Rafe Michel

Rafe Michel was an average man...if you call leading a militant black power group average. Of course being a rival of both the Falcon, and his alter ego Sam Wilson, Rafe was not the most honorable man for the job. While pulling a robbery Rafe had the unfortunate luck to find that someone had already broken into the store...Lucifer. Lucifer was enjoying Earth food, and found that it was causing him to lose his prescence in our world. Lucifer grabbed Rafe, and "gifted" him with his ionic energy to merge with him.

Captain America #143- Leila gets Sam Wilson to come to a People’s Militia meeting. Rafe sees them there. He asks Sam if he has come to hand out welfare checks, and then tells him he can stuff them because they aren’t buying that bit anymore. Sam goes for Rafe, but the crowd holds them apart. The leader of the People’s Militia arrives on stage. He wears a yellow jumpsuit, and a blue ski mask. He says that the time for action is tonight. He says that they will burn Harlem to the ground so that the whites can’t force them to live there anymore. Sam rushes the stage. He says that the plan makes no sense. The other two masked men with the leader throw Sam off the stage to the angry crowd. They start to beat on him until Leila convinces them that as an Uncle Tom that Sam might be converted to their side to deal with the whites. Later they throw Sam from a moving truck in front of his office. Steve Rogers sees him, and then runs off to stop the mob. Later Leila stops by to see Sam, but when he still doesn’t want to join up in mob actions she walks out. Rafe is waiting there with a car, and they leave together. Cap and Falcon calm down the riot at the Boy’s Club and head to the People’s Militia headquarters. They see Rafe and Leila going in. They tear the yellow suits off the guards to reveal that they are white. ‘The Man’ unmasks to reveal himself as the Red Skull. As Skull lowers a steel wall to trap them Cap uses his shield to bar the door open long enough for Rafe and Leila to get out. They head to the Boy’s Club to tell everyone that they were tricked. Rafe tells the police that they will be laying low, but not to think that this is the end of the People’s Militia. Rafe leaves and asks Leila if she is coming. Leila says she will see him later and she goes to kiss Sam Wilson.

Captain America #151- Falcon swings down to the street. Juan asks to hold Redwing, but Rafe tells him to knock it off. He says Juan is forgetting that Falcon is an Uncle Tom sellout. Falcon clenches his fist, and tells Rafe that he is lucky that isn’t true or he would beat the snot out of him.

Captain America #153- While flying around Falcon spots his girl Leila and Rafe Michel “making it”. The next day Falcon discovers that Leila is back with the militants because of an imposter Captain America “beating on the brothers”. The Cap has Steve’s voice and face.

Captain America #154- The imposter and racist Captain America and Bucky defeat the Falcon and take him to a warehouse in Harlem. A couple of kids see Falcon being captured. They run for help and come across Rafe and Leila. They tell Rafe what happened, but Rafe calls Falcon an Uncle Tom. Somebody in the crowd says that Falcon has done a lot for the neighborhood, and no matter what else he is black. Rafe says okay that they’ll help. The guy says they are going to go get some guys. Rafe says his boys will meet him there in an hour. They find the fake Cap and Bucky trying to beat the real Cap’s location out of him. They knock on the door pretending to be a building inspector. Bucky opens the door, and everyone charges in. They knock out Bucky. The fake Cap realizes he is outnumbered. He grabs the Falcon and tries to run. Rafe calls Cap a coward. Cap goes back to fight, but Falcon breaks his ropes. Cap gets away with Bucky. Falcon says thanks to his rescuers. Rafe tells Falcon to “shove it sideways”, but everybody else pats Falcon on the back. Falcon takes off to catch the fake Cap, and tells everyone to spread the word that he was fake.

Captain America #160- Falcon sees Leila walking with Rafe again. He swings down in front of them. Falcon tells Leila that he came to get her, and tells her he wants to go. Rafe gets in his face saying that Leila is his fox. Leila says that she isn’t anybody’s fox, but she might want to be. Rafe asks why she is “gonna play games with a honky-lovin’ Uncle Tom”. Falcon tells Rafe that he is as much of a bigot as the fake Captain America was. He says that if he mouths off one more time he is gonna beat him up. After Falcon and Leila leave Rafe says that he “ain’t nobody’s whipping boy! He’s gonna pay!”

Captain America #161- While out looking for Sharon Carter Cap sees Falcon being held by six of Rafe’s gang. Rafe has a knife and he plans to kill Falcon for taking Leila. Rafe says that there isn’t a man alive that is going to take what he wants. Falcon pulls one of the guys holding his arm in front of Rafe’s knife. The man isn’t seriously injured. Falcon throws the other guy into Rafe. While Falcon beats up the other guys Rafe picks up his knife. Leila screams a warning to Falcon. Falcon turns and breaks one of Rafe’s teeth as he knocks him out.

Captain America #177- Rafe Michel breaks into a store to find Lucifer broken inside already. Rafe trips the alarm. As the police show up Lucifer says that the authorities will never take him. Lucifer blasts the police. He tells Rafe and his friends to follow him if they are with him. Lucifer has them attack the policemen while Lucifer throws their cars together. The Falcon arrives and hits one of Rafe’s friends. Lucifer realizes that the food he ate is probably sucking him back through his transmitter. Rafe says that if Lucifer is leaving he is too. Lucifer says that neither of them is going anywhere. Lucifer grabs Rafe, and the two merge into one. Lucifer says that with his power he will make sure this fusion is permanent. Lucifer blasts the ground in front of Falcon. He flies away and says that he will hear from Lucifer again. Later Lucifer finds that he isn’t feeling very well. He realizes that his power is too great to be housed in one human body. Lucifer says he has to transform half of his power to another body. Lucifer senses the perfect canidate inside the prison. Lucifer bursts through the door, and defeats the guards. Lucifer rips the bars off the cell of Aries, and tells him that he has come to offer him this kind of power as well. Aries says that he is buying what Lucifer is selling. The power flows between them both. Now instead of Aries and Lucifer there stands two Lucifer. The Falcon hears the voice of Lucifer, but finds two of them. Lucifer goes to blast him, but finds that halving his power has cost him the ability to use ionic blasts. One Lucifer swings and misses Falcon, and the other hits Red Wing. Falcon turns to see Red Wing, but is knocked out for his trouble. The Lucifers leave in a car that warns them that the police are coming. The car takes them to Morgan, who runs the rackets in Harlem. Morgan says he wants them to kill Falcon for him.

Captain America #178- Falcon is feeding Redwing when the Lucifers attack. Falcon turns to punch one, but doesn’t see the other that kicks him to the ground. Lucifer says that it is too bad that his partner Captain America has deserted him. Suddenly Redwing flies into the face of one of the Lucifers. Falcon hits the Lucifer in the body of Rafe. The more powerful Aries body throws a chunk of chimney at Falcon. Falcon ducks and kicks Lucifer into an electrical wire. The Rafe Michel Lucifer wants to fight, but his alter ego convinces him to flee and fight another day. Later Morgan yells at the Lucifers for failing to kill Falcon. They explain that all the powers except super strength were lost when they halved their power. The Aries Lucifer starts to defend themselves when the Rafe Lucifer points out that he was first chosen of Lucifer. Aries Lucifer points out that Rafe was only chosen because he was on hand. Rafe Lucifer’s head hurts. Aries Lucifer explains that he is going to get Lucifer’s items from his southwest desert laboratory. They fly to the base Lucifer used in X-Men 21. Rafe Lucifer notes again that Aries Lucifer should not treat him as an inferior since they are both Lucifer. Aries Lucifer points out the three ultra robots that he never had a chance to use. Rafe Lucifer asks what Aries Lucifer has planned. Aries Lucifer mocks Rafe Lucifer saying that they are equals and surely he has developed the same plans. The next day Aries Lucifer admires his robots terrorizing Harlem. Rafe Michel’s head hurts again. Falcon arrives, and Steve Rogers is watching as Falcon is blasted in the back. Steve (who had given up being Cap) runs in and buys a ski mask to hide his face. As the Lucifers stand over an unconscious Falcon, and Rafe Lucifer admits that Aries Lucifer is more bold than he is. Aries Lucifer is about to blast Falcon when the masked Steve Rogers tackles them from behind. One of the robots attacks Steve. Steve tricks the robots to destroy each other. Rafe Lucifer grabs Captain America, but lets him go when his headache becomes unbearable. Rafe drops over dead. Aries says good riddance, but doesn’t realize that their fates are linked. Aries drops over dead also. Lucifer returns to his limbo.

Iron Man annual ‘99- flashback- behind the scenes- flashback- Rafe Michel’s corpse is dug up. SHIELD agents find minimal traces of ionic energy.

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