Publisher: Milestone Media
Created by: Dwayne McDuffie
First Appearance: Icon#13, 1994
Real name: Rufus T. Wild
Nationality: American
Team Affiliations: Icon and Rocket II
Alias: Mercenary Man, Buck Goliath, Jim Crow, Buck Lightning, Icon II, Buck Voodoo
Legal Status: U.S citizen with criminal record.
Weight: 320 lbs Height: 6’4
Eyes: Dark black Hair: Black
Relatives: Unknown
Powers: He has superhuman strength though not on the scale of Icon. He is also near invulnerable but can still be hurt with sufficient force. His leg muscles are also sufficiently strong that he can leap long distances giving the impression of flight.
Biography
In 1972 Rufus was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, he plea bargained down from the crime he did commit and sentenced to jail. Inside he was abused by the prison guards, realizing he wouldn’t survive his sentence he volunteered for an experiment involving cryogenics. Unfortunately the experiment went terribly wrong, only his brain was frozen before his containment unit was unit exploded. A side effect of this he got superhuman powers. Escaping from prison he went through a series of identities until setting on “Buck Wild: Mercenary man” who aided the community granted they could pay for his services. His villains included Lysistrata Jones, SweetStick Max, Cockroach Andy among others. He met and befriended Icon and Rocket while facing off with Lysistrata. When Icon left earth and Rocket’s pregnancy prevented her from being a hero she recruited him to be Icon 2. Along with Rocket 2 he protected Dakota until he was killed in battle with Oblivion.
One of the funniest comics I’ve ever read. Kudos to the late Dwayne McDuffie. (I’m still a Luke Cage fan though.)
Oh my stars and garters….
I had never seen any of the Milestone stuff with Buckwild before this. I was shocked and horrified, then laughed so hard. If I understand correctly, they used him to lampoon all of the black Marvel characters of the 70s, except for Black Panther. As much as I love those characters, their older stories could be painful to read, and it took time for them to evolve into the icons they are today. Besides, you have to be able to laugh at your heroes now and then. 🙂