| Crimson Dynamo | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
The Crimson Dynamo ("Krasny Dinamo") is the name of several fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe, most of whom have been supervillains. The various Crimson Dynamos have been powered armor-wearing Russian or Soviet agents who have clashed with Iron Man over the course of his heroic career. The original Crimson Dynamo first appeared in Tales of Suspense #46.
The original Crimson Dynamo
The first Crimson Dynamo was also the creator of the armor: Professor Anton Vanko. A Soviet scientist of Armenian birth with a Ph. D, Vanko was the world's foremost expert on electricity. He built a suit that was wired up to perform electric miracles, making him a human dynamo. The Crimson Dynamo battle-suit allowed him to control electricity in all of its forms, allowing him to fire devastating bolts of electricity. It also allowed him to fly. Vanko was a vain and cocky man, but he redeemed himself in the end. In their first encounter, the Crimson Dynamo battled Iron Man.[1] After being tricked by Iron Man (who made him believe that his Soviet handlers were going to kill him), Vanko defected to the U.S. and went to work for Tony Stark as one of his chief scientists. Soon the Soviets came to kill him for real. They sent their top agent, the Black Widow, and her one-time partner, Boris Turgenev, the latter of whom stole the armor and became the second Crimson Dynamo. Vanko died saving Iron Man by firing an unstable experimental laser light pistol at Boris, killing himself as well.[2] Quote: "You'll be ... uh ... SHOCKED at my powers."
The second Crimson Dynamo
Boris Turgenev, the second Crimson Dynamo, had a very short career in the super villain game. In his first and only appearance[3], Turgenev came to the United States with his one-time partner, the Black Widow, to kill Anton Vanko, Tony Stark, and Iron Man. Stealing the suit, he almost carried out his mission, virtually defeating Iron Man. But he was killed by Vanko, who, sacrificing his own life for the cause of freedom, fired an experimental and unstable new laser pistol, killing Boris. Quote: "Boris does not walk around obstacles—it is easier to hurl them aside."
The third Crimson Dynamo
Although often mistakenly referred to as the second Crimson Dynamo, Alex Nevsky (also known as Alex Niven) was actually the third man to go by the Crimson Dynamo name. Introduced as the American Alex Niven, he was Cord Industries' hot new scientist, but he was scheming from the start, aiming to take down Tony Stark.[4] But his story actually began behind the Iron Curtain. The protégé of Professor Anton Vanko, he admired and respected the brilliant scientist, who created the Crimson Dynamo battle-suit. After Vanko defected to the West, all who knew the traitorous genius were tainted under suspicion of disloyalty. Nevsky's promising career was ruined and he fled. In exile, Nevsky learned to hate the government that he had once loved, the government that turned on him so quickly without proof. He also sought vengeance against the man who toppled his mentor: Iron Man. He also wanted to destroy Stark, because the capitalist had exploited Vanko. His plan was fairly simple: As Alex Niven he would go to work for Cord Industries, using his brilliance to help the struggling company beat out Stark Industries in the marketplace. He would then go after Iron Man, besting him with a new and improved Crimson Dynamo armor. (He actually fought two different men inside the IM armor: Eddie March and Tony Stark.) He also worked against Stark by romancing Janice Cord, with whom he later fell in love for real. After he donned the Crimson Dynamo armor in public,[5] his old Soviet masters sent the Titanium Man to kill him. When the Titanium Man killed Janice, Niven blamed Iron Man for the tragedy and swore to avenge her.[6] Although he held Titanium Man just as responsible for Janice's death, Niven was forced by circumstance to partner with him and Radioactive Man in Vietnam, where all three Communist-aligned fugitives formed the Titanic Three.[7] Nevsky also defected to Vietnam and lived in Saigon. Nevsky made an unsuccessful attempt to kill Iron Man[8]. Fleeing the battle, Nevsky disappeared soon thereafter. He was assassinated by the KGB, who confiscated his armor for their own purposes.[9] Quote: "My costume may be new to you but my name is not."
The fourth Crimson Dynamo
Yuri Petrovich, the fourth Crimson Dynamo, was the son of the Black Widow's partner Ivan Petrovich. When Western agents (presumably Americans) failed to convince Ivan to defect to the West, they assassinated Yuri's mother; in the chaos that followed, Ivan and Yuri each believed the other dead. Yuri was brought to the West, where Soviet agents, posing as Westerners, indoctrinated him to hate the West. When the Black Widow and Ivan defected to the United States, Yuri was "rescued" by the Soviets, returned to Russia, and trained as a KGB assassin. He was given the Crimson Dynamo armor and sent to kill the Widow and Ivan. Yuri and his allies (his lover Darkstar, the Griffin, Rampage, and the original Titanium Man) fought the Widow and her teammates, the Champions. When Yuri learned of the true nature of his "Western" captors, he went berserk. Darkstar teamed with the Champions in order to subdue Yuri, and after he and his other allies were defeated, he was returned to Russia, convicted by the Soviet government, and exiled to an Siberian labor camp.[10]
The fifth Crimson Dynamo
Dmitri Bukharin, the fifth Crimson Dynamo, was given his armor by his masters in the KGB. He joined the Soviet Super-Soldiers, but was expelled when his teammates learned of his loyalty to the government that had betrayed them. He later joined the Supreme Soviets, a group of superhumans who were loyal to the Soviet government; the group became the People's Protectorate after the USSR dissolved. When the government confiscated his armor, he was given a new suit of armor and adopted the codename Airstrike.
The sixth Crimson Dynamo
Valentin Shatalov, a Colonel-General in the Soviet Army and KGB agent, first appeared in Iron Man #255. He used his rank to obtain the Crimson Dynamo from Dmitri Bukharin for his own use. He was a member of Remont 4. He and his allies (the cyborg Firefox and the original Unicorn) revived the original Titanium Man and fought the Soviet Super Soldiers and a group of Russian mutant exiles. He was later apparently allied with the Red Skull, although this may have been yet another Crimson Dynamo.
The Seventh Crimson Dynamo
Wearing the former armor of Dmitri Bukharin, this Dynamo's identity is unknown. His skill with the armor was minimal, and he was deftly handled by both Nick Fury (whom his employer had earlier brainwashed) and Captain America.
The Eighth Crimson Dynamo
The Eighth Crimson Dynamo was Russian collegiate Gennady Gavrilov (seen at the top of the page), who found the helmet of a suit designed by Anton Vanko, and would eventually, if briefly, wear the entire armor in a standoff with the Russian military. He kept the armor afterwards, but it is unknown if he ever wore it again.
The Ninth Crimson Dynamo
Very little is known of this new Dynamo. Exactly what the armor is capable of and who is inside of it are both presently unknown. Whoever it is, they first appeared in the Secret War miniseries, united with various other technologically inclined villains against the Avengers. It seems likely that this was the same Dynamo who was later defeated by Iron Man after robbing a bank (Iron Man vol.4, #7).
The Tenth Crimson Dynamo
The Tenth Crimson Dynamo was member of the Alpha Gen Soviet Super-Soldiers and was put into cryogenic stasis where it would remain until it was awakened after a nuclear explosion was detected. After the Cold War ended, the base where it was positioned was abandoned, leaving him and his comrades. During a fight between the Order and the Infernal Man, Order member Corona set off an enormous explosion which was detected as a nuclear blast, activating the Soviet Super-Soldiers. They confronted the Order on their way to California. On Dreknov Island, Calamity found the three men controlling the Soviet Super-Soldiers. Unable to kill the three sleeping men due to moral values, Supernaut was sent to finish them off. Arlaune, sensing they only had one chance left, ate the bomb and absorbed the blast. The blast apparently destroyed the Crimson Dynamo.
Powers and abilities
The Crimson Dynamo wears an armored battle-suit that serves as an exoskeleton, providing the wearer with superhuman strength and durability. The suit's outer layer was composed of a carborundum matrix alloy, and is equipped with: hand-blasters that can fire high-frequency electrical bolts; small missiles contained in the back shoulder area of the battle-suit; computers and radio transmitter and receiver; boot jets that allow flight. Subsequent versions of the battle-suit have featured upgrades of various kinds, by the Gremlin and other Russian scientists.
Other versions
Ultimate Crimson Dynamo
The Ultimates featured a Chinese Dynamo, named Alex Su, as a member of The Liberators. Based on similar technology to Tony Stark's Iron-Tech he is unable to exit his armor, having been fused inside, but can supposedly use it to control up to 50 giant-sized drone versions (which are revealed to be piloted independently.) He is apparently killed when Tony Stark vaporizes him while piloting the Iron Man Six aircraft. Another version of the Crimson Dynamo is seen in Ultimate Nightmare, though he is never named as such. Created through grafting procedures from parts of the Vision by Soviet scientists, he and his fellow comrades were abandoned in an underground bunker after the fall of the USSR. He lives in a nest of earth and gravel to keep from rusting. He attacked and was defeated by the investigating Ultimate X-Men. Major Valentin Shatalov appears in Ultimate Fantastic Four #47. He is based in a shack in Siberia, and has apparently been out of contact with his superiors for a long time, becoming entirely self-sufficient. When he is given the order to activate his armor he has forgotten correct procedure, and his contact was not even sure he was still alive. Reed Richards reports that this Crimson Dynamo is an "Eastern Bloc version of Iron Man", making the latest Ultimate version extremely similar to the original character. He has joined forces with the Fantastic Four to defeat the Red Ghost.
In other media
Television
- Crimson Dynamo appeared in two episodes of the Iron Man animated series. In the first one he was an A.I.M. powerful enforcer. In the second one, Tony Stark's discovery about Dynamo using Stark technology as part of his armor ignites the animated version of the Armor Wars. He was voiced by Stu Rosen.
Video games
- Crimson Dynamo is a member of the Masters of Evil in the videogame Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. The Crimson Dynamo in-game is Valentin Shalatov, the sixth Crimson Dynamo, however the armor is not any existing one, but resembles a smoothed-out version of the eighth Crimson Dynamo. He is a member of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil and assists M.O.D.O.K. and Mysterio in the attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Omega Base. Crimson Dynamo has special dialogue with Iron Man (who mentions to Iron Man that his new armor can defeat him). A VS simulation disk involves fighting Crimson Dynamo in Asgard.
Other
- Paul McCartney includes the Crimson Dynamo as a major character in his song "Magneto and Titanium Man" from the Wings album Venus and Mars. In the song, the three supervillains try to convince the singer/narrator that a woman police officer trying to halt a bank robbery (with whom he is apparently in love) is in fact the bank robber herself.
References
External links
- Anton Vanko in the Marvel Appendix; links to other Dynamos
- Anton Vanko chronological timeline on miniseries author's site
- The Crimson Dynamo bio on Marvel.com
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Creators | Don Heck · Stan Lee · Larry Lieber · Jack Kirby |
| Supporting characters | Bethany Cabe · Rumiko Fujikawa · Happy Hogan · Edwin Jarvis · Pepper Potts · War Machine |
| Villains | Advanced Idea Mechanics · Blizzard · Blacklash · Boomerang · Controller · Count Nefaria · Crimson Dynamo · Dreadknight · Ghost · Hypnotia · Iron Man 2020 · Iron Monger · Justin Hammer · Living Laser · Madame Masque · Mandarin · M.O.D.O.K. · Radioactive Man · Roxxon Oil · Spymaster · Temugin · Titanium Man · Unicorn · Ultimo |
| Storylines | Armor Wars · Ultimate Iron Man |
| In other Media | The Marvel Superheroes (1966) · Iron Man (television, 1994) · Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal (1996) · The Invincible Iron Man (animated film, 2007) · Iron Man (film, 2008) · Iron Man (video game, 2008) |
| Miscellania | Alternate versions of Iron Man · Iron Man's armor · Avengers Mansion · Stark Tower |
