Colonel Steve Zodiac is an astronaut who works for the World Government, alongside Commander Zero.
During the events of the TV Century 21 crossover event Assassination!, a story set in 2065, Zodiac trapped the Kaplan, the leader of the Astrans, and convinced them to sign a peace treaty with Earth authorities. However, the treaty would not go to plan when the Kaplan was assassinated during a ceremonial procession. The Kaplan Minus issued Steve with an ultimatium - find the Kaplan's killer within 36 hours, or war between the two parties would re-commence. Before Steve could make progress though, he would receive an anonymous tipoff from Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, who had identified and forced a confession out of underworld kingpin Count Lugosti.
He would later make a brief appearance in Blackmail for Power, where he would be present when Commander Zero advised the World President against handing control of the government to Morgan Phillips, after Phillips was threatening to commit acts of terrorism with his stolen lightning machine.
In the Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology crossover story, Interplanetary Rescue, Zodiac and the crew of Fireball XL5 were dispatched to retrieve Captain Scarlet in deep space. However, a surprise attack by the Mysterons of Mars left XL5 damaged and out of control. Fortunately, International Rescue picked up Zodiac's distress signal, and Thunderbird 3 was launched to rescue XL5, preventing it from crash-landing into the moon, before towing it back to Earth. XL5 was then gently deposited in the ocean, where Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 4 were able to retrieve it, with some assistance from the World Aquanaut Security Patrol submarine craft Stingray.
Trivia[]
- Steve Zodiac, along with Commander Zero, was a major character in a previous AP Films production, Fireball XL5, where he was voiced by Paul Maxwell. Assassination! was a direct crossover between the Fireball XL5 and Lady Penelope comic strips - at the time the Thunderbirds television programme had yet to debut.