Steel Wolf
1917 - Ivan Illyich Gort is born in Kinerma, Russia.
1936 - 19-year-old Ivan joins the Soviet Red Army
1939 - 22-year-old Ivan is with the Soviet Red Army as they invade Poland as part of the non-aggression pact with Germany.
1941 - 24-year-old Ivan and the Soviet Red Army fight the German invasion.
1945 - 28-year-old Ivan serves with the Soviet Red Army to take Berlin. He first meets Joseph Stalin when he is awarded the distinction Hero of the Soviet Union, including the Gold Star medal and Order of Lenin.
1951 - 39-year-old Ivan is subjected to the experimental Burshteyn Process, giving him bulletproof skin and superhuman strength. He becomes Stalnoivolk, "the Steel Wolf", and is named Protector of the State, working as an agent of Soviet Interests. Stalin destroys all record of the Burshteyn Process.
60 years ago - Ivan is stripped of his role as Protector of the State by the Soviet government, retired to Siberia to live as a peasant.
14 years ago - Ivan is brought out of retirement by the Russian government, placing him as the leader of their government-sanctioned organization The People's Heroes.
12 years ago - Ivan & The People's Heroes are unable to stop Ben Turner from assassinating a Russian Pakhan for the League of Assassins. Ivan is sent to Metropolis to track Avruskin, the exiled leader of the renegade republic Pokolistan, who has developed solar energy based superpowers. He is confronted by Superman, but ultimately the two work together to contain Avruskin. Ivan is deeply affected by his encounter with Superman, believing that he could be more than what he is.
8 years ago - Ivan attempts to defect. He is tracked by The People's Heroes. He removes Mikhail Arkadin's heart while transitioning to his nuclear form. He is killed by Anatoli Knyazev using an experimental handheld railgun.
When looking to create a team or Russian heroes, the existence of a character like Stalnoivolk feels like it fits your specific needs so spectacularly it's almost suspicious. He really does exist, though; a character built to specifically represent whole swaths of 20th-century Russian history in comic book form. We used the heck out of this guy, building a lot of the overall timeline with him, and I'm sure you can tell he was perfect for it.
Steel Wolf's StoryStalnoivolk appeared for the first time in Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #67 from 1987, by John Ostrander. He's a superpowered Soviet operative, a holdover from the Stalin's regime. He essentially pinballs through the story, arriving in the apartment of Ronnie Raymond's parents and proceeding to smash the heck out of everything, an extremely accurate representation of Soviet / American relations in the late 80s.
I don't think this character would really have made sense in any other corner of DC's history, but between this series and Ostrander's Suicide Squad he was clearly making a real effort to plumb the real world political situation for his comics. Across both series he was in 17 issues, as well as the first issue of Ostrander's second run of Suicide Squad in 2007. For our purposes, this character is a goldmine. We went ahead and used the translation of his name, since we basically do that with most international superheroes, but what's really fun here is that we got to spend a little time picking apart the history of regime change in Russia over the 20th century and interweave this character into that history. Some of the timeline has to be a little loose; we talk about him defecting after meeting Superman, which is a very Cold War idea, but have it only happen 8 years ago. Overall this character is a great inclusion into the history of the People's Heroes, giving a structure to their timeline and making the whole group feel like it has a place in our world. |
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