Religion: not determined yet
Name: Puff Adder
Alter Ego: Gordon Fraley
Other Names: Gordon "Gordo" Fraley; Willard
Classification:
villain
hero
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Captain America (vol. 1) #337 (Jan. 1988): "The Long Road Back"
Creators: Mark Gruenwald, Tom Morgan, Dave Hunt
Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes
Number of Appearances: 33
Teams/Affiliations: Initiative; Serpent Society; Serpent Squad; The Masters of Evil
Nation: USA
Birth Place: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Gender: male
A few different groups of snake-themed villains have used the name "Serpent Squad." Ultimately, most members of the various Serpent Squads ended up being members of the larger Serpent Society. One "Serpent Squad" was initially organized by Viper in order to infiltrate the Serpent Society. The members of this Serpent Squad were Black Racer, Copperhead, Fer-de-Lance, and Puff Adder. As chronicled in Captain America (vol. 1) #337, these snake-themed villains claimed to be potential new members of the Serpent Society who were trying out for positions in the Society, but when they had their chance, they followed Viper's orders to attack the Society and poison the Society's leader, Sidewinder.
Despite this rather confrontational introduction to the Serpent Society, this Serpent Squad was short-lived, as its members soon saw the benefit of being part of the Serpent Society, joined it, and became longstanding regular members.
This may seem strange, but Puff Adder is sometimes depicted as a Caucasian, although he is usually depicted as black.
King Cobra (Rattler's boss in the Serpent Society) appears to call Rattler by the name "Willard" in panel 2 on page 11 in Captain America (vol. 1) #434. Rattler appears in costume on the cover in this issue, and he is apparently the uncostumed white man with close-cropped blonde hair who appears with King Cobra on pages 7, 11, 12, 13 and 22 in this issue. On page 11 in this issue, this blonde member of King Cobra's Serpent Society is flying his team's helicopter when he tells King Cobra what he thinks they should do with their captive, Jack Flag: "I saw we just give him the boot at 6000 feet. I got a hunch he's nothing but trouble."
King Cobra replies: "Might I remind you that you were nothing but trouble when we recruited you, Willard?"
OR... maybe the blonde man is actually Rattler, and in the panel where King Cobra is talking to "Willard," Puff Adder is off-panel, and Rattler is NOT the man King Cobra is talking to, although he is sitting next to him in the helicopter cockpit. (Note that King Cobra is NOT looking at the blonde man in the pilot's seat, but is looking at a point behind them.)
Captain America
Captain America: The Legend #1 (Sep. 1996)GambitGuardians of the Galaxy
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/puffadderss.htm
- http://www.comicvine.com/puff-adder/29-27471/
- http://www.marvunapp.com/master/mastmasz.htm
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=2590
- https://www.comics.org/issue/43968/
- http://www.comicboards.com/marvelguide/p2.html
- http://www.marvunapp.com/master/puapum.htm
- http://www.marvunapp.com/master/seosg.htm