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Blizzard is the name of different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a member of Iron Man's rogues gallery.

Publication history

Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the Gregor Shapanka version of Blizzard appeared as Jack Frost in Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963), and as Blizzard beginning in Iron Man #86 (May 1976). He was killed off in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20 (November 1986).

The Donnie Gill Blizzard first appeared in Iron Man #223 (October 1987) and was created by David Michelinie and Bob Layton.

The Randy Macklin version of Blizzard first appeared in the Marvel Holiday Special #2 (January 1993) and was created by Sholly Fisch and Tom Morgan.

Fictional character biographies

Gregor Shapanka

Gregor Shapanka is a Hungarian scientist obsessed with immortality, and decides that the study of cryonics is the first step towards his goal. Shapanka takes a job at Stark Industries to fund his research and attempts to steal directly from Tony Stark. After being caught and fired by Tony Stark for trying to steal from Tony Stark's secret vault, Gregor creates a suit containing cold-generating devices and is dubbed by the papers as "Jack Frost." He attempts to raid Stark Industries where he captures Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, but is defeated by Iron Man.^[1]

Several years later, Gregor Shapanka escaped prison and attacked Stark's Long Island industrial complex using a new far more powerful cold-generating battle-suit and calling himself the Blizzard. This time, Blizzard was out to steal Stark's climatron device which could be used to alter weather patterns. Blizzard nearly froze Iron Man to death, but Iron Man was rescued by Potts. Iron Man caused Blizzard's battle-suit to short-circuit and then captured him.^[2]

Gregor Shapanka obtained financing for recreating his cold-generating costume from multimillionaire Justin Hammer. Blizzard formed a partnership with two other clients of Hammer known as Blacklash and Melter. Together, the three criminals attacked a hotel casino in Atlantic City, only to be defeated by Iron Man and private bodyguard Bethany Cabe.^[3]

Shortly thereafter, Shapanka reconstructs his cold suit in prison. When Electro uses his electrical powers to break out of the adjoining cell Shapanka is caught in the blast and the suit is fused to his body. Electro and the Blizzard then join forces to take over the Daily Bugle, but are stopped by Spider-Man and Daredevil.^[4]

Some months later during the Demon in a Bottle storyline, Justin Hammer hires the Blizzard to join an army of supervillains and battle Iron Man.^[5]

Blizzard's body somehow gained the ability to generate intense cold without artificial means. Feeling alienated from humanity, Shapanka (again calling himself Jack Frost) went to live in an ice palace he created within a mountain. Hulk found Jack Frost's new home and destroyed the ice palace. Jack Frost was seemingly killed in the collapse of his ice domain.^[6]

Gregor Shapanka reappeared in the guise of the Blizzard. Somehow, Blizard had lost his bodily power to generate cold and once again needed his battlesuit to create low temperatures. Shapanka returned to crime and formed a gang to aid him. However, upon robbing a bank in New York City, Blizzard and his henchmen were found and defeated by Spider-Man and were taken into police custody. Thanks to his lawyer, Blizzard was soon back at large and kidnapped Bobby Saunders (a boy whom he saw speaking with Spider-Man). Through Saunders, Blizzard intended to get revenge for his most recent defeat. Blizzard mistakes a villainous version of Iron Man from the year 2020 for the modern Iron Man and attempts to ambush him. The future Iron Man however is on an urgent mission to find Bobby Saunders (who would grow up to be a terrorist in 2020) and instantly kills the Blizzard with a repulsor blast.^[7]

Donald Gill

Blizzard
Art by Rick Leonardi
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Iron Man #223 (October 1987)
Created by	David Michelinie Bob Layton
In-story information
Full name	Donald "Donnie" Gill
Species	Inhuman
Team affiliations	Thunderbolts Masters of Evil Hammer Industries
Abilities	Ice generation and projection Superhuman strength, speed, and agility Electricity manipulation

Born in Delaware, Donald "Donnie" Gill was a professional criminal hired by Justin Hammer (who gave him a cryogenic suit resembling the original Blizzard's suit). Since Blizzard was vaporized by Iron Man 2020, Donnie adopted the name. His first mission involved working with Beetle and Blacklash to capture Force, who had betrayed Hammer. However, Blizzard was clumsy and annoyed his teammates with his amateurish mistakes (such as creating an ice wall blocking the path to their objective). After encasing Blacklash in ice, the trio fled as reinforcements arrived to protect Force.^[8]

The trio again tried to capture Force, who was protected by Iron Man. Although Blizzard fought better, when Force entered the fight he neutralized the villains' powers. Blizzard, Beetle, and Blacklash split up, fled and rested until their powers returned. Force found Blizzard, whose powers were ineffective against him so Blizzard fought him with bare hands. Force repelled him, blasting him through a wall. Blizzard doggedly tried to blast Force again (despite warnings), and was electrocuted. The Beetle and Blacklash abandoned Blizzard; Chemistro blamed them for their failures, and they were arrested.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Before Blizzard could be jailed, he was rescued by Rhino for Hammer. His loyalty to Hammer increased, although Iron Man tried to mentor him. Hammer negotiated with Iron Man for Blizzard, forcing the latter to help him take down the Ghost.^[9] Iron Man agreed, but Blizzard refused to believe that Hammer betrayed him. After hearing a recording, Blizzard was crushed; he surrendered to Iron Man, and was saved by Chemistro and Melter.^{[volume & issue needed]}

After solo missions against the Avengers^{[volume & issue needed]} and the New Warriors,^{[volume & issue needed]} attending the AIM Weapons Expo with several other super-villains^{[volume & issue needed]} and joining the largest group of the Masters of Evil,^{[volume & issue needed]} Blizzard worked with a smaller team (including villains Constrictor, Crossfire and daughters of Tarantula and Batroc the Leaper). Their mission failed after interference from Agent X and his allies.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Blizzard attacked She-Hulk in a bar; instead of defeating him, she invited him for a drink. Drunk, he contemplated his lack of recognition. Before collapsing in a stupor, Blizzard noted that he liked She-Hulk. After reverting to her Jennifer Walters persona she collapsed, vomiting, on top of him.^[10]

With the Avengers disbanded, the Beetle (now known as Mach-IV) decided to form a new group of Thunderbolts. Like the original Thunderbolts, they were former villains seeking redemption for their crimes as superheroes. Gill was one of the first members invited to join by Mach-IV, and he agreed.^[11] However, he lacked confidence despite his desire to help people. As a Thunderbolt, Blizzard fought several enemies, including Fathom Five,^[11] the Wrecking Crew^[12] and the Purple Man.^[13]

Blizzard and fellow Thunderbolt Speed Demon became close friends. When Speed Demon tried to commit crimes with the Shocker, Blizzard convinced him to use his former Whizzer outfit and a tracking device. Angry with Blizzard, Speed Demon tied him upside-down and naked on a bridge.^[14] Although doubting his status as a superhero and feeling hopeless, Blizzard gained strength from the others (especially Songbird, who insulted him and dismissed him from the group when she became its leader).^{[volume & issue needed]}

Baron Zemo, forming a group to fight Songbird's Thunderbolts, recruited Blizzard (who spent his days in bars after his firing by Songbird). His new teammate, the Fixer, enhanced Blizzard's abilities.^{[volume & issue needed]} He battled the Thunderbolts; the groups were soon assimilated, and Blizzard helped them against the U-Foes during Civil War.^[15] Against Overmind, Blizzard proved himself to his teammates by shielding them (and Songbird).^{[volume & issue needed]}

In the final battle against the Grandmaster, Blizzard's suit was destroyed after the Wellspring energy was released^[16] and he was pardoned for his past crimes.^[17] Blizzard later appeared as an inmate at the Raft.^[18]

Blizzard later aligns himself with Iron Man, Zeke Stane, Whirlwind, and Living Laser against the Mandarin but is defeated by the Mandarin's forces.^[19]

During the "Infinity" storyline, Blizzard was seen with Whirlwind robbing banks when they are approached by Spymaster. Blizzard and Whirlwind are recruited by Spymaster to join him and his villain allies (consisting of Constrictor, Firebrand IV, Titanium Man, Unicorn, and Whiplash IV) in a plot to attack the almost-defenseless Stark Tower. During the briefing, Blizzard suddenly collapses.^[20] When Blizzard regains consciousness, he discovers that his skin has turned white. Blizzard had been exposed to the Terrigen Mists unleashed upon the face of the entire Earth by Black Bolt. Being unknowingly an Inhuman descendant, Blizzard experienced Terrigenesis which causes the manifestation of his latent powers. Blizzard thought that this was his opportunity to "be part of something bigger" and decided to leave Spymaster's team. However, he and Whirlwind were brutally attacked by Spymaster and Titanium Man when they tried to leave.^[21] Blizzard and Whirlwind were forced into taking part of the assault to Stark Tower. After Spymaster used teleporter discs to teleport some Iron Man Armors to the buyers, he escaped and left Blizzard and the rest of his accomplices to be discovered by the heroes which were using the tower as a base. They managed to defeat the heroes, and they were offered to be taken to Spymaster by Titanium Man. When they arrived to a spaceship where Spymaster was, they were ambushed by him and Titanium Man who revealed himself as Captain Atlas of the Kree (who were the masterminds behind the heist).^[22] Blizzard and the other villains managed to escape custody and started fighting Spymaster, Titanium Man and the army of Iron Men (controlled by Spymaster). The actual Iron Man arrived to the spaceship, after having tracked down the armors, and helped Blizzard and his allies defeat the enemies. During the fight, Blizzard used the powers he discovered of being like a human battery to overcharge the armors and deactivate them, but he fainted and fell off the spaceship's cargo door. A suit Iron Man was controlling rescued him, but in order to let his friends escape, Blizzard froze himself and the suit. Blizzard was taken to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and was left under the simulation he had been delivered to the Inhumans in order to prove himself as the changed man Blizzard thought he was....until S.H.I.E.L.D. could know what to do with him.^[23]

Mickey Quaid

At the time when Donnie Gill was unavailable, Justin Hammer had a man named Mickey Quaid become a substitute Blizzard in order to assist Afterburner, Beetle, Blacklash, Boomerang, and Spymaster in fighting Silver Sable and the Wild Pack.^[24]

Randy Macklin

Randall "Randy" Macklin, an ex-criminal, fails to find work following his release from prison and uses a spare Blizzard costume he was safeguarding for his friend Donnie Gill. Macklin, however, is quickly defeated by Iron Man, who offers him a legitimate job at Stark Enterprises.^[25]

Jim

A man named Jim became the fourth Blizzard upon being granted cryokinesis by Mandarin and Zeke Stane as part of their plans to revamp and upgrade the different enemies of Iron Man. His first mission is to freeze desalinization plants in Abu Dhabi where it would leave the country with no water. It was revealed that Mandarin had a bomb placed in Jim's neck to ensure his compliance.^[26]

When Iron Man tries to persuade his enemies to turn against Mandarin, Blizzard heeded the calls as Iron Man deactivated the bombs on them^[27] Blizzard aligns himself with Iron Man, Zeke Stane, Whirlwind, and Living Laser against Mandarin and his Titanomechs. During the battle, Blizzard is impaled by a Titanomech.^[19]

Powers and abilities

All the Blizzards have similar powers, derived from their costumes. Micro-circuited cryogenic units make it possible to emit freezing rays, which lower the temperature of the surrounding air (or objects) and release ice as a projectile.

Donnie Gill's costume is upgraded by supervillains Beetle and Fixer. This enables even greater manipulation of cold where Gill can encase people in snow and ice, create an ice barricade or generate "ice sleds" for transport. Following his Terrigenesis, Blizzard also developed electricity manipulation where he can manipulate electrical currents and charge the energies in his body.^[23]

Other versions

Earth-X

In the Earth-X reality, the Donnie Gill version of Blizzard has the same history. He was killed by Norman Osborn prior to the Green Goblin's rise to power.^[28]

House of M: Masters of Evil

In the House of M reality, the Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears as a member of Hood's Masters of Evil.^[29]

Power Pack

The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Iron Man & Power Pack issue #2 with Speed Demon. He kidnaps Irena Crumb (daughter of millionaire Arnold Crumb, and a school rival of Julie Power's) from her school and takes her to an abandoned warehouse across town, where he tortures her. Speed Demon runs in, telling him that Power Pack has found them; Power Pack bursts in, and a fight ensues. At one point, Blizzard freezes the ground, causing Speed Demon to slip and smash into him. The Pack captures Blizzard, and Lightspeed takes his mask so she can rescue Irena from Speed Demon incognito. Afterwards, Blizzard and Speed Demon are arrested.^[30]

In other media

Television

• The Gregor Shapanka version of Blizzard appears as "Jack Frost" in the Iron Man segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Chris Wiggins.^{[citation needed]}


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Iron Man, voiced by Chuck McCann (primary) and by Neil Ross (in the episode "The Beast Within").^{[citation needed]} He is shown as a servant of the Mandarin. In the episode "And the Sea Shall Give up its Dead", Mandarin scolded him for an incident where Blizzard chilled his drink which accidentally killed Mandarin's begonias in the process. After nearly letting Blizzard hit the bottom of the pit he manifested, Mandarin sent Blizzard to replant his begonias. Like Mandarin's other underlings, Blizzard got his own suit of exo-armor which popped up from time to time in the series. In the episode "The Beast Within", Blizzard and Hypnotia target Tony Stark's airplane. In the episode "The Armor Wars" Pt. 1, both Blizzard and Blacklash had their exo-armors targeted by Iron Man. Iron Man neutralized them both during an airplane skyjacking. He appeared in the two-part series finale "Hands of the Mandarin" with a new exo-armor alongside Blacklash, Hypnotia and Whirlwind. Mandarin later used his energy to help power the Heart of Darkness only to be freed by Iron Man. He was sent to jail again with the other villains.


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by David Orth.^{[citation needed]} This version is a cryogenics scientist and a former employee of Obadiah Stane, but became deformed on one side of his face due to Stane, and vowed to get revenge. Like Iron Man, Blizzard wears a technological suit which enables him to freeze objects. In the episode "Cold War", Iron Man teams up with Blizzard, but eventually discovers that Blizzard was actually a criminal, and was creating a freezing weapon for Stane. After a battle, Blizzard is cryogenically frozen. In the episode "Best Served Cold", Stane unfreezes him and forces him to find a cure for his own daughter Whitney Stane by planting a bomb on his armor. Blizzard manages to break free however and has his revenge on Stane. Blizzard is then defeated by Iron Man. In the episode "Invincible Iron Man: Reborn", he, Whiplash, and Mr. Fix come under the services of Justin Hammer. The three of them attempt to kill Iron Man (who survived Whiplash's attack) and War Machine, but the trio are defeated. Later in the episode "Titanium vs Iron", Blizzard cools Justin Hammer's burning Titanium Man armor and witnesses Mr. Fix's "death" at the hands of Hammer. Blizzard says that Justin Hammer "killed him in cold blood" which Hammer tells him "yes and no" and uploads a flash drive containing Mr. Fix's conscious into the Hammer Multinational mainframe. In the episode "Hostile Takeover", Blizzard is seen robbing a jewelry store only to be stopped by Iron Man. In the episode "The Hammer Falls", Blizzard is mentioned to have been taken down by a mysterious figure (later revealed to be Justin Hammer in the Titanium Man armor).


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Troy Baker.^{[citation needed]} This version is a full-armored villain in a parka. In the episode "Breakout, Part 1", he is shown escaping from the Vault and fighting Iron Man. In the episode "The Man Who Stole Tomorrow", Blizzard had been apprehended by Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp and has been placed in Prison 42. In the episode "Assault on 42", Blizzard was seen in Prison 42 when Annihilus leads the Annihilation Wave in an attack on. He is killed during the attack.


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard makes non-voiced appearances in Ultimate Spider-Man.^{[citation needed]} In the episode "Doomed", he is among the villains seen in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. In the episode "Flight of the Iron Spider", Spider-Man (in the Iron Spider armor) helps to fight Blizzard.


• Donnie Gill appears in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Dylan Minnette.^[31] This version is a cadet at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. In the episode "Seeds", he and his friend Seth Dormer build a weather device in order to impress corrupt industrialist, Ian Quinn. The two create ice themed distractions to throw Phil Coulson and his agents off. Eventually the device causes a blizzard-type super-storm resulting in the death of Seth. Gill is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D., but develops ice based superpowers.^[32] In the episode "Making Friends and Influencing People",^[33] Gill is shown to have perfected his powers during his incarceration. Gill had escaped the Sandbox during the Hydra infiltration and begins killing many of their agents. He ends up at the Mirabel Del Mar cargo ship and runs into Jemma Simmons (who was undercover at Hydra for Phil Coulson) who tries to apprehend Gill. Aboard Mirabel Del Mar, Gill freezes the boat captain in order to send a message to Hydra that he refuses their offer. Sunil Bakshi arrives and uses a trigger phrase to reactivate Gill's mind-control. Gill is ordered by Sunil to ice everyone on the ship to make sure that nobody leaves alive, but as Gill tries to freeze the ship, he is sniped by Skye as his body is frozen upon falling into the water. Skye later tells Melinda May that the Moroccan authorities still haven't found Gill's body.^[34]


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Hideo Ishikawa.^{[citation needed]}


• The Randy Macklin version of Blizzard appears in the Spider-Man episode "Spider-Man on Ice", voiced by Trevor Devall.^[35] This version is depicted as a low-level henchman of Hammerhead who often mispronounced his last name. Macklin was apprehended by the police due to the unexpected interference of Peter Parker. However, he gave the police the slip minutes later (thanks to hiding a stolen diamond in Peter's bookbag) and follows Peter where Macklin acquires a Cryogenic Gauntlet from Harry Osborn and uses the gem to power up the weapon. Dubbing himself the Blizzard, Macklin gained the upper hand on Hammerhead's gang until Spider-Man gets involved. In the short time amassed, the gauntlet seemingly starts to mutate Macklin as his power increases and puts Manhattan in an Ice Age. With help from the thermal technology he acquired from Harry, Spider-Man was able to subdue Blizzard, disarm him of the Cryogenic Gauntlet, and leaves him for the police.

Video games

• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears as a boss in The Invincible Iron Man.^{[citation needed]}


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard is featured as a boss and a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.^{[citation needed]}


• The Donnie Gill version of Blizzard appears in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Michael Benyaer.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• 
  Bliizard (Gregor Shapanka) Marvel Wiki


• 
  Bliizard (Gregor Shapanka) at Comic Vine


• 
  Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at the Marvel Universe wiki


• 
  Blizzard (Donnie Gill) on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki
  


• 
  Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at the Comic Book DB


• 
  Blizzard (Donnie Gill) at Comic Vine


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  Blizzard (Randall Macklin) at Marvel Wiki