Crimson Dynamo

Crimson Dynamo

Crimson Dynamo is often described as an evil Russian/Soviet version of Iron Man. Although a female has worn the suit before, he is most often a Russian man with a suit of armor similar to Iron Man's. There have been multiple wearers.

Creation

Crimson Dynamo was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck in 1963 and first appeared in Tales Of Suspense # 46.

Previous Bearers

1) Anton Vanko

The first Crimson Dynamo was a Soviet inventor named Антон Ванко (Anton Vanko), who was Armenian by origin. He built the original battle suit and battled Iron Man. Tony Stark realized that brute force could not defeat him and decided to fool him. Stark said Vanko's bosses wanted to kill Vanko after the first successful test. Vanko remembered that, before the operation, he was threatened with death. He escaped with Stark to America, where he became a senior scientist at Stark Industries. Vanko died killing the second person who would don the title of Crimson Dynamo: Boris Turgenev.

2) Boris Turgenev

Boris Turgenev

The Soviet government was not taking losing one of its best inventors well. They thought that if they could not have him, nobody could. They sent the best agents of the KGB, Black Widow and Boris Turgenev, after Vanko. Once in America, Turgenev stole the Crimson Dynamo armor. He attacked Stark and defeated him. He was ready to celebrate, but Vanko stopped him. Vanko fired from the experimental ray gun, but it killed both Turgenev and he. Boris fulfilled the mission with which he was sent to America.

Current status: deceased

3) Alex Nevsky

Alex Nevsky

Alex Nevsky was the protégé of the original Crimson Dynamo (Vanko). After Vanko defected to Stark Industries, Nevsky's career was ruined. He soon defected to the U.S. to compete with Stark Industries, but was forced to work for the KGB as the third Crimson Dynamo. He was later assassinated by the KGB for failing to kill Iron Man. The Crimson Dynamo armor was confiscated.

Current status: deceased

4) Yuri Petrovich

5) Dmitri Bukharin

Bukharin is perhaps the most infamous of the Dynamos. He is a former KGB operative who was assigned the task of assisting the Soviet Super Soldiers in apprehending Magneto after a chunk of Asteroid M crashed to Earth. He provoked a fight with the X-Men and Avengers (the Avengers wanted to arrest Magneto, while the X-Men wanted to protect him). The Dynamo destroyed a cargo ship that Magneto had taken refuge on; he would have been convicted of the murder of the entire crew had the Soviet Super Soldiers, X-Men and Avengers not been present to save them. Afterwards, he was removed from the Soviet Super Soldiers.

Bukharin was the current Dynamo when Iron Man attempted to neutralize all armor wearers who utilized his stolen technology.

Dmitri Bukharin

Bukharin, in a less sophisticated armor, joined Russia's new premiere team of heroes, the Supreme Soviets. He was ordered to attack the defecting Soviet Super Soldiers.

Bukharin was later relieved of the armor after he caused an international incident, retrieving the original Titanium Man from the United States. He was given a new armor and asked to rejoin the Supreme Soviets as Airstrike. Bukharin has recently been sighted by War Machine and Tony Stark, in his original Crimson Dynamo armor. He lent it to Stark, who needed a less sophisticated armor than his own. Bukharin now serves as the liaison between the Winter Guard and the Russian Executive Security Committee; after the recent Dire Wraith invasion of Russia, he serves the Crimson Dynamo program.

Current status: alive

6) Colonel-General Valentin Shatalov

Valentin Shatalov

Shatalov was the KGB official who engineered the disgrace of Bukharin so that he could become the new Crimson Dynamo. With his team, the Remont Four, Shatalov wanted to restore Russia to its former glory, but setbacks forced him to change his stance. Shatalov helped Iron Man defeat a crazed Titanium Man when he remotely had the Dynamo armor, which was being piloted by Tony Stark, kill the Titanium Man. Because this sanctioning was not "officially authorized", Shatalov was reassigned and the Dynamo armor was taken from him.

Current status: alive

7) Unknown man

8) Gennady Gavrilov

9) Unknown

10) Unknown

11) Unknown man

12) Boris Vadim

Boris Vadim operated in a version of Bukharin's Crimson Dynamo armor and was present when SHIELD investigated the death of the Abomination; Vadim picked a fight with the SHIELD team. He also was a member of the Red Hulk's Code Red team. He died fighting the monster Igor Drenkov.

Current status: deceased

13) Galina Nemirovsky

Galina Nemirovsky is the thirteenth Crimson Dynamo. She was once revealed as one of the best graduates of Russia's Federal Dynamo program. Nemirovsky frequently wears the Mark XIII armor, which is equipped with Dire Wraith technology. On at least one occasion, she used another armor (when she and Red Guardian battled Iron Man). After the Dire Wraith invasion, Nemirovsky was fired and renamed herself the Ultra-Dynamo.

Current status: alive

Armor statistics

All the pilots who have worn the Crimson Dynamo armor have been non-super-powered humans, usually with either scientific, espionage or military training. The inventor of the armor, Dr. Anton Vanko, possessed a genius-level intellect, with skills as a scientist and engineer.

The Crimson Dynamo armor enables the wearer to lift over 100 tons under standard operating conditions. The armor contains various generic and specialized offensive weaponry.

The generic features include:

• Computerized digital communications, including a two-way radio, a phone and an external computer interface.

• Sensors containing radar, sonar, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capabilities. These sensors are enhanced with Dire Wraith technology.

• Hand-blasters: 1,000,000 volt high-frequency electric emission units mounted on the wrist, capable of projecting a charge 100 feet from the palm of each hand.

• Fusion caster: primary chest-mounted weapons system.

• Carborundum matrix alloy shielded armor: Three-layer system granting the wearer a degree of invulnerability from extremely harsh environments.

• Boot jets, granting the power of sustained short-range flight.

• Human senses protection, including sound bafflers and polarized lenses adapted for low and high-intensity light.

• Life support and nutrition systems equipped with chemical, biological and radiological filtration systems designed to withstand high-radiation environments for extended periods of time, between 100 and 500 hours depending on the expended battery power.

• Gatling gun: the Dynamo armor which replaced the one neutralized by Iron Man was less sophisticated and had a gatling gun built into the wrist gauntlet to provide additional firepower.
• Shoulder rockets: another projectile weapon which was added to the refurbished Dynamo armor was a set of rockets concealed within the rear shoulder assembly of the armor.

Gadgets

Crimson sputnik: mobile satellite, which can recharge the power resources of the Crimson Dynamo armor via an ultra-frequency laser. The satellite also functions as a remote control and communications device.

Matrix generator: the Dynamo armor was capable of being digitally concealed using a belt teleportation-based armor matrix, which allowed an operative to conceal the armor; when needed, the user simply pressed the matrix generator on the belt and the armor would then encase the wearer.

Characteristics

Height: 6'2"-7'8" armored

Weight: 210-456 lbs armored

Eyes: varies

Hair: varies

Alternate realities

Earth-1610

In the Ultimate Universe, there are two Crimson Dynamos:

The first Crimson Dynamo is Chinese national Alex Su, who can wear the suit

Alex Su - Ultimates 2

and control up to fifty drones. He and the Abomination represented China in the Liberators. However, Iron Man crushed the Crimson Dynamo, controlling the Iron Man Six aircraft.

Valentin Shatalov

The name of the second and original Crimson Dynamo is Валентин Шаталов (Valentin Shatalov). Since the end of the Cold War, Shatalov was based in Siberia. He stayed there for a long time; even his government was not confident that Shatalov was still alive. The Crimson Dynamo armor and other super-soldier components were stolen by Rutskaya and Ivan Kragoff. In error, the Dynamo battled the Fantastic Four, who were looking for Susan Storm. However, he was able to explain the purpose of his mission to them. Together, they came to Kragoff's facility and saw Rutskaya's super-soldiers, who were equipped with Crimson Dynamo armors. The mutant Rutskaya was destroyed in a nuclear explosion. The Invisible Woman rescued Shatalov, who then said goodbye to the Fantastic Four.

Film and television

Animation

Marvel Superheroes

The Crimson Dynamo appeared in the part about Iron Man. This episode is based on its first appearance; some frames are frames of a comic book.

Iron Man (1995)

Iron Man (1995)

In episode 17, "Not Far From the Tree", the A.I.M. created a clone of Howard Stark and hired the Crimson Dynamo to penetrate into Stark Industries. He engaged in battle with Iron Man and lost. The Crimson Dynamo was voiced by William Hootkins.

In episode 21, "The Armor Wars, Part 1", Tony Stark learned that the Crimson Dynamo was using technology from Stark Industries. The Crimson Dynamo armor was similar to the armor worn by Valentin Shatalov in the comic, but Stark called him Юрий (Yuri). The Crimson Dynamo was voiced by Stu Rosen.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

In episode 6, "Iron Man vs. the Crimson Dynamo", the Crimson Dynamo's name was Иван Ванько (Ivan Vanko). He had a wife, Isabela, and a son, Mikhail. He worked for Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. During a space expedition near the sun, he was given the white Crimson Dynamo space suit/armor, which could protect him from solar radiation. During the experiment, he went very close to the solar surface, which became unstable. The rest of the team left him, thinking Vanko was dead. However, Anton Harkov later heard a signal from him; unfortunately, they did not have the resources to save Vanko, so they flew away. Vanko was declared dead, but the armor enabled him to survive. When Iron Man was patrolling the city, he saw that something was falling. First, he and reporters thought it was a meteorite. However, it was Vanko, who tossed a steamroller at helicopter journalists, but Iron Man intercepted it. Wanting to reach Harkov, the Dynamo beat Iron Man. Stark flew to warn him. However, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. already moved to combat readiness, under the command Harkov. Vanko could not be stopped. When Iron Man tried to delay the Dynamo, Pepper Potts found Ivan's family and led them to him. The Dynamo calmed down and surrendered. Vanko was voiced by Mark Oliver.

In episode 12, "Seeing Red", the second Crimson Dynamo appeared. Anton Harkov invented nanorobots, but they did not work out. Obadiah Stane they came to him. Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. denied funding; the experiment was going to close, and Stane wanted to help them in exchange for the Crimson Dynamo armor. Stane's bodyguard, O'Brien, wore the suit, which was repainted in black with red stripes. Later, Iron Man discovered a collapse in the subway, where he met O'Brien. O'Brien won against Iron Man, and took him to P.E.G.A.S.U.S., where Harkov scanned the Iron Man armor. Iron Man escaped with Potts. Some time later, he returned in a new Buster armor. He easily broke into Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. and loaded the Technovore virus Stane's computers to corrupt the information. Later, fighting the Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man destroyed the armor, and O'Brien fled. O'Brien was voiced by Brian Drummond.The Super Hero Squad Show

In episode 17 of the Super Hero Squad Show, "Tales of Suspense!", the Crimson Dynamo, along with Melter and Doctor Doom, attacked Iron Man and War Machine. The Dynamo used broken English in conversation, and often talked about himself in the third person. He was voiced by Jess Harnell.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Crimson Dynamo appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Chris Cox. He has appeared in five episode so far "Iron Man is Born", "The Breakout", "Gamma World", "Masters of Evil" & "This Hostage Earth".

Video games

• Crimson Dynamo is the main villain in The Invincible Iron Man for Game Boy Advance.
• 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 Shatalov, the sixth Crimson Dynamo yet the armor is not any existing one, but resembles a smoothed-out version of the eighth Crimson Dynamo (though he mentions he has had upgrades). 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.
• Crimson Dynamo appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad voiced by Jess Harnell.
• The Valentin Shatalov version of Crimson Dynamo appears as a villain in the video game adaption to Iron Man 2 voiced by Dimitri Diatchenko. He is allied with both Advanced Idea Mechanics and Roxxon Energy Corporation, and is the pilot of the 20-foot Crimson Dynamo armor. He was allies with Kearson DeWitt, but was soon stopped when DeWitt discovered a spy inside of Shatalov's operation. Shatalov decided that it was time to utilize the Dynamo armor, and used it with great efficiency against Iron Man. After Iron Man pummeled Shatalov for a short time, the general fired an electric beam at him, and War Machine came in to distract Shatalov. Iron Man then defeated Shatalov and destroyed most of the Dynamo armor. Shatalov died after interrogation from the armored duo.

Movies

Though he did not appear in Iron Man 2, it is worth noting that Whiplash shared some of his traits. In fact, he was the son of Anton Vanko.