Broward Ollsen (Earth-616)

Born in Sweden,^[3] Broward "Bo" Ollsen was, by his own choice,^[2] a mercenary.^[3][4] Ollsen worked with another mercenary, the former American marine Marc Spector, in several countries at war in the Third World.^[1] At some point his career, Ollsen worked in Iran, and was wounded in an activity called Operation Sundown.^[1]

Along with other international mercenaries including Spector, Ollsen was recruited by Emmanuel Raposa for his revolutionary movement, Raposistas, which sought to violently take power in the Latin American nation Bosqueverde.^[3][4] Raposa was generously paying his mercenaries^[4] to participate in the assault on the capital, Ciudad Leando.^[5][3] Raposa informed Ollsen that he had reached an agreement with President Ricardo Dominguez for Dominguez to legitimize Raposa's takeover and never challenge him, in exchange for one million U.S. dollars in gold krugerands that Raposa had already delivered to Dominguez. However, Raposa had decided to assassinate Dominguez to recover the gold, and gave orders in person to Ollsen to take care of it during the assault.^[6] The rest of the mercenaries were not informed, to avoid leaks,^[5] and instead they just received orders to capture Dominguez alive.^[4][3] During Raposa's siege of Ciudad Leando^[4] in the summer,^[4][5] the unit led by Ollsen traversed the streets on their way to the Presidential Palace;^[6][5] the raid lasted almost an entire day,^[4] and all of Ollsen's men were killed in the operation except Spector.^[6]

Ollsen and Spector reached the President's office,^[4] finding Dominguez and his wife Carmilla packing to leave.^[5][6] Dominguez mistakenly believed Ollsen and Spector had been sent by Raposa to escort them^[5][6] to a plane to fly to Europe,^[6] even if Ollsen and Spector were aiming their weapons at him.^[5] Ollsen noticed that Dominguez was shaking in fear.^[6] Dominguez reached into a drawer in his desk^[4][5] to get the key to the safebox where he had kept the gold. Ollsen saw the opportunity to justify the murder of Dominguez while benefiting himself, without even getting his hands personally dirty:^[6] Ollsen yelled at Spector that Dominguez was trying to get a gun,^[4][5][6] so Spector fired^[4][5][6] a 9-millimeter burst,^[4] killing the president in what he believed was self-defense;^[7] Ollsen did not doubt that the ex-Marine would react in such a violent and obedient. Ollsen then had Spector leave the room to go outside to get a smoke^[5] and report to Raposa that Dominguez was dead, while Ollsen busied himself "cleaning up" the mess. Spector saw Ollsen talking to the woman,^[4] but did not hear what they said.^[5] Ollsen, unlike Spector,^[4] had recognized the woman as Dominguez's wife. He told her that he knew about the gold that Raposa had given to her husband, but that in that situation, Ollsen could choose between giving Señora Dominguez to Raposa as a political prisoner; or, if Señora Dominguez could use that key to access the gold, she could share it with Ollsen, without Raposa knowing about it. Señora Dominguez agreed to conspire with Ollsen to survive as a rich woman and escape the country, and told him that the strongbox was in a wine cellar in the Palace. Ollsen smuggled the gold under Raposa's nose, not without difficulty, and was then able to spend his share.^[6] Señora Dominguez claimed that the two mercenaries had forgiven her,^[5] and after that coup, Raposa took power in Bosqueverde,^[7][4] proving to be a monstrous butcher during his almost ten years in office.^[6]

After that operation, Ollsen continued his mercenary work, although he eventually stopped collaborating with Spector,^[6] and began working as a secret agent for the United States government^[2] and as a member of Delta Force,^[1] to destroy the criminal group Secret Empire by infiltrating their ranks, using the aliases Laird Donnelson and Jack Starr.^[2] He became a member of a mercenary forcehired by the Secret Empire to attack the capital of an independent island nation south of Java; but the mercenary team was sent to his death because their employer, Number One, lied to them and abandoned them. Ollsen survived and went to prison for five years; the rest of his people had died when he was released.^[6] Ollsen was enraged and eager for revenge, but unable to find the conspirators by himself. He did find an Empire-funded^[2] racist para-military group Praetorian Brotherhood,^[6] and infiltrated them in search of those responsible for his misfortune,^[2] operating in New York City. Ollsen's activities attracted the attention of the law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which opened a file on him as a member of the Praetorians.^[1]

Ten years after the attack on Ciudad Leando, Bosqueverde's government changed and Raposa left the country, knowing that the new government would seek to punish the crimes of his regime. Bosqueverde was unable to find Raposa,^[4] although Ollsen discovered that Raposa was in Miami, leading a group of criminals who carried cocaine to Florida.^[6] Bosqueverde was unable to find or capture Ollsen either, but they did capture Spector. Spector was tried for the murder of Dominguez^[4] and sentenced to death,^[5] but Spector convinced the new President, Hector Silva, to pardon him in exchange for the promise to hand over Raposa to Bosqueverde.^[8] Spector decided that Ollsen was the best lead he had,^[6] and he also needed to find out what had happened the day Dominguez died.^[5]

Spector, by then the superhero Moon Knight, discovered a reference to Ollsen working for the Praetorians when he gained access to some S.H.I.E.L.D. files, and tracked him down. He found the lair of the Praetorians, where they held brutal gladiatorial combats in which they tortured and massacred innocents; Ollsen, in uniform, had gained the trust of the group's leader, Chainsaw. Spector had two allies, his friend Frenchie and his girlfriend Marlene Alraune, for the infiltration,^[1] and asked Frenchie to keep an eye on Ollsen.^[6] However, Alraune was captured^[1] and Chainsaw intended to execute her. This led Moon Knight to reveal her presence to save her, causing the Praetorians to scatter chaotically; and Frenchie lost sight of Ollsen. To Spector's surprise, Ollsen went down to the circus and shot Chainsaw by surprise: Ollsen had decided that the Praetorians had been compromised and hoped to escape himself. Moon Knight however followed Ollsen outside, beat him up believing he was a true Praetorian, and asked him for explanations.^[6] Ollsen recognized Spector,^[2] but pretended otherwise. Ollsen told Moon Knight about his infiltration into the Praetorians, and Moon Knight had him get into his van to negotiate. Moon Knight told him that he could take him to the leader of the conspiracy that had betrayed him, if in exchange Ollsen would take him to Raposa. Ollsen then told Moon Knight what exactly had happened in Bosqueverde and that Raposa was a drug lord in Miami, and Moon Knight told him that the leader of the Secret Empire was locked up on Ryker's Island, as an anonymous prisoner and awaiting trial for criminal conspiracy charges;^[6] Moon Knight himself had sent him there.^[9] Ollsen bid farewell to Moon Knight and his allies on good terms, dropping a reference to Spector's name.^[6]

Ollsen infiltrated Ryker's Island by impersonating a guard, to take Prisoner 1313, Number One of Secret Empire, after his interrogation. Ollsen carried a pistol with a silencer to kill him. Number One did not notice anything until he was alone with Ollsen, and then Ollsen revealed who he was, told him that he was infiltrating to destroy his empire, and asked him if he had discovered it and ordered him killed for that reason. Ollsen shot Number One, apparently killing him without the rest of the prison noticing.^[2]

After that, Ollsen traveled to Miami to help Spector against Raposa, acknowledging his own responsibility for what had happened at Bosqueverde. Ollsen infiltrated a Raposa building, and defeated Raposa's thugs there in combat; they broke his lip, blackened one of his eyes, and left him barely able to stand, but Ollsen would later say that Raposa had hired worse quality thugs than he had in Bosqueverde, and that they had barely slowed him down. Raposa, pursued by Moon Knight, arrived at that building to take cash from a safe and then escape, but Ollsen was waiting for him and pointed a gun at him. Moon Knight then burst in and, since Moon Knight needed Raposa alive, he disarmed Ollsen. Raposa had kept a gun in the same safe and, parallel to what had happened a decade earlier, Ollsen shouted at Spector that a third man was armed and that Spector must kill him. This time, however, Moon Knight knocked out Raposa without killing him. Ollsen sat on the ground, revealed that he knew Spector's identity, and told him that he should leave with Raposa before more hitmen arrived. Ollsen chose to stay behind to delay the pursuers, telling him that they both knew Ollsen was going to die from his wounds and that if Moon Knight tried to save him, it would delay him more than he could afford, so Ollsen would live the life he had chosen until the end.^[2]

However, Ollsen survived: Much later, Taskmaster included Ollsen's name (and his relationship with the Praetorians and the Secret Empire) in his "talent pool".^[10]

During the fights in Ciudad Leando, Ollsen carried a small Uzi with him,^[4][5][2] which he also used when tracking Raposa and fighting his mooks.^[2] When working with the Praetorian Brotherhood, he had a small handgun.^[6] When undercover at Ryker's Island, he had a gun with a silencer.^[2]

• Ollsen's S.H.I.E.L.D. file seen in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #22 (1990) says that he was in Iran in 1978; the date is now a topical reference. It also mentions he was wounded in Operation Sundown, which is surely not the Operation Sundown from the real world (which was only declassified in 2014); and that he was a member of a team called Delta Force, which is more likely the United States Army Special Forces and not the Delta Force made up of Deviants seen in Avengers #370-Avengers #371.

• During the operation to kill Dominguez, Spector believed that Ollsen and himself had arrived before the other members of their unit,^[5] but Ollsen confirmed that, at that point, the two of them were the only surviving members of the unit.^[6]