- "Five for one!"
- ―Twisted Fists creed
| Twisted Fists | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Official Name | Twisted Fists |
| Aliases | The Fists |
| Type | Terrorist |
| Purpose | Jokers' rights |
| Operational Information | |
| Base of Operations | Numerous regional cells including Jerusalem, Belfast, and London. |
| Origin | |
The Twisted Fists are a fictional organization from the Wild Cards series of books. The Fists are a militant jokers' rights organization founded by the terrorist Black Dog.
The Twisted Fists are a worldwide terrorist organization, but they are not crazed zealots. They are cold and calculating and strike only at targets who have harmed jokers. Their vow is "five for one." Kill a joker, and five of the offending group pay with their lives. The perpetrators of anti-joker violence are the preferred target, but the Fists will kill their best guess if no obvious culprit can be found. Bitter enemies of the Nur, the Fists are probably the only force that prevents the Nur from drenching Jerusalem's Jokers' Quarter with blood.
History[]
The Twisted Fists were originally led by their founder, the black clad joker known as Black Dog. Though centered in the Middle East, most of the Fists' financial support came from America, specifically Jokertown. They maintained many semi-autonomous cells in other countries, notably Belfast, Northern Ireland, and supplied assistance wherever Black Dog felt it would help jokers most. The Fists smuggled arms and aces, such as Dylan Hardesty, to the Rox and later acquired a black market Soviet nuclear warhead to combat the Nur.
The Fists suffered a major upheaval following the 1994 assassination of Winston Churchill, a killing for which the terrorists were not actually responsible. Churchill's double agent, Green Man, had only recently handed over a list of locations that Black Dog was expected to be at while in Belfast, and members of the Belfast cell were also known to be compromised. With Churchill's passing there was nobody left who knew of Green Man's true allegiance to Great Britain and seeing as Black Dog had already tipped him as his successor Green Man had little choice but to assume leadership of the Twisted Fists after Black Dog himself was betrayed and killed by another Fist operative in Jerusalem.
Green Man reluctantly took on the mantle of leadership for the Twisted Fists and held onto it for the next sixteen years. His guidance steered the terrorists away from some of their more bloodthirsty activities to the point where the authorities were less inclined to deal with him as they had been with Black Dog before him. Then in 2020 the Fists were manipulated by the recently arrived Irish joker-ace Badb into coming into direct conflict with the Order of the Silver Helix and others as she set the stage to find a hero to sacrifice for her regeneration. An initial clash left several Fists dead and the London cell driven into hiding before Green Man cut a deal and pledged to turn himself in. He died before he could complete this objective however, when he threw himself on a grenade to save Bobbin, all thanks to Badb's scheming. Leadership of the Fists then passed to Green Man's trusted lieutenant, Wayfarer.
Known Members[]
Jerusalem[]
- Black Dog - founder and leader (to 1994)
- Snailfoot - British joker with a handsome face, but snail-like lower body, real name Reginald
- Balthazar - operative from Alabama, USA, with yellow, goat-like eyes
- Needles - teenage recruit from Jokertown, NY, with metallic claws
- Owl - Needle's friend, feathered tufts covering his ears
- Tarek - small, rat-like joker suited to underground work
Belfast[]
- King Brian - green-skinned leprechaun, de facto leader of the Belfast cell
- Stand-In - joker-ace with mismatched limbs, able to alter physical appearance
- Two-Face - only briefly mentioned, no description
- Trio - joker with three legs
- Scarlet Will - red paper-dry hair and skin, deceased
- Bowler - sniper with a growth similar to a Bowler hat on his head
- Cara - female operative, projecting telepath with no mouth
- Joseph Coan's - a sentient pub in Belfast's own jokertown
London[]
- Green Man - joker-ace whose wooden body exhibits some properties of a tree, leader (1994 - 2020)
- Wayfarer - a woman who always wears sunglasses, leader (from 2020)
- Bethany
- Bird - an aggressive woman with a wing-like right hand
- Blister - lumpy joker covered in bandages
- Blue Jeans - a joker with skin like denim and eyes like metal buttons
- Jamila - woman with ears shaped like hands that involuntarily express her moods for all to see
- Maven - militant nat daughter of Seizer
- Montgomery
- Peggy - joker-ace with a cricket bat
- Seizer - elderly joker-ace with foul-smelling boils and the ability to slice through flesh
Others[]
- Croyd Crenson - ace mercenary retained to purchase a nuclear warhead
- Finder - identity used by Badb as she manipulated the Twisted Fists from within
- Dylan Hardesty - joker-ace assigned to the Rox
- Zoe Harris - ace refugee from New York used to infiltrate the Nur's camp
- Mumbles - Undercover identity used by Carnifex to infiltrate the Fists
- Squidface - former operative, retired, now known as Father Squid
Selected Reading[]
- Wild Cards Volume XXVII: Knaves Over Queens
- Wild Cards Volume XXVIII: Three Kings