Cutthroat was created by Chris Claremont and Mike Nasser in 1980 and first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #89. He was born in Austin, Texas, and had a sister named Rachel Leighton, who would later become the superheroine Diamondback. He was a member of the Savage Crims, a New York street gang, as a young man. He later became an assassin and was hired by Amos Jardine to kill Spider-Man, in place of the mad killer Arcade. Cutthroat battled Nightcrawler, who had gotten wind of the plan, and Spider-Man, and they defeated him with some secret assistance from Arcade himself.

Many years later, he defeated Mangler and Deathstrike in a fight to the death to become the Red Skull’s new chief operative, replacing Crossbones. He underwent training by the Taskmaster. He tried to persuade Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern to help him free Mother Night from the police. He initiated a brief affair with Mother Night. With the Skeleton Crew, he battled Crossbones and Diamondback. He realized that Diamondback was his sister, Rachel, and revealed his true identity to her.

When Crossbones returned, Cutthroat feared he would be made redundant, and so planned to kill Crossbones in his sleep. However, Mother Night alerted Crossbones to the plan, so Crossbones was waiting for the “ambush” and slit Cutthroat’s throat and was seemingly killed. The Red Skull even inspected the apparent corpse. However, unknown circumstances show that he is alive and was an inmate in the Raft, where he escaped with many other convicts. He was later recaptured.

The Hood has hired him as part of his criminal organization to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. He helped them fight the New Avengers but was defeated by Doctor Strange. As part of the Hood’s gang, he joins the fight against the Skrull invading force in New York City. He joins the Hood’s team in an attack on the New Avengers, who were expecting the Dark Avengers instead. During the “Search for Tony Stark” arc, Cutthroat rejoined Hood’s gang and assisted in the attack on Castle Doom.

Cutthroat is a master at various forms of unarmed combat, having received special combat training from the Taskmaster. He is proficient in using edged weapons, such as knives, swords, and daggers. He also wears a special suit that enhances his strength and durability and has retractable blades on his wrists. He is ruthless, cunning, ambitious, and loyal to his sister Diamondback.