Real
Name: Karas FIREFALL
Real
Name: Karas
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial
(Galadorian)
spirit;
formerly Galadorian cyborg
Occupation: Spaceknight
Group Membership: Spaceknights of Galador
(Breaker/Raak, Gloriole,
Hammerhand, Javelin/Darin, Pulsar/Plor, Rainbow, Rom, Scanner/Skera,
Seeker/Tarm, Starshine/Landra,
Terminator, Trapper/Vola, Unseen/Unam);
perhaps Spaceknights (Ikon, Pulsar/Lan, Terminator/Balin) (see comments)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Deathwings, Dire Wraiths, Space Phantom
perhaps Alephs, Builders (see
comments)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Limbo (see comments);
formerly Galador
First Appearance: (Karas mentioned/Firefall armor
seen) Rom#3 (February 1980);
(Karas seen) Rom#4 (March 1980)
Powers/Abilities: As a Spaceknight, Karas was grafted into nearly indestructible Plandanium armor which gave him superhuman strength (lifting around 15 tons). He could fly via back-mounted plasma engine rocket pods with twin nacelles, capable of Mach 4 (about 3000 mph) in an atmosphere or exceeding solar system escape velocity (around 36 miles per second) in space. His armor could survive extreme temperatures and allowed him to survive in space. It also granted him control over the Living Flame of Galador, a sentient energy that could not only be used to fire fiery blasts capable of burning through most substances, but which could also open dimensional rifts, sending beings to Limbo and perhaps other locations; however, while it could transport his id into Limbo, it could apparently not free him from that realm, even though it could do so for others (see comments). Extreme cold could render the Living Flame sluggish and semi-solid, allowing it to be physically handled. Karas retained control over the Flame even after being separated from his armor and physical body, rendered only a living representation of his id
Height: (As humanoid) 6'; (as cyborg) 7' (both by
estimation)
Weight: (As humanoid) 240 lbs.; (as cyborg) 840 lbs. (both by
estimation)
Eyes: (As humanoid) Blue; (as cyborg) Yellow visual sensors
Hair: (As humanoid) Red; (as cyborg) None
History:
(Rom#4
(fb)) - Karas was a gentle Galadorian youth who was a good friend with
fellow Galadorian Rom.
(Rom#29 (fb)) - Karas was a pacifist.
(Rom#4 (fb)) - One day Karas and Rom decided to go swimming, but Rom ignored Karas' warning that the current was swift in the location he had chosen and began to drown when he was hit by cramp. Karas swam to his rescue and pulled him back to shore. The grateful Rom thanked Karas for saving his life, but Karas humbly dismissed this, insisting Rom would have done the same for him had the situation been reversed, and noting that it was simply what friends were for.
(Rom#4 (fb)) - When the Dire Wraiths threatened Galador,
Karas joined Rom in signing up to defend their homeworld by becoming a
cyborg Spaceknight, and was grafted into the advanced armor to become
Firefall, wielder of the living flame.
(Rom#21/2 (fb) - BTS) - With only part of his Galadorian
body parts contained within the armor, the remaining parts were stored
in a cryogenic vault in Galador's Hall of Science, intended to one day
be used to restore any survivors of the conflict back to full humanity.
(Spaceknights#1 (fb)) - Alongside Rom and fellow Spaceknights, including Gloriole, Hammerhand, Javelin, Rainbow,...
(Spaceknights#1 (fb)/Rom#51 (fb)) - Pulsar, Starshine, Terminator, Trapper,...
(Rom#51
(fb)) - Unseen, Breaker, Scanner and Seeker,...
(Spaceknights#1 (fb)/Rom#51 (fb)) - Firefall launched into space to confront the approaching threat.
(Rom#4 (fb)) - He stood alongside Rom as the Spaceknights formed a defensive front line in orbit above Galador. At the first glimpse of the oncoming Wraith fleet, Firefall broke ranks to attack alone, shouting back to a surprised Rom that for the glory of Galador first blood would be his.
(Rom#19 (fb)) - Perhaps because the living fire coursing
through his veins made the formerly pacifist Karas more impetuous, he
raced into battle, soon losing sight of the other Spaceknights as he was
swept behind enemy lines, where he encountered one of the Wraith's
Deathwings. A desperate duel of living fire versus soul-numbing cold
ensued, which Firefall eventually won. Left exhausted from the ordeal,
he had neither the strength nor the will left to resist when a Wraith
Destroyer fleeing in defeat discovered him and pulled him aboard via a
tractor beam. Their invasion a debacle, they seized on their captive as
a way to assuage some of their humiliation over their defeat, trying to
take apart his armor to see what made it function, reveling in the
knowledge that their attempts were causing the inhabitant grafted inside
excruciating pain. Despite being immobilized by the Wraiths' science and
sorcery, Firefall resisted with every iota of energy he could summon.
(Rom#21/2
(fb) - BTS) - When Terminator fell under the control of the rogue
Spaceknight Mentus, the renegade ordered his pawn to invade the Hall of
Science's cryogenic chamber, steal Rom's canister, and destroy all the
rest. Terminator easily bested the Hall's defenders and breached the
chamber, noting among the other canisters the one containing Karas'
remains.
(Rom#22/2 (fb) - BTS) - However though Terminator stole
Rom's canister as instructed, he resisted the order to destroy the
rest.
(Rom#25 (fb) - BTS) - Mentus used Rom's stolen humanity to
transform Terminator into Rom's doppelganger and take over Galador,
which he then began slowly moving through space, away from its original
location.
(Rom#19 (fb)) - Firefall remained a prisoner of the
Wraiths for 200 years, enduring near constant torture, but eventually he sensed his captors were near to breaching his armor. Seeking
to rob them of that satisfaction, he used the Living Flame to phase his
id to Limbo, destroying his Galadorian body inside the armor in the
process.
(Rom#19
(fb) - BTS) - He found that in Limbo his life force could take
on physical form, but believed that to return permanently to normal
space he would need to inhabit the rest of his remains stored back on
Galador. Karas discovered that he shared Limbo not only with Wraiths
trapped there by his fellow Spaceknights over the years, but also a
Space Phantom, an individual who hid his true malevolence and acted as
Karas' friend largely out of boredom, inducing the Galadorian to tell
the Phantom of his homeworld on several occasions, only to then mock his
fellow captive of Limbo by pointing out he could in theory send Karas
home, since when a Space Phantom copied the form of someone in Limbo
that person was then that person was automatically transported back to
the normal universe. However, Karas realized the Phantom had no
intention of ever freeing him this way, since the Phantom treasured too
much having someone to taunt.
(Rom#3-5 - BTS) - Back in the normal universe the Wraiths
took Karas' abandoned armor to Earth, and, having realized it was
incompatible to Wraiths, instead grafted a duped human, Archie Stryker,
into it, so he could fight Rom for them. However, Stryker lost,
discovered the Wraiths' true nature, and ultimately sacrificed his life
to assist Rom against them.
(Rom#19) - Rom was subsequently accidentally transported
to Limbo himself. Observing Rom's presence and believing Rom's
neutralizer could free him from Limbo, the Space Phantom hurried to where
Karas was brooding and informed the Galadorian he had changed his mind
about sending Karas home. To Karas' surprise, the Phantom then assumed
his form, but just as Karas found himself being flung from Limbo, the
Phantom taunted the departing Galadorian with the news that the Phantom
had taken his appearance in order to trick his friend Rom. Hearing this,
Karas called for the Phantom to bring him back, but his plea fell on
deaf ears.
(Rom#19 - BTS) - Reappearing in the normal universe near
where Galador should have been, Karas discovered his homeworld, and thus
too his physical remains, were missing.
(Rom#19) - In Limbo, Rom and the false Karas were attacked
by Dire Wraiths; at Rom's prompting, "Karas" summoned the Living Flame,
but it rebelled against his control, burning him. In his pain, he
reverted back to his true form, which also returned Karas to Limbo. With
the Wraiths temporarily driven back, the two old friends greeted one
another warmly, and Karas explained the Phantom's ruse to the confused
Rom. Moments later however, Wraith reinforcements arrived. Concluding
that now they knew of the Spaceknights' presence in their shared prison
they would wage eternal war on them, since any who died would rise again
and again for all eternity, Karas decided to spare Rom this fate, and
used the Living Flame to open a rift and send his friend back to Earth.
As Rom fell through it, he asked why Karas did not also save himself;
now battling the Wraiths, Karas called to his departing friend that he
had discovered he had no humanity to return to, urging Rom to return to
where Galador should be to see for himself. His explanation was cut off
mid-sentence as the rift closed, leaving a distressed Rom wondering if
his homeworld had been destroyed. In Limbo, invisible to Rom but able to
see him, both the Wraiths and Karas paused in their battle, the former
to take the moment to gloat over Rom's distress while the latter looked
on mournfully.
(Marvel Two-in-One#99 (fb) - BTS) - A coven of Wraith
witches obtained the empty Firefall armor and animated it using magic.
Rom tried to stop them from desecrating the sacred flame, battling the
possessed armor above Manhattan, but was stunned by a supernova strike.
(Marvel Two-in-One#99 - BTS) - Crash landing atop the
Baxter Building, Rom enlisted the help of the Thing (Ben Grimm), and
while Rom again battled the armor the Thing attacked the Wraiths,
disrupting their concentration so that the armor lost direction,
allowing Rom to destroy it with his neutralizer. As the pieces of the
armor fell to earth, Rom hoped that the spirit of Firefall could finally
rest in peace.
(Rom#73 - BTS) - Heatwave, leader of the renegade third
generation Spaceknights, destroyed the cryogenic chamber containing the
stored humanity of the first generation Spaceknights, presumably
including what was left of Karas' physical form.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.
Firefall was the first Spaceknight to be
given his own name and distinctive look and powers after Rom. Others
would follow soon after, but he was the first, and thus always sparked
my interest.
Having only properly appeared in a couple of issues, there aren't a whole lot of good images of Karas either in his humanoid or Spaceknight form. There are some bigger and clearer shots of his armor, but only once he was no longer the inhabitant (cf. Archie Stryker's profile), and there's one larger shot of his humanoid form that seems to be favored by other profiling sites, except that the image in question isn't actually him; it's the Space Phantom impersonating him. I know that might be considered splitting hairs, since the Space Phantom's shapeshifting abilities means that it's an exact doppelganger of Karas, but I still felt that using the image in question here would be wrong.
The Living Flame's power to open dimensional rifts to send people to
and from Limbo seems a bit inconsistent. It could separate Firefall's
Id from his physical form and send it to Limbo. It could also send Rom
out of Limbo, and Rom seemed to believe it should have been able to do
the same for Karas himself; likewise the Space Phantom in Karas' form
believed he would be able to free himself from Limbo. Yet if that was
the case, why at the start of Rom#19 did Karas believe he needed the
Space Phantom's help to return to Galador? At the end of the story,
Karas told Rom the reason he couldn't leave Limbo was because he has no
physical body to return to (because Galador had gone missing), but he
didn't know that until Space Phantom temporarily released him from
Limbo, so what was stopping him from trying to leave Limbo prior to
that? And if he had no physical form outside of Limbo, what happened to
him when Space Phantom ejected him from there? He'd initially thought
he could occupy his remains on Galador, but those were in disassembled
pieces in a cryogenic canister, not exactly the best place for his
spirit to suddenly find itself inside. Since he was aware Galador had
vanished, did he arrive in Reality-616 as a disembodied spirit,
effectively a ghost? And if he could survive in
Reality-616 as a specter, why not stay there? I'd have thought being a
ghost in the "real" universe would still be preferable to having a
physical form in Limbo; sure, you can touch things, but there's nothing
worth touching in formless Limbo, and nothing to do except be bored for
eternity or fight Dire Wraiths endlessly.
It's worth remembering that Karas was still alive when last we saw him. The presumed destruction of his remaining humanity in Rom#73 means he couldn't easily regain human form, but in theory there's no reason why his spirit couldn't inhabit a new armor; after all, Mentus was literally just a portion of someone's spirit inhabiting an armor. And it's also worth noting that the Dire Wraiths that Karas was imprisoned alongside with in Limbo were later freed and brought to Galador's solar system at the end of the Annihilators miniseries- so it's entirely possible that Karas got to come home when they did. We saw a new Firefall, Tarn, in the Spaceknights and then Annihilation miniseries, one of the third Spaceknights generation, and then we saw a very different looking set of Spaceknights, whose appearance was closer to the first generation ones, during the Infinity event. See below for comparison:
 |
 |
 |
| Karas' empty armor |
Tarn's Firefall armor |
The Firefall seen in
Infinity. Looks a lot closer to Karas than Tarn in my opinion. |
Most sites just assume that all the
Spaceknights in the Infinity event were the third generation ones in
modified armor (they do mention having received
emergency upgrades), but that's by no means a certainty, as they only
address each other by their Spaceknight codenames. Why do they mostly
look like the first generation again? In two cases, Starshine and
Firefall, individuals who wore those mantles prior to the third
generation were still alive - Brandy Clark and Karas respectively.
Though Galador is destroyed in Infinity#1 and we see Pulsar and
Terminator being hit by the same beam and seemingly disintegrating, we
later get confirmation that Starshine and another Spaceknight, Ikon,
both escaped; I'd certainly prefer to believe Brandy Clark survived than
her Starshine successor. And if they survived the destruction of
Galador, then there's no reason to believe Firefall couldn't have - the
original Starshine had the ability to teleport across interstellar
distances, which is perhaps how they avoided dying in an energy beam
strong enough to disintegrate an entire planet. I admit, I'm biased, as
I've always had a fondness for Karas and wished we could have seen more
of him, but there's no question that it is feasible that he got
home in Annihilators, was present for Infinity
and could have survived Galador's destruction.
So, if we ASSume that chain of events, and it
IS only a hypothesis, then Karas might also have the following
appearances:
(Annihilators I#4 - BTS) - Having lost the will to fight
during their captivity, the Dire Wraiths imprisoned in Limbo were freed
and took up residence on a restored Wraithworld on the opposite side of
the Galadorian sun from Galador.
(Supposition only) - Karas may have been freed at the
same time, allowing him to return to Galador. Lacking a physical form
to return to, he instead took up residence in a new set of Firefall
armor.
(Avengers V#16) - When the hostile spacefleet of the
ancient race known as the Builders arrived in Galador's orbit,...
(Infinity#1 (fb) - BTS) - Firefall and his fellow Spaceknights Starshine, Terminator,
Ikon and Pulsar were given emergency upgrades by the Prime Directorate,
vastly increasing their firepower at the risk of eventually burning them
out.
(Avengers V#16) - They then flew up
to intercept the intruders and defend their world.
(Infinity#1) - As the Builder's Aleph robots attacked, the
Spaceknights did their best to defend Galador's
civilian population and destroy the invaders. However, tired of the
resistance, the Builders unleashed a powerful energy blast from their
mothership, disintegrating the entire planet.
(Avengers V#21 - BTS) - Starshine and Ikon survived (and
maybe Firefall too?), and later helped the inhabitants of Centauri
IV rally against the Builder invasion of that world.
And if the Firefall seen in Infinity wasn't Karas, then I reiterate - he's presumably still alive. If he didn't come home when the Wraiths were released from Limbo, then he's still there. If he did come home but didn't take up residence in a new suit of Spaceknight armor, then he's a disembodied spirit, which means he's not going to be harmed by Galador's destruction the way the residents with physical form would be. Come on Marvel writers, bring him back! You know you want to.
This profile was completed 04/30/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Firefall is connected to, but should not be confused with:
but he has no known connections to:
Rom#19, p15, pan3 (main image)
Rom#19, p16, pan1 (headshot)
Rom#51, p12, pan4 (in
Firefall armor)
Rom#4, p15, pan5 (alongside Rom on front line, yellow glowing
sensors visible)
Rom#21, p21, pan2
(canister in Halls of Science containing Karas' remaining humanity)
Rom#19, p12, pan3 (Karas' id escapes his captured armor)
Rom#3, p9, pan4 (empty
original Firefall armor)
Spaceknights#4, p1, pan2 (Tarn as Firefall)
Infinity#1, p15, pan1 (Karas back as Firefall?)
Appearances:
Rom#3-5 (Feb-April 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (art), Jo
Duffy (editor)
Rom#19 (June 1981) - Bill Mantlo
(writer), Sal Buscema (art), Al Milgrom (editor)
Rom#21
(August 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal
Buscema (art), Al Milgrom (editor)
Rom#22 (September 1981) - Bill Mantlo
(writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Al Milgrom
(editor)
Rom#25 (December 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema
(pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Rom#51 (February 1984) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema
(pencils), Mel Candido (inks), Ralph Macchio
(editor)
Marvel Two-In-One#99 (May 1983) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Bob Hall
(pencils), Kevin Dzuban (inks), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Rom#73 (December 1985) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Steve Ditko
(pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mike Carlin (editor)
Annihilators#4 (August 2011) - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
(writers), Tan Eng Huat (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Bill
Rosemann (editor)
Avengers V#16 (September 2013) - Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer
(writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoot with Loren Sankovitch
(editors)
Infinity#1 (October 2013) - Jonathan
Hickman (writer), Jim Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales, John
Livesay, David Meikis, Jim Cheung (inks), Tom Brevoot with Loren
Sankovitch (editors)
Avengers V#21 (December 2013) - Jonathan Hickman (writer), Leinil
Francis Yu (pencils), Gerry Alanguilan (inks), Tom Brevoot with Loren Sankovitch (editors)
First Posted: 09/06/2021
Last updated: 09/04/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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