Zaran

Zaran is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The codename Zaran has been carried by two characters related to another.

Maximillian Zaran was born in Great Britain. Early in his life, he was an agent of the British Secret Service: MI-6, but soon chose to become a mercenary and assassin. Training himself thoroughly in martial arts and the use of various kinds of weapons, he became known as a super-villain as well. He was first employed by Sarsfield and then Fah Lo Suee, and his first battle against a super-hero was against Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung-Fu, who easily defeated him.^[2] He later battled and defeated Shang-Chi.^[3] Zaran then joined Batroc's Brigade, and was employed by Obadiah Stane to steal Captain America's shield.^[4]

In his next attempt to defeat super-heroes, Zaran joined forces with Razorfist II and Shockwave and fought the West Coast Avengers Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Iron Man.^[5] He battled Hawkeye again alongside Batroc's Brigade.^[6]

During the Bloodstone Hunt, Zaran became good friends with fellow mercenary Batroc. Batroc's Brigade was employed by Baron Zemo to acquire the fragments of the Bloodstone, and Zaran fought Captain America and Diamondback but lost once more.^[7] The brigade was later hired by Maelstrom to help him build a device that could destroy the universe and battled the Great Lakes Avengers, during which he killed the newly initiated G.L.A. member Grasshopper.^[8]

Zaran is employed by the Shadow-Hand to steal a chemical elixir from A.I.M. for Shang-Chi's father, a super-villain sometimes known as Fu Manchu. He is then ordered to kill Shang-Chi himself.^[9]

Zaran is an athletic man with no superhuman powers. He received British Secret Service training, and has knowledge of all forms of armed and unarmed combat, and extensive knowledge of ancient and modern weapons, including knives, bows, staffs, maces, spears, nunchakus, shuriken, and guns. He wears a leather outfitted with a variety of specialized clips, loops, and pockets for carrying weapons. He usually carries small sais (three pronged daggers) attached to his gauntlets, collar and codpiece, a bo staff/spear/blow gun, and a wide variety of weapons as needed.

The second Zaran was trained by the original Zaran to become a mercenary. He was defeated by Shang-Chi in battle.^[10]

In this reality, Zaran is a member of Shang-Chi's Dragons criminal organization, alongside Mantis, Swordsman and Machete.^[11] Zaran is killed by Bullseye after the Dragons are ambushed by the Kingpin's assassins.^[12]

Zaran appears in the video game Spider-Man and Captain America in Doctor Doom's Revenge (1989).

• http://marvel.com/universe/Zaran%2C_Maximilian^{[permanent dead link]}