Care To Wager Your Life?

Once I recognized him, I was very happy to see Chance pop up in Avengers Solo #1. Sure the Marvel Universe already has a bunch of hired killers, but I always liked the idea of Chance treating his jobs as bets. Most of the time, he wasn't simply betting that he could kill whoever it was he was being hired to eliminate, he'd put a time limit on it. That's confidence, plus it's a little something unique about him.

Also, he was clever enough to recognize loopholes in his agreements. There was a time he agreed to eliminate some engineer who had created a box you could lie down in, and it stimulated muscle growth. Chance was hired by a rival executive who was worried no athletes would buy his performance-enhancing drugs. Chance didn't manage to kill the guy - thanks to Cardiac - but it turns out whatever the box did to enhance muscle growth also damages the mind. The target hid in one, it got overloaded by accidental exposure to the power source Cardiac replaced his heart with (as one does), and the guy's mind was completely wiped. He doesn't remember who he is, so he can't make any more*, removing him as a threat, and letting Chance claim victory. it's a bit sleazy, but at least he didn't have to kill the guy.

He didn't insist on killing him, either. A lot of the hired killers in the Marvel Universe are practically mad dogs. I like Deadpool, but he does kill an awful lot of people - not as many as Wolverine, mind you, but still - he probably could have simply knocked unconscious or mildly wounded. With Chance, he's in it for the thrill, which is why he bets his paycheck he'll succeed. But if he can get the job done without killing, or if the job falls through for reasons outside his control, he's not going to keep trying to kill the target. He has too much class to lose control of himself like that.

I'm hoping he'll show up again in Avengers Solo. I'm not much of a Paste-Pot Pete fan, myself.

* Though there were surely plans or blueprints, but I suppose the reveal of the deleterious effects on one's mind would get it banned. Which means athletes will use it illegally, giving the sportswriters of the Marvel Universe something else to wring their hands about. Though between mutants, mutant growth hormone, knockoff Super-Soldier Serum, the fact radiation is roughly 900 times more likely to give someone superpowers than to kill them, I'm not sure what would qualify as illegal performance enhancers.