Midnight's Fire is a
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditio ...
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 often ...
appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book 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 Comics'' in 19 ...
. He first appeared in ''The
New Warriors
The New Warriors is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to The Avengers in mu ...
'' #2 (Aug. 1990), and was created by
Fabian Nicieza
Fabian Nicieza (born December 31, 1961) is an Argentine-American comic book writer and editor who is best known for his work on Marvel titles such as ''X-Men'', '' X-Force'', ''New Warriors'', ''Nomad'', '' Cable'', ''Deadpool'' and ''Thunderbol ...
and
Mark Bagley
Mark Bagley (; born August 7, 1957) is an American comics artist. He has worked for Marvel Comics on such titles as ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Thunderbolts'', ''New Warriors'', ''Venom'' and ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and for DC Comics on ''Justic ...
. Midnight's Fire is a Mutant, his powers and his sister
Silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
's powers are derived from their ability to tap into the extradimensional energy of the ''Universal Wellspring'', due to being descendants of the Dragon's Breath Cult which had based their cult around the base of one of the wells for centuries.
Fictional character biography
Origin
In 1966 during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, an American recon patrol in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
stumbled upon the ancient, hidden
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...
of a cult known as the Dragon's Breath, which had remained hidden for centuries. It had been built upon a well-spring of raw, primal energy called the "Well of All Things". The inhabitants decided to breed a superior race that would one day unite with the ways of the west. They believed that this union would produce children capable of harnessing the power of the Well. The members of the recon patrol were to be the fathers of these children, one of these men was Andrew Chord the man who would become Midnight Fire's and Silhouette's father.
Midnight's Fire and his sister
Silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
are the only children of
Andrew Chord
Andrew Chord is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is African American. His first appearance was in ''Thor'' #411. Chord was the mentor of Night Thrasher and the New Warriors. He is also the f ...
, former guardian of Dwayne Taylor (
Night Thrasher In comics, Night Thrasher may refer to:
* Night Thrasher (Dwayne Taylor), the first Night Thrasher, a fictional superhero appearing in books published by Marvel Comics
* Donyell Taylor, brother of Dwayne, the second Marvel Comics superhero to ...
) and his wife Miyami (daughter of
Tai). Silhouette, Midnight's Fire and Dwayne began an organized effort to take down various New York City
street gangs
A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Territory (animal), territory in a communi ...
, but their partnership ended when Silhouette was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Midnight's Fire blamed Dwayne and became a cop killer and a
druglord
A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...
in order to lure Dwayne into a physical confrontation he could not possibly win.
Folding Circle
Diego Cassias, one of the other members of the recon patrol now calling himself the
Left Hand, stole the power of the Well from his own child, then gathered the other children of the pact including Midnight's Fire into a group called the Folding Circle. The Circle attempted to take control of the Well away from Tai. Members of the Circle, together with the New Warriors, managed to defeat Tai, but the Well was sealed, Cassias and Tai were apparently killed, and the surviving members of the Circle escaped in a stolen Avenger's Quinjet.
The remaining members of the Folding Circle later crashed in
Madripoor
The Principality of Madripoor or Madripoor is a fictional island located in maritime Southeast Asia appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, mostly associated with stories from the ''X-Men'' series. Based on illustrations, i ...
and attempted to usurp the role of local druglord, which was then held by Aardwolf, a
Mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
crimelord. They succeeded, but were later taken down by Night Thrasher and Silhouette.
New Warriors Volume 4
Recently Midnight's Fire returned in the newest volume of 'New Warriors'. He has a face to face meeting with Night Thrasher, whom he still believes is Dwayne but is in fact Donyell, for the purposes of arranging an 'alliance'. Midnight's Fire leaves, telling Night Thrasher he would think about it. It's after the meeting that Midnight's Fire is working on behalf of another individual. He expresses displeasure at working with this entity.
Powers and abilities
Midnight's Fire is a
Mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
like his sister
Silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
. His powers come from the Universal Wellspring.
['']Thunderbolts
A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the Proto-Indo-European mythology#Sky Father, 'Sky Father'; this ...
'' #107
*Midnight's Fire has very subtle para-human abilities. Due to the energies of the ''Well of All Things'' his physical attributes are raised to slightly beyond the peak of human possibility. He thus possesses enhanced speed, strength, agility, endurance and sensory perception slightly superior to
Captain America
Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1 ( cover dated March 1941) from T ...
; and he may well surpass these abilities as he grows in age and power. Midnight's Fire also possesses a degree of superhuman resilience; able to at least briefly survive a plunge into a pool of acetone without harm; and to fight an armoured Night Thrasher barehanded without suffering significant harm.
*Midnight's Fire is also a skilled
martial artist
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...
.
References
External links
World of Black Heroes: Midnight's Fire BiographyThe New Warriors
{{New Warriors
Comics characters introduced in 1990
Characters created by Fabian Nicieza
Fictional African-American people
Fictional Asian-American people
Marvel Comics mutates
Marvel Comics martial artists
Marvel Comics supervillains