Bugface Brown (Earth-616)

The Skrull that would call himself Bugface Brown was one of the two sons of Don Scarpone, the ruler of Kral X, a small outpost in the Kral System. The Kral System represented a peculiar portion of the Skrull Empire, a group of planets dedicated solely to the recreation of Earth's culture and media, particularly old-time gangster movies.

Don Scarpone (Earth-616) from U.S.Avengers Vol 1 12 001 — As a baby in Don Scarpone's arms

Scarpone's other son became entranced by the Ritchie Redwood Show, a 50-year-old cancelled series which depicted the life of a suburban group of friends. Through persuasion and force, he converted Kral X to "Redwoodism." After exiling Scarpone and those loyal to him, his sons refashioned Kral X into a recreation of Glenbrook, the town where the Ritchie Redwood Show took place. From then on, Scarpone's sons role-played as Ritchie Redwood and Bugface Brown.

Differences sparked between Ritche and Bugface after the latter found most recent transmissions of the Ritchie Redwood Show, which had been brought back several times after its original cancellation, giving Kral X access to hundreds of new episodes and decades of new stories. Bugface convinced Ritchie to give the new material a chance, but Ritche became overwhelmed by the different changes the show had undergone, as he wanted to keep things simple and classic. Tensions consolidated when Bugface ditched his human disguise in favor of returning to his Skrull features, going as far as to suggest giving his character a new backstory that involved him being an alien from the future. Bugface's push for the inclusion of new elements outside of established continuity of the show resulted in a civil war. The Super-Skrulls at Ritchie's disposal proved an advantage once again, and he crushed all opposition easily. He then imprisoned Bugface and all the other subversives in a dungeon with no sustenance. They were also surrounded by hyperwave generators that prevented them from shape-shifting.^[1]

Bugface Brown (Earth-616) from U.S.Avengers Vol 1 12 001 — Bugface before ditching his human appearance

Bugface and his allies' opportunity to escape would come by the hand of U.S.Avengers member Cannonball, who ended in in Glenbrook and was incarcerated. After Bugface recounted the history of Glenbrook, Cannonball used the master key of the dungeon's devices he had pick-pocketed from Howard Mason to disable all restraints.

When the U.S.Avengers landed on Glenbrook to rescue Cannonball, Ritchie attempted to confront them by assuming his battleform. Bugface used the hyperwave generators on him to stop him. Ritchie lashed out at his fellow Skrulls until Bugface hit him with the truth that despite all of his talk about staying in character, it was ironic that Ritchie ended up acting in a way the fictional Ritchie Redwood would never behave. The Shi'ar soldiers that assisted the U.S.Avengers in rescuing Cannonball then arrested Ritchie and his Super-Skrulls, so they could face justice on the planet where Don Scarpone and his followers had been exiled.^[1]

Trivia

The Ritchie Redwood Show and all of its elements are modeled after the stories from Archie Comics. Bugface, in specific, is a homage to the character of Jughead Jones.