History:(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition I#32 - Ion entry - BTS) - Voletta Todd was born in Augusta, Georgia.
ION
Real Name: Voletta Todd
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Professional criminal;
former nuclear physicist
Group Membership: Superia's Femizons
Affiliations: Nightshade (Tilda Johnson), Superia
Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Dr. Spectrum (Joe Ledger of Earth-712), Geometer, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Machine Man (X-51), Paladin, Thing, Whizzer (Stanley Stewart of Earth-712)
Known Relatives: Mark Todd (Blazing Skull, uncle)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile;
formerly the Alternative Resources Center in New
York City, New York, USA; Femizonia Isle
First Appearance: Machine Man I#15 (June, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: Ion exists as a sentient cloud of ionized hydrogen gas surrounded by an electromagnetic field. She is able to fire bolts of electromagnetic energy, imbue metal objects with electromagnetic energy and capture objects or people within her electromagnetic field. Ion's electromagnetic field can be disrupted by a sufficiently powerful electric current. She is unable to resume her mortal form at will and requires her containment suit to remain cohesive, with only extreme cold returning Ion to her mortal form.
Through extreme
concentration, she can reshape
her gaseous form to resemble her mortal body.
She also possesses
an
"elemental awareness," which enables her to identify objects by their
chemical composition.
Voletta Todd is an extremely gifted nuclear physicist specializing in hydrogen fusion.
Height: (as
Todd) 5'6", (as Ion) variable
Weight: (as
Todd) 125 lbs., (as Ion) variable
Eyes: (as
Todd) Green, (as Ion) variable
Hair: (as
Todd) Red, (as Ion) none
History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition I#32 - Ion entry - BTS) - Voletta Todd was born in Augusta, Georgia.
(Machine Man I#15 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Voletta earned her doctorate.
(Machine Man I#15) - Dr. Voletta Todd was a beautiful, extremely brilliant scientist at the Alternative Resources Center in New York City and had labored for over a year on developing a means of generating a clean, cheap energy source from ionized gas. Determined to solve her problems, she became careless during an experiment and the energy banks containing the ionized gas exploded, catching her in the blast. The explosion changed her, transforming her into ionized hydrogen gas herself, though she still remained sentient.
She was found within the wreckage of the building by the robot Machine Man, who was searching for survivors. Unable to recreate her human form entirely, she begged Machine Man to kill her but he refused, hoping she could be cured. She was not so optimistic and attacked him for his refusal then fled the building.
Dr. Todd decided that only the Fantastic Four could possibly cure her and headed for the Baxter Building to force them to save her. She found only the Human Torch and the Thing present and, attacked by them, fought back, burying the Thing in a mountain of magnetized machinery. Machine Man again arrived upon the scene but he was too late to catch her.
Ion went on a
rampage
in the streets, begging anyone who could hear her to kill her. Machine
Man confronted her again and this time, their battle led into a meat
market. Ion used her magnetic powers to spin Machine Man like a top
but he still managed to lead her inside of the meat market's ice box
and shut Ion inside. The extreme cold of the ice box returned Ion to
her human form and Machine Man defeated her with a punch to the jaw.
He left her there with instructions that she be cryogenically frozen
until a cure could be found for her condition.
(Captain America I#390 (fb) - BTS) - During the years that passed, Ion emerged from her cryogenic sleep and developed a containment suit so that she could maintain a physical form while still searching for a cure to her condition.
(Captain
America I#387-388 - BTS) - Ion was approached by Dr. Nightshade and
Superia, and asked to join the cruise they had organized to Femizonia,
where she would become one of their Femizons. Superia promised to use
her scientific knowledge to return Ion to normal.
(Captain America I#389-390) - During the cruise, Ion was sent to retrieve Diamondback, who had been thrown from the vessel by Snapdragon. By extending her field around her, Ion was able to save Diamondback's life, returning her to the vessel in time to be treated by its medical staff. Later, during the Femizons' "Pageant of Power," Ion joined the other Femizons in attacking Captain America and Paladin, who had invaded the ship. She managed to capture Captain America within her ionic field but as she drew him in closer to her, he struck her with his shield, knocking her unconscious.
(Captain America I#391) - Upon the Femizons' arrival at Femizonia, Ion was among those Femizons who listened to Superia's speech about how she intended to make them the most powerful women on Earth.
(Quasar I#52) - While performing unrevealed (though presumably criminal) acts on the coast of Virginia, Ion was defeated in combat by the Whizzer and Dr. Spectrum, who encased her within one of Dr. Spectrum's energy fields and brought her back to Project: PEGASUS with them to be imprisoned. However, upon their arrival, they found Project: PEGASUS under siege by the Geometer. Dr. Spectrum managed to obtain the Geometer's instrument and paused to attempt to understand how it functioned. Ion offered to aid him using her scientific knowledge but Dr. Spectrum refused. The Geometer then struck Dr. Spectrum from behind and when he asked Ion why she didn't warn him, she replied that she had an incentive.
(Dark Reign Files - BTS) - Quasimodo researched Ion for Norman Osborn.
Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Steve Ditko.
Ion received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition.
Ion's relationship to the Blazing Skull was revealed in her OHOTMU Master Edition file.
Superia seemed to die in Avengers I#388 but turned up alive later. Maybe Superia used her "death" as a way of hiding from all her creditors related to the Femizonia fiasco. As far we know, she still hasn't made good on returning Ion to her human form. Pity. Ever since Iron Man 1999 Annual, I've been deathly afraid that someone will have Count Nefaria make a quick snack out of her. Paws off!
You'll note that Ion isn't really a villain either. It would be nice to see her put to use as a science expert in some Marvel book.
Profile by Prime
Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ion should be distinguished from:
Her uncle, the Blazing Skull, should not be confused with:
Appearances:
Machine Man I#15
(June, 1980) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Denny O'Neil
(editor)
Captain America I#387-388 (July, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik
Levins (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#389-391 (August-September, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald
(writer), Rik Levins (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio
(editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition I#32 (July,
1993) - Peter Sanderson, Murray Ward, Glenn Herdling (writers), Keith
Pollard (pencils), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Quasar I#52 (November, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), John Heebink
(pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks/editor)
Dark Reign Files (February, 2009) - Michael Hoskin & various others
(writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
First posted: 11/26/2002
Last updated: 08/16/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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