ICEMASTER

Real Name: Bradley Kroon

Identity/Class: Unrevealed; presumably mutated human

Occupation: Professional criminal

Group Membership: Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer)'s Masters of Evil (Aqueduct/Peter Van Zante, Bison/Billy Kitson, Black Mamba, Blackwing/Joseph Manfredi, Boomerang/Fred Myers, Cardinal/Donald Joshua Clendenon, Constrictor/Frank Payne, Cyclone/Pierre Fresson, Dragonfly/Veronica Dultry, Eel/Edward Lavell, Flying Tiger, Gypsy Moth/Sybil Dvorak, Hydro-Man/Morrie Bench, Joystick/Janice Olivia Yanizeski, Klaw/Ulysses Klaw, Lodestone/Andrea Haggard, Machinesmith/Samuel Saxon, Man-Ape/M'Baku, Man-Killer/Katrina Luisa van Horne, Quicksand, Scorcher/Steven Jamal Hudak, Shatterfist, Shockwave/Lancaster Sneed, Slyde/Jalome Beacher, Sunstroke/Sol Brodstroke, Supercharger/Ronald Hilliard, Tiger Shark/Todd Arliss)

Affiliations: Aftershock (Danielle Blunt), Anaconda (Blanche Sitzniski), Borya Cich, Ember, Griffin (Johnny Horton), Griz (Mac Garrity), Lightmaster (Edward Lansky), Mandrill (Jerome Beechman), Piledriver (Brian Calusky), Quicksand, Remlik, Ruby Thursday (Thursday Rubinstein), Schizoid Man (Chip Martin), Silk Fever (Min Li Ng), Vic Slaughter, Supercharger (Ronald Hilliard), Whirlwind (David Cannon)

Enemies: Avengers Academy (Finesse, Hazmat, Mettle, Reptil, Striker, Veil), Avengers Unity Squad (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Havok/Alex Summers, Rogue, Thor Odinson), Jeremy Briggs, Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Giant-Man (Hank Pym), Guardsmen, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Hostess Fruit Pies, Justice (Vance Astrovik), MI13 (Black Knight/Dane Whitman, Pete Wisdom, Excalibur/Faiza Hussain, others), Speedball (Robert Baldwin), Thunderbolts (Atlas, Charcoal, Citizen V (Helmut Zemo), Hawkeye, Jolt, Mach-1, Songbird, Techno), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), X-Men (Mimic, Rogue)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Pace Federal Penitentiary;
   formerly a prison in Upstate New York;
   formerly the Raft, Ryker's Island;
   formerly mobile

First Appearance: Hostess Pie advertisement in the January, 1980 Marvel Comics, such as Avengers I#191
the title of that story/ad was "The Icemaster Cometh"

Powers/Abilities: Icemaster can generate tremendous amounts of cold and ice. He can also apparently reshape parts of his own icy body into weaponry, such as maces. He is vulnerable to intense heat, and to the sweet, sweet taste of Hostess Pies.

Height: 6'2"
Weight: 300 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown

History:
(Hostess Pie Advertisement in Avengers I#191) - Seeking to create another Ice Age, the Icemaster had frozen much of New York City, only to face the Human Torch. Thinking quickly, the Torch threw the Icemaster some Hostess Fruit Pies, causing his ice to melt and prompting his effective surrender.

(Thunderbolts I#24-25) - The Icemaster was one of 25 villains who joined the second Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil.The Masters planned to extort billions from the world's governments through their weather-control technology, but their base was infiltrated by the Thunderbolts. The Icemaster, like all the villains except for Crimson Cowl, Cyclone, and Man-Killer, was beaten by the Thunderbolts and presumably jailed.

(Thunderbolts I#158/Herc I#3/Fear Itself: The Home Front#2/1 (fb) - BTS) - Icemaster--along with Aftershock, Ember, Living Laser, and Whirlwind--stole a craft and made a run for it, determined to wreak havoc.

(Fear Itself: The Home Front#2/1) - The villains attacked the town of Stamford, Connecticut, where Living Laser blasted over a church steeple and the others tortured civilians. When Speedball attacked, Living Laser blasted him multiple times and they soon defeated the hero, but the villains chose to run for it. As they departed, Living Laser ridiculed Icemaster about consuming too many fruit pies.






(Avengers Academy I#20) - Icemaster, Aftershock and Ember were caught after a fight with Giant-Man, Justice, Speedball and Avengers Academy students when Jeremy Briggs knocked them all out. Briggs melted Icemaster's ice, revealing his true form.

(X-Men Legacy I#275 (fb) - BTS) - Icemaster was transferred to a prison in Upstate New York.

(X-Men Legacy I#275) - Ruby Thursday, Griffin, Schizoid Man, Icemaster, Quicksand, Silk Fever, Supercharger, and Lightmaster staged a prison break, but were stopped by Rogue and Mimic, as well as Guardsmen.

(Gambit V#17 - BTS) - Icemaster was transferred to Pace Federal Penitentiary.

(Gambit V#17) - Icemaster was one of the prisoners--which also included Griz, Lightmaster, Mandrill, Vic Slaughter and Supercharger--taking Borya Cich's offer to kill Gambit (who had broken into the prison) for one million dollars, or 100,000 for aiding in his death. He participated in the battle and iced up Gambit, but Gambit broke out of the ice-block. The fight was soon joined by Gambit's friends from MI13 and the Avengers Unity Squad. The prisoners failed to kill Gambit.

(Avengers, Inc. I#1 (fb) - BTS) - While imprisoned at the Raft, Icemaster was shot in the head, seemingly murdered in his cell.

(Avengers, Inc. I#1) - After Icemaster was taken to the Raft's morgue, Janet Van Dyne was brought into the situation since another victim was her longtime enemy, Whirlwind. Upon seeing the seeming corpses, Janet became suspicious as to how Icemaster and five other small-time criminals were killed while alone in their cells and she later requested the files on Icemaster and the other criminals from Mayor Luke Cage. More suspicious than ever, Janet returned to the Raft and asked to see the six corpses once more. While she was investigating the bullet hole left in Whirlwind's head as the Wasp, Icemaster and the other criminals (except Whirlwind) jumped back to life and attacked the Wasp, bullet holes still in their heads. Icemaster immediately encased Wasp in a block of ice but she broke free by enlarging her insect-sized form. Despite the Wasp's attempts to talk things over, Icemaster and the other criminals continued their attack until Whirlwind awakened, seemingly possessed by a man calling himself Victor Shade, an alias used by the synthezoid Vision. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Wasp blasted Icemaster, who retaliated with an ice blast that froze Quicksand when the Wasp dodged. Shocked at what he had accidentally done, the distracted Icemaster was then hit from behind by the Wasp at his pressure points, shattering the ice sheath he had covered himself in. The guards soon entered the room and took all of the very confused back into custody and he was being shackled, Icemaster exclaimed that he probably had brain damage from being shot in the head.

Comments: Created by Tony Macchia and Frank Miller;
slightly redesigned and introduced in a "mainstream" story by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.

    *Ahem* Y'see, Thunderbolts I#24-25 was part of a "name the first appearances" contest, and I'm guessing Kurt Busiek wanted to make it really tough to get 'em all. And of course, this means all those Hostess ad villains are now in-continuity....(and a master profile of all of them are on their way from Kyle Smith!)

    Hey, I'm not sure that Hostess Fruit Pies are his Enemy! No one in their right mind could hate them!! A weakness, yes, an enemy...I don't know. ; ) --Snood

    Cary theorizes: Could Professor Sinkowitz, the anti-communist super-patriot formerly known as the Cold Warrior, have been mutated by his Skrullified gear? Furthermore, since the break of the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil, could he be committing crimes while masquerading as the most recent Blizzard?

    You can get the whole story, and some clever commentary from Seanbaby's The Hostess Page. It might not meet with the Comics Code Authority's approval, so kids, ask your parents before checking that out!

    In today's Comic Book Legends Revealed, there's a discussion of Frank Miller's early work - and one of his earliest pieces was the Hostess strip that introduced the Icemaster! It also notes that he named the character, because, as per a Roger Stern quote in the article:"Frank's Torch ad originally had him fighting a villain the agency named Iceman. Yeah, they had no idea that Marvel already had an Iceman character. Frank caught that and designed the villain we wound up with called "Icemaster" (which sounds as though it should be a Ronco product). So if and when Miller ever returns to Marvel, I definitely want to see him use this guy. "What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Icemaster."
--Minor Irritant
    Update 10/30/2023: Back Issue (magazine)#130 (September, 2021) confirms that Bates & Co. ad campaign manager of the Hostess ads, Tony Macchia, was the writer of the Icemaster Hostess ad, which means we now have a writer (Tony Macchia) AND artist (Frank Miller) to credit as Icemaster's creators! --Proto-Man

    Similar beings that could possibly be connected to Icemaster:
Ice-Beings (father & daughter) @ Marvel Tales#150 (September, 1956) "I Plunged Into Darkness!"]
Ice-Monster (Fred Hammer) @ Journey Into Unknown Worlds#17 (April, 1953) "The Ice-Monster Cometh!" (appears as an ice-being on last panel)
the Ice-Men @ Mystery Tales#43 (July, 1956) "I'm Afraid!" (according to comics.org they resemble the X-Men's Iceman)
--Gammatotem

    Icemaster received a handbook profile in OHotMU A to Z Update#5 (2010). Though his origin stayed unrevealed, a few assumptions were made, including that he was an animated ice statue created by Shapanka, a native of Silocus, a remnant of Nebulon's "Frozen Man", a descendant of Frost Giants, an ice-demon from Boreas, an Ice-Devil or something else completely. I vote for some kind of mutate after Avengers Academy I#20 revealed him to be pretty much human beneath the ice.

    The Avengers Academy entry in Avengers: Roll Call revealed his real name.

    Main image scan by MarvellousLuke.

Profile by Omar Karindu (Avengers Inc. update by Proto-Man).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Icemaster has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update#5, Icemaster profile (main image)
Hostess Fruit Pies ad, pan5 (Icemaster head shot)
Avengers Academy#20, p9, pan2 (human head shot)
Hostess Fruit Pies ad, pan3 (Icemaster VS Human Torch)
Hostess Fruit Pies ad, pan6 (Icemaster with Hostess Fruit Pies)
Thunderbolts I#24, p22, pan2 (Icemaster with the Masters of Evil)

Appearances:
Hostess Fruit Pies ad (January, 1980) - Frank Miller (artist)
Thunderbolts I#24 (March, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#25 (April, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Bob Wiacek & Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Fear Itself: The Home Front#2/1 (July, 2011) - Christos Gage (writer), Mike Mayhew (penciler/inker), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Herc I#3 (July, 2011) - Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Neil Edwards (breakdowns), Scott Hanna (finishes), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Thunderbolts I#158 (August, 2011) - Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
Avengers Academy I#20 (December, 2011) - Christos Gage (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Bill Rosemann (editor)
X-Men Legacy I#275 (2012) - Christos Gage (writer), David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Dan Ketchum (editor)
Gambit V#17 (November, 2013) - James Asmus (writer), Clay Mann (breakdowns/finishes), Jay Leisten & Ed Tadeo (finishes), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
Avengers, Inc. I#1 (November, 2023) - Al Ewing (writer), Leonard Kirk (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 12/30/2001
Last updated: 10/30/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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