The second of three known teams to utilize the name, the Howling Commandos, are a monster squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who possess supernatural abilities and go up against the forces of darkness.
Shock and Awe Strike Force
Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan, revealed to be an advanced LMD, conceives the Howling Commandos unit as a “shock and awe” strike force, utilizing its agents’ unusual powers and appearances to quickly engage and neutralize threats deemed too sensitive to involve standard S.H.I.E.L.D. units. Most, though not all, members of the team are forcibly recruited, with the alternative being imprisonment. A deal was made with Harvey Elder, AKA Mole Man, in which S.H.I.E.L.D. would not interfere with his personal army of monsters, subterranean creatures, and Deviant mutates if he would not only supply S.H.I.E.L.D. with occasional aid but take some of the less desirable creatures off the organization’s hands and place them on Monster Island. Powerful supernatural beings such as Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm, his sister Satana, and Lilith, Daughter of Dracula, all agreed to join for reasons of their own.
Howling Hierarchy
This team falls under the jurisdiction of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its Supernatural Threat Analysis for Known Extranormalities (S.T.A.K.E.) division with Director Nick Fury overseeing. Often called The Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D., the team is sometimes referred to as Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos.
The Howling Commandos reside in and train for missions at a massive installation in Area 13, located deep in the Pine Barrens. Human staff members include chief technician Bradly Beemer, pilot “Buzz” McMahon and hundreds of other technicians, guards, doctors and various personnel. The Howling Commandos often utilize the ancient dragon Grogg as a living aircraft, with McMahon as its pilot, as well as used technology confiscated from aliens and extradimensional threats, such as the Living Eraser. Much of the unused tech and various mystical artifacts were kept in the Warehouse, a holding facility located under arctic waters.
Though hundreds of inhuman beings were counted among the Howling Commandos’ roster, a main strike team was established, with others used only as necessary should their skills be required.
This main team consists of Dugan as the commanding officer, field leader Warwolf, a lycanthrope whose abilities were not predetermined by the phases of the moon but by Mars; Gorilla Man, a member of the 1950s “G-Men” super-team; N’Kantu the Living Mummy, one-time Swarili prince and current guardian of the Orb of Ra; Clone of Frankenstein, a being somehow created from the original Frankenstein Monster’s DNA; and Zombie (not to be confused with Simon Garth), a non-carnivorous member of the undead. Other units and their rosters remain unrevealed, though recruits included at least one Abominable Snowman, the vampire-hunter Eric Brooks, AKA Blade, Haitian mystic Jericho Drumm, AKA Brother Voodoo (later Doctor Voodoo), Joshua Pryce of the Cognoscenti, the demonically empowered incubus Dimensional Man, the fiery alien Dragoom, interdimensional traveler Fangu, the reptile-commanding Golden Gator, the legendary Golem, Gorgolla of the Stonians, The Living Colossus It, radiation-mutated African native Kraa the Unhuman, Manphibian, John Jameson, AKA Man-Wolf, would-be alien conqueror Orrgo, Canadian hero Walter Langkowski, AKA Sasquatch, and Jack Russell, AKA Werewolf by Night, and the force of nature Ted Sallis, AKA Man-Thing.
Supernatural Showdowns
The doomsday cult known as the Lords of the Living Lightning is one of the Howling Commando’s first antagonists. They also go up against the sorcerer Merlin when he transforms an English village into a fairy tale land.
Friendlies
Oftentimes, the Howling Commandos coordinate with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s allies, such as the Hellstrom, Blade, and even some tenuous allies like the Mole Man.
Mission Accomplished
With Dugan in place as commanding officer, one of the Howling Commandos’ earliest known missions was the observance and calculated disarmament of the Lords of the Living Lightning, which had previously clashed with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, in an earlier incarnation known as the Legion of the Living Lightning. Commandos agent Daimon Hellstrom went undercover to gain the Lords’ trust while his teammates continued raids on their bases. Dugan eventually relinquished leadership of the Howling Commandos and Nick Fury appointed an unwilling Clay Quartermain in his place. Quartermain, vocally displeased with the reassignment, quickly drew the ire of his unit as he continuously berated them or otherwise avoided them.
During a period when the evil aspects of his personality were dominant, the legendary sorcerer Merlin escaped the Warehouse’s confinement and sought to return the world to the more mystical conditions he once lived in. Powered by Stonehenge, Merlin brought forth a legion of legendary creatures including trolls, goblins, fairies and many others (presumably from Otherworld), and transformed an English village into a fantasy kingdom.
After recruiting the Glob into the Commandos and capturing the alien Groot, Quartermain sent Nina Price, AKA Vampire by Night, and Lilith undercover into Merlin’s camp, believing the two vampires would go unnoticed among the mythical beings. At the same time, the Lords of the Living Lightning had Daimon Hellstrom meet with Merlin to seek an alliance, the Lords unaware of Hellstrom’s S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliation. Merlin’s influence continued to spread, and soon, all of England seemed to disappear from Earth, protected by Merlin’s magic. Deeming the Lords of the Living Lightning’s reliance on science ill-suited for his needs, Merlin assaulted their base, forcing them into his service, and Hellstrom remained by Merlin’s side.
When Merlin became aware of Lilith among his followers, she seemingly betrayed Nina and joined Merlin’s forces. Nina was left bound to await daylight, but one of the faerie-folk bartered with her; in exchange for freeing her, she had to swear to let them stay upon Earth after Merlin was defeated. Using Lilith’s knowledge of Area 13, Merlin launched a massive assault on the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Gorilla-Man and others turned the tide by releasing a herd of giant monsters they had captured, which proceeded to trample through Merlin’s forces and into the portal that led to the enchanted England. Warwolf’s unit followed, and were soon joined by Groot, who opted to stop running with the other monsters, feeling he would only be hunted down again. Finally convinced to be more active with his team, Quartermain put together a counter-assault against Merlin. Aided by the Mole Man and using every available Howling Commando, Quartermain personally led the assault on Merlin’s forces. As the two sides clashed, Hellstrom revealed his true allegiance, rejoining his fellow Commandos. Lilith tried to assassinate Merlin, but he proved too strong and incinerated her physical form. He used her ashes to attempt to foretell the future, but unbeknownst to him, Lilith remained in control of her remains, and shifted the ashes in a way to convince Merlin that he was destined to be defeated. With his followers being decimated, Merlin chose to escape, and England soon returned to its natural state.
Since Merlin’s defeat, the Howling Commandos unit has seemingly been scaled down, or even eliminated altogether. Gorilla-Man went AWOL from the team to aid S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jimmy Woo and the Agents of Atlas, while the Living Mummy was incarcerated in the 42 Negative Zone prison after he too abandoned the team, believing it to be a form of enslavement. He later escaped and returned to his home land. Glob made his way back to the Florida swamps, where he was eventually recaptured by Quartermain, who by then had been reassigned to a Hulkbuster unit. Brother Voodoo retained a working relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., and Blade occasionally uses his Commandos credentials in missions. Sasquatch returned to Alpha Flight and later joined Omega Flight. Satana fell back to her less-noble succubus ways, while Groot departed Earth before being captured by the Kree and later aiding them against Ultron’s Phalanx army, eventually joining the Guardians of the Galaxy.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Fury later led a group of superhumans to fight the Skrull invasion of Earth and dubbed them “Howling Commandos” (though they are also known as Secret Warriors). Though with Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man’s ascension to S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership and the shake-ups in the organization during this time, the Howling Commandos program has most likely been dismantled.
