Crimson Dynamo
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The Crimson Dynamo (Krasni Denamo in Russian) 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.
[edit] The original Crimson Dynamo
The first Crimson Dynamo was also the creator of the armor: Professor Anton Vanko. A Soviet scientist of Armenian birth, 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 battlesuit 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. After being tricked by Iron Man (who made him believe that his Soviet handlers were going to kill him), Vanko defected 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 in Tales of Suspense #52, saving Iron Man by firing an unstable experimental laser light pistol at Boris, killing him as well.
Quote: "You'll be ... uh ... SHOCKED at my powers."
[edit] 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 (Tales of Suspense #52), 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."
[edit] 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 in Iron Man volume 1 #21 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.
But his story actually began behind the Iron Curtain. The protege of Professor Anton Vanko, he admired and respected the brilliant Vanko, the creator of the Crimson Dynamo battlesuit. 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 one 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, who he later fell in love with for real.
After he donned the Crimson Dynamo armor in public, 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. Although he held Titanium Man just as responsible for Janice's death, Niven was forced by circumstance to partner with Titanium Man and Radioactive Man in Vietnam, where all three Communist-aligned fugitives formed the Titanic Three. Nevsky made an unsuccessful attempt to kill Iron Man in Iron Man #73. Fleeing the battle, Nevsky disappeared soon thereafter. According to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, he was assassinated by the KGB, who confiscated his armor for their own purposes.
Quote: "My costume may be new to you but my name is not."
[edit] 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 and exiled to Siberia.
[edit] 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 designed a new suit of armor and adopted the codename Airstrike.
[edit] The sixth Crimson Dynamo
Colonel-General Valentin Shatalov used his rank to obtain the Crimson Dynamo from Dmitri Bukharin for his own use. 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 desgned 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.
[edit] 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 ersatz Avengers.
[edit] Ultimate Crimson Dynamo
The Ultimates has recently 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 armour, 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.)
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.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] 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.
[edit] Video games
- Crimson Dynamo is a member of the Masters of Evil in the videogame Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The Crimson Dynamo in-game is Valentin Shalatov, the sixth dynamo, however the armor is not any existing one, but resembles a smoothed-out version of the eighth Crimson Dynamo
[edit] 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.
