TRANSFORMERS: THE BASICS on DEATH'S HEAD

He's met the Transformers, Doctor Who, and the heroes of the Marvel Universe... but if YOU ever meet this mercenary mechanoid, just be sure you DON'T call him a bounty hunter! These are The Basics on DEATH'S HEAD!
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[@DeamonChocobo]

I was too young to know Deaths Head but learning about his return makes me happy. Also Deaths Head 2 is probably the most comic 90s looking robot I've ever seen.

[@chheinrich8486]

Deaths head 2 looks like something out of "spawn"

[@mattdestroyed]

He looked shit.

[@DeamonChocobo]

@@mattdestroyed I think you me he looks like THE Shit!

[@turtleanton6539]

For sure

[@turtleanton6539]

@@chheinrich8486 yes

[@KeyanCarlile]

I had no clue Death’s head had this big of a legacy outside of Transformers comics. I really just assumed he was in some transformers stuff in the 80’s and never appeared again.

[@cheeseburger12]

I first saw him in Marvel trading cards series 2 and thought he looked kind of cool. I don't think I really noticed him in a comic until Death's Head 2 issue 1 and was a fan of his pretty quickly. But then he died! Marvel did a reprint of his original series and I read an issue or 2 of that- it was actually my first time learning about Dr. Who. Which confused me because I didn't know who Who was and he doesn't refer to himself as Dr. Who. So I didn't know it was a Dr. Who reprint! Later I got the Titan trades of UK Transformers and finally learned about his original adventures!

[@jacquestube]

He's Marvel UK so he's not really important

[@wiseguy1512]

Hey marvel fan here I didn’t know he was from transformers. First time I saw deathhead he was going up against Tony Stark in an intergalactic gladiatorial arena

[@Gigazilla-pm2on]

Death's head should appear in the next transformers movie

[@wilsonng994]

I was also clueless about who Death's Head was and what he did in the Transformers comics. Glad I learned more about him and how he ended up inspiring the creation of Lockdown in the Transformers Universe.

[@Jaketherobonrd]

That’s crazy that this character appeared in all 3 of my favourite franchises. Transformers Doctor Who and Marvel!

[@vsauceaboveall]

Yep and i like that

[@grimnir8872]

Death's Head was basically a 2000AD character transplated into Marvel, he's one of my all time favourites.

[@andrewgrant6516]

Also, the only marvel UK character to take part in the Lord Mayor's Show. Parading around London on a float with Wolverine and Spider-man. I wonder who was in the costume?

[@SteveElOtaku]

There's something wonderfully British sci-fi about Death's Head--the darkly comic sense of humour and speech pattern for what is essentially a hired killer only in it for the money. Always felt the character had legs for more, and I'm glad to see him whenever he appears. I wasn't around for his early appearances, but finding out about him later was great. Definitely a cosmic character who deserves far more love outside of his native UK.

[@plantainsame2049]

I mean to be fair he literally is the Nexus between 1960s British sci-fi 1980s sci-fi and comic book sci-fi

[@PersephoneDarling28]

Big of his in the US because he fought the Sensational She Hulk and i had to look up the further adventures of the best Robot ever

[@ChalkanCheese]

The Deaths Head series led my younger self to find Dark Horse comics and then Marshal Law... Now that is some truly twisted dark British humor.

[@JoleneBlake]

I'm always really glad when Death's Head gets to make a cameo in modern stuff. The Black Bolt series and the tragically cut-short Nova: Resurrection series are both really good, and had some excellent Death's Head appearances.

[@gerbill13]

He had a more recent solo comic where he beats up a “ son”

[@legomech1946]

That cameo in the Black Bolt series was so spot on!

[@Mekboy_ComputerMonster]

When our favorite -Bounty Hunter- Freelance Peace Keeping Agent makes a reappearance in the Modern Age of Comics, it's like the Northern Light; You ADMIRE such beauty

[@darrenheideman2546]

Deaths Head is the antithesis of Circuit Breaker. Unlike her, he managed to get a long storied history, appear in multiple stories, and across different franchises.

[@plantainsame2049]

God I wish I was in charge of Doctor Who during the 11th Doctor's era from 2010 to 2013 I could definitely commence Michael Bay the hard part would be convincing Marvel

[@hydroknight01]

I've met Simon Williams a few times over the years; he was a regular at my old local comic shop, and I've got a few original pieces signed by him. Man's a diamond of a human being.

[@evandavid2816]

100% agreed - I met him at a convention in Swansea once, we chatted about Death's Head and other stuff for quite a while, and he was very nice indeed; I asked him to sign one of my old Marvel UK Death's Head comics even though he didn't technically have anything to do with it, since he was the modern-day 'Death's Head Guy' if anyone was - I think he was flattered, yes...?

[@luigiboi4244]

There’s no way you met Wonder Man.

[@hydroknight01]

He definitely would have been flattered; reckon you made his day, there. I asked him to sign my Mastermind Creations Anubis when it was a recent release, fond of that one.

[@evandavid2816]

@@hydroknight01 Ooh, I'll have to keep an eye out for an Anubis figure at the next TFNation - it's the closest we're ever likely to get to a Masterpiece Death's Head as I understand, yes...?

[@hydroknight01]

@@evandavid2816 And it transforms, which is always a plus. :P

[@GeekBearReporter]

My god! I'm so glad you covered Death's Head! He was one of my favorite characters in Marvel growing up.

[@nathanielhernandez3584]

Maybe we could see him in a marvel movie! I would like to see him fight against the guardians of the galaxy

[@mattdestroyed]

@@nathanielhernandez3584 that's a really good fit, it'd be awesome if it came to fruition.

[@maverickhunterstupidiocy7779]

I wanna see a conversation between Death’s Head and BW Megatron. “Yes?” “Yesss…”

[@mediabaron2416]

Death's Head is one of those fascinating examples of the licensed comics Marvel once had the rights to continuing to have an influence on the Marvel Universe to this day. As you mentioned before, Circuit Breaker made an appearance in Secret Wars II. But we also have the Spaceknights of Galador: including Rom's children. Rom himself even playing a big role in several characters' stories. Both Rogue's reformation and when Storm lost her powers for a surprisingly long time. The remnants of the Micronauts being remade into the Enigma Force, with Bug going on to become a Guardian of the Galaxy, and the Microverse itself still making regular appearances. U.S.1., now U.S.Ace, hanging out with She-Hulk and Deadpool. And of course, Godzilla, conveniently mutated to look like an original kaiju. All still canon. All finding ways to neatly skirt around mentioning anything from their previous adventures. Funnily enough, Marvel have the full rights to Crystar: Crystal Warrior. Always have done. They just aren't using him in anything.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

And Fu Manchu's son, Shang Chi, was given his own movie in the MCU.

[@pablomenendez2319]

Apparently, and I just looked this up, the concept of Crystar was made by Marvel with the intent of selling the license to a toy company, and not the other way around. As such, it's not exactly like the examples you've given, but it is still an interesting story nonetheless.

[@mediabaron2416]

@@pablomenendez2319 That's what I meant by them having the full rights. It's just that I felt most would be more familiar with the toy line than the source material. Now that you mention it, this wasn't the only time Marvel tried this. There was also Brute Force. That was made in hopes of it getting a toy line too. Sadly didn't happen in that case. Meaning we are forever denied an action figure of Dr Echo: a super smart dolphin who wears a mech suit that also transforms into a car.

[@josephmcgivern2735]

Been a huge DH fan since his first appreances and that he's bounced through three of my fandom is just great. If transformers has taught us anything it's that a good design and a signiture method of speech will get you over.

[@clogs4956]

A signature way of speaking that has never been reused for any other Transformers character, yes?😁

[@josephmcgivern2735]

@@clogs4956 truth that's defiantly a part of it I hadn't considered . Lockdown clearly needs to adopt it, no? Entertainly lupex from the body in question also had a similar tic where he would stop speaking with "oh yes" . Making them a statement.

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

There's something about Deaths Head that is peak 80's British comic design. It's his head, funnily enough, I think. I'm not sure what exactly it is that gives me this vibe but I feel like I know it when I see it.

[@Relugus]

He's intimidating and absurd in equal measure.

[@bethanyfardon5253]

One of my favourite characters gets what is now one of my favourite episodes of the Basics! Thanks Chris, you've put a real smile on this face, yes?

[@frofrofrofrofro24]

Need a Death's Head and Lockdown team-up series, yes? Great vid

[@robrice7246]

1:10 BW Megatron: "Ooh, I like him, yeeesss."

[@timecontroller8800]

I can’t believe a transformers character appeared in a doctor who comic how crazy is that! And the fact they used doctor who to take him from one comic book line to another

[@ianbrewster8934]

One of my favorite comic book characters.....needs a movie or TV series.....loved Deaths Head 2 mini series....

[@holdynmcpletl4903]

would love to see this guy in a guardians of the galaxy movie

[@rsdillbot3646]

His head was in the mission breakout ride

[@someonewhocommentsonyoutub3779]

@@rsdillbot3646 I do find it morbidly funny that his only appearance outside of comics is just his decapitated head at a theme park ride

[@syafiqjabar]

I loved his surprise appearance in Captain Britain and The MI13 as one of the heroes assaulting Dracula's moon castle. It was just a panel but it's him looking at the reader saying something like "Didn't expect me, yes?".

[@RockNerdRadio]

I first encountered him via a Marvel Trading card in 1991. I remember finding out that Death Head was originally in Transformers and it blew my mind. He's been an awesome character. I pick up a book with him whenever I see one now.

[@eskreskao]

As a former Marvel fanboy, my first exposure to Death's Head was through the Death's Head Guard from Planet Hulk, so I appreciate you dropping the only memorable scene about them in the vid. It wasn't until Kieron Gillen's work that I learned about the original, but I fell in love instantly. SWORD was such a good story.

[@Dragon66898]

As both a Transformers fan and a Marvel fan, I’m generally surprised that Death’s Head is this popular. I pride myself for knowing so much generally knowledge and info with just about every fandom I’m apart of, but there are still surprises and I enjoy that.

[@risel56]

Been waiting for a Basics episode on Death's Head for a while now, yes? Honestly, I've never been into comics, but learning of Death's Head through the TFWiki made me love the guy. Such an iconic design and mannerisms, and I'd probably have the Infinite figure by now if I wasn't paying rent by the skin of my teeth. Aside from Lockdown, I wouldn't be surprised if he also served as a partial design inspiration for Emperor Zurg of Toy Story notoriety.

[@thescottishaccent]

As a kid in the UK, big DH was one of the most memorable characters in Transformers and I absolutely loved him. Was never sold on II, 3.0, etc. but the original and best still holds a strong place in my nostalgic heart. It's a shame Gunn's leapt to DC, as imo he would be THE guy to do a Death's Head movie justice.

[@HelloMisterJAMWAH]

Wow! An episode just for me! Even though I read more of DH2 than the original, his TF appearances are still my favourites. I like the look of The Body in Question, though. Geoff Senior doing painted in the late 80s? I'm in!

[@clogs4956]

Find a copy and enjoy - it's a very good story!

[@HelloMisterJAMWAH]

@@clogs4956 I did! Found one for a tenner and it's on my bedside table right now.

[@PrincessMatrix]

I loved Death's Head. I remember getting a chunk of his comics (Both the TF appearances and the solo books) from a comic shop in the early 2000's for cheap and it was awesome! It always disappointed me that he disappeared for so long, but I am glad he's getting some more exposure nowadays in Marvel. Never knew he teamed with Spidey, though. Definitely gotta track that comic down!

[@nathanielhernandez3584]

It's nice to know this Obscure character is making more appearances Who knows maybe we'll see him in a marvel movie I think it could be terrific Also thank you for giving this guy some love Chris Never knew much about this guy and until now 💚

[@benjybriggs8434]

I do believe that his head was shown in The Collectors Collection in guardians and the galaxy

[@mattdestroyed]

@@benjybriggs8434 I'm going to have to re-watch now.

[@AlexGilmour]

Loki makes the most sense as there is a TVA connection but it might be tricky to do on a tv budget

[@benjybriggs8434]

I was wrong. Its found at the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at disnyland. His head is found in a box

[@FuzzWoof]

He did work for Yondu at one point in the comics, so could quite possibly fit into a Guardians movie!

[@Wolfie1262]

I was introduced to Death’s Head II in Marvel UK’s final issue of The Knights of Pendragon. Always wondered about him and who the first one was

[@jamesianhutchison1165]

Absolutely, positively, one of my favourite Tranformer characters yes? I desperately want a Masterpiece quantity figure for my collection. Always thought he'd make an ideal "independent contractor" for The Wreckers. In a way, it's a shame they took him away from the Transformers universe. Liked the Overkill comics and I still have my copy of What If...? Just need that figure! 😅

[@insanimal2]

Have you seen Mastermind Creations' Anubis ? It's a third party Death's head that transforms into a spaceship. One of my most prized possessions.

[@dunctherational577]

I only really knew the Transformers story via the UK Transformers comic in the 80s and I've only caught up on Transformers lore recently via this Basics series so lots of the characters you cover are new to me. Not this one, Death's Head was a stand out character and even though my comics were thrown away over 20 years ago I still remember the Good the Bad and the Ugly cover for one of them and the whole Unicron on Junkion story that gave us the Transformers origin story. Massive nostalgia hit, yes?

[@battleupsaber462]

An interesting thing about the Marvel UK comic is how their depiction of what happened after the events of The Movie differed from the cartoon. Rather than the Autobots in control of Cybertron and the Decepticons exiled on Chaar, here the war continued on Cybertron, with Shockwave taking control of the Decepticon army after Galvatron's disappearance (having returned to the past of 1987), and the disgruntled Cyclonus and Scourge plotting to take over. Meanwhile, instead of ending up in Cybertron's orbit, Unicron's head wound up on Junkion, where he mind-controlled the natives into building him a new body.

[@Halbared]

The best character created by Marvel UK full stop. I liked him so much I collected all the stuff he appeared in. Deaths Head 2 was wank, but it's sort of interesting that his name continues. His fights with Galvatron, killing Shockwave and coming through the sewers (why does Cybertron have sewers?) was his peak.

[@patrickhein6986]

His Shockwave killing was one of greatest WTF Moments of my Childhood. Been a Death´s Head Fan since then.

[@ShinGallon]

"(why does Cybertron have sewers?)" Industrial runoff from manufacturing, maybe?

[@Halbared]

@@ShinGallon Yeah, as I watched the video and saw the liquid I thought, maybe water runn-off or something...then I recalled the story where water killed those disease bots...maybe some other liquid.

[@ShinGallon]

@@Halbared Water kills scraplets in the Marvel continuity.

[@Halbared]

@@the_dark_braga2190 He does look very good.

[@Gatherway]

So, let me get this straight: this guy's CANON backstory has him teaming up with Rodimus Prime to battle Galvatron and Unicron, crossing dimensions and running face-first into THE DOCTOR, who drops him into the MARVEL universe where he spats with She-Hulk and the Fantastic Four. Well, if that's not the most legendary thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is.

[@insanimal2]

I know right! This is why he's my all time favourite character in anything.

[@punchcounterpunch9137]

Mr. Worldwide

[@cameronmonaghan6883]

Thank you for this video. I wanted to know more about Death's Head since I saw him on the Doctor Who wiki. Sad to hear that he only had a small appearance in that franchise as it's my favourite. So far i only read his comic book run with the Young Avengers will look out for more adventures. If he gets his own tv series it would be awesome if it was a crossover event between the MCU, Transformers and Doctor Who YES?

[@divineshadow666]

It's probably the longest of long shots, but now that Disney has a bit of a stake in Doctor Who, maybe he could show up on that show.

[@nathanielhernandez3584]

The basics on a marvel character? This is very awesome and a nice change of pace. I wouldn't mind more videos like this one to be honest.

[@ontos8914]

I mean hes a transformers character

[@rsdillbot3646]

This is still a transformers basic video, very unlikely to actually do any marvel basics

[@plantainsame2049]

​@@ontos8914 I mean he's a doctor who character is love is life and I wish I owned Doctor Who in 2012 the hard part would become insane Marvel because I could definitely couldn't convince Michael Bay that we can make a live-action movie about this guy

[@mariaisabelg4701]

I've always heard his name around the fandom, but I never had the chance to explore this character until now. Death's Head is incredibly underrated!

[@mattr75]

Death's Head had quite a legacy, and I wasn't aware of that until now

[@trolldrool]

Krik - That was the sound effect used in the comic where he killed one of my favourite Decepticons by crushing its robotic brain between his fingers. And for some reason it left such an impact on me that every time I see him in any form of media, I instantly hear that 'Krik' in my head.

[@scrudge5352]

I really hope that Death's Head's original Marvel UK design gets a figure sometime soon. I think he would fit really well in the Super 7 Ultimates line

[@darkdeity2012]

Love Death's Head and Death's Head II, ever since the original UK Transformers comics, so I have most of his comics appearances and both those action figures. I particularly loved Liam Sharp's artwork on Death's Head II - still one of my favourite comic series' from back in the day. Sharp also did artwork for a short-lived DC title called Lord Havok and the Extremists, the main character of which bore somewhat of a resemblance to Death's Head.

[@Excellsion]

I love him He's SOOOOO stupid. Referring to him possessing anything just looks comical. "Death's Head's mace." AND he's the fulfillment of: "If _____ was so good why didn't they make _____ two? THEY DID Also just a genuinely great character (for his purpose) and he looks amazing. Death's Head 2 also manged to be a good design born of the nineties, which is a feat.

[@agendergorgon1005]

I'd seen him in that Fantastic 4 appearance and later ended up doing a cursory search after I managed to find that comic where he killed minion in a library somewhere in the north of England and I think he's well neat. Glad to hear he's still appearing here and there.

[@mattfrank85]

When I first went to a Japanese convention in 2015, Kei Zama themself actually commissioned me to draw Death’s Head as he was their FAVORITE character, but I admit I didn’t know much about him!! I had to do some quick googling to make sure I actually drew the correct version!

[@crimsondynamo615]

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting coming into this, but I sure wasn’t expecting doctor who to be involved in this.

[@manoftheusajones5147]

Do THE BASICS on AIRAZOR next, Chris!

[@Skullgrin140]

As ever Chris, great video. It's great that Death's Head has become such a prominent character in Transformers or otherwise and has managed to survive and go on to have bigger adventures. Sooner or later he's got to be given an appearance in a cartoon or even anything related to the MCU at some point, such an iconic character deserves that.

[@EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

With how influential issue 113 was on James Roberts, I’m surprised he didn’t try turning Lockdown into an ersatz of Death’s Head (would’ve worked considering how similar Lockdown looked to Death’s Head’s original design, yes?).

[@TheTrainfan44]

While I have never read any of Deaths Head stories as a big Doctor Who fan he has always been of interest due to his crossover nature of traveling from the Transformers to the Marvel universe through Doctor Who

[@evandavid2816]

Thank you so, SO much for finally covering one of my all-time favourites, Chris - back when I was first reading the Marvel UK TF comics when I was about 8-10 years old, Death's Head seemed like the coolest character ever - and all these years later, he still does, yes...?! (Heck, as you can see I even picked up the 'yes' speech pattern from him - never got into Death's Head II though, the design just put me off, but I digress...!). In any case, and as fun as Death's Head's first Marvel UK solo series was, I'd certainly still give a LOT of Shanix to see everyone's favourite Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent finally back where he belongs tangling with Cybertronians - who knows, maybe if Marvel pick up the post-IDW TF comics rights, then it might just happen....fingers on detachable hands crossed, yes...? (In the meantime, anyone who wants to read more unofficial Death's Head/Transformers shenanigans would be well advised to track down James Roberts' pre-IDW fan novel 'Eugenesis' online - it's set in the post-Time Wars Marvel UK future era, and is a cracking read as you'd expect, yes...?).

[@MichaelAlexKawa]

My first "encounter" with Death's Head is a strange one. It happened way back in 1989, at that time I knew of the Marvel UK issues of Transformers, but I didn't have any, since I live in the states they were hard to find back than. Anyways a friend of mines from school called me and asked if I knew who this Dead Head (that is what I thought he said) guy was, my friend just picked up a comic with him and it mentioned he was from The Transformers. I told him I had no idea whom he was talking about, and it went back and forth and back again. I did try to explain to him about the UK comics I didn't have, but I don't think he really understood the difference. When I had a chance to meet Simon Furman in 1990, I asked about the character, stupidly calling him "Dead Head", but he knew who I met, kind of gave me info, and told me about the graphic novel that was soon to come out, also advised me to read the series if I could find some back issues......which I did...and I was also able to finally find some Transformers UK comics a few years later. Also I am glad you cleared up the whole "first appearance" story, the "repeated version" never seemed "quite right".

[@rarewolf4913]

The Doctor Who appearance was in Black and White as the strip usually was until the late 90s. The colour version was from the first reprint - in the (UK) Marvel Bumper special.

[@clogs4956]

I adored Death’s Head from the moment I met him back in the original Marvel UK Transformers comics chasing those shanix. Freelance peacekeeping can involve lots of repair costs, yes? While DH 2 was okay, I’m afraid that DH 3.0 didn’t live up to the hype and Marvel’s several edge lord attempts to restore him just spoiled the fun element of his character. The total retro-revamp is, however, welcome.

[@diegos7337]

He was great Character! Too bad the transformers lost him, like with Circuit breaker.

[@JosephAlanOliveros]

I'm a fan of bounty hunters in general. would've been awesome if Death's Head met or encountered Devcon or hey, DC's own alien bounty hunter and fellow anti-hero, Lobo. my god, the carnage those two can cause!

[@Aeysir]

Lovely to see the Sleeze Brothers randomly drop in there as well 😁

[@michaelroe6502]

LOVED Deaths Head!(Dragons Claws too) Still think his original body was better tho!

[@Halbared]

Ditto.

[@sivanlevi3867]

I have always been a Marvel fan ever since I watched the first Avengers movie. I have since grown to love many more animated cartoons of their characters and universes, Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes, X-Men, X-Men Evolution, Avengers Assemble, Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, Ultimate Spiderman, Wolverine and the X-Men, and new anime versions from Japan. Thanks for teaching us about Death's Head.

[@Darkdjinn79]

Awesome episode, all I knew of Deaths Head was that he was a obscure UK Transformers character that crossed over into Marvel. All of this was new to me.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

CHRIS: These are the basics on Death's Head. DEATH'S HEAD: Yes??

[@shockwave_datafiles8099]

I remember seeing him first in that story with the Hulk. It was a rare occasion when my parents bought my brother and me a comic when they had to go to an event to keep us distracted when we were young. He didn't leave much of an impression character-wise but his design was in the back of my mind and I recognised him when I learned he used to be in Transformers comics

[@johnrhogan2908]

I had heard of the character, even Death's Head II (which looked pretty sick!!). I even remember the Amazing Fantasy vote for him, but didn't really give it much thought. This episode of The Basics was very informative. Can't wait for the big 200.

[@michaellombardi1620]

I loved him in the UK comics!

[@natephoenix]

Love the old horn head. Cosplayed as him at the first TFNation, got loads of photos alongside a famous Lockdown cosplayer too. Had to be done, yes?

[@badge555]

Thank you. I’ve always appreciated Simon Furman’s contributions to TF and Marvel. The original Death’s Head with the blue/yellow makeover was always my favorite. The 3.75” Marvels Infinite series action figure shares shelf space with our Transformers. I would love to see him introduced in the MCU.

[@PS-it1dm]

Death's head met my favorite Dr Who. He is the best Transformer because of that fact.

[@Crazy_Dialga]

It's wild that there's a singular character that connects Transformers, Marvel and Doctor Who

[@jonpower9728]

I'd love to see a Basics video on Generation 2-the concept behind it, what it changed from G1, why it was thought up only 7 years after G1 ended, etc. Seems like an overlooked chapter in between G1 and Beast Wars

[@chocobosage]

Honestly my favourite Transformer adjacent characters. Loved his solo run and of course High Noon Tex. Plus his run in with Doctor Who, the fact he could defeat Unicron by himself is just badass haha

[@muhammadhabibieamiro3639]

Probably one of the most unique transformers character

[@skyquake87]

Nice to have a Basics episode on the greatest Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent ever to grace comics! Thanks Chris :) I loved this - having read Death's Head's comics back to front and sideways many, many times over the years, it was nice that you touched on something I'd often pondered too - if 'High Noon Tex' was to allow Marvel to retain ownership, why is it dated '88? I'm guessing it may have been about demonstrating the character was in use elsewhere or somesuch. Whatever the reason, I'm glad it worked to give us more of such a striking and memorable character! I liked that although in the vein of then post-Watchmen zeitgeist of the anti-hero, Death;s Head seemed to subvert all that, with a dash of humour and mild satire (I love the 3 'rules' Death's Head lives by). His original series is still up there as one of my favourite. Perhaps less successful than contemporary title Dragon's Claws, but the anthology style worked well for a character whose profession brings him into contact with all sorts of ne'er do wells, 'Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling' with Keepsake and his ex-wife Thea being a particular favourite. I'm also pleased to see that Kieron Gillen's mainstreaming of the character has seem him pop up in more Marvel books lately too! Simon Furman and Geoff Senior really created something unique with this character, and it's great to see him resonate down the years, although his latest mini-series from 2019 was disappointing, with Death's Head sidelined in his own book in favour of Wiccan and Changeling. I remember meeting met Simon Williams at Auto Assembly in 2009, and he was so enthusiastic about Death's Head and had made an unofficial comic of him having a dust up with the Hulk, whom he was also a big fan of. I still have that and it brought a smile to my face seeing him getting to do this 'officially' in Marvel Heroes #33 some years later. On a related note, it's a shame mid 2010s series Revolutionary War didn't fare so well - it'd be nice to see more of the old Marvel UK stable. I loved all those Genesis '92 books - Motormouth, Dark Angel, Digitek, Warheads and The Knights Of Pendragon II (Like the changes made to the original Death's Head, this new, flashy superhero direction was in stark contrast to the previous 'mature readers' environmentally themed book). Still have those comics, along with all 52 issues of Overkill (I had a letter printed in one - not good enough to win a T-shirt, sadly). Death's Head II had a lot of potential (and sold very well), but the character lacked direction and for someone with 105 personalities bouncing around his neo-cortex, he didn't display much of any (although the Mars arc from late on his run and Liam Sharp's promising but unfinished Death's Head II: Gold were very good). I also wasn't a fan of how Sharp's original design ended up losing the armour seen in the limited series and ended up as just this blue guy in a jock strap with massive horns (insert your own joke here). Still, Tuck was adorable and a good foil for the big blue lug. The spin offs Death Wreck and Death Metal were a thing; Death Wreck was quite fun, Death Metal, less so and you can see Furman's heart isn't in it. Nice art from John Ross, though. ...hrm, bit long this post, right?

[@tobeyshitposts10]

Bro appeared in both of my favorite franchises, marvel and transformers, what a badass

[@MrDoctorVK]

This was good 101 episode of character that some have either seen Death's Head's early mentioned toys from Marvel series or maybe seen pic of him. I think it would be hella plot twist if Death's Head would get featured in Marvel Cinematic Series.

[@alexn8672]

One last beautiful addendum. At the end of the Death's Head 2019 series, V is last seen staying in Young Avengers Wiccan and Hulkling's New York apartment. One year later, during the Empyre event, Hulkling became basically the king of space, he and Wiccan got married, and the newlyweds moved into a palace in space. Due to licensing issues, this means that as far as we know, V is still sitting in that apartment, completely unaware that his flat mates are long gone, never to be seen again until someone decides to re-negotiate for a continuation.

[@ronnycsiregar3262]

That thumbnail is incredible

[@andylongman355]

I will spil myself with excitement if they ever introduce Deaths Head to the Mcu.

[@shirokuro73]

Fantastic! What a brilliant trip down memory lane! Thank you, yes? I loved him in the UK TF comic, and I remembered he had met the Doctor, and that the Doctor had shrunk him to human size (using the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminator, no less!) - but I had forgotten about his whole 8192 adventures. I had remembered it as the Doctor leaving him on the roof of the Baxter Building in the modern (at the time) Marvel Universe. But clearly I forgot about a whole bunch in-between! I did actually read some of those Marvel UK 8192 comics, but the only one I can really remember is Dragon's Claws (and wasn't it originally to be titled Dragon's Teeth but then changed for some reason)? I do remember him becoming Death's Head II, but it was around this time that I fell out of comics reading for several years, so I lost track of the character. I'm so glad to hear he's still around in various forms. One of my favorite characters from my childhood for sure. Thanks for a wonderful video!

[@stewartglencrose9023]

I was lucky enough to speak to Simon Furman at a comic convention. I told him Death’s Head gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@JoelCastrillon]

Must confess I star watching your videos 3 days ago and I'm obsesses with your channel man. Every video is really cool and informative

[@ineptgamer3814]

A lot of the American comic book channels on KZbin are so critical and dismissive of Marvel UK and Death's Head in general which is frustrating because without Marvel UK we would never have been aware of the Marvel Universe at all. American Marvel comics were either very rare or non existent for us to find. I was a massive fan of most of Marvel UK's output, especially Transformers and anything the legendary team of Simon & Geoff did together. Thank you so much for taking the time & effort to do all the necessary research for this awesome video. Death's Head is one of the coolest creations ever.

[@PG2994]

Now that we're in the Multiverse Saga of the MCU, I feel like Death's Head should make an appearance at some point. Introduce him to wider audiences.

[@lordcheesus1013]

I just LOVE neutral, unaffiliated characters like Death's Head and other bounty hunter type characters. It always gives them more range and room and directions to take their characters and as a result, makes them fun when they're a little less predictable. It's one of the reasons I feel in love with Lockdown as a character in TF: Animated.

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Great video! Thank you! A few things occur to me: 1) We could do with a couple of 6"-scale Marvel Legends of the two different Death's Head costumes. 2) Failing that, THIS is the kind of character that should be done in the Transformers RED line! 3) And now I have an image in my head of Death's Head and BW Megatron in an infinite recursion loop: "Yes?" "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes!" "Yes?" "YES!" Yes?" "Ye-e-e-essss . . . ."

[@divineshadow666]

God, yes. It always bugged me that they made OG Death's Head a 3 3/4" figure and Death's Head II the (Transformers Voyager-sized) 6" figure.

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

@@divineshadow666 I think by the time he had that costume, he has already been shrunk down to Human size, but we could definitely do with both OG versions in 6" scale, no matter what. They'd probably make him the BAF, packed in with six nobodies that otherwise wouldn't sell.

[@richemmerson1939]

Great video Chris - my favourite comics character from day 0 of his UK TF appearance in "Wanted: Galvatron, Dead or Alive" that I read religiously when I was a lad, getting down to the corner shop newsagent every Saturday at 8.30am when it opened to get my new issue (and had usually read it by the time I'd walked back!). Still have a load of the original issues and the Death's Head miniseries boxed in the garage somewhere.... Good to have a proper celebration worthy of the character. He's never been written right apart from Furman himself really (he's a really funny character, as well as completely badass!), but does deserve another series that properly does Death's Head justice.

[@chrishempstock2427]

Great character. Still have the comics from when I was a kid.

[@andrewgrant6516]

My inner child thanks you. Oh to be young again. Happy times.

[@insanimal2]

Absolutely fascinating to learn that the story of High Noon Tex being publsihed first to cement Marvel's ownership is apocryphal. Your research is great as always :) Been a big fan of DH since his first appearance in Transformers, yes?

[@GeekLegionofDoom]

The original Death's Head was one of my favorite characters growing up, but i hated Death's Head II for essentially ending the original character

[@1Dataluke]

I hadn't heard of Death's Head until he cameoed at the end of the last MI13 comic. But from what I saw of him, he's kinda awesome.

[@dodgerthedudeoriginal]

Moment we waited for, yes?

[@Cahos_Rahne_Veloza]

DEATH'S HEAD is a perfect example of the old, "Don't Judge a book by its cover", adage because his design does make him look like a villain but he actually isn't, he's just a businessman out to do his job.

[@1977Arrakis]

Possibly the only major character in Marvel UK Transformers comics who not only isn’t on one side or another, but genuinely doesn’t care about the war at all.

[@stuartwebb7932]

I suspect a lot of the confusion about how Marvel got ownership of DH comes from them having been straight up prepared to lie if Hasbro ever asked (if they ever did). I think they always would have just claimed that one page comic was his first appearance, so probably lucky the character never really became big enough for a huge legal fight as Hitch's dating the art would have been a big tell.

[@ChrisMcFeely]

Yeah, y'don't want to directly accuse anyone of pulling a fast one, but it does feel like someone was up to something with the one-page strip. It's misreported origin doesn't feel like some innocent misremembering decades on; my research indicates they've been selling the line that it's DH's "first appearance" since at LEAST the early 90s, with the notes in the "Incomplete Death's Head" reprint series saying the same thing (with the additional oddity of claiming it was produced for a fanzine called "Scan.")

[@stuartwebb7932]

@Chris McFeely IIRC, one of the Titan TF trades even flat out says in its intro that Death's Head was created before Transformers and was only put in that title to drum up interest after the launch of his own series was delayed. Which has always stuck in the memory because it was an random error to crop up in a series Furman was editing. Either way, I assume whatever sleight of hand went on was the reason Marvel claimed Death's Head was a Bryan Hitch creation in the promotion for the DH3 story, it's likely that's what it said on whatever internal paperwork Marvel had at the time.

[@ChrisMcFeely]

@stuartwebb7932 Yeah, that's in "Fallen Angel," but I'm definitely inclined to think it's not true; it doesn't scan with the whole "intended as one-shot baddie until Senior's sick-ass designed convinced otherwise" story (which feels pretty genuine to me) and of course, he appears in TF a solid year and a half before his own series launched, which would be a HELL of a delay if it was true. Seems like further misrepresentation of his origins.

[@stuartwebb7932]

@@ChrisMcFeely Delay replied by a couple of days of really being knocked out by mu back, but... Considering Circuit Breaker as well, I wonder which previous Marvel licence had caused them problems so as to be taking this sort of thing into account that early in the game? And obviously, those two characters are the most famous for it, but I wonder if, say, Budiansky was ready to move to make sure they owned the Mechanic if needed as well? I assume if the Neo Knights title had ever really been a goer, they'd have had to massage ownership of the other three in a similar way as well? Or maybe that was a factor in them not even getting a proof of concept cameo in one of the other books Furman wrote, Marvel couldn't be arsed to contest it. Of course, the irony is, if Furman hadn't worked so hard to keep Death's Head a Marvel character, in the long run he'd certainly have had more control over that character and his legacy being able to put him in IDW TF comics than he was allowed by Marvel. As a character, he'd probably have been better as a big fish in the small pool of OCs in Transformers than a part of the Marvel Universe.

[@ChrisMcFeely]

@@stuartwebb7932 Funny thing is, past Marvel licenses don't seem to have worked like Transformers did. Marvel-original characters, like, say, the supervillain Doctor Demonicus or the giant robot Red Ronin, created for "Godzilla," or Arcturus Rann and Bug, created for "Micronauts," were all Marvel's property and would go on to appear in other comics after the licenses expired. Checking the dates, Demonicus was actually appearing in "Iron Man" (his first appearance since Godzilla's series was cancelled) at the same time as Budiansky was taking over as writer of TF. So perhaps it could have been that which sparked the thought, "hey, what if we want to do something with this new TF character the way we are with this Godzilla one?" The Neo Knights are one I've been thinking about while pondering Death's Head's situation. The copynight notes in the last year of US TF issues said they (and Blackrock!) were Marvel's property, despite not debuting anywhere else. So Marvel just... did that. Copyrighted them, or said they did, and nobody took any notice. It makes me think Hasbro just genuinely weren't as attentive to original-character-copyrights as the tales of CB and DH have led us to think, which I think increases the possibility that the whole Death's Head thing was retroactive flim-flammery on Marvel's part. Or at least, they must've cared much much less in the waning days of the original series as compared to its peak years when CB was introduced.

[@ultrahi-speed5776]

This would be hilarious if this was a test run to start doing a Marvel the basics on this channel

[@jotarogaming4626]

Ah yes my favorite time traveling bounty hunter. Deathington Headman

[@raymondgonzales5877]

I'm surprised that he was originally a part of the Transformers universe. I grew up reading Death's Head comics. Really enjoyed this series. I prefer his original look. Really like this version of him.

[@sird2333]

Always thought a Death’s Head/Terror team up would be cool.

[@PCERules]

I loved Death’s Head as a kid, my favourite story was either The Marvel Heroes fight with The Hulk but the line in Revolutionary War is possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever read with the punchline - I really do need saving!

[@I_Am_The_Paulrus]

Thanks for this Chris. Was totally unaware of the shenanigans that went on regarding the rights to the character - very interesting indeed Can't blame Marvel though - Death's Head is without doubt Furman and Senior's greatest achievement. My only complaint with this vid is that you didn't mention the fact that he killed both Bumblebee AND Shockwave! Absolutely blew my 7-year old mind back in the day 😁 His battle with Shockwave in particular is probably the stand-out moment of the Marvel UK run. The fact that his body is being controlled by Unicron - while he can still think and speak for himself - during the fight means he's apologizing to Shockwave just as he's crushing his brain chip to dust. Just a brilliant character

[@rustybuckets2143]

When I was growing up, my local library had collected editions of both the Marvel UK and US Transformers comics, so I was incredibly confused when I would unknowingly go from reading one to another. Between those and the old Marvel trading card, I had fallen in love with his design and signature quizzical "yes?"