Origin

Walter Newell was an oceanographer who designed a special suit for undersea exploration. Becoming the armored Stingray, Newell often found himself thrust into super-heroics despite his intentions to merely study.

Creation

Walter Newell was created by Roy Thomas and Bill Everett and first appeared in Tales to Astonish #95. His first appearance as Stingray was two years later in Sub-Mariner Issue 19 again by Thomas with Marie Severin.

Character Evolution

Walter Newell and Stingray were first introduced as supporting characters in Sub-Mariner's comics. He made sporadic guest appearances in books such as Hulk and Defenders. His first major role independent from Sub-Mariner was in the Serpent Crown Affair storyline where he teamed up with Thing and Scarlet Witch. Stingray continued to make guest appearances until he became an associate and honorary member of the Avengers by offering them his artificial island as a base. Stingray's membership with the team eventually ended following the destruction of his island, although he returned to aid them in times of need. Stingray continues to make infrequent guest appearances aiding the Avengers and Defenders from time to time.

Major Story Arcs

Armor Wars

When Iron Man went on a crusade to destroy every piece of armor he believed was based on Stark Industries designs in Armor Wars, he targeted Stingray (who had only recently joined with the Avengers). Iron Man attacked the hero unprovoked and proceeded to assault him as Stingray attempted to flee. Upon rendering him unconscious, Iron Man attempted to destroy his armor and found out it actually wasn't based on his own designs at all. Iron Man was subsequently fired from the Avengers for his conduct and Stingray returned to the team.

Acts of Vengeance

During the Acts of Vengeance crossover, Doctor Doom launches an attack on Hydrobase. While the rest of the Avengers were otherwise engaged in other attacks, it fell to Quasar, Stingray and the Avengers Crew to defend the artificial island from Doom's robotic hordes. Despite putting up a valiant fight, the island is sunk to the bottom of the ocean and Stingray lost most of his life's work.

Stingray helped the team try to salvage as much of their equipment as they could from the sunken island and joined a small team led by Black Widow to help battle many of the orchestrated attacks against them. Stingray was badly beaten by the Awesome Android and taken out of the field.

Crossing Line

When an international crisis presented itself involving a Nuclear submarine, Captain America called upon Stingray once again to help the team due to his knowledge of the sea element. Stingray was later taken hostage by some terrorists and shot in the back of the head when the Avengers refused to surrender. Stingray's armor protected him from serious injury, but again, Stingray didn't return to the Avengers.

Kang Dynasty

Stingray was called back into service with the Avengers to battle against Kang the Conqueror who had launched a major attack against America. Stingray spied upon and battled the Master of the World. Then offering his scientific knowledge, Stingray and The Avengers eventually manage to defeat Kang.

Heart of the Infinite

The Avengers discover a Cosmic-powered Pharaoh known as Akhenaten has arrived on Earth and wishes to conquer the planet. After Akhenaten disposes of the X-Men, he confronts the Avengers and offers them a chance to be his servants and personal army if they do not interfere with his plans to take over the world. The Avengers refuse and are abruptly wished away by Akhenaten, their bodies hung in New York as a message to other superheroes.

After the Defenders, Doctor Doom and Thanos manage to defeat Akhenaten, the Avengers and Stingray are all returned to life with no real memory of what had transpired. Subsequently, the team go into action in an attempt to battle Thanos himself, now claiming even greater power than Akhenaten.

Degrees of Evil

Stingray and the Avengers battled the gravity controlling villain known as Graviton who was trying to conquer the world. The entire team and several other superheroes were held prisoners by Graviton's control over gravity and it fell to the Thunderbolts to save the day.

The Order

The Avengers swooped into action to stop "The Order": the possessed original Defenders who were trying to claim the world for their own. Stingray found himself battling against his friend Namor and the Defenders were eventually defeated and returned to their normal selves.

Civil War

During Civil War, Stingray joined with Captain America's "Secret Avengers" after he refused to register with the Government. Despite being largely having worked on behalf of the Government in the past, Stingray's reasons for refusing to sign were likely more to show support for his fellow superheroes.

Upon the climax of the war, Stingray registered and became an instructor at Camp Hammond until eventually being assigned as leader of the Point Men.

Merc for Money

Stingray was later recruited by Deadpool to be apart of his group of Deadpool impersonators to expand Wade's brand to a global presence. During this time, Stingray also operated as a spy for Captain America with orders to keep tabs on Deadpool. After conflict in the group it became the Mercs for Money and eventually disbanding after Deadpool cheated them of money from jobs.

Defenders of the Deep

While confronting Tiger Shark, they were both interrupted by Namor. He offered both aquatic themed costumed fighters a place on his Defenders of the Deep to protect the oceans from the surface world. Stingray refused and was beaten nearly to death for it.

Powers and Abilities

Stingray's armor (designed by Newell himself) was created for deep sea exploration and as such provides it's wearer with various useful functions such as an steady Oxygen supply and allowing him to avoid the problems of depth pressure. The armor also allows him to travel undersea at an above average speed and it's wings along him to glide. The suit also enhances his strength and durability and has built-in offensive weaponry.

In Other Media

Television

Iron Man: The Animated Series

Stingray appears in "Armor Wars: Part 2" voiced by Tom Kane. In the show, he is described as a Naval operative with an advanced suit of military armor. Iron Man attacks and overpowers him after mistakenly coming to believe that the Stingray armor incorporates his stolen technology, but is horrified to discover that he just attacked an innocent man.