Real Name: Andre Rostov
Identity/Class: Human (Russian)
Occupation: Black marketeer;
former USSR Army General, intelligence agent
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Red Ghost
(Ivan Kragoff), Lucia
von Bardas;
former Actor,
Yuri
Petrovich, Project Zephyr (Arkady, Dmitri, Leonid Novokov), Winter
Soldier (James Barnes)
Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Leonid Novokov, Winter Soldier (James Barnes)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Excellency (as called by his underlings)
Base of Operations: Bahamas;
formerly mobile in Russia;
formerly a "satellite country" in the USSR
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#42/1 (June, 1963)
Powers/Abilities: The Red Barbarian controlled a large army, as well as employing a number of industrial spies to steal American technology.
He was renowned for his brutality, and he would physically attack agents that failed him or reported bad news. He had a significant thirst for vodka.
Height: Unrevealed (6'2"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (300 lbs.; by approximation)
Eye: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Winter Soldier I#2 (fb)) - At some point
during the 1980s, Rostov oversaw Project Zephyr, a Russian sleeper
agent training program with Winter Soldier as the trainer. Red Ghost
was a consultant on the project.
(Tales of Suspense I#42/1 (fb) - BTS) - Rostov ascended to the rank of general in a red (meaning communist) satellite country, where he controlled a large spy network; because of his brutal tactics, he would be referred to as the Red Barbarian.
(Tales of Suspense I#42/1) - After a group of his spies reported (and were beaten for) their failure to steal the plans for a disintegrator ray from Stark Industries, the Red Barbarian was confronted by another communist agent, the Actor. The Actor revealed his skill in disguise and impersonation, and the Red Barbarian sent him to replace Stark himself, to gain the plans.
The Actor did succeed in doing so, even learning Iron Man's secret identity in the process; but Iron Man stole the plans back from the Actor, then met with the Red Barbarian, tricking him by posing as the Actor impersonating Iron Man. Iron Man told him the briefcase containing the plans was booby-trapped and couldn't be opened until the time-lock expired in another four hours, and then left, returning to the USA.
The real Actor returned to the Red Barbarian, hoping his news of Iron Man's real identity would allow him to be forgiven for failing to gain the plans to the weapon. However, the Red Barbarian saw that the Actor didn't have the plans, and the Actor said nothing about the time-locked briefcase. The infuriated Red Barbarian refused to believe the Actor, so he picked him up with one arm and slammed him against a wall, then had him shot as a traitor.
(Captain America I#617 (fb) - BTS) - Rostov was seemingly demoted to colonel (see comments).
(Captain America I#617) - Rostov had a talk with the Siberian gulag's warden where James Barnes had been imprisoned. Rostov wouldn't allow the warden to film the arena fights between Barnes and the super-powered prisoners because they couldn't risk a video getting leaked to the internet. Warned by the warden that Yuri Petrovich's plans to kill Barnes were at odds with Rostov's plans didn't bother Rostov, who considered Yuri a useful fool at best because the fights weakened Barnes physically and psychically.
(Captain America I#618) - Rostov and the warden watched Barnes fight Boris Bullski, the former Titanium Man, from the warden's office. Rostov liked that Barnes actually believed the warden was trying to kill him, but wasn't frightened. The warden promised Rostov he didn't want to kill Barnes yet, but Rostov wondered if Barnes could survive the fight with Bullski. The warden assured Rostov that Barnes' survival was already guaranteed. Rostov watched as guards tossed weapons down to Barnes, who used a morning star to defeat Bullski.
When Barnes nearly escaped with the help of Niko Constantin (aka Wolf Spider) during a riot, Niko ended up backstabbing Barnes and called for the guards. Barnes later woke up in a lab with Rostov and several scientists. Because Barnes remembered Rostov, the colonel wondered if Barnes also remembered the activation codes for Project Zephyr, which had been locked away in Barnes' mind during the 1980s.
(Captain America I#619) - Heavily drugged, Barnes eventually revealed the activation codes to Rostov, who told him afterward that he would not activate the sleeper agents, but sell them and the activation codes on the black market and then retire to an island--Rostov wanted Barnes to know this before Barnes died.
(Winter Soldier I#5) - After decades of serving Russia, Rostov fled the country, using the money he had made selling the activation codes and locations for the Project Zephyr sleepers. He lived a good life in the Bahamas, and was having a drink while walking on the beach when rogue Project Zephyr sleeper Leonid Novokov shot him through the heart.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, and Don Heck.
Or he was a Colonel General, but was only called Colonel
because it was shorter.
--Markus Raymond
Red Barbarian in Russian is Krasnyi Barbar.
--Gammatotem
Thanks to Dennis Giansante for providing the color scan for the original profile. New images by Ron Fredricks.
Captain America & Winter Soldier update by Markus Raymond
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Red Barbarian (Andre Rostov) has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#42/1, p1, pan1 (main image - Red Barbarian)
Tales of Suspense I#42/1, p6, pan5 (headshot - Red Barbarian)
Tales of Suspense I#42/1, p13, pan5 (Red Barbarian slams Actor against wall)
Winter Soldier I#5, p18, pan4 (Rostov on beach)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#42/1 (June, 1963) - Stan Lee
(plot/editor), Robert Bernstein (script), Don Heck (artist)
Captain America I#617-619 (June-August, 2011) - Ed Brubaker
(writer), Butch Guice (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Winter Soldier I#2 (April, 2012) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch
Guice (artist), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
Winter Soldier I#5 (July, 2012) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch
Guice (pencils/inks), Stefano Gaudiano & Tom Palmer
(inks), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
First posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 02/17/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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