The Silver Samurai
Real Name: Ishiro Tagara. Or maybe it's Kenuichio Harada; hard to tell when someone's had a lot of aliases!
AKA: Spider-Man calls him "Sammy." Isn't that sweet?
First Appearance: DareDevil 111
What's His Problem? The cousin of Japan's champion Sun-fire, the half-brother of Wolverine's long-time fiancee Mariko, and the current leader of Clan Yashida, Tagara resented never being acknowledged as clan heir by his father. In a bid for his father's attention and respect he became a modern-day samurai-for-hire, eventually becoming affiliated with various terrorist organizations like the Red Army and HYDRA. Although he's settled down somewhat since becoming clan leader, the Silver Samurai is oath and honor bound to the nihilist Viper, and therefore likely to go off on a terrorist spree with her at any given minute.
Powers: Tagara is a mutant capable of generating an energy field composed of tachyon particles. He uses his katana as a focusing point for this energy. Charging the blade permits the katana to slice through any substance short of adamantium. Presumably he can generate the field without using the sword, but he seems disinclined to try that little trick. Oh, and he has a teleportation ring he often shares with Viper that he ... well, he got it from John Belushi during a live broadcast of Saturday Night Live, okay? (And it wasn't even Assistant Editors' month!)
Favorite Quote: "You will not find me lacking in courage, gaijin." (To Wolverine in Uncanny X-Men 173. They didn't have a lot to say to each other after that!)
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: His original DareDevil outing introduced the Silver Samurai to the Black Widow; his later confrontations with S.H.I.E.L.D. made her a recurring foe. For a while, it seemed as if Spider-Man couldn't interrupt a mugging without tripping over the Samurai's energized blade. In recent years, however, Tagara's association with Clan Yashida have kept him tangled up in X-affairs, especially when Wolverine's around. The New Mutants weren't crazy about the guy, either, although since their evolution into X-Force they've managed to avoid any confrontations with the Samurai.
People Who Don't Think He's So Bad: Although he started his villainous career as a Mandrill flunky, the Silver Samurai hasn't seen his simian-featured boss in many a year. As leader of the Japanese cadre of the radical Red Army, Tagara has repeatedly worked with HYDRA and other world-wide terrorist organizations. Ishiro is fiercely devoted to Viper, one-time leader of New York's HYDRA base, now a free-lance anarchist determined to bring about world annihilation. Viper, who is otherwise about as self-centered as they get, will take on pet projects of the Samurai's, as she did when they worked to prevent the wedding of Mariko and Wolverine. Mariko Yashida often stepped between him and Wolverine, even at the risk of her own life, eventually earning a sort of begudging respect from her half-brother. The death of Mariko means that the loyalty of Clan Yashida now belongs to the Silver Samurai.
Most Despicable Act: As a terrorist and anarchist, the Silver Samarai is inclined toward violence on a global scale. He was instrumental in the nearly-successful assassination of the United States President and the assembled Congress (Marvel Team Up 82-85). One of his least honorable moments, however, was trying to behead an unconscious Spider-Man (Marvel Team Up 57). Luckily the Black Widow happened to be cruising by in the Champions' air car!
Silver Samurai Sound Bytes
From X-Men: The Animated Series. All sounds in .wav format.
