Writer/editor Mark Gruenwald originally created the Scourge in 1985 as a plot device intended to thin the criminal population of the Marvel Universe, in particular eliminating those supervillain characters he deemed to be too minor, redundant, or ill-conceived.
This first iteration's killing spree reaches its apex in Captain America #319, where he guns down eighteen such criminals at an underworld meeting held to devise a way of countering the menace of the Scourge.
He claims that this crime led to him creating the Scourge persona with help from a private investigator only identified as "Domino", who provides him detailed information on the supervillain community.
Following this story the Scourge of the Underworld went dormant for a few years, with only a series of imposters and holographic illusions serving to keep the character's name and image present in published comics.
This version appears to be operating independently of the Red Skull, claiming to want the Power Broker dead due to the fact that his treatment to give people super-powers left his brother horribly deformed.
USAgent (John Walker) and former Captain America ally Vagabond stop the Scourge, who is then shot by a hidden gunman who screams "Justice Is Served".
The mini-series revealed that the Scourge of the Underworld was created by Thomas Holloway, the former Golden Age superhero known as Angel, who ran the organization with help from Domino and two henchmen known as Caprice and Bloodstain.
When the second Age of Heroes came about decades later, Halloway vowed to eliminate the newer generation of supervillains through any means necessary to protect the people, and therefore established the Scourge organization.
Unfortunately she finds her first victim, a former Daredevil villain known as the Matador, to now be a single father who has served his time and abandoned his criminal lifestyle, who begs Vagabond to spare him for his son's sake.
Though the USAgent mini-series implies the statue killed him, Captain America #440 reveals that Halloway survived and managed to avoid arrest due to his army of lawyers and had gone back into seclusion.
These entries ultimately state that the Red Skull learned of the existence of the Scourge of the Underworld organization and managed to convince several of Halloway's agents to switch sides and work for him.
In Amazing Spider-Man #364, Shocker attempts to rob several research centers in order to gain technology to enhance his suit's weapons, so as to increase his chances in battle against the Scourge.
Five characters bearing the names of the Scourge's previous victims – Hellrazor, Caprice, Mindwave (minus the hyphen), Mirage and Bluestreak appear in the "Caged Angels" storyline in Thunderbolts #116-121.
[9] The Hood is granted the Dark Dimension's powers by his master Dormammu to revive eighteen murdered criminals (Basilisk, Bird-Man, Black Abbott, Blue Streak, Cheetah, Cyclone, Death Adder, Firebrand, Hijacker, Human Fly, Letha, Megatak, Mind-Wave, Miracle Man, Mirage, Titania, Turner D. Century and Wraith) to help take down the Punisher.
Cheetah, Cyclone, and Mirage) are killed again while confronting the Punisher, but ultimately Basilisk and Death Adder subdue the vigilante, and the terms of the Hood's agreement are apparently fulfilled.
He is later seen in Pluto's jury (alongside Abomination, Armless Tiger Man, Artume, Heinrich Zemo, Commander Kraken, Iron Monger, Jack O'Lantern, Kyknos, Nessus, Orka and Veranke) at Zeus's trial.
[17] Another new version is shown to be using a list of the locations of supervillains who have been relocated via the witness protection program and killing them, most recently Viper, member of the Serpent Squad.