HELIO

Real Name: Helio

Identity/Class: Sub-Species of humanity (Deviant or Inhuman)

Occupation: Servant of Maelstrom

Group Membership: Maelstrom's Minions

Affiliations: Deathurge, Maelstrom, Weird Sisters

Enemies: Avengers, Eternals of Earth, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch/Noble Kale), Inhumans, Karkas, Moondragon, Quasar, Ransak the Reject, Donald and Deborah Ritter, Sersi, Stingray, Yrdisis

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Leo, impersonated the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) and Donald Ritter

Base of Operations: Mobile with Maelstrom

First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One I#71 (January, 1981)

Powers/Abilities: Helio possesses the ability to manipulate air molecules, allowing him to fly, generate tornadoes, force fields of hyper-dense air, and vacuums. His power of flight is so innate (and he is entirely weightless), such that he must wear weighted shoes and weigh down his hair in order to pose as a human to keep himself from hovering over the ground. Helio formerly possessed a near-immortality thanks to Maelstrom transferring his mind into a new clone body whenever he died, but Helio's last known clone was accidentally destroyed.

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 0 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History: (Marvel Two-In-One I#71) - Helio was dispatched with the rest of Maelstrom's minions to obtain a sample of the Anti-terrigen Compound from Hydro-Base. Helio managed to swipe a cannister from Mr. Fantastic while Phobius created a distraction, and held Mr. Fantastic back in a bubble of hyper-dense air. As Helio attempted to flee Hydro-Base, he was struck down by Gorgon.

(Marvel Two-In-One I#72) - Helio was held on Hydro-Base by Mr. Fantastic, but was slain by Deathurge, sent by Maelstrom to eliminate him for his failure. Later, Maelstrom activated a clone of Helio to oppose the Thing, Gorgon and Karnak when they invaded his laboratory. Helio was seemingly killed when Gorgon destroyed the laboratory, but his spare bodies survived.

(Avengers I#250) - Helio was awakened in a new body with the other minions, and Maelstrom charged them to assist him in his next scheme, to halt the Earth's rotation. When the Avengers invaded Maelstrom's base, Helio engaged Iron Man and Starfox in the air, and was overcome by Starfox's emotion powers, forcing him to bring the Avengers to their base. When Phobius saw what had happened, he returned Helio to normal using his powers and Helio fought Wonder Man, only to be knocked unconscious with a single flick of Wonder Man's fingers. After Maelstrom was seemingly slain by the Avengers by feeding him more power than he could contain, Helio discovered that his spare clone had been destroyed in the battle, and he was forced to surrender to the Avengers with the other minions.

(Quasar#21) - In the guise of Leo, manservant to Malcolm Stromberg (Maelstrom), Helio wore a pair of weighted boots to conceal his superhuman powers so that Maelstrom could lure Quasar, Makkari, Moondragon, Kayla Ballantine and Kenjiro Tanaka into a trap at his mansion.

(Quasar#23) - When Ghost Rider invaded the mansion's grounds Helio removed his boots and faced him in battle, only to be brushed aside and knocked unconscious.

(Quasar#25) - Helio joined the other minions in attacking Sersi and Moondragon, but with a wave of her hand, Sersi turned Helio into a goose.

(Fantastic Four Unlimited#10) - After Maelstrom seemingly died battling Quasar, Helio aided the other minions and Maelstrom's lovers, the Weird Sisters, in gathering Deviants in order to absorb their kinetic energies in an attempt to revive Maelstrom. Disguised as the Human Torch, Helio aided the minions in capturing Karkas and Ransak from Olympia, battling the Eternals in the process. They managed to escape, and placed the Deviants into the device which would absorb their energies.

Helio then joined the minions and Weird Sisters in capturing Donald and Deborah Ritter, even though they had to fight their way past the Fantastic Four and the Eternals. Helio disguised himself as Donald Ritter to keep the heroes from guessing that the real Donald was already a captive of his allies, but the Invisible Woman saw through the deception and knocked him unconscious.

(New Warriors V#7 (fb) - BTS) - Gronk, Helio and Phobius somehow ended up in outer space.

(New Warriors V#7) - The trio returned to Earth and their Celestial energy signatures were noticed by Jake Waffles, Speedball and Water Snake in the New Warriors' HQ in Mount Wundagore. They stopped monitoring the signatures when Justice called them away. After arriving on Earth Phobius vowed they would now prepare for their master's return.

(New Warriors V#8) - The three minions floated near the New Warriors' HQ at Mount Wundagore and observed it.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Ron Wilson and Gene Day.

Helio is most likely an Inhuman, since his powers are not the sort you typically find amongst the Deviants. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#6 identified all of the minions as humans, but later editions left their genetic origins unrevealed.

The master mentioned in New Warriors obviously was meant to be Maelstrom. It became a dangling polt when the series was cancelled with #12.

New Warriors update by Markus Raymond.

Profile by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Helio should not be confused with:

• Helion, Kree starship commanded by Yon-Rogg, @ Marvel Super-Heroes II#12
• Heliopolis, home of the Egyptian gods, @ Thor I#240
• The Heliopolian gods, gods of ancient Egypt, @ Thor I#240
• Helios, Olympian god of the sun (not seen in MU)
• Helios, Eternal, father of Sersi, @ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#9

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