Titanium Man

Titanium Man
Titanium Man Variant cover for War Machine #1. Art by Mike Deodato.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense #69 (Sep 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Don Heck (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	(I) Boris Bullski, (II) Kondrati "Gremlin" Topolov
Team affiliations	(I) KGB, (II) Soviet Super Soldiers, (I) Green Liberation Front, Titanic Three, Secret Defenders
Notable aliases	(I) Boris the Merciless, the Other, the Commander
Abilities	Costume generates: Flight Concussive blasts Superhuman strength Stamina

The Titanium Man ("Chelovek-Titan") is the name of two fictional characters, supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. The original Titanium Man first appeared in Tales of Suspense #69 (September 1965). He was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.

Fictional character biography

Titanium Man I

Boris Bullski was born in Makeyevka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. According to the Black Widow, he was a KGB-member when he was a young man, and she was his combat instructor for a time. An ambitious official of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Boris Bullski was demoted after displeasing his superiors.

While working as an administrator of a Siberian labor camp, he commissioned the imprisoned scientists at the camp to build a suit of armor using the lab of Anton Vanko, the creator of the original Crimson Dynamo armor. Seeking to win back the Party's favor, Bullski conceived the idea of winning a propaganda victory against the West by defeating the American superhero Iron Man. He assigned the scientists to create a powerful suit of titanium armor based on the Iron Man technology, though the inferior resources available to the scientists meant that the armor was twice the size of Iron Man's. Bullski received permission to issue his challenge and Iron Man accepted, defeating Titanium Man in a battle before a worldwide television audience.

Undaunted, Bullski prepared for a rematch by having the suit redesigned and undergoing medical treatments that increased both his size and strength. Traveling to the United States, Bullski fought Iron Man in the skies above Washington, D.C. but was defeated. Withdrawing for retrieval by a Soviet submarine, he discovered that he had been abandoned on orders from Moscow. After working for the Vietnamese Communist scientist Half-Face (who increased his power yet again) for a while, he returned to the service of the Government of the Soviet Union, and was dispatched to the United States to retrieve the third Crimson Dynamo. Finding the Dynamo at Cord Industries, a three-way battle between Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, and Iron Man began, during which Titanium Man killed Janice Cord with an electronic beam. Enraged, Iron Man soundly defeated Titanium Man, and left him in the murky depths of the Hudson River.

After the defeat, the two disgraced Soviet agents fled to Communist-controlled Vietnam, where they joined with Radioactive Man to form the Titanic Three. Though Bullski enjoyed working as a sanctioned agent once again, he longed to return to the Soviet Union, and devised a new plan to win his superiors' favor. Adopting the alias of "The Other", he dispatched another former Soviet agent, the Unicorn, to destroy Iron Man. When the Unicorn failed, the Titanium Man went to destroy Iron Man himself, only to fail once more.

Despite his failures, Bullski was in favor with the Soviet government once more, and returned to the United States on a mission for the KGB. By threatening the parents of a Soviet defector named Sergei, he forced the man to design technologically advanced armored suits that could be transformed into small card-like objects. Posing as "the Commander", Bullski used the suits to equip members of the Green Liberation Front (G.L.F.), an organization of disaffected Vietnam War veterans who felt ignored by their country. With the suits, the G.L.F. robbed a New York City bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; though the members believed that they were simply acting as thieves, Bullski used the robberies as a cover for implanting a computer virus that would destroy American financial records, causing chaos in the economy of the United States. Beta Ray Bill and Sif opposed the G.L.F. and the Commander, but when Sergei discovered that his parents were dead he exposed Bullski's true identity and the angry members of the G.L.F. turned on the Titanium Man. Teleporting away, he rematerialized in card form, which Sergei then simply tore and threw away.

Some time later, the new Crimson Dynamo was sent to the United States by the Soviet government to retrieve the remnants for reintegration. The G.L.F. discovered the Crimson Dynamo's mission and attacked him, forcing him to seek assistance by reactivating the Titanium Man, who due to the incomplete nature of his reassembly was still missing body parts. Enraged, Bullski slaughtered the members of the G.L.F., and was only stopped when the Dynamo lured him over the Atlantic Ocean and returned him to card form. Bullski was later restored and continued to serve as Titanium Man, as a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers and later Remont-4, but felt increasingly despondent as the Soviet Union declined. After an attack on a Stark Enterprises factory in Russia he was believed killed while battling Tony Stark, who was wearing Crimson Dynamo armor that was being controlled by Colonel General Valentin Shatalov, a former friend of Bullski.

Some time later, during a space mission to destroy an enormous asteroid that threatened to impact on Earth, a Titanium Man, stated his name was Andy Stockwell (revealed to be an alias to Bullski), and had never had a connection with the USSR. However, moments later it was revealed he was actually a member of "The Hammer", an international network of communist sleeper cells who wanted to destroy the United States. He was lost in space, but being relatively close to Earth, may have returned under his own power.

Now a mercenary, Bullski was by Tony Stark hired to fake an attack on Congress trying to show reasons to stop the superhuman registration act. He battled Spider-Man there and made a withdrawal after Spidey damaged his helmet with his cybernetic claws, but not without saying to a camera in Spider-Man's Iron Spider suit a planned talk which Stark used in the Congress in rejection of the SRA.

Later, the Titanium Man reappeared, this time in Russia, as a member of the rogue Soviet super-rebel group called Remont Six. He was knocked out by Darkstar, but was apparently not captured.

Time later Titanium Man was seen being beaten down by the Protector. The identity of this Titanium Man or the circumstances of the battle remain undisclosed, but he is presumably Bullski, because he was wearing that version of the armor.

Titanium Man II

The second Titanium Man was Kondrati Topolov, the mutant formerly known as Gremlin, and served with the Soviet-era superhero group, the Soviet Super-Soldiers. The Gremlin was killed in combat with Iron Man during the first "Armor Wars" when the titanium in the suit exceeded its combustible temperature.

Powers and abilities

The Titanium Men used green armor similar to that used by Iron Man and to that used by the Crimson Dynamo (their sometime compatriot). Neither suit of armor was as sophisticated as that used by Tony Stark as Iron Man, but some of its weapons were deceptively powerful, and the first Titanium Man's physical strength seems to have been greater than that of Iron Man. He also boasted that his armor was made to last, not, like American technology, "with planned obsolescence" (although he had actually received several significant upgrades himself).

The suit of armor increases the wearer's physical strength to superhuman levels, and is in fact stronger than Iron Man. It was also able to fly at supersonic speeds (it can even reach escape velocity), shoot concussive force blasts from the hands, project constrictive force "rings", fire an electromagnetically paralytic beam from the helmet, and was resistant to conventional artillery.

Boris Bullski, the original Titanium Man, also possessed enhanced strength due to treatments given to him by the Soviet government to augment his physiology, making him grow into an 11-foot-tall giant. The Gremlin, being a dwarf who seldom exercised, was weaker than most people, but he possessed super-human intelligence, was capable of creating advanced devices and weapons, and was an accomplished genetic engineer.

Other versions

Heroes Reborn — Iron Man

A Soviet Titanium Man, developed for the Russians by Victor von Doom, proved the better of the Iron Man prototype. Later, the same individual was shown, together with the Crimson Dynamo, as a free agent working for HYDRA.

This Titanium Man was physically similar to the original mainstream version.

Civil War: House of M

The second Titanium Man was seen as a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of the Titanium Man is a shadowy figure featured in Ultimate Comics: Armor Wars. He is the one who hired a thief named "The Ghost" to steal a Stark Industries covert tech piece "Remnant 242". He sends his robots (the ARSENAL cyborgs) kidnapped Tony Stark and his cohort Justine Hammer to his base "Project Tomorrow", a former military area which specialized in Man/Machine fusion tech, were the Titanium Man is revealed to be Howard Stark Sr., the grandfather of Tony who was told he was dead in his grandson's youth. The grandfather Stark's been trying to use his Grandson's armor tech to upgrade his rusted green, body armor to achieve immortality. Ghost give Stark Sr. "Remnant 242", where it's revealed to be an alternate version of Tony, found dead in a barren wasteland (Earth-242) during Tony's research with Reed Richards. Tony explains that the head has advanced armor failsafes that kills technology, which sends out a massive pulse that kills Howard, Ghost, the ARSENAL drones, and unfortunately Justine.

In other media

Television

• Titanium Man appeared in the Iron Man portion of The Marvel Superheroes voiced by Ed McNamara.
• Titanium Man appeared in the Iron Man animated series voiced by Gerard Maguire. In the series' first episode, he's shown as a powerful minion of the Mandarin and a creation of MODOK. Titanium Man does not make more appearances during the first season. In one chapter of the second season, Titanium Man makes an alliance with Dark Aegis, but at the end he helps Iron Man and War Machine, sacrificing himself in order to stop Dark Aegis.
• Titanium Man appeared in Iron Man: Armored Adventures. In this version, he is the armored identity of Justin Hammer (voiced by Michael Adamthwaite) who created the Titanium Man armor as part of Project Titanium. In "Titanium vs. Iron," Justin Hammer dons the prototype Titanium Man armor (despite Mr. Fix's objection since the vibranium is needed to help perfect the armor) to ambush Iron Man in his stealth armor when Iron Man comes to delete the remaining data revolving around Project Titanium. War Machine comes to Iron Man's aid only for Titanium Man to knock out War Machine. Titanium Man ends up chasing after Iron Man (who ends up carrying War Machine away) and ends up dropping War Machine. Iron Man has his armor do a proposal which spins Iron Man free and pick up War Machine. When Titanium Man catches up, he destroys the stealth armor only to discover that Tony had bailed at the last minute. Titanium Man ends up chasing after Tony until War Machine wakes up. In the nick of time, Tony Stark's Mark II armor arrives and helps War Machine fight Titanium Man. Iron Man was able to bind Titanium Man with his own weapon long enough for the duo to use a double blast from their repulsors to heat up the Titanium Man armor to its burning point. Upon returning to Hammer Multinational, Justin Hammer bails from the red-hot suit as Blizzard attempts to freeze it. Unfortunately, the Titanium Man armor's burning point being so high that once Blizzard manages to cool it down, all that remains of the Titanium Man armor is a pile of molten slag. Despite destroying the armor, Tony believes that Titanium Man will return stronger than ever. Later in "The Hawk and the Spider," Hammer uses the Titanium Man armor to steal the U.I chip of Obadiah Stane which was stolen from Iron Man by Hawkeye and Black Widow. The armour, now upgraded by using blended Titanium and Vibranium reappeared in "Heavy Mettle" where Hammer uses it to make a truce with Iron Man in order to take down Stane and Stark International. Tony refuses and Titanium Man blasts Iron Man onto a roof because Tony turned his back on him. While kicking Iron Man, Hammer receives a message that Stane is stealing the Iron Monger armour. He reluctanly leaves. He then plants a device on Iron Monger while watching Stane kidnap Pepper Potts. Sasha, Hammers assistant, advises him to save Pepper in front of the press to make him look good. Hammer attempts this but swatted by Stane who tells Hammer to build better armour. Hammer watches the fight between Iron Monger, Iron Man and War Machine from afar. When Stane ceases action, Titanium Man orders Sasha to take control of the armour and destroy everything to her delight. Titanium Man once again tries to claim credit for stopping Iron Monger which Iron Man discovers and attacks Hammer. Sasha loses control of the armour when Stane breaks a joystick, causing the armour to fall from a high building. The fall puts Stane in a coma which Hammer laughs at. An attack from Iron Man and War Machine sends Titanium Man flying. The armour is disabled and Sasha doesnt bother reactivating it. Hammer crashes in the mountains now trapped inside the armour absolutely helpless.

Video game

• Titanium Man is in the Iron Man video game (based on the 2008 Iron Man film) voiced by Dimitri Diatchenko. In the game, the Titanium Man is Boris Bullski, and is an agent working for A.I.M. His suit (presumably based on the designs of the original Iron Man armor that were supplied to A.I.M. by Obadiah Stane) has a limited onboard battery charged by high intensity radiation. He is first seen at the nuclear power plant, working alongside mercenaries to obtain a power source for A.I.M., when Iron Man arrives and stops him. Later however, Titanium Man and A.I.M. soldiers later launch an attack on the Stark Industries compound to try to take Stark's Iron Man suit, but Iron Man defeats him and all of his A.I.M. forces. In the PSP version, The Titanium Man armor can also be unlocked as an alternate costume for Iron Man. Although it is supposed to be Titanium Man, it looks little bit more like a Guardsman suit.
• The third Titanium Man appears as a boss character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 voiced by Crispin Freeman. He orchestrates the terrorist attack on Washington, DC and has captured some Senators and taken them into the subway. The heroes catch up with Titanium Man who escapes without the Senators. They catch up with Titanium Man at the Lincoln Memorial and defeat him. After being defeated, Titanium Man states that the heroes still lost.

Toys

• Titanium Man, based on his animated appearance, was part of the Toy Biz Iron Man toyline.
• Titanium Man, based on his design from the video game, is featured in the toyline for the Iron Man film.
• Titanium Man was released in the Iron Man Face Off 4-pack from the Marvel Super Hero Squad line, packaged with figures of Iron Man, War Machine, and Crimson Dynamo. A repaint of that figure was released in the Armor Wars: Part II 3-pack, packaged with Iron Man and Crimson Dynamo.
• A figure of Titanium Man was released in wave 32 of the Marvel Minimates line.
• A figure of Titanium Man in his Mark II armor was released in wave 2 of Hasbro's 3.75" Iron Man 2 movie tie-in line.
• A figure of Titanium Man was released in wave 1 of Hasbro's 6" Iron Man: The Armored Avenger Legends Series line.

See also

• Magneto and Titanium Man

External links

• Titanium Man I at Marvel.com
• Titanium Man II at Marvel.com
• Gremlin (Titanium Man II)'s entry at Marvel Directory.com