Origin

Sebastian Szardos was a descendant of Wundagore Mountain witches. He was a member of the United States army during WWII. While assigned to a secret task force to take on the Thule Society, his entire squad was killed by "astral assassins." Szardos, however, was able to hold his own, destroying all the ghosts and getting the attention of The Ancient One. His new mentor would coach him in the use of the mystic arts, eventually gifting him the Eye of Agamotto and a mystic rifle.

Creation

Sgt. Szardos was first featured in a group shot of historical heroes in Avengers (2018) #50 by Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón. He was created as part of Aaron's long term plans for the secret history of legacy heroes and how they relate to Mephisto.

Major Story Arc

Soul Sniper

Szardos was investigating a new Thule Society weapon in the Irish Sea, called U-666. It was a submarine possessed by Mephisto, who was sinking any Allied ships that crossed his path. This included the hospital ship full of nuns that Szardos hitched a ride on.

When it was sunk, Szardos was shipwrecked on an island full of survivors of all the other ships attacked by U-666. Mephisto was waiting for Szardos though. He was attempting to strand the Eye of Agamotto, in Szardos' possession, on the island so that future Sorcerer Supremes could not use it. Using sniper aim, Mephisto was able to "shoot" himself into the various survivors to attack Szardos, forcing him to kill all the men he was shipwrecked with.

Feeling defeated, he contacted the astral form of The Ancient One for advice. The Ancient One gave him the correct exorcism to take care of Mephisto, but a team of Nazi fighter planes have caught up with him. With a little help from secret time-travelling Avengers, Szardos was able to exorcize Mephisto and get himself off the island in a mysterious plane, so he could reunite with the Secret Invaders.

Hellhunter

By June 1944, Szardos had curried favor from Nick Fury and Peggy Carter. He had helped them out of a scrape a year prior and needed their help to track a supernatural disturbance. It revealed itself as a group of six Nazi soldiers who had been enhanced by a demon pact. While tracking them, they came across Sal Romero, a paratrooper recently resurrected as Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider had been killed by the Nazis and was easily convinced to join Szardos' pack. He tried to help Sal master his new demonic power while using Sal's passenger to track the demon Nazis, believing them to be connected. Instead, it led them to another sole survivor of the Nazis: a Canadian solider named Logan. After a detour to Camp Twenty Grand, these Howling Commandos check in with Colonel Phillips, who refuse to give them any backup. Bucky volunteers anyway.

Szardos and the team were tracking the lead demonic Nazi, Bruckner, when they were attacked by the rest, combined into a single entity. They were sent to stall the heroes so that Bruckner could get a foothold in London. When they finally defeated the Nazi golem, Szardos used the Eye of Agamotto to view London, writing it off as a lost cause. This angered Zarathos, the demon possessing Sal. He demanded the posse continue forward and offered them hellfire upgrades to do it. Szardos is given a hellfire upgrade to his rifle and the Eye of Agamotto. Szardos and the rest of the hellfire Howling Commandos took care of the demonic ground troops, while Sal targeted yet another giant made from possessed Nazis with a hellfire Bomber. Sal crashed his plane into the giant, toppling them into the English channel, where he would drag them to the bottom of the ocean, ending the demonic plague. His team presumed him dead, but Szardos knew a Ghost Rider was harder to kill than that.

Powers and Abilities

Military Veteran: Szardos has training as a United States Army soldier during WWII.

Sorcerer Supreme: Szardos is capable of strong spellcasting.

• Artifacts: Szardos is in possession of the Eye of Agamotto and a special organic rifle.
• Hellfire Manipulation: Szardos was once given a temporary no-strings hellfire upgrade from Zarathos.