Simon Fernandes time and piracy was an offence punishable by hanging, but in practice Fernandes was engaged in exactly the sort of behaviour to which Queen Elizabeth I of England was inclined to turn a blind eye. However, the Portuguese ambassador Francisco Giraldi vigorously protested Fernandes's activities to the Queen's ministers, after the alleged murder of seven Portuguese sailors, and in 1577 the 39-year-old Fernandes was arrested in Cardiff and taken to London to face trial. However, far from being hanged for his crimes, Fernandes was released, apparently with the connivance of Queen Elizabeth's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, who appears to have
Spymaster (comics) he was once a boxer. He and his team of assistants, the "Espionage Elite", were hired by the criminal organization the Zodiac to infiltrate Stark Industries and steal all of company owner and genius inventor Tony Stark's secrets. His efforts were stopped by Stark's alter-ego, the armored superhero Iron Man. However, he was assigned by the Zodiac to capture Daredevil but failed at that as well. Spymaster aided Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius in an attempt to steal the Zodiac Key from Stark. The Spymaster was transported to the other-dimensional realm of the Brotherhood of the Ankh, but returned to Earth