Blizzard (comics)

Blizzard is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a member of Iron Man's rogues gallery.

Publication history

Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the first Blizzard (Gregor Shapanka) appeared as Jack Frost in Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963), and as Blizzard beginning in Iron Man #86 (May 1976). He was killed off in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20 (November 1986). The second Blizzard (Donnie Gill, created by David Michelinie and Bob Layton) first appeared in Iron Man #223 (October 1987). The third incarnation, Randy Macklin, appeared in the Marvel Holiday Special (January 1994) and was created by Steven Grant and Pat Broderick.

Fictional character biographies

Gregor Shapanka

Blizzard
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspence #45 (September 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Don Heck
In-story information
Full name	Gregor Shapanka
Species	Human
Notable aliases	Jack Frost
Abilities	Micro-circuited suit grants: Cold manipulation and projection

Gregor Shapanka is a Hungarian scientist obsessed with immortality, and decides that the study of cryonics is the first step towards his goal. Shapanka takes a job at Stark Industries to fund his research and attempts to steal directly from Tony Stark. After being caught and fired by Tony Stark for trying to steal from Tony Stark's secret vault, Gregor creates a suit containing cold-generating devices and is dubbed by the papers as "Jack Frost." He attempts to raid Stark Industries where he captures Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, but is defeated by Iron Man.^[1]

Several years later, Gregor Shapanka escaped prison and attacked Stark's Long Island industrial complex using a new far more powerful cold-generating battle-suit and calling himself the Blizzard. This time, Blizzard was out to steal Stark's climatron device which could be used to alter weather patterns. Blizzard nearly froze Iron Man to death, but Iron Man was rescued by Potts. Iron Man caused Blizzard's battle-suit to short-circuit and then captured him.^[2]

Gregor Shapanka obtained financing for recreating his cold-generating costume from multimillionaire Justin Hammer. Blizzard formed a partnership with two other clients of Hammer known as Blacklash and Melter. Together, the three criminals attacked a hotel casino in Atlantic City, only to be defeated by Iron Man and private bodyguard Bethany Cabe.^[3]

Shortly thereafter, Shapanka reconstructs his cold suit in prison. When Electro uses his electrical powers to break out of the adjoining cell Shapanka is caught in the blast and the suit is fused to his body. Electro and the Blizzard then join forces to take over the Daily Bugle, but are stopped by Spider-Man and Daredevil.^[4]

Some months later during the Demon in a Bottle storyline, Justin Hammer hires the Blizzard to join an army of supervillains and battle Iron Man.^[5]

Blizzard's body somehow gained the ability to generate intense cold without artificial means. Feeling alienated from humanity, Shapanka (again calling himself Jack Frost) went to live in an ice palace he created within a mountain. Hulk found Jack Frost's new home and destroyed the ice palace. Jack Frost was seemingly killed in the collapse of his ice domain.^[6]

Gregor Shapanka reappeared in the guise of the Blizzard. Somehow, Blizard had lost his bodily power to generate cold and once again needed his battlesuit to create low temperatures. Shapanka returned to crime and formed a gang to aid him. However, upon robbing a bank in New York City, Blizzard and his henchmen were found and defeated by Spider-Man and were taken into police custody. Thanks to his lawyer, Blizzard was soon back at large and kidnapped Bobby Saunders (a boy whom he saw speaking with Spider-Man). Through Saunders, Blizzard intended to get revenge for his most recent defeat. Blizzard mistakes a villainous version of Iron Man from the year 2020 for the modern Iron Man and attempts to ambush him. The future Iron Man however is on an urgent mission to find Bobby Saunders (who would grow up to be a terrorist in 2020) and instantly kills the Blizzard with a repulsor blast.^[7]

Donald Gill

Blizzard
Art by Rick Leonardi
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Iron Man #223 (October 1987)
Created by	David Michelinie Bob Layton
In-story information
Full name	Donald "Donnie" Gill
Species	Human/Inhuman
Team affiliations	Thunderbolts Masters of Evil Hammer Industries
Abilities	Ice generation and projection Electrokinesis Formerly: Micro-circuited suit grants: Cold manipulation and projection

Born in Delaware, Donald "Donnie" Gill was a professional criminal hired by Justin Hammer (who gave him a cryogenic suit resembling the original Blizzard's suit). Since Blizzard was vaporized by Iron Man 2020, Donnie adopted the name. His first mission involved working with Beetle and Blacklash to capture Force, who had betrayed Hammer. However, Blizzard was clumsy and annoyed his teammates with his amateurish mistakes (such as creating an ice wall blocking the path to their objective). After encasing Blacklash in ice, the trio fled as reinforcements arrived to protect Force.^[8]

The trio again tried to capture Force, who was protected by Iron Man. Although Blizzard fought better, when Force entered the fight he neutralized the villains' powers. Blizzard, Beetle, and Blacklash split up, fled and rested until their powers returned. Force found Blizzard, whose powers were ineffective against him so Blizzard fought him with bare hands. Force repelled him, blasting him through a wall. Blizzard doggedly tried to blast Force again (despite warnings), and was electrocuted. The Beetle and Blacklash abandoned Blizzard; Chemistro blamed them for their failures, and they were arrested.

Before Blizzard could be jailed, he was rescued by Rhino for Hammer. His loyalty to Hammer increased, although Iron Man tried to mentor him. Hammer negotiated with Iron Man for Blizzard, forcing the latter to help him take down the Ghost.^[9] Iron Man agreed, but Blizzard refused to believe that Hammer betrayed him. After hearing a recording, Blizzard was crushed; he surrendered to Iron Man, and was saved by Chemistro and Melter.

After solo missions against the Avengers and the New Warriors, attending the AIM Weapons Expo with several other super-villains and joining the largest group of the Masters of Evil, Blizzard worked with a smaller team (including villains Constrictor, Crossfire and daughters of Tarantula and Batroc the Leaper). Their mission failed after interference from Agent X and his allies.

Blizzard attacked She-Hulk in a bar; instead of defeating him, she invited him for a drink. Drunk, he contemplated his lack of recognition. Before collapsing in a stupor, Blizzard noted that he liked She-Hulk. After reverting to her Jennifer Walters persona she collapsed, vomiting, on top of him.^[10]

With the Avengers disbanded, the Beetle (now known as Mach-IV) decided to form a new group of Thunderbolts. Like the original Thunderbolts, they were former villains seeking redemption for their crimes as superheroes. Gill was one of the first members invited to join by Mach-IV, and he agreed.^[11] However, he lacked confidence despite his desire to help people. As a Thunderbolt, Blizzard fought several enemies, including Fathom Five,^[11] the Wrecking Crew^[12] and the Purple Man.^[13]

Blizzard and fellow Thunderbolt Speed Demon became close friends. When Speed Demon tried to commit crimes with the Shocker, Blizzard convinced him to use his former Whizzer outfit and a tracking device. Angry with Blizzard, Speed Demon tied him upside-down and naked on a bridge.^[14] Although doubting his status as a superhero and feeling hopeless, Blizzard gained strength from the others (especially Songbird, who insulted him and dismissed him from the group when she became its leader).

Baron Zemo, forming a group to fight Songbird's Thunderbolts, recruited Blizzard (who spent his days in bars after his firing by Songbird). His new teammate, the Fixer, enhanced Blizzard's abilities. He battled the Thunderbolts; the groups were soon assimilated, and Blizzard helped them against the U-Foes during Civil War.^[15] Against Overmind, Blizzard proved himself to his teammates by shielding them (and Songbird).

In the final battle against the Grandmaster, Blizzard's suit was destroyed after the Wellspring energy was released^[16] and he was pardoned for his past crimes.^[17] Blizzard later appeared as an inmate at the Raft.^[18]

Blizzard later aligns himself with Iron Man, Zeke Stane, Whirlwind, and Living Laser against the Mandarin but is defeated by the Mandarin's forces.^[19]

During the Infinity storyline, Blizzard was seen with Whirlwind robbing banks when they are approached by Spymaster. Blizzard and Whirlwind are recruited by Spymaster to join him and his villain allies (consisting of Constrictor, Firebrand IV, Titanium Man, Unicorn, and Whiplash IV) in a plot to attack the almost-defenseless Stark Tower. During the briefing, Blizzard suddenly collapses.^[20] When Blizzard regains consciousness, he discovers that his skin has turned white and he can generate ice on his own. Blizzard had been exposed to the Terrigen Mists unleashed upon the face of the entire Earth by Black Bolt. Being unknowingly an Inhuman descendant, Blizzard experienced Terrigenesis which causes the manifestation of his latent powers. Blizzard thought that this was his opportunity to "be part of something bigger" and decided to leave Spymaster's team. However, he and Whirlwind were brutally attacked by Spymaster and Titanium Man when they tried to leave.^[21] Blizzard and Whirlwind were forced into taking part of the assault to Stark Tower. After Spymaster used teleporter discs to teleport some Iron Man Armors to the buyers, he escaped and left Blizzard and the rest of his accomplices to be discovered by the heroes which were using the tower as a base. They managed to defeat the heroes, and they were offered to be taken to Spymaster by Titanium Man. When they arrived to a spaceship where Spymaster was, they were ambushed by him and Titanium Man who revealed himself as Captain Atlas of the Kree (who were the masterminds behind the heist).^[22] Blizzard and the other villains managed to escape custody and started fighting Spymaster, Titanium Man and the army of Iron Men (controlled by Spymaster). The actual Iron Man arrived to the spaceship, after having tracked down the armors, and helped Blizzard and his allies defeat the enemies. During the fight, Blizzard used the powers he discovered of being like a human battery to overcharge the armors and deactivate them, but he fainted and fell off the spaceship's cargo door. A suit Iron Man was controlling rescued him, but in order to let his friends escape, Blizzard froze himself and the suit. Blizzard was taken to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and was left under the simulation he had been delivered to the Inhumans in order to prove himself as the changed man Blizzard thought he was....until S.H.I.E.L.D. could know what to do with him.^[23]

Randy Macklin

Randy Macklin, an ex-criminal, fails to find work following his release from prison and uses a spare Blizzard costume he was safeguarding for his friend Donnie Gill. Macklin, however, is quickly defeated by Iron Man, who offers him a legitimate job at Stark Enterprises.^[24]

Powers and abilities

All the Blizzards have similar powers, derived from their costumes. Micro-circuited cryogenic units make it possible to emit freezing rays, which lower the temperature of the surrounding air (or objects) and release ice as a projectile.

Donnie Gill's costume is upgraded by supervillains Beetle and the Fixer. This enables even greater manipulation of cold where Gill can encase people in snow and ice, create an ice barricade or generate "ice sleds" for transport. Following his Terrigenesis, Blizzard also developed electrokinesis where he can manipulate electrical currents and charge the energies in his body.^[23]

Other versions

House of M: Masters of Evil

In the House of M reality, the Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears as a member of Hood's Masters of Evil.^[25]

Power Pack

The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Iron Man & Power Pack issue #2 with Speed Demon. He kidnaps Irena Crumb (daughter of millionaire Arnold Crumb, and a school rival of Julie Power's) from her school and takes her to an abandoned warehouse across town, where he tortures her. Speed Demon runs in, telling him that Power Pack has found them; Power Pack bursts in, and a fight ensues. At one point, Blizzard freezes the ground, causing Speed Demon to slip and smash into him. The Pack captures Blizzard, and Lightspeed takes his mask so she can rescue Irena from Speed Demon incognito. Afterwards, Blizzard and Speed Demon are arrested.^[26]

In other media

Television

• The Gregor Shapanka version of Blizzard appears as "Jack Frost" in the Iron Man segment of The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Chris Wiggins.
• The Gregor Shapanka version of Blizzard appears in Iron Man, voiced by Chuck McCann (although Neil Ross voiced him in "The Beast Within"). He is shown as a servant of the Mandarin. In the episode "And the Dead Shall Give up the Sea", Mandarin scolded him for an incident where Blizzard chilled his drink which accidentally killed Mandarin's begonias in the process. After nearly letting Blizzard hit the bottom of the pit he manifested, Mandarin sent Blizzard to replant his begonias. Like Mandarin's other underlings, Blizzard got his own suit of exo-armor which popped up from time to time in the series. In the episode "The Beast Within," Blizzard and Hypnotia target Tony Stark's airplane. In the episode "The Armor Wars" Pt. 1, both Blizzard and Blacklash had their exo-armors targeted by Iron Man. Iron Man neutralized them both during an airplane skyjacking. He appeared in the two-part series finale "Hands of the Mandarin" with a new exo-armor alongside Blacklash, Hypnotia, and Whirlwind. Mandarin later used his energy to help power the Heart of Darkness only to be freed by Iron Man. He was sent to jail again with the other villains.
• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard first appears in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Cold War", voiced by David Orth. This version is a cryogenics scientist and a former employee of Obadiah Stane, but became deformed on one side of his face due to Stane, and vowed to get revenge. Like Iron Man, Blizzard wears a technological suit which enables him to freeze objects. Iron Man teams up with Blizzard, but eventually discovers that Blizzard was actually a criminal, and was creating a freezing weapon for Stane. After a battle, Blizzard is cryogenically frozen. In the episode "Best Served Cold", Stane unfreezes him and forces him to find a cure for his daughter Whitney by planting a bomb on his armor. Blizzard manages to break free however and has his revenge on Stane. Blizzard is then defeated by Iron Man. In the episode "Invincible Iron Man: Reborn", he, Whiplash, and Mr. Fix come under the services of Justin Hammer. The three of them attempt to kill Iron Man (who survived Whiplash's attack) and War Machine, but the trio are defeated. Later in the episode "Titanium vs Iron", Blizzard cools Justin Hammer's burning Titanium Man armor and witnesses Mr Fix's "death" at the hands of Hammer. Blizzard says that Justin Hammer "killed him in cold blood" which Hammer tells him "yes and no" and uploads a flash drive containing Mr. Fix's conscious into the Hammer Multinational mainframe. In the episode "Hostile Takeover", Blizzard is seen robbing a jewelry store only to be stopped by Iron Man. In the episode "The Hammer Falls", Blizzard is mentioned to have been taken down by a mysterious figure (later revealed to be Justin Hammer in the Titanium Man armor).
• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Breakout, Part 1", voiced by Troy Baker. This version is a full-armored villain in a parka. He is shown escaping from the Vault and fighting Iron Man. In the episode "The Man Who Stole Tomorrow", Blizzard had been apprehended by Thor, Ant-Man, and Wasp and has been placed in Prison 42. In the episode "Assault on 42", Blizzard was seen in Prison 42 when Annihilus leads the Annihilation Wave in an attack on. He is killed during the attack.
• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Ultimate Spider-Man. In the episode "Doomed," Blizzard is among the villains seen in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. In the episode "Flight of the Iron Spider", Spider-Man in his Iron Spider armor helped to fight Blizzard.
• Donnie Gill appears in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Seeds", portrayed by Dylan Minnette.^[27] This version is a cadet at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. He and his friend Seth Dormer build a weather device in order to impress Ian Quinn, for whom Seth's father works as a lawyer at Quinn Worldwide. He and Seth fake their ice attacks to throw off S.H.I.E.L.D. When Leo Fitz stumbles onto Gill's plan, Seth ended up knocking him out. While preparing the device to demonstrate to Ian Quinn, Seth learns from Gill that he is nervous about the device, which they haven't tested yet, and convinces Gill to turn on the device anyway. After a brief fail of the untested device, Seth and Gill discover that the device has worked as it creates a blizzard-type super-storm. Gill and Seth finds themselves in the eye of the storm where they try to disarm the device. Lightning strikes the device, electrocuting Seth and destroying the device completely. When Phil Coulson's team arrives in their jet, the team brings both Gill and the unconscious Seth inside. Jemma Simmons attempts to restart Seth's heart, but he is already dead from cardiac arrest. After a brief talk with Leo Fitz, Gill is transferred to the Sandbox where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there can keep an eye on him. Unbeknownst to S.H.I.E.L.D., Gill is shown to have developed freezing abilities as a side-effect of his experiments. In the episode "Making Friends and Influencing People",^[28] Donnie Gill is shown to have perfected his powers during his incarceration. Gill had escaped the Sandbox during the Hydra infiltration and was trying to get a room at a restaurant worker's house, although he froze the man when he was threatened to confront Gill. Gill is then approached by two Hydra agents who want to talk to them only for Gill to freeze one of them and scare the other one. Upon finding some info of the Mirabel Del Mar cargo ship in the cell phone of the frozen Hydra agent, Gill heads out. Phil Coulson's team plans to get to Gill before Hydra gets to him since Gill is on Hydra's wishlist. At the port of Casablanca, Gill freezes the water around the Mirabel Del Mar, a cargo ship. Sunil Bakshi of Hydra sends Jemma Simmons (who was undercover at Hydra for Phil Coulson) with a bunch of Hydra agents in order to easily apprehend Gill. Aboard Mirabel Del Mar, Gill freezes the boat captain in order to send a message to Hydra that he refuses their offer. When Simmons enters the Mirabel Del Mar, she finds the ship's frozen personnel until she runs into Hydra. Gill chases after Jemma until he runs into Sunil Bakshi, who uses a trigger phrase to reactivate Gill's mind-control. Gill is ordered by Sunil to ice everyone on the ship to make sure that nobody leaves alive, but as Gill tries to freeze the ship, he is sniped by Skye as his body is frozen upon falling into the water. Skye later tells Melinda May that the Moroccan authorities still haven't found Gill's body.^[29]

In Avengers Assemble, Blizzard is one of the criminals who Scott Lang sold tech to.

Video games

• The Gregor Shapanka version of Blizzard appears as a boss in The Invincible Iron Man.
• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard is featured as a boss and a playable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard is scheduled to appear in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Michael Benyaer.

References

1. Tales of Suspense #45 (Sept. 1963)
2. Iron Man #86 - 87 (Apr. - May 1976)
3. Iron Man #123
4. Marvel Team-Up #56 (Apr. 1977)
5. Iron Man #127 (Oct. 1979)
6. Hulk #249
7. The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20 (1986)
8. Iron Man #223-224
9. Iron Man #239-240
10. She-Hulk #1 (2004)
11. New Thunderbolts #1
12. New Thunderbolts #2
13. New Thunderbolts #12
14. New Thunderbolts #8
15. Thunderbolts #103
16. Thunderbolts #108
17. Thunderbolts #109
18. Thunderbolts #156
19. Iron Man #526 (November 2012)
20. Infinity: Heist #1
21. Infinity: Heist #2
22. Infinity: Heist #3
23. Infinity: Heist #4
24. Marvel Holiday Special (January 1994)
25. House of M: Masters of Evil #1
26. Iron Man & Power Pack #2 (2007)
27. "Declassifying Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Seeds". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
28. "Declassifying Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Making Friends and Influencing People". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
29. "Making Friends and Influencing People", Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

External links

• Bliizard (Gregor Shapanka) Marvel Wiki
• Bliizard (Gregor Shapanka) at Comic Vine
• Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Blizzard (Donnie Gill) on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki
• Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at the Comic Book DB
• Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at Comic Vine
• Blizzard (Randall Macklin) at Marvel Wiki