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Martin Allard was an Air Force officer associated with the Major Force Project and General Wade Eiling.

As a young boy, Martin Allard witnessed his mother Elaine being murdered by Clifford Zmeck. The murderer was convicted and used as a test subject for the Major Force Project. Eighteen years later, Allard enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered in the Major Force Project with the hopes of being near his mother's murderer and to kill him for revenge. Although Allard was given Zmeck's kill-switch, he was talked out of avenging his mother's death by General Wade Eiling, who wanted to use Zmeck as insurance against Captain Atom, and instead waited for the proper time to come. Captain Allard continued to be Eiling's right-hand man and most trusted aide for years as a member of the Captain Atom Project. A capable soldier, Allard participated in multiple group missions during his years working with Wade Eiling and Nathaniel Adam/Cameron Scott.

Later, Allard was kidnapped by disciples of The Ghost and tortured for many months. Despite his resistance, Allard succumbed to the Ghost's brainwashing, although Allard did not initially know this. Allard attempted an escape, and although he succeeded, The Ghost staged the event to make Allard think he escaped under his own power. With a new lease on life, Allard began to fulfill his life goals. He proposed to and married Theresa Delgado, and the couple conceived a child. Afterward, Allard decided that the last thing he needed to do was to kill Zmeck. Allard sneaks into the control room with Zmeck's kill-switch, but General Eiling convinces Allard to disengage and continue to wait until Major Force has "lost his value." Unable to let it go, Allard breaks into classified Pentagon files and learns that Zmeck killed his mother on a hit placed by Allard's biological father because Elaine was blackmailing him. Allard, now believing his father to be the true killer of his mother, vows to get revenge on both Major Force and his father. However, the programming Ghost implanted in Allard's mind warped his admiration toward General Wade Eiling, who served as a father figure to Allard, so that Martin believed that Eiling was his true father and, thus, his mother's killer.[1]

Knowing how dangerous both Major Force and General Eiling were, Allard seeks a third party for help. He momentarily ponders going to Captain Atom, but his conditioning leads him to seek out The Ghost. The Ghost convinces Allard to kill Major Force with his own hands rather than using the kill-switch. With The Ghost's promise to give him the power to do so, Allard agrees to undergo a similar experiment that gave Captain Atom his powers. However, with Silver Shield believed to have left Earth, that left no means of procuring the Dilustel metal used in the original experiments. Instead, they decide to use X-ionized metal, which duplicates many properties of the alien steel and is simultaneously able to cut through even the Dilustel metal skin that Captain Atom and Major Force both possess. While stealing the X-ionizer device, Allard is discovered by Homer Lockleed, the schizophrenic son of Martin Lockleed and caretaker/assistant to Anton Sarrok, an intelligent but older, wheelchair-bound man who was also part of the Atom Project. While Allard regarded Homer as "a harmless nut," Allard still shot Homer in cold-blood to prevent him from warning anyone and ran off with the X-Ionizer. Allard proceeds to undergo the experiment. The Ghost uses his own quantum powers to simulate an atomic bomb and to send Allard through the Quantum Field. The results of the experiment transformed Martin Allard into the powerful Ironfire.

Allard arranges for General Eiling and Major Force to arrive at a secluded, outdoors location under the ploy of promising to reveal who killed Homer Lockleed. Also wanting to know this information, Captain Atom tags along and is also present at the location when Allard, now Ironfire, launches a surprise attack. Ironfire and Major Force begin to exchange blows when Captain Atom intervenes. Ironfire continues to attack, and both Dilustel-skinned men engage in combat - until both Captain Atom and Major Force are suddenly teleported away. Alone with Eiling, Allard confronts Eiling and addresses him as his father. Eiling reveals the truth: Eiling was not Martin Allard's father. Martin Lockleed was. Martin Lockleed was a former officer in the Air Force and member of the Green Elite, a secret group of military men and civilians who covertly operated a drug ring stretching in and out of America. Alec Rois, the Ghost, had killed Martin Lockleed nearly two years earlier while tying off loose ends to his own connection to his former life. Lockleed did not want his legitimate family to know about his affairs with Elaine, so he hired Zmeck to kill her. Having had grown up an orphan, all Allard had wanted was a family. Now, he has learned that his biological father is dead; he, himself, killed his only brother in cold blood without realizing it; and his transformation into Ironfire had left him unable to touch or hold his child or wife, as he would crush or burn them. With enough of his brainwashing dissipating enough to allow Allard to believe this truth, an emotionally distressed Ironfire flies away from the scene.

Ironfire was later seen among The Ghost's other underlings, the Cambodian, Charlie Hendel (Doctor Spectro II), and the many combat-trained disciples of The Faceless One when Ghost gathered them together to destroy General Eiling. Whether Allard was there under his own will or because his brainwashing was reinforced was not specified. He did not speak much during this encounter, but he did call Ghost, "Master," so the possibility remains that he may have been under Ghost's influence again. Ironfire, along with the other underlings of Ghost, was defeated by Captain Atom and his entourage. His fate afterward was not revealed.[2]

Powers

X-ionized Metal Armor: After participating in an experiment similar to Captain Atom's and Major Force's, Martin Allard gained the ability to summon an armor around his body made of X-ionized metal, a metal that functionally conducts quantum energy similarly to Dilustel. While in this form, Ironfire gains additional abilities.[1]

  • Access to the Quantum Field: Ironfire's metal skin, while a simulacrum of the purer Dilustel, remains directly tied into the Quantum Field. Through which he can potentially absorb and manipulate it's infinite energies for most any purpose; purposes which are either only limited by his inexperience in their use, or lack of willpower and imagination due to the Ghosts brainwashing. Due to the unstable connection to the Q-Field his powers as well as his transformed state are in a constant state of flux. Therefore he lacks much of the unique and all but godlike qualities his counterparts Captain Atom and Major Force possess or grew into in their long career's as costumed adventurers. Potentially however, Matin's ability to harness and change matter & energy could be insurmountable. Manipulating it for a variety of effects ranging from absorbing, changing, metabolizing, even shutting down other energy users powers or shaping it into whatever he needs. Like force fields, explosive bombs or a simple blast from the hands or eyes. Either firing it from anywhere on his body or releasing it as an AOE wave either by will or upon detonation.[1]
    • Superhuman Strength: The extent of Ironfire's superhuman strength is not specified. However, he has exchanged blows with superhumans as strong as Major Force.[1]
    • Superhuman Durability: Ironfire's armor is durable enough to take great amounts of physical damage.[1]
    • Quantum Heat Aura: When not in his armored state, Ironfire is in a constant aura of quantum heat, an aura that he cannot deactivate. Ironfire is unharmed by his own aura, but he can severely burn others. This aura manifests as pink energy that takes on the shape of flames. Ironfire is not surrounded by this aura when in his armored state.[1]
      • Flight: When in his unarmored / fiery state, Ironfire can fly under his own power, possibly through some sort of propulsion feat.[1]
    • Partial Armor Manifestation: Martin Allard can shift between two states, his normal human state and his bulky armored state. Not only can he shift between the states at random, he can also partially armor / de-armor any portion of his body to suit his purposes. For example, if he wants to burn someone but stay defended, he can de-armor only the armor covering his hands. Or, if he wants to fly but not be completely unprotected, he can de-armor his lower body and use the quantum aura to fly.[1]

Abilities

Related

Footnotes


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