NUCLEAR MAN
Real Name: Thurgood Vance
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Anti-nuclear power activist;
formerly nuclear scientist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None;
formerly Johnny Blaze
Enemies: Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), nuclear lobbies and their associates, some petty criminals
Known Relatives: Angela (daughter), unidentified grandson (deceased), Bill (son-in-law, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Wichita, Kansas, USA
First Appearance: Ghost Rider II#40 (January, 1980)
{prima apparizione in Italia: Marvel Collection#2 Comic Art}
Powers/Abilities: Vance's physical attributes were normal, but he possessed exceptional knowledge as an expert in nuclear science and application. Moreover he was also able to pilot a helicopter. Wearing the "Nuclear Man" suit his strength reached at least enhanced human level. The suit could emit radioactivity from low-yield to highly destructive levels. He could shoot a pair of parallel beams from the suit's breastplate that could melt metal within a few seconds. He could also shot atomic blasts from the suit's fingertips at varying intensitiy. These blasts could incinerate a man within a few moments.
History:
(Ghost Rider II#40 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Thurgood Vance was considered one of the most
important nuclear scientists, and one of the most active proponent of
nuclear power in the USA.
Thurgood worked in a top-secret nuclear
facility where, among other assistants, his daughter Angela and
her husband worked, as well.
One day, an accident in the facility changed Vance's life. His
son-in-law died and Angela's unborn baby was affected by
radioactivity. Vance and Angela decided to raise the baby together.
When the baby was born he was deformed.
(Ghost Rider II#40 (fb)) - Vance couldn't bear the consequences of the accident. One night he killed his grandson in his crib.
(Ghost Rider II#40 (fb) - BTS) - The law condemned him and he went to jail. The scientific community cast him out. Vance nonetheless his personal war against nuclear power.
(Ghost Rider II#40 (fb)) - Out of jail, Vance built a suit that could provide anyone with awesome nuclear powers. It had to be a demonstrative device about the dangers of low-yield radioactivity, but when he showed it to his colleagues they laughed at him. These events drove Thurgood Vance on a path of regret and vengeance.
(Ghost Rider II#40)
- 10 years after the accident that changed his life, Thurgood Vance met
Johnny Blaze and brought him home. Coincidentally a band of
mobsters broke into his home shortly after and took Angela Vance hostage to force Thurgood to use the "Nuclear Man" suit for their criminal
purposes.
That same night the "Nuclear Man" robbed money from
the Wichita Bank and also killed a guard. His crusade to arouse the
public to the dangers of the nuclear horror had started. Vance fled
with a helicopter and reached the hideout of the mobsters' leader
where Angela was kept. Without mercy he killed the mobster,
determined to use the money for his cause of stopping the spreading use of nuclear
power. He decided to go to the Wichita-Karcinoma Nuclear Power Plant
and destroy it, and coldly even hit his own daughter when she tried
to stop him.
Shortly after the deranged scientist reached the
nuclear plant and started to set up a meltdown with explosives. In his blind rage
Vance unwittingly killed Angela and had to face the avenging Ghost
Rider (Johnny Blaze's alter ego). The Nuclear Man managed to escape and take off with the
helicopter where he had prepared the detonator. Running up the side of
the cooling tower the Ghost
Rider hit the helicopter at full speed with an incredible jump with his hell-bike. The helicopter exploded and apparently only the infernal biker came out alive of the fall.
Comments: Created by Michale Fleisher (writer), Don Perlin (art) and Bob Sharen (colors).
The unfortunate son of Angela was deformed, but nothing stated that he was a mutant as well. (Mutated before birth doesn't automatically make him a genetic mutant imho.--Markus Raymond)
Profile by Spidermay.CLARIFICATIONS:
The Nuclear Man has no known connections to:
Angela Vance was a nuclear scientist and assistant to her father.
She had a baby boy and a husband, both deceased.
Angela was hit by radioactivity during an accident that affected her unborn child. Her husband died in the accident and her father decided to help her raise her son. Unfortunately the baby was deformed. Despite Thurgood Vance killing her deformed son, Angela stayed with him, when he returned from prison.
Ten years after the accident
Angela still lived with her father and met Johnny Blaze, helping him
after a car accident.
She was kidnapped by mobsters and freed by her father wearing his
Nuclear Man suit, but shortly after, at the Wichita Karcinoma Nuclar Plant,
she approached her father from behind and was struck from one of his
atomic blasts while he was not even looking at her. She died in her
father's arms.
--Ghost Rider II#40
images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider II#40, p7, pan4 (main image)
Ghost Rider II#40, p6, pan3 (Head shot)
Ghost Rider II#40, p11, pan1 (Angela, head shot)
Appearances:
Ghost Rider II#40 (January, 1980) - Michael Fleisher (writer), Don Perlin (artist), Roger Stern (editor)
Last updated: 03/27/11
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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