(Rom I#44 (fb) - BTS) - The Russian government selected former KGB operative Gregori Larionov to become the next Devastator after its first user, Kirov Petrovna, was accidentally incinerated during a fight with the Hulk. Larionov took control of the Gremlin designed armor, mastering its systems and also becoming commander of the Soviet Super Troopers, a paramilitary force wearing gear that the Gremlin created as well.
(Rom I#44 - BTS) - Larionov and the Super-Troopers were ordered to bring in Gremlin after he was deemed a traitor to the Russian people. The armored troops flew from Moscow to the diminutive genius' last known location in the Forbidden Zone.
(Rom I#44) - Devastator and his forces met up with Russian soldiers who had seen Gremlin and his associates Rom and Starshine enter a cavernous lab complex that once belonged to the Presence. Devastator and his men interrupted the Gremlin's attempts to put the dying mortal form of Rom back into his Spaceknight form. Desperate to buy the villain some more time, Starshine attacked the Super-Troopers, using her solar bursts to blind many of them. Devastator proved immune to her bursts and managed to hurt the Spaceknight with his blasts.
(Rom I#44 - BTS) - While he continued to work on Rom's resurrection, Gremlin told the Galadorian about Devastator and the way his powers worked through the satellite system he had designed. Moments later, he successfully transferred Rom's essence back into the armor.
(Rom I#44) - Honoring his
agreement to protect Gremlin in return for his services, Rom attacked
Devastator and the remaining Super-Troopers. Refusing to kill, Rom
instead immobilized the troops by draining their energy reserves with
his Neutralizer. Left alone, Devastator went all out on Rom, but another
shot of the Neutralizer hit his gauntlets. The blast reversed the energy
flow, sending it back to the satellite which soon overloaded and
exploded in orbit. Larionov fell to his knees, looking helplessly at his
smouldering gauntlets while the overjoyed Gremlin congratulated Rom..(Rom I#45 (fb) - BTS) - Following their defeat, Devastator and the Super-Troopers returned to Moscow where they reported their failure to capture the Gremlin. As a result, the Soviet Super Soldiers were called in.
(Iron Man I#255 (fb) - BTS) - Over time, the Devastator armor was redesigned and upgraded in a military base in the Khymky region. Larionov's armor became less bulky and allowed him greater control of the energy feed beamed down from a newly launched satellite.
(Iron Man I#255) - The Russian government arranged for a duel between the new Crimson Dynamo (Valentin Shatalov) and the upgraded Devastator to see which one of these armor programs was superior and worthy of continued funding. Devastator easily brushed off the Dynamo's standard armaments: avoiding the gatling gun with his jet boots and scrambling the missiles with a microwave burst. When the Dynamo went all out and tried to kill him, Larionov was forced to call on and absorb the full power of his satellite feed.
(Iron Man I#255 - BTS) - At the
same time in the United States, Iron Man (Tony Stark) was fighting a
villain called Freak Quincy who was receiving and broadcasting on every
conceivable wavelength, including that of Devastator's satellite. Due to
a freak combination of Quincy's powers and microwave energy, the minds
of Tony Stark and Valentin Shatalov were switched through the satellite
feed.(Iron Man I#255) - Devastator was unaware of the switch. Because Tony Stark was unfamiliar with the Dynamo's antiquated systems, he couldn't defend himself and was easily knocked out.
(Iron Man I#255 - BTS) - Stuck inside Shatalov's body and feigning amnesia, Stark began to work on ways to return to his own form. Meanwhile Shatalov was in no rush, eagerly learning everything he could about Iron Man, the armor designs and the identity of the man inside.
(Iron Man I#255) - It took Tony Stark less than a day to figure out how the transfer had occurred. He donned the Crimson Dynamo armor and barged into the nearby barracks looking for a rematch with Devastator. Larionov was all too eager to comply, but got quickly shut down by an electrostatic pulse. Much to Larionov's surprise, he was asked by the Dynamo to hit him with the full measure of his power.
(Iron Man I#255 - BTS) - Devastator obliged, setting Stark's plan in motion. His satellite's transmissions once again synthesized with Freak Quincy's wavelength manipulations, cross-circuiting the cybernetic feeds in the Iron Man and Crimson Dynamo armors and realigning their brainwaves with their proper bodies (see comments).
(Iron Man I#255) - Devastator, once again oblivious about the transfer, was ready to continue the fight. They were interrupted by Russian intelligence officer Yelena Brement who had come to arrest Shatalov for the crimes Stark had committed: stealing classified documents and striking a fellow officer.
