When You Just Can't Cut It

In honor of the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer hitting the internet, this week's Z-Lister is a lesser known Avenger named Jacques Duquesne, otherwise known as The Swordsman.

As a young man, Jacques lived in a Southeast Asian nation called Sin-Cong. This nation was under French rulership until Jacques joined a rebellion and freed Sin-Cong dressed as The Swordsman. Years later, he went on to perform at a circus and train a runaway named Clint Barton (the boy who would grow up to be Hawkeye). Clint was trained in archery by another circus performer named Trick Shot, while Jacques taught the boy swordsmanship. Clint discovered that Jacques had been stealing money from the ringleader. When he interfered, Jacques almost killed Clint, but Trick Shot stepped in to defend him. Jacques escaped, but reappeared yet again years later claiming to have become a hero in an attempt to join The Avengers. Clint, now as Hawkeye, refuses to allow Swordsman membership on the grounds that Jacques would only take advantage of his Avengers status. When he finally did join the Avengers, it was revealed he was an undercover agent for a villain named The Mandarin, planted into the Avengers to kill them. This would change, however, after Jacques fell in love with an Avenger known as Mantis and turn to true heroism.

While Hawkeye's origin paints him as a good-for-nothing thief who became a hero, Swordsman's origin is completely opposite, making him a good foil to Hawkeye. The reason this character isn't often remembered is because he was only added to the Avengers to progress Hawkeye's character and add a potential threat to the team. Personally, I like the idea of this character and think for as little as he adds to the Avengers, he makes it's membership history just a bit more interesting. Also, "Swordsman"? Obviously Jacques wasn't creative.