Origin

The Death Throws were started by The Ringleader. Despite breaking laws, he liked to play by the rules. The Death Throws weren’t just a gang, but a worker’s co-operative. They shared profits and pooled legal aid. They also had a strict “juggler’s only” admission policy.

Creation

The Death Throws were created by Mark Gruenwald, Paul Neary and Dennis Janke in 1986 and first appeared in Captain America # 317.

Team Evolution

Active Members

• Bombshell - Original member, juggles bombs
• Knickknack - Original member, juggles knives and other sharp objects
• Ringleader - Original member, juggles rings
• Tenpin - Original member, juggles bowling pins
• Throwdown - A juggler on stilts

Former Members

• Whirlwind - Former reservist who still owed membership dues
• Oddball - Original member, currently on Hank Pym's Lethal Legion in the Microverse
• Heave-Ho - Auditioned for Oddball's spot
• Chuck Stuff - Auditioned for Oddball's spot
• Tosser - Auditioned for Oddball's spot.

Major Story Arcs

Hawkeye Feud

Oddball and Bombshell took a job working for Crossfire away from the rest of their juggling supervillain team. It was their first run-in with Hawkeye. After Crossfire was arrested, Oddball and Bombshell got the rest of the Death Throws to break him out. However, they didn’t care about saving Crossfire. They were using him as bait to finally get the best of Hawkeye, who they thought they could sell for a million dollar bounty. Unfortunately, they didn’t just get the attention of Hawkeye. Captain America and Mockingbird came with him. They were severely outgunned.

Later, they were pitted against a number of other rogues who mixed it up with Hawkeye recently when someone put a bounty on Hawkeye’s arm. Trickshot and Mockingbird helped him evade them, but the Death Throws cornered him in the sewers along with Mad Dog, Brothers Grimm, and others.

London Falling

The Death Throws were among ten mercenaries hired by an AIM splinter group called RAID (Radically Advanced Ideas in Destruction). RAID was looking to make a name for themselves and instructed the mercenaries to attack London. The attacks were spread out but all scheduled for 4 pm hoping to spread any responding heroes thin. The Death Throws were assigned to Tower Bridge along with Crossfire. MI-5’s costumed hero task force split with Union Jack and Sabra taking the Death Throws on at the bridge.

Death T.H.R.O.W.S.

Their on-again, off-again ally would steal their name for a robot army at his command. THROWS was an acronym, standing for Techno Hybrid Remotely Operated Weapons Systems. They were originally created for the US military under the name Magnum Zs, but Congress cut their funding upon learning they violated the Geneva Convention. He would use them against Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Mockingbird. Unfortunately, the heroes figured out their weakness: their external power source.

Vegas Hold-Up

The Death Throws attempted to hold up the Big Top Casino, with their newest member Throwdown, a juggler on stilts. However, they were stopped by Loki, who had become a hero.

Lethal Legion

Oddball was part of a number of supervillains who were mysteriously killed. The Death Throws learned of his death from the paper. They didn’t feel the cops would even bother investigating so Ringleader decided that they would need to investigate themselves. Knickknack was not confident in their abilities to be detectives, so Bombshell suggested they look up a former reservist member, Whirlwind.

At the time, Whirlwind was a supposed victim of the same killing spree, however, he woke up with a new personality and joined Avengers, Inc, a superhuman detective agency the Wasp started in accordance with the Anti-Vigilante Laws that New York City had in place at the time. He hoped to leverage Whirlwind’s old membership with the crew, forgiving the membership dues he never paid. Avengers Inc took the gig, since they were already investigating the killings and needed a new lead.

It ultimately led them to an older and wearier Hank Pym, who recently had returned from being lost in time while connected to Ultron. He was faking the deaths of supervillains to recruit them to a Lethal Legion, including Oddball. Pym hoped they would stand in defense against Ultron, who Hank was afraid had followed him back to the present. After Pym was found, he retreated the whole team to the Microverse to wait for Ultron's return, so Oddball was not reunited with his team.

Oddball's Replacement

The Death Throws were pulling off a heist in Times Square that they were using to audition replacements for Oddball. Trial members included:

• Heave-Ho: a pirate themed juggler who threw cannonballs
• Chuck Stuff: a Philadelphia themed juggler who threw cheese steaks
• Tosser: a British themed juggler who threw bricks

They were approached by Venom (who was bonded to a mystery host at the time). Ringleader sent the three trial members after the symbiote hoping the mystery host was a liability to the symbiote. Venom managed to defeat them pretty easily. To retreat, Bombshell threw a number of bombs, all of which were duds except one, so Venom would waste his time looking for the one instead of chasing them.