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Radioactive Man (comics)

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For other uses, see Radioactive Man.
Radioactive Man
Chen Lu / Radioactive Man
Cover of Thunderbolts: International Incident
(April 2008)
Art by Marko Djurdjević
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearance(Chen Lu)
Journey into Mystery #93[1]
(June 1963)
(Igor Stancheck)
Black Panther vol. 4 #3. Marvel Comics.
(April 2005)
In-story information
Alter egoChen Lu
Igor Stancheck
SpeciesHuman mutate
Team affiliationsPeople's Defense Force
Masters of Evil
Thunderbolts
Titanic Three
Notable aliasesThe Radioactive Man
R-Man
Abilities

Radioactive Man is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Radioactive Man, Chen Lu, first appeared in Journey into Mystery #93 (June 1963). He was best known as a founding member of the Avengers opponents the Masters of Evil. The second incarnation, Igor Stancheck,[2] debuted in Black Panther vol. 4 #3 (June 2005).

Publication history

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Chen Lu / Radioactive Man first appears in Journey into Mystery #93 (June 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.[3]

Igor Stancheck / Radioactive Man first appears in Black Panther vol. 4 #3 (June 2005) and was created by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr.[citation needed]

Fictional character biography

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Chen Lu

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Radioactive Man's debut story begins with Thor's alter ego Donald Blake providing medical care for Indian soldiers injured in clashes with Chinese soldiers in the Himalayas.[4] Thor then defeats a Chinese armored column.[4] Later in Beijing, Zhou Enlai suggests to Mao Zedong that Thor must be destroyed and Mao Zedong orders Chinese scientist Chen Lu to devise a way to defeat Thor or die trying.[4] Chen exposes himself to small doses of radiation until he is able to endure a massive barrage, becoming a living "Radioactive Man". He plans to take over the world.[5]

Chen travels to New York City on a submarine. There, he battles Thor whom he hypnotizes in Times Square.[4] Eventually, Thor is able to recover and uses a tornado to send Chen to western China, where Chen detonates.[4]

Radioactive Man becomes a recurring foe of the Avengers, being coerced by Baron Zemo to join the original Masters of Evil in a bid to destroy the Avengers.[6] He is the first to confront the Avengers, and sticks Captain America and Giant-Man to the pavement with an adhesive, which Thor dodges. He is defeated by Giant-Man and Iron Man when they imprison him in lead coils. He is then deported back to China.[7] The character reappears with the new Masters of Evil, organized by the robot Ultron. The villains, however, are betrayed by the Black Knight.[8] Radioactive Man and his teammates appear once again during a Halloween parade and are defeated by a coalition of superheroines called the Lady Liberators.[9]

Chen escapes and travels to Vietnam, where he joins Soviet villains Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo as part of a team called the Titanic Three. Acting as crime fighters in Vietnam, the trio is duped by a con man and petty thief called the Slasher and end up battling the Avengers until the deception is uncovered.[10] After an encounter with Iron Man,[11] the characters go their separate ways. After a humiliating defeat by time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror in Giant-Size Avengers,[12] Chen joins another incarnation of the Masters of Evil - led by Egghead - but is defeated by Ant-Man and deported back to China.[13]

Radioactive Man continued to feature in Iron Man, and is employed by Iron Man's arch-enemy Mandarin.[14] Chen is employed in his civilian capacity as a physicist by Stane International (taken over by Obadiah Stane).[15] Radioactive Man appears in the graphic novel Deathtrap: The Vault, among other supervillains attempting to escape from the Vault. Chen, however, aids the heroes in preventing a nuclear reactor meltdown.[16]

Radioactive Man also features in an issue of The Sensational She-Hulk[17] and once again in The Avengers.[18]

After appearing in the second volume of Avengers which takes place in an alternate universe[19] and briefly in Thunderbolts,[20] the one-shot Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil,[21] the third volume of the Avengers,[22] and alternate universe title Exiles,[23] Radioactive Man features in the limited series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.[24]

Chen attempts to reform and in New Thunderbolts joins the Thunderbolts, a team composed almost entirely of reformed supervillains.[25] During the Civil War storyline, the character aids heroes Reed Richards and Yellowjacket imposter in building a holding prison for dissenting superpowered beings, and also battles the anti-registration heroes.[26] A major development occurs in the title Thunderbolts when the group encounters the Elders of the Universe member Grandmaster; the Radioactive Man absorbs an excessive amount of radiation and is forced to wear a radiation suit at all times.[27] 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.[28] The Radioactive Man is featured in the one shot Thunderbolts: International Incident,[29] the limited series Avengers/Invaders,[30] one shot King-Size Hulk,[31] and Thunderbolts: Reason In Madness[32] before appearing briefly in the Secret Invasion storyline.[33]

As part of the Thunderbolts, Radioactive Man fought Spider-Man and Anti-Venom during the New Ways to Die storyline; during the fight, Radioactive Man had a portion of his radiation powers drained by Anti-Venom.[34] He continued with the team however, going after the super-hero Moon Knight.[35] Radioactive Man was one of Songbird's strongest allies within the team, often supporting her when she fought against Osborn.

After the events of the Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn and Moonstone began the process of neutralizing the members of the Thunderbolts who oppose Osborn in his plan to exploit the invasion for his own personal agenda to gain more power. Osborn arranged for Chen to be deported back to China, leading to a bittersweet departure involving himself and Songbird.[36]

Radioactive Man reappears in The Mighty Avengers as part of People's Defense Force, China's indigenous group of metahumans. The Radioactive Man demonstrates that at close proximity he can safely absorb the radiation of Inhuman Xerogen crystals and presumably safely absorb Terrigen Mist. However, the People's Defense Force is largely defeated by an invading entity known as The Unspoken, a deposed former king of the Inhumans. The Unspoken is defeated in China by the Mighty Avengers.[37]

During the Heroic Age storyline, a young man named Warhead appeared as a member of the Bastards of Evil, claiming to be the son of Radioactive Man.[38] He has been shown to have similar powers, but killed himself in a mass explosion that killed hundreds of people.[39]

Radioactive Man later released a Chinese dragon made of magic in the Federal Bank Reserve. While Captain America, Iron Man, the female Thor, and Vision fought the Chinese dragon, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, and Nova encounter Radioactive Man. The senior Avengers managed to destroy the dragon, but upon reuniting with their wards, they learn they let Radioactive Man escape. The young heroes explain they were forced to leave Radioactive Man alone as there was a man that needed to be rescued. The senior Avengers are proud of what the young heroes did as heroes are meant to protect people first and foremost and welcomes them to the team.[40]

Radioactive Man appeared in the United States upon being invited back by his mysterious employer. He tells his assigned driver that his former work with the Thunderbolts and assistance against the Skrull invasion has provided him with some leeway. Radioactive Man later confronts Thor when some police officers tried to arrest him after what happened to Roxxon's Thor. When two police officers were confused by the fact that they thought Hawkeye's Thunderbolts team was shut down, Radioactive Man shows them a card as part of his clearance. Radioactive Man then fights Thor as their fight goes to an abandoned building. Radioactive Man then receives aid from King Cobra and Mister Hyde. As Thor struggles against them, he is then ambushed when Grey Gargoyle arrives and starts turning Thor to stone. While noting that the belt on Thor hasn't turn to stone as it is resisting his touch, Grey Gargoyle then reminds his fellow villains that his stone touch lasts for an hour as Mister Hyde breaks Thor's petrified form.[41] As Grey Gargoyle and Mister Hyde argue about Mister Hyde's action and King Cobra examine's the remains, Radioactive Man states that they should look as they notice Thor's broken remains surging with energy until the remains pull themselves back together and Thor is restored to normal. After Thor attacks Radioactive Man, he, Mister Hyde, King Cobra, and Grey Gargoyle are then teleported away and meet with their employer Dario Agger. After Agger mentions about the surveillance left behind where what happened was part of Enchantress' doing and hearing about Iron Man's upcoming war with Roxxon, Agger states to Radioactive Man and his fellow villains that he will leak the footage that will expose Enchantress as Roxxon's new CEO and that the villains will get their rematch by drawing Thor to them.[42]

Igor Stancheck

[edit]

Featured in the fourth volume of Black Panther, Igor Stancheck is a Russian mutate and is one of several mercenaries (including Rhino, Batroc, and the Vatican Black Knight), orchestrated by Klaw into 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 Black Panther's kingdom.[43] He was killed in battle by Shuri using the Black Knight's Ebony Blade.[44]

Powers and abilities

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Chen Lu has the ability to manipulate various forms of radiation. His powers include heat, "hard" radiation (inflicting opponents with nausea, dizziness, and extreme disorientation), EMP emissions to deactivate all machinery, and a hypnotic light.[45][46] He can absorb nuclear energies without harming his body and store those energies for personal use, such as physical amplification, wound healing,[47][48] creating energy constructs (like force fields or golems with greater strength and resilience than his own),[49] and nuclear transduction alongside the electromagnetic spectrum.[50] Radioactive Man is capable of rendering a ghostly person solid in mere seconds,[51] as well as breathing underwater. He can create "radiation pills" which infuse an individual with enough radioactivity to give them severe radiation sickness while spreading the contamination to a large population.[52] As Dr. Lu, he is also an expert in nuclear physics.[53] In later appearances, he must wear a containment suit to prevent his toxic appearance from threatening the health of others.[volume & issue needed]

Other versions

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Avataars: Covenant of the Shield

[edit]

In the pages of Avataars: Covenant of the Shield, Radioactive Man's counterpart on Eurth is Green Death of the Minions of Evil.[54] He aided them in their conflict with the Champions of the Realm whilst attacking Black Blade who they assumed had kidnapped Captain Avalon's son.

Heroes Reborn

[edit]

In the Heroes Reborn universe, created by Franklin Richards, Radioactive Man appeared as a member of Loki's Masters of Evil.[55]

House of M

[edit]

The Radioactive Man makes an appearance in the House of M reality, on the team of villains who attempted to break Baron von Strucker out of prison. They were stopped and apprehended by Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), the Kree army, and Major Erik Josten.[56]

Marvel 2099

[edit]

In the unified Marvel 2099 reality of Earth-2099, the unidentified Radioactive Man sports glass bottles of liquid on his back where he was responsible for killing Rowena Storm's fathers, caused some poisoning in Wakanda, and joined the 2099 version of the Masters of Evil in killing the 2099 version of the Avengers. When the Masters of Evil fought the 2099 version of the New Avengers, Radioactive Man offended Captain Marvel by mentioning how he killed her dads before being defeated by Hulk 2099. The Masters of Evil were remanded to a prison on the planet Wakanda.[57]

MC2

[edit]

Radioactive Man is still active in the MC2 reality.[volume & issue needed]

In other media

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Television

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Video games

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References

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  1. ^ Conroy, Mike (2004). 500 Comicbook Villains. Collins & Brown. ISBN 1-84340-205-X.
  2. ^ Harn, Darby (October 27, 2022). "10 Most Obscure Black Panther Marvel Comics Villains". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  3. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  4. ^ a b c d e Crean, Jeffrey (2024). The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History. New Approaches to International History series. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-350-23394-2.
  5. ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  6. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains. New York: Facts on File. p. 289. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.[1]
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  14. ^ Iron Man #179-181 (Feb.-Apr. 1984). Marvel Comics.
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  56. ^ New Thunderbolts #11
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  58. ^ a b "Radioactive Man Voices (Marvel Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved January 27, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  59. ^ Copeland, Wesley (March 17, 2016). "LEGO Marvel's Avengers Season Pass Detailed". IGN. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
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  61. ^ "Radioactive Man | Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2". Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2. Archived from the original on 2016-04-19.
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