AIRSTRIKE
Real Name: Dimitri Ivanovitch Bukharin
Identity/Class: Human (Russian), technology user
Occupation: Adventurer, renegade KGB agent
Citizenship: Russia
Legal Status: Unknown
Place of Birth: Kuybyshev, Russia
Marital Status: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None; formerly KGB, Legion Accursed, People's Protectorate/Supreme Soviets (Fantasma, Perun, Red Guardian, Vostok), Soviet Super-Soldiers (Darkstar, Titanium Man, Ursa Major, Vanguard)
Affiliations: Alpha Flight (Box (Madison Jeffries), Diamond Lil, Guardian (Heather Hudson), Puck, Shaman), Avengers (Captain America, Quasar, Sersi, Stingray, Vision), Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Blacklash, Blizzard (Donald Gill), Yuri Brevlov, Doppelganger, Half-Face, Jack of Hearts, Inoshiro Kondo, Nikolai Kutzov, Mephisto, Fyodr Shelkov, S.H.I.E.L.D., Space Phantom, Titanium Man (Boris Bullski), Titanium Man (Gremlin), Yuri Trifanov
Enemies: Arcturus, Atlanteans, Beyonder, Black Panther, Darkstar, Green Liberation Front, Hulk, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Cissy Ironwood, Professor Daniel Ironwood, Orka, the Pantheon (Ajax, Atalanta, Hector, Ulysses), Peace Corpse, Red Ghost, Rigellians, Silver Surfer, Valentin Shatalov, Spider-Man, Thing, Tyrak, U-Man, Ursa Major, Vanguard, Alexi Vazhin, X-Factor (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl), X-Men (Dazzler, Havok, Magneto, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Crimson Dynamo (roughly translates into Russian as "Krashni Denamit"); impersonated Iron Man
Base of Operations: The People's Protectorate headquarters
formerly KGB Headquarters, Moscow
formerly Doppelganger's laboratory complex, Siberia
First Appearance: (as Crimson Dynamo) Iron Man I#109 (April, 1978); (as Airstrike) Soviet Super-Soldiers#1
Powers/Abilities: The capabilities of the Airstrike armor are not known. It contains blasters in its wrists, and presumably affords Dimitri defense and flight abilities.
The suits of Crimson Dynamo armor that Dimitri wore granted him superhuman strength and durability, could fly, contained hand-blasters, missiles, and radio equipment.
Height: 6' 2"; (Airstrike armor) 6' 6"; (Dynamo Mark III) 6' 5"; (Dynamo Mark IV) 6' 10"; (Dynamo Mark IV-X) 9' 3"
Weight: 200 lbs.; (Airstrike armor) 390 lbs.; (Dynamo Mark III) 575 lbs.; (Dynamo Mark IV) 420 lbs.; (Dynamo Mark IV-X) 1250 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Bald (brown moustache)
History: (Iron Man I#109 (fb) - BTS) - After Yuri Petrovitch was retired as the Crimson Dynamo, the Russian government selected KGB operative Dimitri Bukharin as the new wearer of the armor, and he was sent to work alongside their superhuman agents Vanguard and Darkstar.
(Iron Man I#110 (fb)) - The Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar and Vanguard took a ship to Earth's moon to investigate a signal coming from the Blue Area of the Moon. They were shot by members of the extraterrestrial Rigellian race, who mistook them for their enemies, the Knights of Wundagore. They crashed on the moon.
(Iron Man I#109) - Three days later, Jack of Hearts and Iron Man arrived on the moon, also investigating the signal. The Crimson Dynamo mistakenly thought they were responsible for attacking them, and began a fight. Iron Man in turn mistook Bukharin for his predecessor, Alex Nevsky. When Darkstar realized that a mistake had been made, she had Bukharin unmask to prove to Iron Man that he was not Nevsky. Iron Man and Jack of Hearts went on to investigate the Rigellian vessel orbiting the moon.
(Iron Man I#110-111) - The Crimson Dynamo repaired their communications equipment from their craft, and they received a transmission from their superiors in Russia, asking them to work alongside Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. against the Rigellian menace.
(Iron Man I#112) - The three Russians aided Jack of Hearts against the Rigellians until the battle finally came to an end when Recorder#211 relieved the Rigellian fleet commander Arcturus of his command.
(Marvel Team-Up Annual#2) - The Crimson Dynamo, Vanguard and Darkstar invaded the U.S. to kidnap Dr. Daniel Ironwood on behalf of the KGB's Nikolai Kutzov, who wanted Ironwood to build an anti-matter bomb. They wound up taking Dr. Ironwood's daughter Cissy captive as well. When Alexi Vazhin, Spider-Man and Bruce Banner came to the site of the bomb's construction, the three Russian heroes fought them, and the Crimson Dynamo was beaten unconscious by Spider-Man.
(Incredible Hulk II#250) - When the Silver Surfer passed through Russian airspace, the Crimson Dynamo and Darkstar monitored him from the air.
(Incredible Hulk II#258) - The Soviet Super-Soldiers were brought together by Colonel Yuri Brevlov and had Ursa Major added to their ranks for a mission to the "Forbidden Zone," the site of a nuclear detonation by the Presence. They were to investigate what was causing the radiation to spread. When they were teleported there by Darkstar, they found themselves face-to-face with the Hulk, and attacked him, thinking he was somehow responsible. The Hulk resisted all of the Crimson Dynamo's weaponry, and knocked him unconscious.
(Incredible Hulk II#259) - Darkstar teleported the Crimson Dynamo to a hospital where he could be treated for his injuries.
(Marvel Super-Hero Contest of Champions#1) - The Soviet Super-Soldiers attacked the Red Ghost in Novaya Zemlya to prevent him from starting tremors that would topple Russia's cities, but they were suddenly teleported away by the Grandmaster as potential participants in his game with Death.
(Marvel Super-Hero Contest of Champions#2-3 - BTS) - The Crimson Dynamo and the other Soviet Super-Soldiers remained in stasis while the game was played out, and were finally returned home when it concluded.
(Marvel Team-Up Annual#7/2) - The Crimson Dynamo fought the Human Torch and Black Panther for unknown reasons, and was ultimately defeated by them and turned over to the FBI.
(Secret Wars II#7) - The Crimson Dynamo was among the super-villains gathered by Mephisto as the Legion Accursed to attack the Beyonder in an attempt to kill him, but they were prevented from attacking him by the Thing.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#5 - Crimson Dynamo) - Bukharin was given new armor designed by the Gremlin.
(X-Factor Annual#1) - The Crimson Dynamo was employed as defense at Doppelganger's laboratory in Siberia where mutants were being held for experiments. He fought X-Factor when they entered the complex, and was defeated when Iceman gave him Doppelganger's surrender code.
(X-Men Vs. Avengers#1) - The Crimson Dynamo helped the other Soviet Super-Soldiers (who had quit working for the government and teamed up with the Gremlin as the Titanium Man), in battling a fire at a railroad yard. The Soviet Super-Soldiers no longer trusted Bukharin because he was KGB, but he convinced them to aid him on a mission to investigate the crash of Magneto's Asteroid M base in Russian territory. When they caught up to Magneto in Kampuchea, they found the Avengers and the X-Men standing alongside him. When they refused to turn Magneto over, they attacked.
(X-Men Vs. Avengers#2) - The Crimson Dynamo's armor was badly damaged by Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), and he was incapacitated along with his comrades when Dr. Druid took over Darkstar's mind and made her bind them in her darkforce.
(X-Men Vs. Avengers#3) - The Titanium Man managed to snap Darkstar out of Dr. Druid's control, and they pursued Magneto's trail to Singapore. They again fought the Avengers and X-Men aboard a ship Magneto was traveling on, and the Crimson Dynamo blasted a hole in the ship's side, nearly sinking it. After performing a rescue operation, the Avengers revealed to the Soviet Super-Soldiers that the Crimson Dynamo was responsible, and they swore off the pursuit of Magneto so that they could turn Bukharin over to maritime authorities.
(Iron Man I#229) - The Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man were summoned together by the Russian government, who informed them of how Iron Man had been attacking armored people in the United States, and was certain to pursue them sooner or later. Bukharin had only one more week of service to the state as the Crimson Dynamo, but was committed to aid them against Iron Man. However, the Titanium Man refused to cooperate with the government. The government decided to use the Titanium Man as bait, and waited for Iron Man to come after him at his base, Bitterfrost. When Iron Man arrived, the Crimson Dynamo joined the fray, but Iron Man used a negator pack to short out his armor, rendering it useless.
(Captain America I#353 (fb) - BTS) - The Crimson Dynamo's armor was repaired and he remained in active service, now alongside the Supreme Soviets.
(Captain America I#353) - As a member of the Supreme Soviets, the Crimson Dynamo was disguised by Fantasia as Iron Man as they stole onto Avengers Island to assassinate Darkstar, Vanguard and Ursa Major, who were attempting to defect. When the three defectors appeared dead, they teleported away.
(Captain America I#354) - When "the Great Beast" created by Darkstar, Vanguard and Ursa Major's subconsciousness attacked Moscow, the Supreme Soviets responded, and were absorbed into the creature, where the three defectors intended to have revenge by killing them, but Captain America convicned the trio to let the Supreme Soviets live.
(Iron Man Annual#10/2) - Dimitri visited a bar in the United States, and alongside Half-Face, the Space Phantom, Inoshiro Kondo, Blizzard, Beetle and Blacklash, swapped stories about battling Iron Man. They all fled when Iron Man suddenly entered the bar.
(Soviet Super-Soldiers#1) - After halting some environmental activists in Yvborg with the Supreme Soviets, the Crimson Dynamo met with Fyodr Shelkov who told him that his army service extension to the Supreme Soviets had been rescinded, and either he or the armor would have to be turned over. Three days later they met with Colonel-General Valentin Shatalov, who ordered Bukharin to recover the original Titanium Man, who had been lost in New York City when a card he had electronically transferred his essence to had been torn into pieces. Dimitri began to retrieve the card fragments so that he could be re-integrated, but the Titanium Man's one-time allies in the Green Liberation Front were accidentally reactivated, and being anti-Russian, attacked the Crimson Dynamo. He was forced to bring the Titanium Man back for aid, and because parts of his body were missing, the Titanium Man went on a rampage, killing all of the Green Liberation Front. Bukharin drew Titanium Man over the Atlantic Ocean, then returned him to card form.
By the time Bukharin brought the Titanium Man to Shatalov, the scandal over the massacre in the U.S. was enough to force Bukharin to turn over the Crimson Dynamo armor. He realized that this was what Shatalov had wanted all along. He returned to his teammates, now calling themselves the People's Protectorate, and told them that he could no longer be the Crimson Dynamo, but they refused to accept his resignation -- they had already fashioned a new identity for him in the Protectorate as Airstrike, and he attended the team's first press conference.
(Avengers I#319) - The People's Protectorate were sent after the British submarine Waterwind, which had been captured by the Russian terrorists Peace Corpse. When the Avengers came after the submarine as well, the two teams quarreled over jurisdictions. Their fight was interrupted by the arrival of Atlanteans led by Tyrak, Orka and U-Man.
(Avengers I#320) - The two teams fought off the Atlanteans together, then agreed to cooperate in pursuing the Waterwind as it surfaced in St. John's, Newfoundland. They were confronted there by Alpha Flight, who claimed jurisdiction over both teams.
(Avengers I#321-322) - While some of the heroes confronted the Peace Corpse within the Waterwind, the Atlanteans attacked St. John's, and the Crimson Dynamo joined in the fight against them. Battling U-Man, he generated heat from his armor to quickly dehydrate him. He finally turned U-Man over to Alpha Flight's Guardian to deal with.
(Avengers I#323) - When the nuclear missiles aboard Waterwind were set off, Shaman teleported all of the bystanders into alien dimensions, including the Crimson Dynamo, who appeared in a dimension of black skies and purple water alongside Tyrak, Madison Jeffries, Orka, Puck, Quasar and Perun. They made psychic contact with Fantasma, and gradually linked up to the heroes scattered in all of the dimensions. Suddenly, the leaders of the Peace Corpse appeared, mutated into the superhuman Combine.
(Avengers I#324) - The heroes fought the Combine until the other four members of Peace Corpse were able to merge with the Combine, rendering the entity benign, and it departed. All of the heroes were returned to St. John's by Shaman, and departed in peace.
(Incredible Hulk II#393) - The People's Protectorate were sent to retrieve former KGB agent Igor Drenkov from the U.S., but ran into the Pantheon, led by the Hulk. The Crimson Dynamo fought the Hulk, but was defeated when he was thrown into an electrified Perun. Vostok used his unconscious body to attack the Hulk, manipulating the armor, but the Hulk managed to incapacitate Vostok. The Hulk finally revealed that he had only wanted to teach Drenkov a lesson for having turned him into the Hulk years ago.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Carmine Infantino, and Fred Kida.
The Crimson Dynamo was about twice as big as usual when he first appeared in his new armor in X-Factor Annual#1. He also behaved more like a robot than a human.
A Crimson Dynamo wearing the Gremlin design appeared in JLA/Avengers#4, but since the characters were pulled from different points in time in this story it could another Dynamo wearing the same armor.
Okay, Soviet Super-Soldiers#1 was originally intended for publication as a serial in Marvel Comics Presents. By the time it finally appeared in one shot format, the Supreme Soviets had already made a few appearances as the People's Protectorate...only Dimitri Bukharin was still wearing the Crimson Dynamo armor!
The way I see it, you have two choices in how you read "the Crossing Line" and Hulk II#393:
Bukharin has partial entries as part of Crimson Dynamo entries in OHotMU I#3, Deluxe Edition#3, Master Edition and All-New OHotMU Update#2.
by Prime Eternal
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dimitri Bukharin should not be confused with:
Images taken from:
Soviet Super-Soldiers#1, page 60, panel 5
Soviet Super-Soldiers#1, page 55, panel 4
Incredible Hulk II#258, page 16, panel 5
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition#5, Crimson Dynamo entry
Soviet Super-Soldiers#1, page 56, panel 3
Appearances:
Iron Man I#109 (April, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Carmine Infantino (penciler), Fred Kida (inker), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#110-111 (May-June, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Fred Kida (inker), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#112 (July, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Alfredo Alcala (inker), Jim Shooter (editor)
Marvel Team-Up Annual#2 (1979) - Chris Claremont (writer), Sal Buscema,
Alan Kupperberg (pencilers), Jack Abel (inkers), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#250 (August, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscama (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#258 (April, 1981) - Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant (writers), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#259 (May, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Super-Hero Contest of Champions#1 (June, 1982) - Mark Gruenwald,
Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant (writers), John Romita, Jr. (penciler), Pablo
Marcos (inker), Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco (editors)
Marvel Team-Up Annual#7 (October, 1984) - Bob DeNatale (writer), David
Mazzuchelli (penciler), Brett Breeding (inker), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Secret Wars II#7 (January, 1986) - Jim Shooter (writer), Al Milgrom (penciler), Steve Leiahola (inker)
X-Factor Annual#1 (October, 1986) - Bob Layton (writer/penciler), Brett Breeding (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men Vs. Avengers#1-3 (April-June, 1987) - Roger Stern (writer), Marc
Silvestri (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Mark Gruenwald, Ann
Nocenti (editors)
Iron Man I#229 (April, 1988) - David Michelinie (writer), Mark Bright
(penciler), Bob Layton (writer/inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Captain America I#353-354 (April-May, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Kieron Dwyer (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man Annual#10 (1989) - David Whol (writer), Jackson Guice, Gene
Colan, John Byrne, Keith Pollard, Bob Layton, Mark Bright (artists)
Soviet Super-Soldiers#1 (November, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer),
Angel Medina, Javier Saltares (pencilers), Jeff Albrecht (inker), Terry
Kavanagh (editor)
Avengers I#319 (July, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Richard Levins
(penciler), Christopher Ivy (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#320 (August, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (Writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#321 (August, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Richard Levins
(penciler), Christopher Ivy (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#322 (September, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Paul Ryan
(penciler), Christopher Ivy (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#323 (September, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Richard
Levins (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#324 (October, 1990) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#393 (May, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Dale Keown (penciler), Mark Farmer (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 05/25/2006
Last updated: 05/26/2012
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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