Mark Scarlotti is originally a gifted electrical technician at Stark International's Cincinnati branch, but desires a life of luxury and becomes a professional criminal.
On behalf of the Maggia, Whiplash fights the hero Iron Man[6] – secretly inventor Tony Stark and Scarlotti's former employer – and A.I.M.
[8] Whiplash, together with fellow supervillains the Melter and the Man-Bull, are recruited by the other-dimensional villain the Black Lama to form a team named the Death Squad and fight Iron Man.
[9] Whiplash rejoins the Maggia and battles the heroes Spider-Man and Iron Man in New Jersey, eventually being defeated by the vigilante the Wraith.
[10] Criminal mastermind Justin Hammer hires Whiplash, and with the Melter and the original Blizzard attempt the robbery of an Atlantic City casino, but are stopped by Iron Man.
[12] Scarlotti is re-employed by an unnamed consortium, financed by Hammer, to kill Stark employee Vic Martinelli, and is provided with an upgraded costume and weaponry and the new alias Blacklash.
[13] Scarlotti makes a brief appearance as Whiplash as a paid employee of the master villain the Mad Thinker in a failed attempt to kill the hero the Thing who is recuperating at a New York hospital.
[19] Together with Spider-Man villain the Rhino, Blacklash hunts down fellow rogue agent the Scorpion, who fails to return stolen weaponry to Hammer.
[26] After the group disbanded, Whiplash teamed up with Orka, Shockwave and Killer Shrike in a plot to take over a retired aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid.
[28] During the "Hunt for Wolverine" storyline, Whiplash took the name of Snake Whip and is with the Femme Fatales when they assist Viper in attacking Kitty Pryde's group at the King's Impresario Restaurant in Madripoor.
As Snake Whip asks if they are going to ignore Sapphire Styx's vampiric appetite, Viper says that they have to obey the representative's orders and "let the @#$%& feed.
"[30] After another call from Soteira's representative, Viper and Snake Whip check up on Sapphire and find her acting strange claiming that Wolverine's Patch alias is here.
When the Femme Fatales were arrested, Kitty Pryde got the info about Soteira being after Wolverine from Snake Whip who gave the information to her in exchange for a light sentence.
One day, the village is attacked by someone wearing a stolen suit of Iron Man armor, who murders a number of townspeople, including his father Igor Vanko (Russian: И́горь Ва́нко) in an attempt to frame Tony Stark.
Vanko becomes obsessed with exacting vengeance on Stark, still believing him to be the man who attacked his village, and decides to use the chest plate to fashion a suitable weapon to do so.
Over the next six months, he reverse engineers a suit of body armor equipped with energy whips, and vows to kill Stark to avenge his father.
Stark fights off Vanko using a crude suit of Iron Man armor fashioned from parts of various machines around the prison, and forces him to flee.
It is there that Vanko learns that Stark was indeed framed and that the syndicate was hired to destroy Volstok by secret international consortium funded by several governments including USA and Russia, notably Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to wipe out an activist who was creating anti-Putin sentiments.
Despite learning of Iron Man's innocence, Vanko makes one final attempt to kill him, claiming that even though he did not destroy the village, his technology did.
As this is happening, Vanko is seen in Moscow approaching Saint Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square preparing to properly exact vengeance this time around.
[45] Mark Scarlotti, courtesy of Justin Hammer, wears a bulletproof costume and wields a pair of cybernetically controlled titanium whips that can extend to be swung fast enough to deflect bullets, or become rigid and be used as nunchaku or vaulting-poles.
He also carries a variety of devices in a weapons pouch, including anti-gravity bolas and a necro-lash which releases electrical energy generated by his gauntlets.
[49] Individuals based on the various comics incarnations of Whiplash appear in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).