Real Name: Michael Rodgers
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Petty assassin
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: His unidentified brother, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Iron Man (Tony Stark)
Known Relatives: Unidentified brother
Aliases: Pharaoh Amenemhet III
Base of Operations: Detroit, Michigan (probably in his parent's basement)
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#29 (January, 1974)
Powers/Abilities: Having no actual powers, Infinitus claimed to be a reincarnation of Pharaoh Amenemhet III of the 11th Dynasty in Egypt, and that somehow this meant he couldn't be killed -- in actuality, he was just some ordinary schlub in a green version of Hawkeye's costume. Possibly he had some athletic skill, but he didn't seem to hold his own at all against the heroes in hand-to-hand combat.
About the only thing he had going for him was a "heat weapon" (as Iron Man first referred to it), which was holstered at his waist.
Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown
History:
(Marvel Team-Up I#29 (fb) - BTS) -
The past of Michael Rodgers is unrevealed, but for unspecified reasons,
he hated his brother for years and wanted to kill him. He devised an
elaborate scheme to murder his brother by creating the identity of
super-villain Infinitus, and he planned to shield himself from any
suspicions by also killing other random victims before he committed
fratricide.
(Marvel Team-Up I#29 (fb)) - A series of odd "techno-murders" were being committed throughout the fair city of Detroit: a foreman at a construction site site was buried under a stream of hot cement; a girl at a laundromat was electrocuted by a washing machine; an old man crossing the street was crushed by a runaway steam roller -- presumably, Infinitus was responsible for all these murders.
These unusual deaths continued for almost a month and were thought to be only accidents, but then Tony Stark experienced one of these "mechanical failures" first-hand. Tony was at his Stark Industries plant in Detroit, where he and his assistant Rodgers (Infinitus' brother) were inspecting a new building in the complex. Suddenly, a vat of chemicals overheated and exploded, but Rodgers managed to pull Tony safely away before he collapsed unconscious. Tony saw a green-costumed man with a gun running away from the explosion; knowing it must be the perpetrator and not some Halloween trick-or-treater, Stark immediately donned his Iron Man armor and flew after him.
Infinitus noticed Iron Man following him and was able to blast the armored Avenger with his heat weapon, then escaped, rambling something about being the reincarnation of an Egyptian "King" (Yup, that's what he said. They say "King" instead of "Pharaoh" throughout the whole story.); he also claimed to only kill people who were reincarnations of his enemies in a former life [Watch out Shirley Maclaine! -Prime ED-ternal].
(Marvel Team-Up I#29 - BTS) - Tony Stark rather embarrassingly decided that he couldn't handle Infinitus alone because of his "heat-ray," so he summoned the Fantastic Four...
(Marvel Team-Up I#29) - ...but got only the Human Torch instead. After Stark briefed the Torch on all the details of the "techno-murders" and Iron Man's encounter with Infinitus, his assistant Rodgers entered the office with some contracts for Stark to sign. Infinitus struck again, and Stark's entire office began to vibrate -- the Torch grabbed Stark and Rodgers and flew them out the window to safety, just as the room exploded. The Torch quickly spotted and pursued Infinitus; but the villain shot his heat ray at a wall of the building behind the flying Human Torch, which buried the young hero in an avalanche of debris, and Infinitus escaped.
Minutes later, Iron Man arrived and blasted the rubble away with his repulsor rays, freeing the Human Torch; but because they had problems cooperating with each other (the generation-gap, y'know), the two heroes decided to split up and run down Infinitus separately. Iron Man began to build a "modified electro-magnetic tracking device" that could somehow trace Infinitus' heat ray.
Meanwhile, the Human Torch decided to go to a local library and hit the books, to find information that would lead him to Infinitus. He researched everything he could find on Amenemhet III of the 11th Dynasty, whom Infinitus claimed to be, and he discovered the Egyptian ruler was the king of the 12th Dynasty and not the 11th Dynasty, so of course he knew that if Infinitus were a "true reincarnate," he wouldn't have made a mistake like that (see comments). The Torch then flew back to the Stark Industries plant and confronted Stark's assistant Rodgers, who was present at both the most recent attempts made by Infinitus; he asked Rodgers if anyone would want to see him killed, or if he had his life threatened by any individual -- Rodgers revealed his answer to the Torch (...but not the reader).
At the same time the Torch was questioning Rodgers, Iron Man was flying with the tracking device to locate Infinitus, who was hiding in a warehouse. The armored Avenger was almost killed when Infinitus melted his chest plate that kept his heart beating, and Iron Man dropped from the sky; but the Human Torch, having gotten an address from Rodgers, swooped over just in time to catch Iron Man and return him safely to the ground.
The Torch and Iron Man then went after Infinitus and punched him until he gave up; they unmasked the villain, and Rodgers (Stark's assistant) told the two that Infinitus was really his brother Michael.
Having deduced the mystery himself, the Human Torch revealed the whole plot to Iron Man -- Michael Rodgers had hated his brother and attempted to cover up killing him with the "mechanical failures" -- That's right, he staged the elaborate deaths of some strangers to look like industrial accidents, so no one would be suspect when his brother died in a similar fashion. He then dressed in a green costume and claimed to be a Pharaoh so, uh, in case someone realized these weren't accidents, they would just think it was an insane ex-Pharaoh super-villain who caused the random accidents. All to kill his brother. O-kay...... I guess. Michael was handed over to the authorities and is presumably still in prison for murder, thankfully.
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Jim Mooney.
Editor's Side-Note: I was really confused as to why the Human Torch was so positive that just because Infinitus claimed he was from the 11th Dynasty when Amenemhet III was really from the 12th, it immediately meant the guy must be a phony. Do all the ancient Egyptian reincarnates get together at some club in New York and say: "Oh, so you're Arkenhotep VII, reincarnated in the body of a bald hot dog vendor. So, what dynasty were you? 17th?" "No no, I was early 19th." "Oh, hey, good dynasty, that one."
This has to be one of Iron Man's worst showings ever. He gets beat (three times!) by a guy with some heat gun he made during metal-shop or something. He gets saved twice by the Human Torch, whom he has to call for help against this "menace of life and death". Then, completely out of the blue, he builds some perfect tracking device, which apparently is able to track weirdos in green costumes perfectly. This story (indeed most of his Marvel Team-Up run) is also pretty low in the rankings of Gerry Conway stories, which is saying something.
An overall poor performance by the two heroes --
considering that the Human Torch and Iron Man were able to beat
"tougher" villains [e.g. The
Destroyer and Mister
Doll, respectively] on their own, yet it took both
of them an inordinate number of pages to handle a loser like
Infinitus. And for a guy who has battled foes like the Melter
a few times, you'd think Iron Man would have modified his armor to be
more resistant against "heat weapon" attacks.
--Ron Fredricks
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Mike McTighe and caliban. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Infinitus (Michael Rodgers) should not be confused with:
...and Michael Rodgers and his unidentified brother have no known connections to:
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It was a handgun that projected a beam of intense energy capable of melting Iron Man's armor and liquefying other metals. Infinitus used it to commit a series of murders, but dropped it when Iron Man finally punched him; its eventual fate is unrevealed. --Marvel Team-Up I#29 (Comment: If he didn't invent it himself, maybe Infinitus bought it from the Tinkerer (Phineas Mason).) |
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Rodgers (first name unrevealed) was an employee at the Stark Industries plant in Detroit, where he assisted Tony Stark -- other than walking around in a lab-coat while carrying a clip-board, and almost getting assassinated, his exact job duties were unclear (...although he was a handy man to have around when a supposedly-reincarnated Egyptian king blew up a nearby vat of chemicals). He was also the brother of Michael Rodgers -- for some reason, Michael hated him and wanted to kill him, so Michael created the identity of Infinitus and began to kill random victims so he could avoid suspicion when he would later attempt to commit fratricide. --Marvel Team-Up I#29 |
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images: (without ads)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p4, pan6 (main image - Infinitus)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, cover (headshot - Infinitus)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p15, pan4 (Human Torch burns through wall to Infinitus)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p18, pan6 (Infinitus unmasked as Michael Rodgers)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p16, pan5 (Infinitus' handgun)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p16, pan2 (Infinitus fires handgun at Human Torch)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p14, pan1 (Rodgers)
Marvel Team-Up I#29, p14, pan3 (Rodgers)
Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#29 (January, 1974) - Gerry Conway (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), John Costanza (letters), Janice Cohen (colors), Roy Thomas (editor)
First posted: 04/18/2002
Last updated: 04/11/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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