"Tell me,
Sebastian... How badly do you want your freedom?"
- "Who do you want me to kill?"
— The Baroness and
Major Bludd
|
Sebastian
Bludd is one of the most infamous
mercenaries
in the world. He has worked as a terrorist, assassin and
soldier-for-hire.
His only loyalty is to money, and he has been known to turn on his
employers
if he finds a better opportunity. Bludd's expertise (and rank of Major)
comes from his initial military training from the Australian Special
Air
Service.
|
Young Sebastian Bludd
|
He later joined the French Foreign Legion, and finally became
a freelance military advisor. He soon discovered that there was more
money
to be made in using his skills in the service of criminals, terrorists
and revolutionaries, and his life as a mercenary began. Over the years,
Bludd has also been known for writing poetry...bad poetry. (Though the
Baroness once described his
poetry as "quite beautiful".) He is
possibly
the only poet ever to use the word "Uzi".
By 1983,
Bludd was
wanted for crimes in Rhodesia
and Libya. That same year, Major Bludd was hired by Cobra
Commander to
join his organization. The Commander kept his true agenda a secret: he
had hired Bludd to kill Destro, fearing he
could and would usurp his
command.
Shortly afterward, Bludd participated in a battle against the G.I. Joe
team in Washington, DC. He manned the turret of the HISS tank that
was
being driven by the Baroness. In the midst of the battle, Cobra
Commander
ordered Bludd to kill Destro. The Major took aim at Destro, but the
Baroness
realized what he was about to do and swerved, ruining Bludd's shot. The
out-of-control tank crashed, and Bludd ran from the burning wreck,
leaving
the Baroness trapped inside as it exploded. The Baroness survived, but
was badly burned by the blast. In the aftermath of the battle, Bludd
made
his escape, realizing Destro knew he had tried to kill him. Cobra
Commander
insisted that Bludd acted alone to keep the Baroness for himself.
Bludd,
meanwhile, made his way to a bus terminal where he hijacked a bus
filled
with passengers, including another fleeing Cobra
agent, Scar-face. The
Joes Stalker and Grand Slam caught up with
the bus on motorcycle, as
Bludd
fired upon them. Bludd was taken by surprise when Grand Slam climbed
atop
the bus and smashed through the windshield, swinging inside. Bludd was
momentarily distracted when he recognized Scar-face on the bus,
allowing
Grand Slam to subdue him. Once in custody, Bludd was taken to the
hospital
to be treated for his injuries. There, he learned the Baroness had
survived
the explosion the night before. He attempted to escape but was stopped
by a patient -- Hawk. The Joes' leader had
been shot during the battle
and was being treated there. He had refused to give up his sidearm, and
was able to recapture Bludd.
The Major was later brought to Joe
headquarters
along
with Scar-face and an unconscious Baroness. While they were in custody,
Cobra staged a massive attack on the Joes' base. During the confusion
of
the battle, Bludd knocked out Doc while still
handcuffed to the bars.
Taking
the keys from the Joes' medic, Bludd unlocked his own cuffs, and
planned
to escape with the Baroness in a Cobra FANG helicopter that had landed
on the roof. It's pilot set explosives to destroy the fortress perched
atop the Pit. He also decided to leave Scar-face in his cell, but Bludd
was
soon stopped in his tracks, held at gunpoint by General
Flagg. Scar-face
then
kicked the pistol from Flagg's hands, allowing Bludd to pick up the gun
and fire on Flagg, killing him. Despite Scar-face's help, Bludd still
left
him behind and took off with the Baroness (though he promised to write
a poem about him). Scar-face was later killed by the explosion that
destroyed
the fortress. Eventually, Major Bludd made his way to Switzerland with
the Baroness. He brought her to the Bern Institute of Reconstructive
Surgery,
where Dr. Hundtkinder restored her badly burnt face. While the Baroness
recovered, Bludd made a phone call to Cobra Commander and demanded a
ransom
for the Baroness, threatening to tell Destro that he had been hired to
kill him. The Commander was enraged, but had little choice but to pay
him.
The Commander made his way to Switzerland, allowing Destro to still
believe
the Baroness was dead. Once the Commander arrived, the Joes appeared,
having
been keeping Bludd under surveillance. In the fight that followed,
Bludd
and the Baroness escaped with the Commander's bodyguard, Storm Shadow.
The Commander was captured by the Joes.
Bludd and the Baroness returned to
Springfield,
where
Destro was ready to kill Bludd for the attempt on his life. Fortunately
for Bludd, Destro was taken aback by learning the Baroness was alive.
Using
the Commander's treachery and his feelings for the Baroness to
manipulate
Destro, she and Bludd planned to take control of Cobra in the
Commander's
absence. Their only stumbling block was Storm Shadow, who freed the
Commander
from the Joes. After the Commander returned to Springfield, Bludd was
thrown
into a jail cell for his treachery. The Baroness soon offered Bludd his
freedom, in exchange for his help in planning the assassination of
Cobra
Commander. They sought out a boy named Billy,
working in Springfield's
anti-Cobra underground resistance. The brutal Bludd turned Billy into
an
assassin and provided him with the weapon to kill the Commander. The
stage
was set, and at a Cobra rally, Billy approached the Commander as a
Cobra
youth, holding a bouquet of flowers. The Commander was about to be
gunned
down when Destro stopped the boy from firing. His explanation was more
surprising than his actions. He had recognized the boy -- he was Cobra
Commander's son. In the inquest that followed, Bludd was pleased that
the
boy refused to give up his accomplices. After the inquest, Major Bludd
eventually stopped working for Cobra altogether since the Commander
knew
he could no longer trust him. He contined his career as a mercenary,
and
was not seen by Cobra or G.I. Joe for years.
After the apparent deaths
of Destro and the Commander, Bludd was hired by Serpentor
to pose as
Destro
in order to infiltrate his castle in Scotland and steal his copy of the
plans to Cobra's Terror-Drome launch bases. The real Destro arrived
home
to discover the imposter, and with the Joes' help, he overcame his
castle's
defenses and beat Bludd in a fistfight. It's not known what Destro
decided
to do with Major Bludd, but the mercenary returned to his career some
time
after his defeat in Scotland. He had no contact with Cobra for the next
several years.
Major Bludd
resurfaced in the Eastern European country
of Borovia amidst the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Snake-Eyes had been sent into the
nation to rescue George Strawhacker,
a member of the state department who was being held in a Borovian
gulag.
General Thurston Crowther, head of the committee of generals known as
the
Jugglers, sent Snake-Eyes on that mission, but he also secretly hired
Major
Bludd to kill Snake-Eyes. Strawhacker had been leaking false
information
to the Soviets, and if he returned to the United States, the false
information
would have been suspect. At the same time, Snake-Eyes' rescue attempt
was
staged so it would appear someone had tried to rescue Strawhacker. As
the
he arrived in the midst of ritoing Borovians, Bludd assured Metz, the
man
who hoped to be leader of the new Borovia, that his mission was for the
good of the people of his country. When Strawhacker was killed anyway,
Bludd opted not to kill Snake-Eyes, since Strawhacker's death made it
unnecessary.
He then sold out Metz by telling the people his plans. Bludd's actions
could be perceived as honorable, but Snake-Eyes was becoming a hero to
the Borovians and if Bludd killed him, he probably wouldn't have made
it
out of the country alive.
Years
after the incident in Borovia, Cobra Commander called upon Bludd to
work
for Cobra, but Cobra forces in Europe fell to a unified attack by
regular
military forces soon afterward. In the wake of this conflict, most of
Cobra's
"high command" disappeared. Bludd himself was captured and thrown into
prison at Fort Leavenworth for two years until he escaped during a
prison
riot he himself incited. G.I. Joe, meanwhile, was disbanded, as well.
Back
in business, Bludd continued his mercenary work over the next few
years.
In 2001, Bludd was working for the former KGB agent, Colonel Nikita. Duke,
the former Joe now working for a secret government agency, tracked
Bludd
down on orders to arrest him for various crimes including the murder of
General Flagg. After Bludd sold weapons to a group of men in Italy,
Duke
arrived to arrest him. After a long chase, Bludd escaped by diving into
the water from a high cliff. Duke didn't expect anyone could survive
the
fall, but Bludd managed to. While searching the house the Major had
rented
while in Italy, Duke came upon a surprising message that Cobra
Commander
was arriving in America. The
Commander had reemerged and called a
meeting
of his former lieutenants, including Major Bludd. Bludd was surprised
when
Destro forcibly took control of Cobra from the Commander, but as long
as
he was paid well, he was willing to fight on the side of Cobra, whoever
was in charge. Eventually, "Destro" was revealed to actually be the
arms
dealer's son, Alexander, and his forces were eventually defeated by
G.I.
Joe. Bludd evaded capture like many other Cobra agents, but received a
message to meet whom he thought was a potential client at a warehouse. Once
there, he was surprised to find other Cobra agents, and learned
that
the Commander had summoned them, determined to force them to pay off
their
debt for betraying him and working for Destro (no matter who he had
really
been). Storm Shadow was used as a threat for them to stay with Cobra
and never betray him again. He continued worked on many Cobra
operations, including the recent invasion of Cobra Island, fighting the
forces of a revived Serpentor alongside the G.I. Joe team.
In the wake of the battle
on Cobra Island, both Bludd and Scrap-Iron
were captured by the Joes
and held in Blackwater prison. They were both surprised when the
mercenary Wraith, working for Destro, broke them out of Blackwater,
escaping a team of Joes guarding the prison. Despite his past
differences with Bludd, Destro made him part of his Iron Grendadier
army. A short time later, Destro took control of Cobra and placed
Mistress Armada and Major Bludd in command of a segment of Cobra's
forces fighting in Europe. During a battle in Turkey with an anti-Cobra
task force led by U.S. Army General Philip
Rey, Bludd
fought the General one-on-one until Rey cut
off his hand. He and Armada were defeated but escaped, but Bludd
has since vowed to get revenge against General Rey. A short time later,
Cobra Commander, recently revealed to
have escaped government incarceration, made his way to Cobra Island
with troops
loyal to him. He arrived and passed through the island's defenses with
little difficulty, since Major Bludd, Tomax, Xamot
and others had remained loyal to him even as they worked alongside
Destro. The Commander took control of the weapon known as the
Tempest, a device that could
seed the clouds to make it rain. With Dr. Mindbender's help, it was
used to make the flesh-eating Death Angel virus rain down upon a chosen
area. The brutality of the device led even Major Bludd to have
misgivings about its use. At the same time, the
Joes and Cobra faced a new threat in the group called the Red Shadows,
who had begun targeting and murdering agents of both groups. The Joes
eventually defeated the schemes of Cobra and the Red Shadows, and Cobra
was once
again left in disarray.
Major
Bludd's
whereabouts
immediately following the fight against the Red Shadows was unknown to
the Joes for some time. When the Joes were tracking down former Cobra
agents to find out if they were responsible for a series of terrorist
attacks, Storm Shadow found Major Bludd in Australia, in the midst of
carrying out an assassination. During their brief fight Bludd mentioned
that
he
had recently killed a member of G.I. Joe. He
escaped before he revealed who he was talking about, but his admission
concerned the Joes, since many members were currently on reserve status
around the world. One missing Joe was
Recondo,
and
his
friend
Sparks
tried to find him at a Tucaro village in Sierra Gordo. The native
Tucaros told
Sparks that Recondo had been there when Major Bludd arrived in the
village, and after a brutal fight, Bludd stabbed Recondo in the back
and
kicked him off a ledge into a waterfall below. Sparks reported his
death to the Joes, but later received a message from Recondo that he
had survived the fall, and asked he be officially listed as dead. Bludd
presumably has no knowledge of his survival. Currently, Sebastian Bludd
remains at large
.