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Stalnoivolk, the Steel Wolf, was a Soviet super-soldier.

Origin

Ivan Illyich Gort was born in Russia in the early 1900s. As a young man, he participated in a series of secret experiments that gave him superhuman physical characteristics. He was created to serve as a symbol of Soviet resistance during World War II and given the code name Stalnoivolk (translated as Steel Wolf). It was the Russians' intent to create an army of such men, but General Secretary Joseph Stalin destroyed the formula that created him and had all of the scientists involved with the project killed. Stalin feared that an army of Stalnoivolks might pose a threat to his rule, so he made sure that there could only be one, one that he could control. Ivan proved to be fiercely loyal to Stalin and was intricately involved in Stalin's purges in the Ukraine. After the war, Stalnoivolk was discredited and sent to Siberia where he lived as a peasant for decades.

Reactivation

Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin assigned Major Zastrow to locate Stalnoivolk. They wanted to reactivate him for use against super-powered threats outside the U.S.S.R. - specifically, the American super-hero Firestorm.

Powers

  • Superhuman Durability: Gort is incredibly resilient. It withstood a direct hit from a .44 caliber bullet and the nuclear explosions of Firestorm.
  • Superhuman Stamina: It was shown how he was chopping wood without outerwear, not paying attention to the frost.
  • Superhuman Strength: Increased strength allows him to throw a person into the next block, make titanic jumps, break a person’s neck with a slight movement of his hand, break through a strong wall, throw cars and climb buildings, clinging to them.
  • Decelerated Aging: despite his advanced age, Ivan Ilyich had not aged at all. Except that the hair turned gray.

Abilities


  • Ivan holds himself to old hardliner communist dogma, and believes that every Russian leader since Stalin has been incompetent and ineffective.

Related

Footnotes


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