(Defenders I#112-114) - The alien Over-Mind, working with the demonic entity Null the Living Darkness, took control of the minds of Nuke and the Squadron and forced them to help Over-Mind take over their Earth. Only Hyperion managed to remain free and he fled to Earth-616, where he enlisted the help of the Defenders and their allies Vision and the Scarlet Witch. The heroes made their way to the Moonbase that the Squadron had recently constructed for the Over-Mind from which he planned to conquer the cosmos. Nuke was the first to face Hyperion and his allies, carelessly blasting the Vision with his atom-blasts. The synthezoid avoided the lethal barrage by turning intangible. He quickly popped up behind Nuke and knocked him out by disrupting his physical form. Nuke's screams before he fainted drew the attention of the other Squadron members. After a long, convoluted fight, the Squadron was freed from the Over-Mind's influence. Together with the Defenders, Nuke assisted the Squadron in vanquishing Null the Living Darkness with some help from the telepaths known as the Chorus. The inexperienced hero had trouble wrapping his head around the notion of six disembodied telepaths bonding together to form one psychic entity. Hyperion told him to forget about trying to grasp such details and to focus on defeating Null instead.
(Squadron
Supreme I#1) - Now free of the Over-Mind's control, the Squadron
returned to Earth to find the world was now in shambles, in no small
part because of their actions while under the influence. Nuke joined
Power Princess, Arcanna and Cap'n Hawk on a fact-finding
reconnaissance mission. They met up at Niagara Falls before heading
back, swapping stories of the tragedies they'd witnessed. They then
spotted a group of citizens looting a toppled over food
truck. They stopped to intervene, only to hear more sad stories about
the lack of food, government and protection. Before they could calm the
crowd down, two military trucks arrived and opened fire in spite of
Power Princess' pleas for calm.
(Squadron Supreme I#1) - This infuriated the already
volatile
Nuke, who didn't think twice about blasting the guns from the soldiers'
hands, burning them in the process. Proclaiming it was "megarad time!,"
he told the "turkeys" to scatter, which they did. Power Princess
pointed out Nuke's excessive force, the only defense he offered was the
fact that "those trigger-happy rednecks got him riled." Nuke and the
others returned to the Squadron's temporary mountain headquarters in
Northern Moreland. After hearing all the disheartening reports on the
state of the planet, Hyperion couldn't help but feel it was their
fault, ignoring Nuke's comment that they shouldn't be blamed for things
the Over-Mind made them do. The other Squadders didn't agree and felt
they needed to help fix the world.
(Squadron Supreme I#1 - BTS) - Inspired by Power Princess, they
concocted the Utopia Program: taking an active role to resolve all the
world's problems.
(Squadron Supreme I#1) - Nuke voted in favor of the Utopia Program, and
sneered when Nighthawk
(US President Kyle Richmond) quit the team in protest of the proposal.
Hyperion set the junior Squadder straight, not interested in hearing
any more disparaging words about Richmond. Planning to launch the Utopia
initiative with a televised press conference during which they would
unmask, the individual Squadron members were given some downtime to
check on their families and prepare them for the changes ahead. Nuke
immediately flew home to Motor City, where he visited his parents in
the hospital. Seeing how weak they were, Nuke decided not to tell them
about his superhero identity, instead claiming he had been away because
he was studying for his midterms. He ended his visit with a big hug,
unaware of
the dangerous radiation he was emitting, and then went back to the roof
to cry about his parents' predicament. A few days later, he unmasked
in Capitol City along with the others. The announcement was seen around
the world.
(Squadron Supreme I#2) - With the Utopia Program in its earliest stages, Nuke and the other Squadders regularly went on missions to deal with the most urgent of problems. One day, while out with the Whizzer in Southern Winnebago, Nuke asked to take a break to deal with some personal business. Sensing something was troubling him, Whizzer agreed to let Gaines go. Albert flew up to the hospital to see his parents, who by that time had deteriorated visibly. Feeling their end was near, they finally revealed to their son that their cancer had been caused by radiation poisoning.
(Squadron Supreme I#2 - BTS) - Fearing he was to blame,
Nuke stayed out all night and even missed the regular Squadron meeting,
though Whizzer was there to make an excuse for his absence.
(Squadron Supreme I#2) - Nuke returned to the team's headquarters early the next morning to speak with Tom Thumb. He asked the Squadron's resident genius to check whether his energy levels had been increasing. Thumb had Gaines use the Energy Analyzer again, quickly concluding he was now producing 52 percent more radiation than a year before: 48 rads, well into toxic levels. This only confirmed Nuke's fears and, as he broke down crying, he told Thumb about his parents' condition. He begged the diminutive mastermind to come up with a cure for cancer. Realizing this was next to impossible, but not wanting to break the boy's heart, Thumb promised to do what he could. Overjoyed, Nuke hugged him and left to go about his duties, though he warned Tom there was not much time left.
(Squadron Supreme I#2 - BTS) - As time passed, Nuke grew
increasingly erratic and unstable.
(Squadron Supreme I#2) - While guarding a convoy of food shipments
headed for Cosmopolis he lost control when he tried to disperse an
angry, hungry mob by turning himself into a radioactive whirlwind. As
the crowds started to panic, Lady Lark and the Golden Archer were forced
to take down their teammate before the situation could turn into a
deadly stampede. Nuke apologized for his behavior and begged them not to
tell Hyperion about this blunder. Later that night, during the daily
debriefing, Nuke was overjoyed when Lark and the Archer did indeed keep
quiet about the incident. Afterwards, he approached Tom Thumb, eager to
find if he'd made any progress with a cure. Thumb took Nuke to his work
area where he presented him with the new containment suit he'd whipped
up for him. If he wore this, it would be safe for Gaines to be around
others again. Somewhat disappointed, Nuke put on the suit and let Tom
continue his work. When Lady Lark asked him about the new outfit, Albert
lied and said he only wore the suit to help Tom test his power levels.
The next morning, Nuke found Tom asleep behind his work
station. The emotionally exhausted Thumb apologized to Albert for not
being able to find a cure for cancer. Instead of acting rationally, Nuke
became furious and vowed that Tom would be to blame should his parents
die.
(Squadron Supreme I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Gilbert and Florence Gaines died on the 18th and 21st of June. Albert attended their funerals, ignoring his duties with the Squadron and failing to attend no less than 28 official meetings. He regularly vented his frustrations and grief by blasting the local landscape while he was slowly losing his mental stability. Because the team was so busy with the Utopia Program, they could hardly spare anyone to go look for Nuke. Power Princess eventually volunteered Dr. Spectrum to search for their wayward member. Spectrum reluctantly accepted the assignment and, thanks to Tom Thumb telling him about Al's ailing parents, started his search at the hospitals. After reaching Motor City and doing some research, Spectrum learned that Al's parents had died recently. Getting their home address from their files, he went to see if his teammate was there. Instead, he found his younger brother Scotty playing in the neighbor's yard. Spectrum revealed his older brother was actually Nuke, which was exciting news to the young boy, who offered to take the hero to Al. Scotty guided him to the cemetery where he found Nuke grieving at his parents' graves.
(Squadron Supreme I#3) - Nuke was in no mood to see
Spectrum, ranting and raving about how Thumb had betrayed him and that
his fellow Squadders never cared for him anyway. Doctor Spectrum tried
to calm him down but his soothing words only angered him further. He
lashed out with his atom-blasts, destroying several nearby headstones in
the process. Spectrum began to fear for his own safety and that of
Scotty's, who had grown afraid of his brother. Nuke took off.
(Squadron Supreme I#3 - BTS) - Before he could chase Nuke, Spectrum felt
the need to drop Scotty off at the Goldfarbs, which gave Albert a good 5
minute headstart.
(Squadron Supreme I#3) - Spectrum used his gem to track Nuke's radiation
trail. When he finally caught up with him, the maddened Albert turned
out to be more powerful than Spectrum, whose alien energies were being
pushed back by Nuke's radiation. Fearing the fallout from their aerial
combat would indirectly irradiate innocent people, Doctor Spectrum
sealed Nuke in a force bubble. Now thoroughly beyond reasoning, Nuke
furiously tried to blast his way out and while doing so, he burned up
all the oxygen inside, suffocating to death in the process. When
Spectrum realized what was going on, he tried to resuscitate Al with no
luck. Heartbroken, Doctor Spectrum carried the body of Nuke back to
Squadron headquarters where he explained to the others what had
happened. Power Princess insisted Spectrum was not to blame but the hero
felt so responsible for his death that he decided to quit using his
powers in any offensive ways altogether.
(Squadron Supreme I#3 - BTS) - Several days after Nuke's death, Doctor Spectrum went to see Scotty to tell him that Albert had died. After learning his older brother had essentially perished by his own hand, the heartbroken Scotty told Spectrum that Nuke wasn't much of a superhero anyway. Doctor Spectrum however, insisted that the things Nuke had done during his time with the Squadron made him proud to have known him. Before he left, he asked Scotty to remember Nuke for all the good he'd done.
Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Don Perlin, Mike Gustovich and Mark Gruenwald & John Byrne (costume design).
In 1985, Mark Gruenwald approached John Byrne to illustrate the Squadron Supreme limited series. Byrne left early in the developmental stages, but not before sketching new looks for the various members. As a result, he wound up designing the containment suit Nuke would briefly wear in #2 and #3 before his untimely demise. The sketches were published in Amazing Heroes #70 (January 1, 1985).
Seeing as most of Earth-712's inhabitants are (loosely) based on DC characters, Nuke seems patterned after junior JLA member Firestorm the Nuclear Man. J.M. De Matteis was kind enough to reveal to the Appendix that the late, great Mark Gruenwald had an active hand in the creation of Nuke, who was indeed supposed to be Firestorm's counterpart. Gru even designed the costume and co-plotted Albert's first appearance.
Nuke received profiles in the Official Handbook of the
Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition I#12 and #19.
Unless otherwise specified, all locations and beings related in this
profile refer to Earth/Reality-712 versions.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Nuke should not be confused with:
- Nuke (Frank Simpson), pill poppin' enhanced soldier--Daredevil I#232
- Nuke, zombie clone of Al Gaines--Marvel Zombies Supreme I#1
- or any other "Nuke"
characters
images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition I#19, p2, pan1 (main image)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition I#20 (Nuke's entry)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition I#12, p39, pan3 (first Squadron costume)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#10, p23 (part of the Squadron Supreme entry)
Defenders I#114, p4, pan5 (confused by Chorus)
Squadron Supreme I#2, p17, pan4 (presented with his new containment suit)
Squadron Supreme I#2, p7, pans 5,6,7 (parents reveal he is killing them)
Squadron Supreme I#3, p21, pan7 (accidentally kills himself)
Amazing Heroes #70 (John Byrne's original sketch)
Appearances:
Defenders I#112
(October, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Don Perlin, (pencils), Mike
Gustovich (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Defenders I#113 (November, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Don Perlin
(writer/pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Defenders I#114 (December, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Don Perlin
(writer/pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Squadron Supreme I#1 (September, 1985) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Bob
Hall (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Squadron Supreme I#2 (October, 1985) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Bob
Hall (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Squadron Supreme I#3 (November, 1985) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Bob
Hall (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 06/15/2015
Last updated: 02/16/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!