Baron Brimstone is a fictional

supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...

appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Publication history

Baron Brimstone first appeared in '' Machine Man'' #16 (Aug. 1980), and was created by

Tom DeFalco Tom DeFalco (born June 26, 1950) is an American comic book writer and editor well known for his association with Marvel Comics, with long runs on ''Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Thor'', and ''Fantastic Four''. Career While in college, DeFalco "wrote fo ...

(script) and

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

(art). The character subsequently appears in ''Marvel Team-Up'' #99 (Nov. 1980), ''The Avengers'' #251 (Jan. 1985), and ''Fantastic Four'' #336 (Jan. 1990).

Fictional character biography

Baron Brimstone is a

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

who appears to use a combination of magical powers and technological devices in committing thefts. Baron Brimstone successfully steals the Sol-Mac from the Chem-Solar Corporation with the intention of mass-producing it as a weapon and selling it to various figures in the "criminal underworld". The security at Chem-Solar and Machine Man are unable to prevent the theft. Baron Brimstone later organizes a meeting with non- Maggia affiliated criminals to recruit them into his Satan Squad. Duke Dawson, one of the assembled criminals, takes exception to Brimstone's leadership and met with Delmar Insurance agent Pamela Quinn. This results in Baron Brimstone sending his lieutenants "Snake" Marston and "Hammer" Harrison to bring her in for interrogation. When Machine Man tracks them and finds the Satan Squad's hideout, he rescues Quinn, and hands Baron Brimstone to the police. While at a Maximum Security unit on Ryker's Island, Baron Brimstone hypnotizes a guard into freeing him. During this escape, he frees

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

. Baron plots revenge on Machine Man. With Sandman, he appears at Delmar Insurance to kidnap Pamela Quinn only to be thwarted by Machine Man and

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

. Baron Brimstone manages to escape. Baron Brimstone later robs a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

on the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

. The Caribbean-based casino owners hire

Paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, where ...

to bring him to justice. The

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

assists in the Baron's defeat. During the ''

Acts of Vengeance "Acts of Vengeance" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through several titles published by Marvel Comics from December 1989 to February 1990. Publication history This company-wide fall crossover was centered on the Avengers and Fantast ...

'',

Doctor Doom Doctor Victor Von Doom is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in ''The Fantastic Four'' #5 in July 1962. The monarch of the fi ...

later uses his Aggression Enhancer to force Baron Brimstone, as well as

Armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

Man-Ape Man-Ape (M'Baku) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a frequent enemy of Black Panther. Man-Ape has made scattered appearances on animated television series an ...

, Orka,

Stilt-Man Stilt-Man is the name of multiple different supervillains in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history Stilt-Man first appeared in '' Daredevil'' #8 (June 1965). He is a criminal wearing an impenetrable suit of armor w ...

, and

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and ...

, into attacking the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

at their court hearing. All the villains are defeated and taken into police custody Several years later, Baron Brimstone is involved in a "cursed arms" racket (Demonica Soulcutters, or "Damunition") in Miami, and encounters investigating members of the latest incarnation of Heroes For Hire:

Silver Sable Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical cond ...

, Satana and

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

. He is defeated when Silver Sable, momentarily entranced by the bedeviled weaponry, tricks him into holding one of the guns (merely holding it seemingly possesses the user into not letting it go) which she had secretly emptied. Brimstone is then dragged through a portal to Hell, to answer to the demon responsible for the Demonica.''

Heroes For Hire Heroes for Hire are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in ''Power Man and Iron Fist'' #54 (December 1978), and was created by Ed Hannigan and Lee Elias. The team continued to appe ...

'' vol. 3 #2

References

External links

Baron Brimstone
at Marvel Wiki * {{Steve Ditko Characters created by Steve Ditko Comics characters introduced in 1980 Marvel Comics male supervillains Marvel Comics supervillains