(born Oct. 10, 1906, Madras, India—died May 13, 2001, Madras) Indian writer. Narayan briefly worked as a teacher before devoting himself to writing. His first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), recounts the adventures of a group of schoolboys. His novels, which typically portray human relationships and the ironies of Indian daily life in which modern urban existence clashes with ancient tradition, include The English Teacher (1945), The Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), A Tiger for Malgudi (1983), and The World of Nagaraj (1990). He also wrote short stories, memoirs, and modern prose versions of Indian epics.

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S.T.R.I.K.E. is a fictional, comic-book counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the Marvel Comics universe. The organization, that often deals with superhuman threats, was introduced in Captain Britain Weekly #17, as the United Kingdom's version of the United Nation's S.H.I.E.L.D.

The acronym stands for Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies.

Publication and fictional history

The organization was first mentioned when Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury came to a meeting with the British Prime Minister, James Callaghan, and was introduced to his United Kingdom counterpart, Tod Radcliffe. However, this is retconed the very next issue when its announced that Radcliffe is the Deputy Director of S.T.R.I.K.E.

It is revealed that Radcliffe is a traitor, working for the Red Skull, Commander Lance Hunter is introduced as S.T.R.I.K.E.'s director.

S.T.R.I.K.E. is later taken over by Captain Britain's enemy, the crimelord Vixen, and disbanded in the wake of Jaspers' Warp, where Mad Jim Jaspers became Prime Minister and used S.T.R.I.K.E.'s armored anti-superhuman "Beetle" squadron to hunt down superhumans within the British isles. S.T.R.I.K.E. was replaced by the Resources Control eXecutive (R.C.X.), Department of Unknown and Covert Knowledge (D.U.C.K.) and Weird Happenings Organization (W.H.O).

Bases of operation

S.T.R.I.K.E.'s original headquarters, as seen in the organizations first appearances, was an undersea air base, which contained several of S.T.R.I.K.E.'s planes which were considered superior to their American counterparts at the time.

S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi division had their own headquarters.

Another headquarters was in a closed University, located in London, England; this HQ was later used by D.U.C.K.

Members

Like S.H.I.E.L.D., S.T.R.I.K.E. had hundreds of agents throughout several divisions

Executive directors and deputy directors

• Tod Radcliffe - Announced as Director of S.T.R.I.K.E., then retconed to Deputy Director.
• Commander Lance Hunter - Director of S.T.R.I.K.E. Even after the organizations disbanding, Hunter still has good ties with S.H.I.E.L.D. and W.H.O. when he is seen alongside Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine, and Alistaire Stuart briefing British superhumans on the details of the British Superhuman Registration Act.

Psi division

• Elizabeth Braddock - Twin sister of Captain Britain; would later join the X-Men; currently with the Exiles
• Tom Lennox - Both a telepath and a telekinetic, Lennox was Betsy Braddock's lover. During the Jasper's Warp saga, Lennox was gunned down by S.T.R.I.K.E.'s armored anti-superhuman "Beetle" squad.
• Alison Double
• Kevin Mulhearn - Kevin took an outside job as a mentalist under the name Doctor Destiny. He was performing his mind reading act at a theater in London, using his powers to tell what people had in their possession. He was killed by one of his volunteers from the audience who turned out the be Slaymaster, who had been charged with killing all of S.T.R.I.K.E.'s psi devision.
• Vicki Reppion - Killed by Slaymaster.
• Avril Davis - Killed by Slaymaster.
• Dennis Rush - Killed by Slaymaster.
• Andrew Hornby - Killed by Slaymaster.
• Leah Mickleson - Killed by Slaymaster.
• Stuart Hattrick - Killed by Slaymaster.

Sci-Tech division

• "Matthew" (codename) - Recruited telepath Betsy Braddock to join S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi division. He later was recruited into R.C.X. as a regulator and given the new codename of Gabriel.

Other versions

Ultimate S.T.R.I.K.E.

S.T.R.I.K.E. in the Ultimate Marvel parallel universe was first introduced in Ultimate X-Men #15 and is still considered an English division S.H.I.E.L.D. though that is an entirely United States controlled organization. S.T.R.I.K.E. also has ties with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sister organization in Europe, the European Defense Initiative.

Known members

• Colonel Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock - A S.T.R.I.K.E. mutant agent from psi-division who later inherited the body of a young girl known as Kwannon after being killed. Due to her body, Betsy was technically considered a minor thus unable to work for S.T.R.I.K.E. so she went on to join the X-Men.
• Dai Thomas - A Welsh S.T.R.I.K.E. agent from psi-division who was killed by Proteus. His Earth-616 (mainstream-Marvel) counterpart was a police inspector who often clashed with S.T.R.I.K.E. and its descendant organizations.

References