Snap Into Marvel: Diamondback Takes Aim

Real Name: Rachel Leighton

First Appearance: Captain America #310 (October 1985)

Powers and Abilities: In addition to natural gymnastic and hand-to-hand combat abilities, Diamondback is a proficient thrower of knives and similar small objects, favoring diamond-shaped, needle-sharp throwing spikes which can be tricked out with various abilities or filled with various substances, such as explosives or poison. A transfusion of Captain America’s blood (which contains the Super-Soldier Serum) elevated her to peak human abilities in terms of strength, speed, agility, stamina, etc., similar to Captain America.

Comic Book Chronicles

Writer Mark Gruenwald is, if not the definitive Captain America writer, then certainly the definitive Captain America writer of the 1980s and, arguably, the 20th Century. A character with whom he felt a special affinity, his long run as the signature chronicler of Cap’s adventures is responsible for introducing a number of characters and concepts that have became staples of the Captain America mythos and Marvel Comics as a whole (as well as a fair number of Marvel Snap cards), including USAgent, the Flag Smashers, and Crossbones. Diamondback is another such creation, and while her snake-themed, diamond-throwing schtick is fairly basic, the character arc she undergoes at Gruenwald’s hands makes her a relatively unique and notable character.

Introduced as a member of the Serpent Society (a collection of snake-inspired antagonists organized more like a union than a super-villain team — another Gruenwald innovation that has never really lived up to its potential, but which also suggests some questionable connotations about Gruenwald’s feelings towards the labor movement), Diamondback was immediately attracted to Captain America. Over the next few years, Gruenwald evolved their relationship from antagonistic to begrudging allies to professional and, eventually, romantic partners. Diamondback essentially provides the romantic arc of Gruenwald’s Cap run.

It wasn’t always great for Diamondback as a character, however. Writing in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Gruenwald leaned on some unfortunate tropes as he fleshed out the character. For one: he established that Diamondback had a past with the mercenary Crossbones that included the pre-super-villain Diamondback being beaten and raped by Crossbones. Later, after she had given up her villainous ways as a result of her relationship with Cap, Gruenwald had Crossbones kidnap Diamondback and torture her into agreeing to steal samples of Captain America’s blood. This eventually led to Diamondback receiving a transfusion of the blood she stole, which gave her abilities similar to Cap, but Diamondback was later pushed back further into villainy when she made a deal with Superia in an effort to save Cap’s life. It was something of an ignoble end to Gruewald’s work with the character.

Diamondback has not experienced the level of prominence she had — for better and worse — under Gruenwald. Since those heady days concluded in the mid ’90s, Diamondback bounced around the Marvel Universe and in and out of villainy. She worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., joined Iron Man’s Fifty State Initiative, seemingly worked under Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers but was secretly an agent of the Avengers Resistance, rejoined a revamped Serpent Society calling itself “Serpent Solutions,” and worked as a mercenary alongside the X-Men’s Domino. Most recently, she was seen back with the Serpent Society, presumably to set up her intended appearance in Captain America: Brave New World, played by Rosa Salazar, a role that was ultimately cut from the film.

Fit & Finish

The standard Diamondback card is a little odd — the “hooded short coat” look is more or less exclusively from her time as a supporting character in Domino’s late 2010s series, which, in the grand scheme of Diamondback’s history, is a relatively brief period of time to draw on for the “main” card. The three variants available at launch are much more in keeping with Diamond’s traditional comic book look.

Form & Function

While the two characters don’t really have much of a history together in the comics, Diamondback’s Marvel Snap card seems inspired by Bullseye’s card, predicated on the notion that both characters’ deal is to “throw sharp stuff at people.” So in the same way that Bullseye chucks cards to take away power from other cards, Diamondback takes power away from cards already afflicted with negative power in a representation of her diamond-shaped weapons.

Also, while it seems unlikely that the pair will end up in many decks together, given their comic book history together, I appreciate that Diamondback’s ability is Ongoing vs. being an On Reveal, meaning if she does end up in lane with Captain America, that card will boost her power.