viper
1. any venomous Old World snake of the family Viperidae, esp any of the genus Vipera (the adder and related forms), having hollow fangs in the upper jaw that are used to inject venom
2. any of various other snakes, such as the horned viper
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Viper
(pop culture)The terrorist and mercenary known as Viper first appeared as Madame Hydra, created by writer/artist Jim Steranko, in Captain America vol. 1 #110 (1969). (She is not to be confused with the later supervillain Madame Hydra VI, who debuted in Nick Fury vs. SHIELD #3, 1988.) An orphaned child, the future Viper suffered an accident that permanently scared the right side of her face. She turned to crime to support herself and became a mercenary, then enlisted as one of the first female recruits into the subversive organization Hydra. Under the name Madame Hydra she headed up Hydra's New York operations, where she encountered and battled Captain America. In Captain America #157 (1973), writer Steve Englehart introduced a male costumed villain named the Viper, who later joined the supervillain team the Serpent Squad. In issue #180 (1974) Madame Hydra, no longer a member of Hydra, murdered the original Viper, took over his alias, and reorganized the Serpent Squad. The new Viper followed a nihilist philosophy, believing in nothing. In her most spectacular terrorist act, she tried to crash the SHIELD Heli-carrier into the U.S. Capitol (Marvel Team-Up vol. 1 #85, 1979), eerily foreshadowing the September 11, 2001, attacks by more than two decades. A brilliant criminal strategist trained in various martial arts, the Viper is a skilled markswoman and bullwhip wielder. She is also extremely knowledgeable in the properties and uses of toxins, poisons, and snake venoms (hence her identity), often creating her own poisons that she dispenses through her fangs or through poisoned lipstick. She has been known to carry a set of lethal, snake venom–tipped darts. Viper is a frequent partner of the Silver Samurai, although their various criminal activities often take them in different directions. She has clashed with several costumed heroes, including the original Spider- Woman and the Black Widow. The villainess has a tangled history with Wolverine, whom she manipulated into marrying her, and then later divorced. Since then the Viper has affiliated herself with the Inner Circle of the infamous Hellfire Club.
The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood © 2006 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
viper
[′vī·pər] (vertebrate zoology)
The common name for reptiles of the family Viperidae; thick-bodied poisonous snakes having a pair of long fangs, present on the anterior part of the upper jaw, which fold against the roof of the mouth when the jaws are closed.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
viper
(or adder) poisonous snake family; puff adder is deadliest of all. [Zoology: NCE, 2898]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.