Icemaster
| Icemaster | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance |
Hostess Pie Advertisement in various publications, including Avengers I #191[1] Thunderbolts #24 (In-canon) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Bradley Kroon |
| Team affiliations | Masters of Evil |
| Abilities |
Ice and cold generation Ability to reform hands into weapons |
The Icemaster (Bradley Kroon) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Icemaster was created for one of a series of Hostess advertisements placed in various issues of a number of Marvel comics. He was the first character from the ad campaign to enter mainstream Marvel continuity. The Icemaster Hostess ad appeared in multiple comics which debuted on the newsstands in December 1979. Like the rest of the Hostess advertisement characters, the Icemaster then languished in anonymity for over a decade, until writer Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley included a contest for the comic book Thunderbolts. He introduced a new rendition of the Masters of Evil which was populated by obscure characters. To win the contest, contestants had to supply the names and debuts of each of the 25 villains shown on a splash page. Icemaster was easily the most obscure of the lot.
The Avengers Academy entry of "Avengers Roll Call" revealed that Icemaster's real name is Bradley Kroon.
Fictional character biography
Although how he gained his powers and abilities are unknown, Bradley Kroon had plans to create the next ice age as the Icemaster. He had frozen much of New York until he encountered the Human Torch. The Human Torch defeated him by throwing Hostess Fruit Pies to him, inducing his surrender.[2]
Icemaster later appeared as a member of Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil. In the story's plot, Icemaster is defeated when Hawkeye tricks Scorcher into accidentally blasting him. Before that, Icemaster accidentally hits Man-Killer, one of his own teammates, with an ice blast.[3]
During the Fear Itself storyline, Icemaster is among the supervillains that escape from Raft after what Juggernaut in the form of Kurrth: Breaker of Stone did to it.[4] Icemaster was seen with Living Laser, Bastards of Evil members Aftershock and Ember, and Whirlwind in Stamford. When Speedball attacked them, the villains managed to defeat Speedball. Upon leaving Stamford, Living Laser ridiculed Icemaster for eating too many fruit pies.[5]
Icemaster, Aftershock, and Ember faced off against Giant-Man, Vance Astrovik, Speedball, and the students of Avengers Academy when Jeremy Briggs knocked them out. Jeremy even used his powers to melt Icemaster's ice revealing his true form.[6]
Icemaster was transferred to a prison in upstate New York. He alongside Ruby Thursday, Griffin, Schizoid Man, Quicksand, Silk Fever, Supercharger, and Lightmaster staged a prison break only to be defeated by Rogue and Mimic.[7]
Icemaster was later transferred to Pace Federal Penitentiary and was among the 100,000 prisoners taking Borya Chic's offer to kill Gambit (who had broken into Pace Federal Penitentiary) for $1,000,000.00 or $1,000.00 for aiding in his death. Icemaster froze Gambit only to break free of the ice just as MI-13 and the Avengers Unity Squad arrive to defeat the prisoners.[8]
Powers and abilities
Icemaster can generate and control ice. He can create blasts of cold, ice missiles and walls of ice from ambient moisture, as well as forming sleet, snow, and freezing rain. Icemaster is also shown to reshape his hands into various weapons like maces.