They defeat him but he just keeps coming back. (Come on now. Everybody has done that joke.) Introduced Tales to Astonish #81 (1966) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Fred Myers was a professional baseball player that began taking bribes to fix the games. He was then hired by the Secret Empire who outfitted him with trick boomerangs and other gadgets to become Boomerang. His first opponent was the Hulk and he actually held his own against him. After the Secret Empire crumbled, Fred went to Australia to recuperate and begin training himself. He received an upgrade from Justin Hammer and became an assassin for hire, whose first target was Iron Fist.

After joining the Evil Defenders, he was hired by Viper to attack SHIELD and would battle Spider-man, Nick Fury, Shang-Chi and Black Widow. He later tried to impress Kingpin by battling Spider-man before being sent to prison. He would help Punisher escape but was betrayed by Castle before battling Hulk again. He would later join the Beetle’s Sinister Syndicate, battling Spider-man and Silver Sable and would be defeated by a reformed Sandman. After moving to San Diego, he battled Spider-man and later Hawkeye before being hired by Hammer to guard his facilities. He would later join the Masters of Evil under the Crimson Cowl leadership.

He was later among the assassin that responded to a bounty to kill Matt Murdock but was soundly beaten by DD. He later joined RAID in their attack on London and was among the villains that received an upgraded from Lucia von Bardas in her revenge against Nick Fury. He would later take a new codename Outback under Norman Osborn’s Initiative before returning to Boomerang when he was hired by the Rose to hunt Jackpot. He was forced to join the Thunderbolts under Cage’s supervision before setting up a new team of Sinister Six. He would remain in this team and tried to find the head of Silvermaine. After the events of Secret Empire, Fred tried to reform. He became the roommate of Randy Robertson and Peter Parker, who he didn’t know was Spider-man. After an initial distrust from Peter, he became close with Peter and would eventually work with Spider-man. He would sacrifice his life to save Spider-man from Morlun.

Boomerang was never the most popular character. However, his popularity sky-rocketed in the amazing Superior Foes of Spider-man mini-series. It was that series that made Hasbro make his first Marvel Legends as a swap figure with Ultimate Beetle in the Ultimate Green Goblin wave.