Crimson Dynamo
Crimson Dynamo is often described as an evil Russian/Soviet version of Iron Man, despite the fact that his best known incarnation (Anton Vanko) was mostly a ally for him. 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
The first Crimson Dynamo was a Soviet inventor named Антон Ванко (Anton Vanko), who was Armenian by origin. He built the original battle suit (partly from Stark's own plans for electrical current) 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 if he failed. 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.
Current Status: deceased
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 after the latter was fooled into thinking Vanko was in the armor and was blindsided. He was ready to celebrate, but Vanko stopped him using a experimental ray gun, but it killed both Turgenev and himself. Boris ultimately fulfilled the mission with which he was sent to America.
Current status: deceased
Alex Nevsky was the protégé of the original Crimson Dynamo (Vanko). After Vanko defected to Stark Industries, Nevsky's career was ruined due to his mentor being disgraced. 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 organisation for failing to kill Iron Man. The Crimson Dynamo armor was confiscated and archived for future study.
Current status: deceased
Yuri was sent on a mission to America as the new Crimson Dynamo. He was supposed to capture Black Widow and bring her back to the Soviet government along with another defector. Upon returning, he was deemed 'a miserable failure' and demoted to working in a Siberian camp.
Current Status: alive
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 for his treachery.
Bukharin was the current Dynamo when Iron Man attempted to neutralize all armor wearers who utilized his stolen technology.
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, but this didn't seem to go anywhere.
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
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 Soviet 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
This Crimson Dynamo was hired by the Answer and battled Captain America. He was temporarily burned because of his inexperience with the Crimson Dynamo armor and was then defeated by Captain America and Nick Fury then taken into custody.
Current status: alive
Gennady Gavrilov, a Russian collegiate, became the eighth Crimson Dynamo after he found the helmet of a prototype suit designed by Anton Vanko. Accidentally activating the suit, it went on a rampage throughout Russia, and gathered the attention of the military as well as their spies. Managing to escape them by using a railway track with the maglev system as well as disarming the suit from becoming a dangerous bomb, and was later hired by Diablo in a attempt to gain ultimate power by stealing the Destroyer Armor and using magic to turn it into a weapon. He was defeated by Iron Man and Thor despite being amped by Diablo's mystic encarnations.
Current status: alive
This version of the armour was a modified version of the original suit created by the Tinkerer.
It was also used as apart of the attack force sent by Lucia von Bardas, but wasn't very successful.
Current status: alive
A criminal who bought an Crimson Dynamo armor in the black market. Stopped by Iron Man after a fight in New York in which Tony's advanced Extremis system quickly overwhelmed and outsped the far chunkier suit.
Current status: alive
This Crimson Dynamo was a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers Alpha Gen, a group of Russian superhumans put into cryogenic stasis after the Cold War ended. During a fight between the Order and the Infernal Man a enormous explosion awakened the Super-Soldiers. This Crimson Dynamo was destroyed by the Order after a short fight.
Current status: deceased
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
Galina Nemirovsky is the thirteenth Crimson Dynamo. She was once revealed as one of the best graduates of Russia's Federal Dynamo program, but extremely reckless and innovative with her methods. 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, through some have simply been thugs or people with enough money to afford one. The inventor of the armor, Dr. Anton Vanko, possessed a genius-level intellect, with skills as a scientist and engineer, as well as a PhD in electrical engineering.
The Crimson Dynamo armor enables the wearer to lift over 100 tons under standard operating conditions. The armor contains various generic and specialised offensive weaponry.
The generic features include:
Computerised 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 by later editions.
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, strong enough to stun even some of the toughest around.
Fusion caster: primary chest-mounted weapons system, while not commonly used, it has been able to completely wreck the durable suits of individuals like the Titanium Man at full blast.
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 neutralised by Iron Man was less sophisticated and had a Gatling gun built into the wrist gauntlet to provide additional firepower to make up for the lack of technological weaponry available.
- 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.
- Sonic Projectors: Built into the gauntlets of the armor, these sonic blasts are designed to be highly potent, being able to effect the likes of Titania or the Invisible Woman, even through her own shields.
- Electrical Generators: Powered by electrical current, the Dynamo armors can also effect any sort of technology and can shut it down by manipulating those same currents, allowing it to completely destroy or depower them. This has even worked on Iron Man himself, disabling his armor completely when left exposed. Later models have improved on this weakness significantly, even allowing Tony to recover from total shutdown in a full minute.
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. This was a prototype of a new armor created by Vanko shortly after death, in the hope that if the Soviets were to try and kill him, he could use the armor as well as the satellite to his own survival.
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 Titanium suit (through he was unable to come out of it due to it literally being fused to his body: a bi-product of experimentation)
Alex in particular was stated by Chinese authorities to be capable of controlling up to fifty giant sized drones in combat, through this was later revealed to be a partial lie as it was found that the drones were independently piloted, shown when they, in the middle of battle, became panicked and started firing outside of Su's orders. He and the Abomination represented China in the short lived Liberators. However, Iron Man crushed the Crimson Dynamo while controlling the Iron Man Six aircraft, killing him instantly.
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
The Marvel Super Heroes
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. He was voiced by Henry Ramer.
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 after the villain was killed in battle. 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
Crimson Dynamo appears in the series, sporting a white armor, but is still of Russian origin. The pilot's name is Vanko. He returns to Earth after being left in space for 3 years to get vengeance on his family, who he thought he had lost. But, he was delusional from having spent such a long time in space. The armor's life support systems were what kept him alive. It should be noted that Crimson Dynamo is extremely tough. Iron Man couldn't so much as put a scratch on the armor. In the series, Crimson Dynamo was built for space exploration: ss such, it was built without flaws and to withstand almost anything.
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 nano-robots, but they did not work out. Obadiah Stane then came to him after Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. denied funding; the experiment was going to close, and Stane wanted to help 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 (Valentin Shatalov), 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.
Crimson Dynamo appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Chris Cox. He appeared in five episodes, those being "Iron Man is Born," "The Breakout," "Gamma World," "Masters of Evil" & "This Hostage Earth."
The Crimson Dynamo appears as part of the Winter Guard in the episode " Secret Avengers," voiced by Fred Tatasciore. During a mission in Russia, Hulk defeated Crimson Dynamo and stripped off the outer layer of his armor to use as a disguise.
Crimson Dynamo appears as a villain in the series, voiced by Tetsu Inada.
Marvel Future Avengers
Crimson Dynamo appears in episodes 16 and 17 as part of the Winter Guard. He was voiced by in the original Japanese version and by Yuri Lowenthal in the English dub. In the show, he and his teammates initially oppose Captain America when he arrives in Russia to rescue the Winter Soldier, but they later team up with the American heroes to battle HYDRA.
The Galina Nemirovsky version of Crimson Dynamo appears in Marvel's Spider-Man, voiced by Laura Bailey. This version of the character is a vengeful young woman from Russia whose family was killed by gangsters. In America, she attempts to steal a new energy source from Horizon High to power her armor. The ensuing fight accidentally fuses Otto Octavius' cybernetic arms to his nervous system, eventually causing him to become Doctor Octopus.
Video Games
Iron Man 3 (top) and Avengers Academy (bottom)- 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.
- The Crimson Dynamo appears as a boss in the Facebook game Avengers Alliance.
- Crimson Dynamo appears as a boss character in the video game adaptation of Iron Man 3.
- Crimson Dynamo is a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance 2.
- The Galina Nemirovsky version of Crimson Dynamo appears in Marvel Avengers Academy.
Merchandise
Armored Adventures and Marvel Legends- Crimson Dynamo was featured in the toyline for the 90s Iron Man animated series from ToyBiz.
- Crimson Dynamo was planned for ToyBiz's Marvel Legends line, but the figure was never produced.
- Bowen Designs produced a Crimson Dynamo statue.
- Bowen Designs also produced a Crimson Dynamo bust.
- Crimson Dynamo appeared in Diamond Select's Minimates line.
- Crimson Dynamo appeared in the HeroClix figure game.
- Crimson Dynamo appeared in the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
- Crimson Dynamo was featured in Hasbro's toyline for Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
- Crimson Dynamo was featured in the toyline for Iron Man 2.
- Crismson Dynamo appeared in Hasbro's Super Hero Squad line.
- Crimson Dynamo was featured in Hasbro's Iron Man: Armored Avenger line.
- The Gennady Gavrilov version of Crimson Dynamo was the subject of a Marvel Legends Build-a-Figure wave from Hasbro, which was released as a tie-in to the Black Widow movie.
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