Story: THE THING#33 by Mark Gruenwald (writer) and _____ (artist)
Synopsis: With the Grapplers now gone legit as wrestlers, Titania takes a shower after a match with Battleaxe. One of the other female wrestlers, Golddigger shoots her with an explosive bullet, declaring "Justice is Served!"
Is this a key part in the Scourge story? Somewhat. It would be hard for a male to fit into the Golddigger disguise, making this the first indication that there might be more than one Scourge, who is female (Similarly the woman seen here would have a touch time playing the almost bare chested hippy.
Does this tie in to the main story in this issue? A lot of the issue is devoted to reintroducing the Grapplers and establishing them as legit wrestlers so it ties in in that sense
Comments: Despite what's listed above, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Masters Edition claims that the original Scourge was in fact Golddigger, unlikely as that may seem.
Golddigger later turns up in a super-villain convention. It's unclear if she was Scourge or a "real" Golddigger
Probably due to her being naked, we don't actually see Titania die here per se (though her death is still made clear). The actual death is depicted in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe v2#20 (i.e. Deluxe edition)
This is the first time a second Scourge hit occurs in the same title, since Scourge killed Miracle Man in this title earlier.
This is the first time that a character is killed off by a co-creator