After their brother was killed at

After their brother was killed at the hands of a local thug who would one day become the villain Crossbones, Rachel and Daniel Leighton both pursued different paths in becoming costumed criminals. While Rachel feel in love with Captain and went straight, Daniel was hired by the Red Skull to lead the Skull's "Skeleton Crew" after killing the Mangler and Deathstroke in a "audition" for the job. 

Cutthroat clashed often with Crossbones, who did not trust or like him, particularly since Cutthroat had expressed an attraction to the Red Skull's "woman" Mother Night and had usurped the command of the Skelaton Crew when Crossbones fell out of favor with the Skull. While under the Skull's command Cutthroat was disgusted with the way in which the Skull treated the devoted Mother Night. Horrified at the beatings, humiliation, and depravities Mother Night had to endure as the Skulls lover, Cutthroat attempted to convince her to run away with him. During one nighttime rendezvous Cutthroat nearly succeeded in persuading her to leave with him, only to be fatally stabbed in the back by Crossbones, who had been aware of his underling’s deceptions.

Cutthroat would later resurface as a member of The Hood's Gang. It was not revealed whether Daniel Leighton survived Crossbones attack or this was another man who had assumed the Cutthroat identity.