Radioactive Man is the name of two characters from Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Chen Lu
Radioactive Man | |
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The Radioactive Man features on the cover of Thunderbolts: International Incident (Apr. 2008). Art by Marko Djurdjević. |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Journey into Mystery #93 (Jun. 1963) |
Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Chen Lu |
Team affiliations | People's Defense Force Thunderbolts Masters of Evil Titanic Three |
Abilities | Radiation manipulation |
A nuclear physicist and Communist agent in the People's Republic of China, Chen Lu first appears in Journey into Mystery. Ordered to find a way to defeat the Thunder God Thor - who thwarts the Red Army's invasion of India - the character exposes himself to small doses of radiation until he is able to endure a massive barrage, becoming a living "Radioactive Man."
Traveling to New York City, Chen finds and battles Thor, who defeats the villain by creating a vortex and transporting the character back to China.[1]
The character becomes a recurring foe in Avengers, being found and coerced by Baron Heinrich Zemo to join the original Masters of Evil in a failed bid to destroy the Avengers.[2] The character reappears as part of the second incarnation of the Masters of Evil, with this version formed by the robot Ultron. The villains, however, are betrayed by the Black Knight.[3] The Radioactive Man and his teammates appear once again during a Halloween parade and are defeated by a loose coalition of superheroines called the Lady Liberators.[4]
The character escapes confinement and travels to Vietnam, where he joins Soviet villains the Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo as part of a team called the Titanic Three. Acting as free-agent crime fighters in Vietnam, the trio is duped by a con man and petty thief called the Slasher and battle the Avengers until the deception is revealed.[5] After an encounter with the hero Iron Man,[6] the characters go their separate ways after a humiliating defeat by time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror in Giant Size Avengers.[7] Reappearing in Avengers, Chen joins another incarnation of the Masters of Evil - led by Egghead - but is defeated by Henry Pym and deported back to China.[8]
The character continued to feature in Iron Man, and is employed by the hero's arch-enemy the Mandarin, but is ultimately defeated.[9] Chen is employed in his civilian capacity as a physicist by Stane International (formerly Stark International, taken over by Obadiah Stane) and eventually battles Iron Man and Spider-Man.[10] The Radioactive Man appears in the graphic novel titled Deathtrap: The Vault, and with other supervillains attempts to escape from the holding facility the Vault. The character, however, aids the heroes in preventing a reactor meltdown.[11] The Radioactive Man also features in an issue of the humor title Sensational She-Hulk[12] and once again in Avengers.[13]
After appearing in the second volume of Avengers that takes place in an alternate universe[14] and briefly in Thunderbolts,[15] the one-shot Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil,[16] the third volume of the Avengers,[17] and alternate universe title Exiles,[18] the character features in the limited series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.[19]
Chen attempts to reform and in New Thunderbolts joins the Thunderbolts, a team comprised almost entirely of reformed supervillains.[20] During the Civil War storyline the character aids heroes Mister Fantastic and Yellowjacket in building a holding prison for dissenting superpowered beings, and also battles the anti-registration heroes.[21] A major development occurs in the title Thunderbolts when the group encounter the Elders of the Universe member the Grandmaster; the Radioactive Man absorbs an excessive amount of radiation and is forced to wear a radiation suit at all times.[22] The radiation eventually subsides, but industrialist Norman Osborn convinces the character to retain the suit to distract the American public from his clearly Asian features and quell any lingering fears about his radioactivity.[23] The Radioactive Man features in the one shot Thunderbolts: International Incident,[24] the limited series Avengers/Invaders,[25] one shot King Size Hulk,[26] and Thunderbolts:Reason In Madness[27] before featuring briefly in the Secret Invasion storyline.[28]
The Radioactive Man suffers a setback in the New Ways to Die storyline when the character Anti-Venom uses a healing ability to remove almost all his radiation powers.[29] After an appearance with the Thunderbolts in Moon Knight,[30] the character leaves the team and returns to his native China.[31]
The Radioactive Man reappears in The Mighty Avengers as part of The People's Defense Force, China's indigenous group of metahumans. The team are defeated by an invading entity known as The Unspoken, a deposed former king of the Inhumans.[32]
Igor Stancheck
A second Radioactive Man features in the fourth volume of Black Panther. The character is a Russian named Igor Stancheck and is one of several mercenaries invading the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda. The group makes an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the huge mound of the metal vibranium located at the heart of the kingdom.[33]
Powers and abilities
Chen Lu was a normal human until exposed to excessive amounts of radiation, which changed his skin coloring to an iridescent green, and allows him to manipulate radiation across the entire spectrum. Abilities include radiation emission as heat, "hard" radiation (inflicting opponents with nausea, dizziness, and radiation poisoning), and hypnotic light. He can also absorb nuclear radiation without harm and convert it to energy for personal use such as strength enhancement or to cauterize wounds, create force fields, and emit electromagnetic radiation to deactivate machinery. As the character constantly emits radiation, he has limited human contact and wears a full radiation suit when in the presence of unshielded persons. Chen Lu holds a Ph. D. in nuclear physics.
Igor Stancheck has the same powers as Chen Lu.
In other media
Television
- The Chen Lu version of Radioactive Man appears in the animated television series The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Gillie Fenwick.
- The Igor Stancheck version appears in the Black Panther voiced by Rick D. Wasserman.
Video games
- Radioactive Man appears in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by James Sie. He assists Winter Soldier into destroying the engines to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier UNN Alpha. He has special dialogue with Thor.
- Radioactive Man appears in the PSP, PS2, and Wii versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. He is among the supervillains that are taken over by The Fold.
References
- ^ Journey into Mystery #93 (June 1963).
- ^ Avengers #6 (July 1964)
- ^ Avengers #54 - 55 (July - Aug. 1968)
- ^ Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970)
- ^ Avengers #130 (Dec. 1974)
- ^ Iron Man #73 - 74 (Mar & May 1975)
- ^ Giant-Size Avengers #4 (June 1975)
- ^ Avengers 228 - 230 (Feb. - Apr. 1983)
- ^ Iron Man #179 - 181 (Feb. - Apr. 1984)
- ^ Iron Man #234 (Sep. 1988)
- ^ Deathtrap: The Vault (1991)
- ^ Sensational She-Hulk #24 (Feb. 1991)
- ^ Avengers #400 (July 1996)
- ^ Avengers vol. 2, #8 - 9 (June - July 1997)
- ^ Thunderbolts #9 (Dec. 1997)
- ^ Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil #1 (Feb. 1999)
- ^ Avengers vol. 3, #0 (July 1999)
- ^ Exiles #42 (May 2004)
- ^ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #3 (Feb. 2005)
- ^ New Thunderbolts vol. 2, #1 (Jan. 2005)
- ^ Civil War #1 - 7 (July 2006 - Jan. 2007)
- ^ Thunderbolts vol. 2, #106 (Nov. 2006)
- ^ Thunderbolts vol. 2, #112 (May 2007)
- ^ Thunderbolts: International Incident (Apr. 2008)
- ^ Avengers Invaders #1 (July 2008)
- ^ King Size Hulk #1 (July 2008)
- ^ Thunderbolts: Reason In Madness #1 (July 2008)
- '^ Secret Invasion #1 - 8 (Apr. - Dec. 2008)
- ^ Spider-Man: New Ways To Die #568 - 569 (Oct. 2008); #570 - 572 (Nov. 2008); #573 (Dec. 2008)
- ^ Moon Knight] vol. 4, #24 - 25 (Jan. - Feb. 2009)
- ^ Thunderbolts #126 (Jan. 2009)
- ^ The Mighty Avengers #27 - 28 (Sep. - Oct. 2009)
- ^ Black Panther vol. 4, #5 - 6 (Aug. - Sep. 2005)
External links
- Radioactive Man I at Marvel.com
- Radioactive Man at the Internet Movie Database
- Radioactive Man at the Marvel Database Project
- Radioactive Man at the Comic Book DB
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