ELEMENTS OF DOOM

Membership:

Mutated humans : Carbon, Chlorine, Cobalt, Neon, Phosphorus, Plutonium, Radium, Titanium, Vanadium, Vibranium (see comments)

Pure elements: Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Bromine, Cadmium, Californium, Carbon, Cesium, Chlorine, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Dysprosium, Erbium, Europium, Gold, Hafnium, Helium, Hydrogen, Indium, Iridium, Iron, Lead, Magnesium, Mercury, Neodymium, Neptunium, Nickel, Nobelium, Phosphorus, Platinum, Plutonium, Radium, Ruthenium, Scandium, Selenium, Silver, Sodium, Thallium, Tellurium, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Zirconium
    ...and presumably Actinium, Aluminum, Americium, Antimony, Argon, Astatine, Berkelium, Bismuth, Bohrium, Boron, Calcium, Cerium, Curium, Dubnium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Fluorine, Francium, Gadolinium, Gallium, Germanium, Hassium, Holmium, Iodine, Krypton, Lanthanum, Lawrencium, Lutetium, Lithium, Manganese, Meitnerium, Mendelevium, Molybdenum, Neon, Niobium, Nitrogen, Osmium, Oxygen, Palladium, Polonium, Potassium, Praseodymium, Promethium, Protactinium, Radon, Rhenium, Rhodium, Rubidium, Rutherfordium, Samarium, Seaborgium, Silicon, Sulfur, Strontium, Tantalum, Technetium, Terbium, Tin, Thorium, Thulium, Xenon, Ytterbium, Yttrium, and Zinc

Purpose: Converting the world’s population into element drones under their own control

Affiliations: AIM, Diablo, Dr. Vasily Khandruvitch

Enemies: Avengers (Beast, Black Knight, Black Panther, Cage, Captain America, Crystal, Falcon, Hercules, Iron Man, Jack of Hearts, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Silverclaw, Thor, Usagent, Warbird, Wasp, Wonder Man, Vision), Daredevil, Darkhawk, Firestar, Iron Fist, Justice, Dr. Vasily Khandruvitch, Monica Lynne, Taylor Madison, Magdalene, Night Thrasher, Nova, Rage, Speedball, Spider-Man, Swordsman, Thunderbolts (Baron Zemo/Citizen V, Goliath/Atlas, Fixer/Techno, Jolt, Moonstone/Meteorite, Mach-1/Beetle, Songbird/Screaming Mimi), Vibranium, White Tiger

Base of Operations:  Formerly Central Russia, New York City, St. Louis

Powers: Each of the Elements has powers based upon the element of which it is composed. For example, Carbon can turn into diamond, Chlorine can project poisonous chlorine gas, Phosphorus can burn in the presence of oxygen, Plutonium gives off radiation, etc. In addition, the Elements are intelligent. Most of those formed from humans lose their original personality and immediately become loyal to the Elements.

First Appearance:
(mutated humans): Avengers I#188 (October, 1979)
(pure elements): Thunderbolts I#6 (September, 1997)

History:
(Thunderbolts I#7 (fb)) - Dr. Khandruvitch developed a device to convert humans into beings composed of pure elements. These beings, Carbon, Chlorine, Neon, Phosphorus, Plutonium, Radium, Titanium, and Vanadium, took over a Russian nuclear facility.

(Avengers I#188 ) - The Avengers arrived at the facility and fought the Elements. They were initially driven back and the Falcon captured. The Wasp observed as they forced an unwilling participant to become a new Element, Cobalt. The Avengers returned in time to stop the Falcon from becoming the next Element, and Ms. Marvel used a laser cannon to blast their fusion reactor, exposing its molten core, unleashing a white-hot rain of nuclear plasma that buried the Elements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Avengers Collector's Edition#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Elements were either shunted extradimensionally or managed to access another dimension on their own.

(Avengers Collector's Edition#1 (fb)) - From the site in which they had been buried, Diablo managed to open a dimensional portal and return the Elements to Earth. Renaming themselves the Masters of Alchemy, they traveled to Wakanda with him and took several hostages to prevent the Black Panther from interfering with their plans. Diablo and the Masters of Alchemy rebuilt their fusion reactor, intending to use it to create an army of warriors composed of Vibranium (see comments).

(Avengers Collector's Edition#1) - When the Avengers arrived in Wakanda, Diablo and the Masters of Alchemy revealed themselves and used their hostages to prevent their interference. Diablo intended to make Monica Lynne the first Vibranium warrior, but Baru instead volunteered to take her place and was placed in the reactor. The Black Knight and Vision had escaped from Diablo, and they then attacked the Masters of Alchemy. The Black Knight's photonic disruptor sword caused an "electron field dispersion," exploding Neon. Captain America sealed Phosporus in a barrel of oil. The Black Panther blew Hydrogen onto a sparking live wire, causing an explosion which seemingly destroyed it. In the course of the struggle, Plutonium was smashed into the reactor. The energies unleashed merged Plutonium and Carbon into a single composite creature, but when Baru emerged from the reactor as Vibranium, he absorbed the composite being into himself. Taylor Madison hit Diablo across the head with a rock, knocking him out. Vibranium then left to become a hero for his people.

 

 

 

 

 

(Thunderbolts I#7 (fb) ) - After Dr. Khandruvitch's failures in Russia, he came to America and created another group of Elements of Doom. This time, instead of transforming humans into elemental form, he made this group out of pure chemical elements. He then sent them to cause havoc and chaos until the United Nations agreed to his demands: his own nation island in the Pacific peopled by his own living elements.

(Thunderbolts I#6 (fb)) - The Elements of Doom attacked and sank a Dutch freighter near the entrance to the Verrazano Narrows. No lives were lost, but the action disrupted shipping for a little while and cost millions to repair. They then issued an anonymous threat to the city of New York stating that they would strike that night at La Guardia airport and Madison Square Garden.

(Thunderbolts I#6) - The Elements of Doom attacked a plane en route to La Guardia airport, took out the engine, knocked out the pilots, and sent it on a collision course with the city. The Thunderbolts arrived and managed to drive the Elements of Doom away and land the plane themselves

Meanwhile, another group of Elements attacked Madison Square Garden, and the poisonous elements began to kill people trapped in an amphitheatre. The Thunderbolts arrived there as well and began to fight the group of Elements of Doom. Techno and Songbird managed to vent the poisonous gasses produced by the Elements while the rest of the team managed to overpower the Elements present and force them to retreat.

(Thunderbolts I#7) - Against their leader's orders, the Thunderbolts tracked the Elements of Doom to their base. Upon the Thunderbolts' arrival, ten of the one hundred and nine Elements of Doom attacked the team. This time the Thunderbolts could not drive back the Elements, who managed to use their own unique abilities to overcome and/or neutralize the Thunderbolts' powers. The Elements of Doom successfully knocked out and captured all of the Thunderbolts, whom they then bound and imprisoned inside their base.

Elsewhere, the Elements of Doom betrayed their creator, Dr. Khandruvitch. They decided to convert all humanity to element drones under their control, and forced Dr. Khandruvitch, now their captive, to assist them. One of the Elements snapped Techno's neck.

(Thunderbolts I#8) - Several Elements left their base for an attack on New York, but were met by over a dozen of New York's superheroes. The two sides clashed, though neither gained much ground.

Meanwhile, inside the Element's base, Songbird was successful in an attempt to escape, capture Dr. Khandruvitch, and free her teammates. Dr. Khandruvitch helped the Thunderbolts create a device that could destabilize the Elements and effectively destroy them. The Thunderbolts used the device to destroy all of the Elements inside the base, and then made their way outside the base and destroyed the Elements still fighting New York's superheroes.

(Avengers III#56 (fb)) - AIM recreated the Elements of Doom using Dr. Khandruvitch's notes. They then sent Platinum to a federal prison to terminate Dr. Khandruvitch since he knew how to destabilize the brains of the Elements of Doom. They also sent a squad to the center of St. Louis, where the Elements of Doom started wreaking havoc. Some reserve Avengers fought the Elements in St. Louis while Captain America and Jack of Hearts rescued Dr. Khandruvitch and obtained the plans for the device that could kill the Elements. The Avengers assembled the device from salvaged components of a crashed quinjet, and destroyed the Elements.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Dan Green and Frank Springer.

    It should be noted that Vibranium is not an element, but rather an alien meteor metal. The Official Handbook confirms this, although it acknowledges that it has been mistakenly described as an element on occasion. Nonetheless, I think Diablo might have figured out how to use the machine to create from Vibranium a similar being to one of the Elements of Doom. They also changed their names to the Masters of Alchemy for this issue, perhaps hinting that they weren't just Elements. The fusion of some of the other Elements also lends support to the idea that Diablo's alchemy was affecting the "elementalization" process.

    Don't bother to e-mail me to tell me that Avengers Collector's Edition was not canon. Instead, use the time to increase your dietary fiber. The story fits well into established continuity, uses established characters, and does not contradict continuity. In addition, nothing exists to contradict the story as being in-continuity, so I'm including it until something proves otherwise. Why exclude stories?

It is safe to assume that the members of the Elements of Doom in italics did indeed exist, even though they were never seen.

Thanks to http://www.science.co.il/PTelements.asp for a list of elements. This helped a lot in compiling a list of all the Elements that didn’t appear in the story. Thanks to Lorendiac for adding Radon. Thanks to Darci for pointing out a few other mistakes and the missing Manganese.

Profile by Stunner and Snood.

Clarifications: No known connection to:

images:
Avengers I#188 cover
Avengers Collector's Edition#1, p4, panel 2
 Thunderbolts I#6, p11, panel 3

Avengers Collector's Edition#1 (1993) - Pat Garrahy (writer), Mike Gustovich (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Hector Collazo & Glenn Herdling (editors)
Thunderbolts I#6 (September, 1997) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Vince Russell (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#7 (October, 1997) - Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern (writers), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Will Blyberg, Eric Cannon, Larry Mahlstedt, Greg Adams, Keith Williams & Work in Progress Studios (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#8 (November, 1997) - Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern (writers), Mark Bagley (pencils), Vince Russell (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers III#56 (September, 2002) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Ray Snyder (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 09/20/2004
Last updated: 01/27/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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