Real
Name: Jesse Black Crow
Occupation: Former construction worker on workmen's
compensation, mystic
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no
criminal record
Identity: Secret
Place of Birth: Navajo Indian Reservation, New Mexico
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group of Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Queens, New York
First Appearance: CAPTAIN AMERICA #292
History: Jesse Black Crow is a Navajo Indian who
left the reservation at the age of 18 to become a construction
worker on skyscrapers in the New York area. One day some
scaffolding gave way and he plunged twenty stories. Miraculously,
he survived the fall, but became paralyzed from the waist
down. While lying comatose in the hospital, he had a vision
of the Indians' plight in America, and was transformed into
a mystic warrior and protector of the Indians' dream by
a "spirit of the Earth" sacred to his ancestors.
Now whenever this Earth spirit has a mission for him, it
causes him to lose consciousness and bodily transform into
his totem, a black crow, or the mystical human warrior Black
Crow. Black Crow's first mission for the Earth spirit was
to challenge Captain America to a trial by combat. Black
Crow told him that as a symbol of modern America, Captain
America must die to balance the cosmic scales and appease
his ancestral spirit. After a battle that culminated in
a plunge off the Brooklyn Bridge, Captain America made a
gesture of surrender to the Earth spirit, thereby ending
the conflict and creating a spiritual bond the two American
champions. Weeks later, when Captain America was dying of
a poison injected in him by the Red Skull, the Black Crow
materialized minutes before he succumbed and performed a
ritual which enhanced the Captain's will to live. The poison
burned out of his system, Captain America awoke, with only
the vaguest recollection of the Black Crow's assistance.
The Black Crow has then undertook a mission to save Daredevil.
Height: 6 ft. 1 in.
Weight: 190 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Strength Level: As his crippled normal self, Jesse
Black Crow's strength is below that of a man his age, height,
and build. In his mystic warrior form, Black Crow has superhuman
strength, the extent of which is unknown.
Known Superhuman Powers: The Black Crow can magically
transform himself into a normal sized black crow or a bolt
of lightning. In both forms, he maintains his human intelligence.
It is not known how long he can maintain these altered forms.
Apparently he uses the lighting form for traveling long
distances, and the crow form for reconnaissance.
He can also summon fog, but it is not known how much he
can summon at once. He was able to perceive certain of Captain
America's thoughts, but this may be due to the special spiritual
bond between them and may not indicate general telepathic
ability. The Black Crow was able to mesmerize Nomad into
paralysis, but this too may not be an ability that extends
over everyone.
In his warrior form, the Black Crow is superhumanly agile
and a gifted unarmed combatant.
Weapon: The Black Crow carries a knife and a pouch
containing various mystic herbs. He sometimes carries a
longbow or spear.

|