History:(Avengers I#188 (fb) - BTS / Thunderbolts I#7 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, an unidentified human was transformed into pure elemental Carbon by Dr. Vasily Khandruvitch in an effort to create Super-Soldiers to serve the state.
CARBON
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutate (Russian)
Occupation: None
Group Membership: Masters
of Alchemy (Cobalt,
Hydrogen, Neon, Phosphorus,
Plutonium);
formerly Elements
of Doom (Chlorine, Cobalt,
Phosphorus,
Radium,
Vanadium)
Affiliations: Diablo
(Esteban Corazan de
Ablo), Elements
of Doom, Masters of Alchemy;
formerly Dr.
Vasily Khandruvitch
Enemies: Avengers
(Beast/Hank McCoy, Black Knight/Dane Whitman, Black Panther/T'Challa,
Captain America/Steve
Rogers, Crystal/Crystalia Amaquelin, Falcon/Sam Wilson,
Hercules/Heracles, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers, Scarlet
Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Vision/"Victor Shade," Wasp/Janet Van Dyne,
Wonder Man/Simon Williams), Monica Lynne, Taylor
Madison, Vibranium
(Baru)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Wakanda;
formerly an unidentified nuclear power plant in
Russia
First Appearance: Avengers I#188 (October, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Carbon was composed of pure elemental Carbon and he had inherent superhuman strength sufficient to hurl the superhumanly strong Wonder Man across the room with ease.
He was capable of altering his own
atomic structure at will, allowing to transform his body into various
forms of carbon from soft graphite to diamond hardness.
While merged with Plutonium,
Carbon could emit high levels of dangerous radiation.
Height: Various
Weight: Various
Eyes: Red (no visible irises) (originally white)
Hair: None
History:
(Avengers I#188 (fb) - BTS / Thunderbolts I#7 (fb) -
BTS) - At some point, an unidentified human was transformed into pure
elemental Carbon by Dr. Vasily Khandruvitch in an effort to create
Super-Soldiers to serve the state.
(Avengers I#188 (fb) - BTS) -
Carbon was the first and strongest elemental being created.
(Avengers I#188 (fb) - BTS / Thunderbolts I#7 (fb) -
BTS) - Rebelling and joining other
subsequent transformed humans as the Elements of Doom, Carbon aided in
taking
over a Russian nuclear power plant for use in creating more Elements of
Doom.
(Captain America XII#750 / 2 (fb)) - A grinning Carbon watched as
the other Elements of Doom battled the Avengers.
(Avengers I#188) - After
Phosphorus theorized on transforming the Wasp into a new Element of
Doom, Wonder Man turned his attentions towards Carbon and warned Carbon
to keep his friend's hands of the Wasp or risk being shattered into so
many pieces that it would be difficult to tell Carbon's from
Vanadium's. Proclaiming Wonder Man a fool, Carbon gloated about being
the first and strongest of the Elements of Doom before easily hurling
Wonder Man across the room into Ms. Marvel. Most of the Avengers soon
retreated for their own safety, though the Falcon went back to rescue
the missing Wasp and was captured by the reformed Vanadium, who turned
the Falcon over to Carbon and the others. With the Avengers held at
bay, the Elements of Doom next had Carbon capture a Russian plant
technician and Phosphorus forced the man into the transformation
machine, turning the man into the newest Element of Doom: Cobalt.
Carbon then watched as Radium then tried to
force the captured Falcon into the transformation machine, noting that
the Avengers were mounting a second attack, but the
Avengers rallied and the captured Falcon escaped Carbon's subsequent
grasp to fly into the air. Ms. Marvel then used a laser to destroy the
plant's
fusion reactor, unleashing its molten core onto the Elements of Doom,
breaking down their atomic structure.
(Avengers Collector's
Edition#1 (fb)) - The Russian nuclear plant
later experienced a meltdown and the entire facility, including the
individual atoms of the former Elements of Doom, was covered in
concrete to protect the public from the fallout. The atoms of the
surviving three Elements of Doom including Carbon were shunted
extradimensionally, perhaps due to the meltdown's blast. Years later,
the master alchemist Diablo crossed the dimensional barriers and used
his sorcery and alchemy skills to resurrect Phosphorus, Cobalt and
Carbon from
their base atoms. With the Elements restored to Earth once more, three
new elemental beings (Neon, Plutonium, Titanium) were created and
together, they formed a new elemental group calling themselves the
Masters of Alchemy.
(Avengers Collector's
Edition#1) - When the Avengers arrived in
Wakanda, they were ushered to Diablo, who revealed the Masters of
Alchemy and their origins. Explaining how they had taken Wakandan
hostages to keep the Black Panther at bay as they sought enough
Vibranium to transform someone into a Vibranium being for their team,
Diablo soon threatened
Taylor Madison, prompting Hercules to rush at Diablo, only to be
pounded into the ground by Titanium as Phosphorus created a small
chemical fire to hold the other Avengers back from attacking Diablo,
Carbon and Plutonium. Diablo then sought to
transform Monica Lynne into Vibranium and ordered Carbon and Plutonium
to see to Lynne's transformation but Wakandan aide Baru volunteered in
Lynne's place. Figured the transformed person didn't matter, as
everyone would be transformed eventually, Diablo ordered Carbon to take
Baru away and Baru was placed in a transformation machine. As Diablo
gloated, the Avengers began to rally with Crystal hitting Diablo with a
rock and a returning Black Knight hurling Captain America's shield at a
confused Carbon. The shield stuck into Carbon's softer form and Carbon
ripped the shield from his body and transformed into a diamond-hard
form, hurling the shield away. Carbon then tried to attack the Vision,
who turned intangible, causing Carbon to fall into Plutonium, knocking
them both into the transformation machine. Emerging from the machine
fused together into a single being, Carbon/Plutonium began emitting
dangerous radiation that Crystal attempted to divert with her powers.
Baru emerged from the transformation machine moments later as Vibranium
and, craving raw energy, Vibranium immediately went towards the merged
Carbon/Plutonium. Draining the raw energy from the composite being,
Vibranium defeated Carbon/Plutonium and grew in size, opting to use his
newfound power to protect Wakanda.
Comments: Created by Jim Shooter, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Dan Green and Frank Springer.
A note from Avengers
Collector's Edition#1: Diablo refers to the original Elements of Doom
as aliens that supplanted humans with energy constructs based on
elements but we clearly see a human male being physically transformed
into Cobalt in Avengers I#188 so the Elements were not aliens that had
replaced humans with energy constructs resembling elements but rather,
they were human beings physically transformed into pure elemental
forms (plus, we see the transformation machine in Avengers Collector's
Edition#1 that is used to transform Baru into Vibranium and merge
Carbon with Plutonium). Of course, it's not like Diablo is the most
trustworthy
person....it's possible he was lying to the Avengers, though it could
also be that the ancient Diablo might not have understood the Elements'
true nature...then again, perhaps Diablo resurrected the Elements of
Doom that he could and the three new elemental beings in his group
(Neon, Plutonium & Titanium) could have an extradimensional aliens
like Diablo claimed...
Another thing of note regarding the truthfulness of Diablo's statements: In the flashback we see while Diablo is talking, we see Quicksilver with the Avengers during their encounter with the original Elements of Doom but Quicksilver did not encounter the Elements. He was in the issue at the beginning but he stayed behind in the Great Refuge while the rest of the Avengers went on to encounter the Elements....
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Carbon should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Avengers I#188 (October, 1979) - Jim Shooter
(plot, editor), Bill
Mantlo (script), John Byrne, Dan Green, Frank Springer (art)
Avengers Collector's Edition#1 (1993) - Pat Garrahy (writer), Mike
Gustovich (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Glenn Herdling (editor)
Thunderbolts I#7 (October, 1997) - Kurt Busiek
(co-plot,
script), Roger Stern (co-plot), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Will Blyberg,
Eric Cannon, Larry Mahlstadt, Greg Adams, Keith Williams (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Captain America XII#750 (September, 2023) -
"Reflections" story - Stephanie Williams (writer), Rachael Scott (art),
Alanna Smith (editor)
First posted: 11/09/2025
Last updated: 11/09/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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