Avengers #206
Fire in the Streets
An arsonist sets up a bomb at a rival chemical company. It’s as he activates the explosive does he realize that his employers have betrayed him by setting the explosive to go off immediately after it has been activated. Caught in the blast, the arsonist’s final thoughts are for revenge if he somehow manages to survive this.
At Avengers Mansion, the Beast is on monitor duty when he is alerted of the massive fire at the chemical facility. He is about to dismiss it since the Human Torch has arrived on the scene to help firefighters. However, he realizes that this is no ordinary fire when it appears to drain the Torch’s flame, forcing him to retreat. He then goes to the meeting room where he shows the other Avengers what’s going on. After getting all the details, Captain America agrees the Avengers should mobilize and try to help.
When they arrive at the scene of the inferno, Iron Man, Wonder Man, and the Vision go out to get a closer look at the fire. The Quinjet carrying the rest of the team is then knocked out of the sky by a powerful bust of flame. Luckily, the Human Torch is able to create an updraft of super-hot air to help the Quinjet make an emergency landing. While above the inferno, Wonder Man’s jacket suddenly catches fire, prompting Iron Man to use his repulsor rays to put Simon out and knock him away to safety. With Iron Man protected by his armor and the Vision by his intangibility, they enter the blaze to try and find out why it’s acting like it has a mind of its own.
When the others find Wonder Man they learn what became of Iron Man and the Vision. Given fire proof suits, the Avengers decide to venture into the growing inferno and try and snuff out its sort. Since none of the suits are treated with unstable molecules that allow it to shrink along with her, the Wasp opts to stay behind while the others go in. They quickly find the Vision who leads them to Iron Man whose armor formed a protective cocoon of ice after the pair were attacked by a being made of fire that could increase the intensity of the flames. Leaving the Vision to watch over Iron Man, Captain America and the others press deeper into the flames.
Soon they encounter the entity responsible. Calling himself Pyron the Thermal Man, he explains how he was hired by the Liquigas company to destroy a rival company’s facility and how his employers tried to eliminate him. Somehow, the mixture of the chemicals and the explosion caused the arsonist to transform into the fire creature that stand before them. The Avengers try attacking the fire creature, but find that nothing seems to work.[1] Jocasta takes a chance of using her eye beams against their foe, but this shatters the heat proof visor of her fire suit, putting her at risk of melting to slag. With her life at risk, Wonder Man grabs the robot and ushers her out of the flames. Next, the Scarlet Witch attempts to use her hex powers against the monster.[2] This causes water mains to shatter and begin to shower the area. Unfortunately, Pyron is able to increase his heat, turning the jets of water into pillars of flame.
When Wonder Man and Jocasta emerge from the flames, the fire is getting dangerously close to the Liquigas facility. This causes concern for the company president who has arrived on the scene demanding results. Simon then tells the authorities that Liquigas is responsible for the creation of Pyron and the president is promptly arrested. With time running out, the Wasp grabs a foam capsule and a fire-proof suit and rushes into the inferno. She quickly catches up with her teammates. She takes a gamble by shrinking down in size as she throws one of her fire-proof gloves at Pyron. This gives the Wasp protection long enough to get near Pyron and toss the foam capsule at him. Amazingly, the foam knocks out Pyron’s flame power, causing the inferno to burn itself out.
With the authorities coming to arrest Pyron, the Avengers check on the Wasp to make sure she wasn’t hurt in the fire. Incredibly, she is more concerned over explaining to her husband how she managed to get a tan in the middle of December.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Beast, Jocasta), Human Torch
Continuity Notes
Here, the Beast worries that Pyron will melt Captain America’s shield. This would not be the case as Cap’s shield is nearly indestructible as it is comprised of a unique alloy derived from merging Vibranium and Adamantium together, as explained in Captain America #303. when readers pointed this out in the letter pages, editor Jim Salicrup stated that the Beast was mistaken. Which makes sense because at the time of this story the composition of Cap’s shield was a secret. The Beast couldn’t know that it could survive Pyron’s heat.
Here it is stated that Wanda’s hex bolts are a mutant power. This is not the case. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4, Wanda was experimented upon as a child by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work, he made future DNA scans have Wanda register as a mutant.
Topical References
The heat proof suits that the Avengers use in this story are states as being lined with asbestos. This should be considered a topical reference as it has since been determined that asbestos causes cancer and is no longer used for fire protection or prevention.
