Leo Zelinsky

Fictional character biography

He repairs ordinary clothes and as a sideline, patches costumes of both superheroes and villains. His first customer was The Thing, whose clothes were burned off by a fire-wielding villain. After that, it snowballed.

Word got around, and eventually members of the Avengers began commissioning costumes. Then the X-Men. Costumes became his specialty. He described working for Captain America as an honor - Cap had taken a slash across the waist, but went to Zelinsky before seeing a doctor, stating that "The important things come first."

Then things got complicated - Doctor Doom shows up demanding repairs to his cloak, and soon a veritable rogues gallery formed in his shop. He got around this by serving heroes and villains on alternating days - heroes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and villains on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. He even alternates his magazine rack - newspapers, Newsweek and Time for the heroes, Penthouse and Guns and Ammo for the villains.

This is how Leo overhears one of his customers, Killshot, planning a murder, possibly the local District Attorney. He does not wish to go to the police because his business might be ruined and also Killshot might hurt his grandson, Mikey in revenge. Mikey pleads with his grandfather to do something, for he knows somebody is going to be killed. Leo takes a late night walk and encounters Spider-Man. He tells him everything. The next day, Killshot is prevented from killing the D.A. but escapes Spider-Man. He rushes back to Leo, intending to take revenge. Leo takes a bullet in his arm. Spider-Man rescues them both. The District Attorney realizes that Leo and Spider-Man are responsible for saving his life and discreetly decides to leave the pair alone; he tells the uniformed officers that there is no need to deal with Leo anymore.

An unnamed character strongly resembling Leo appears in Civil War Frontline, where he provides Robbie Baldwin AKA Penance (formerly Speedball) with a new armored costume, expressing dismay when Baldwin asks for his help putting on the suit, as its interior is covered in sharp spikes. Penance's entry in Civil War: Battle Damage Report confirms that this man and Leo are one and the same.

Leo later designs a different suit for Spider-Man, a black and blue costume with a four on the chest. Spider-Man intended to use it while on adventures with the Fantastic Four, but they force him to change the outfit, as it was disrespectful to their decision to retire the Fantastic Four and instead be the Future Foundation.

Future influence

After this is all over, Leo offers Spider-Man a new costume he's designed at a discount - a reversible jacket. This was in response to his criticism that the hero's usual tight costume is unsanitary for his skin, threatening to cause athlete's foot all over his body. This costume is seen during the Grim Hunt storyline, in an alternate future where Spider-Man kills Kraven and lives a darker life. He is also depicted impaling Doctor Octopus with a shard of metal while wearing this suit.

Customer list