, and Arsenal installed a puppet dictator in Bushman’s place.
Bushman was eventually jailed, but escaped, and alongside Carson Knowles, AKA Black Spectre, was recruited by the Egyptian death god Seth, who manifested himself through the dream-manipulating Robert Markham, AKA Morpheus. Under Seth’s orders, Bushman helped plant Seth’s statue at the United Nations, intending for Seth to inhabit the vessel and use its mystical influence over the UN delegates to make them plunge the Earth into a massive war, but Khonshu guided Moon Knight to oppose the plot and defeat Bushman.
After Bushman later shattered Moon Knight’s legs, Moon Knight viciously killed Bushman and tore off his face as an “offering” to Khonshu. Moon Knight became increasingly erratic after this incident, and Khonshu himself adopted Bushman’s faceless visage to torment Spector. When Moon Knight began opposing Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin’s forces, Osborn’s ally Parker Robbins, AKA the Hood, resurrected Bushman to destroy Moon Knight. The resurrected Bushman reattached his face and joined forces with Ebenezer Laughton, AKA Scarecrow, to lay siege to Ravencroft Asylum, making the hospital’s patients, some of whom had superhuman powers, his army. Bushman and Scarecrow led the patients against Moon Knight, who defeated Bushman but left his foe alive, resisting the urge to mutilate him again. A raving Bushman was incarcerated at Ravencroft.
Bushman eventually got out and started a new venture with criminal entrepreneur William Cross, AKA Crossfire, in arms dealing and a new drug trade. During this time, the Sun King requested his help to kill Spector, but Bushman dismissed him until he saw his pyrokinesis powers. They forced their way into Marlene’s house and threatened her to contact Spector under duress. After he arrived, a battle ensued and the perpetrators escaped with Marlene which allowed Bushman to bribe Spector to go to Isla Ra where Sun King’s base was located. On the way there, Bushman became distracted and Spector broke free and laid in on Bushman, cutting off two of his fingers with one of his Crescent Darts. But this wasn’t the end. In ritual combat with Sun King, Spector defeated him and Bushman saw an opportunity to flee. Later, Bushman allied with Helmut Zemo, AKA Baron Zemo, and career criminal Taskmaster before another stint in Ravencroft after which he escaped alongside other inmates.
