Infernal Man (Order foe)

infernal_man-order-frontal INFERNAL MAN

infernal_man-order-face Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutate (see comments)

Occupation: Agent of Ezekiel Stane

Group Membership: None (Ezekiel Stane's agents; not a formal team)

Affiliations: Cut (Wendy?), Ezekiel Stane, Maul (Jamal Peoples), General Softly androids/Men from S.H.A.D.O.W.

Enemies: The Order (Anthem/Henry Hellrung, Avona/Avery Allen, Araulune/Becky Ryan, Bannerman Brown, Bannerman Green, Calamity/James Wa, Corona/Carlos Araujo Carvalho, Heavy/Dennis Michael Murray, Hera/Pepper Potts, Mulholland “Holly” Black, Pierce/Pamela Pierce, Supernaut/Milo Fields, Veda/Maggie Neuntauben);
indirectly Tony Stark
formerly Maul

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Project 717;
"Inferno Man" (rejected alias)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Ezekiel Stane's headquarters, the former base of S.H.D.O., in the Salton Sea

First Appearance: Order II#1 (September, 2007)

infernal_man-order-distant Powers/Abilities: The Infernal Man could generate powerful flames, reaching over 2000 Kelvin (1727 Celsius; 3918 Farenheit), and his energy output could be seen from space.

He could emanate the heat omni-directionally or project fiery blasts.

His powers could apparently either be overwhelmed or drained by another fire generator of sufficient power, which left him at least incapacitated, if not comatose.

In his later appearance he wore a helmet, perhaps to help him control his powers and/or to protect his teammates from his fiery energies.

He remained silent during conflicts, not even announcing his own name.

Height: Unrevealed (he seems larger when burning the Bannerman and when Corona grabbed him, but he seemed smaller when standing alongside the 6' Maul; perhaps his height changed...either way, he was probably at least 5'8" and not more than 6'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (the unrevealed nature of his costume and unrevealed nature of whether he turned into plasma or just generated fire makes it difficult to estimate; when inert, he was carried by several men in a stretcher)
Eyes: Unrevealed (his eyes appeared dark compared to the orange and yellow flames around him)
Hair: Unrevealed (no hair was visible in his fiery form)
Note: Any previous and/or untransformed form has not been depicted to the best of my knowledge

History:
(Iron Manual Mark 3: Ezekiel Stane - BTS) - Stane empowered an agent with great fiery powers as part of a plot against Tony Stark and the Order, California's representatives in the 50 State Initiative.

infernal_man-order-corona-leap

(Order II#1) - The Order engaged the unidentified fiery man in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles.

infernal_man-order-corona-grab

Pepper noted that the guy's heat signature was off the charts, as he was putting out 2000 Kelvin and he could be seen from space.

As he wasn't in the databases on him, she advised that they needed a name. Anthem suggested "Inferno Man," but he rapidly suggested Calamity's advice that "Infernal Man" sounded cooler.

Calamity got too close, and the head fused his head-net tech together, so he rushed home for an equipment change; the Bannermen melted while engaging the Infernal Man; and Pierce found that the heat was melting the tips of her titanium arrow before she could even fire it.

Corona then rushed in and wrapped his arms around the Infernal Man, apparently releasing nova-level heat from himself or forcing them Infernal Man to generate it.

infernal_man-order-nova

Corona apparently re-directed the heat as a fiery blast into space; while Corona collapsed, the Infernal Man was rendered catatonic.

infernal_man-order-nova-orbit

(Order II#1 / Order II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Anthem planned to have the Infernal Man taken back to their base at the Bradbury, but then the "Man from S.H.A.D.O.W." (at that point unidentified, but apparently an android in the form of General Samuel Softly), seemingly a military authority, arrived and instructed his men to secure Project 717, which they did.

(Order II#2 (fb) - BTS) - The energy released between the Infernal Man and Corona was interpretted as a nuclear explosion, by an old Soviet program based out of Denkov Island, with a number of Russian agents who had been in chemical hibernation, which then unleashed a number of nuclear-powered androids in the forms of various Russian superhumans, etc.(the "alpha gen Soviet Super-Soldiers"), who were sent to the USA to take out any remaining troops.

(Order II#2 - BTS) - Pepper identified and located information on the attacking "Soviet Super-Soldiers" to Calamity, sending him to Drenkov Island. Calamity was reluctant to kill the inert agents, but his teammate Supernaut destroyed the agents, while Aralune contained the nuclear explosion released from the Crimson Dynamo counterpart.

(Order II#8 - BTS) - Tony Stark continued to search for information on the nature of the Infernal Man.

(Order II#9 (fb) - BTS) - Stane restored the Infernal Man's consciousness. infernal_man-order-front-detail infernal_man-order-hybrid-blast

(Order II#9) - When the Order (Anthem, Aralune, Calamity, Heavy, Supernaut, Veda) traveled to Stane's headquarters, the former Salton Sea base of S.H.D.O., Stane transported them to a Vibranium cell 500' below the surface, and he sent Maul (who had joined forces with Stane after being decommissioned), Cut of the Black Dahlias, and the Infernal Man, along with a number of the "Man from S.H.A.D.O.W." androids to oppose them.

After engaging the Hybrid (a merger of Milo Fields (formerly Supernaut) and Aralune), who told him they should have killed him the first time, the Infernal Man remained silent as Stane revealed where the Order had been trapped and then used an EMP to neutralize their powers, killing Heavy.

(Order II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D., summoned by Pepper, rescued the surviving Order members (except Mulholland, who was taken with the escaping Ezekiel Stane), and they took into custody numerous Softly robots (presumably Cut, Infernal Man, and Maul).

Comments: Created by Matt Fraction, Barry Kitson, and Mark Morales.

Internet sources list the Infernal Man as android created by Stane, but I didn't find any discussion of his origins/nature in the story. In the Order II#10, Pepper notes that they captured a number of Softly robots as well as three of Softly's agents, implying that the Infernal Man was not a robot. Ezekiel Stane's OHotMU profile noted that Stane "empowered" the Infernal Man, rather than created.

Celebrations after the Infernal Man's defeat led to the decomissioning of Avona, Corona, Maul, and Pierce from the Order. While the others were subsequently slain by agents of Ezekiel Stane, Maul subsequently joined forces with Stane.

This profile was completed 7/11/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Infernal Man should be distinguished from:

INFERNAL MACHINE - weapon within Apocalypse's sphinx-ship, seemingly destroyed Apocalypse--X-Men II#186
INFERNO (Slifer*) - demon, servant of Mephisto. Large, orange skin, single eye, generate fear in others--(Slifer) Ghost Rider II#4; (Inferno) Ghost Rider II#8
INFERNO (Joseph Conroy) - steel mill worker, deliberately pushed into vat of molten steel by corrupt co-workers while in contact with a chip from Mjolnir, transformed into molten creature, apparently died when adventured out into deep water after gained vengeance on those who pushed him. Immense superhuman strength, radiate intense heat, drain energy from power sources--Avengers I#192
INFERNO - the name for the events involving the plots of N'astirh, S'ym, and Madelyne Pryor in an effort to merge limbo/Otherplace and Earth--X-Terminator I#1 (or thereabouts)
INFERNO (Samanatha McGee) - Exemplars, empowered by Blinding Brazier of Balthaak, former Canadian charter pilot, transported equipment and passengers to Canadian wilderness, briefly joined Air Force, bitter due to lack of success in self-employment. Generate fire--Iron Man III#21/2
INFERNO - bar formerly run by Tony Romeo--Generation M#1
INFERNO (Dante Pertuz) - Inhuman/Nuhuman--Inhuman#1
INFERNO 42 - weapon developed by AIM, stolen by SHIELD I; Batroc was sent to steal it back from Agent 13, SHIELD II was convinced by DePaul to store it below the ruins of SHIELD’s old headquarters in the event that it might be needed as a weapon in the future. Powerful incendiary device, causes fire unable to be extinguished--Tales of Suspense I#75
INFERNO of Earth-928 circa 2099 AD - Triumverate. fire elemental --X-Men 2099: Oasis
INFERNOCK - Avengers foe--Savage Wolverine#6
other "Infern" characters, etc.

images: (without ads)
Order#1, pg. 4, panel 2 (distant fires);
            panel 3 (face);
        pg. 5, panel 1 (full, rear oblique);
        pg. 7, panel 4 (Corona leaping as Infernal Man melts Bannerman Brown);
            panel 5 (Corona grabbing Infernal Man);
        pg. 8, panel 3 (fiery overload);
            panel 4 (energy unleashed into space);
    #9, pg. 15, panel 4 (frontal view);
        pg. 16, panel 1 (blasting Hybrid)

Appearances:
Order II#1-3 (September-November, 2007) - Matt Fraction (writer), Barry Kitson (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Alejandro Arbona (assistant editor), Warren Simons (editor)
Order II#8 (April, 2008) - Matt Fraction (writer), Barry Kitson (penciler), Barry Kitson, Stefano Gaudiano, Paul Neary, & Jon Sibal (inkers), Alejandro Arbona (assistant editor), Warren Simons (editor)
Order II#9 (May, 2008) - Matt Fraction (writer), Barry Kitson (penciler), Jon Sibal & Barry Kitson (inker), Alejandro Arbona (assistant editor), Warren Simons (editor)
Order II#10 (June, 2008) - Matt Fraction (writer), Barry Kitson (breakdowns), Javier Saltares (pencils), Scott Hanna, Victor Olazaba, & Nelson (finishes), Alejandro Arbona (assistant editor), Warren Simons (editor)

First posted: 09/27/2021
Last updated: 09/26/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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