Ion (Marvel Comics)
| Ion | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Machine Man #15 (June 1980) |
| Created by | Tom DeFalco and Steve Ditko |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Voletta Todd |
| Team affiliations | Femizons |
| Abilities | Body composed of living ionized gas, can manipulate electromagnetic energy, flight |
Ion (Voletta Todd) is a fictional supervillain character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Fictional character biography
Voletta Todd was born in Augusta, Georgia. She was the niece of World War II superhero, the Blazing Skull. Voletta became a nuclear physicist and was transformed by an experiment gone wrong, caught in an explosion of electromagnetically charged gas, and transformed into a living cloud of ionized plasma and hydrogen gas. This condition has made her bitter, often leading to violent behavior. She battled Machine Man, the Human Torch, and the Thing, and was sealed in a cryogenic tube.[1]
Some time later, she escaped and became a professional criminal. She later appeared among an army of female superhumans gathered by Superia as her Femizons. alongside the other female superhumans, she battled Captain America and Paladin.[2]
Ion was later defeated by the Whizzer and Doctor Spectrum, who brought her back to Project Pegasus.[3]
Powers and abilities
Voletta Todd was transformed into a being of ionized hydrogen gas by the explosion of an electromagnetically charged gas. She requires a special suit of synthetic stretch fabric incorporating unstable molecules and devices which strengthen and maintain the electromagnetic field which defines her humanoid form. She has the ability to exist as sentient ionized hydrogen gas surrounded by her electromagnetic field, which can be easily disrupted by a sufficiently powerful electric current -- without her special containment suit costume, Ion exists as a formless cloud of ionized gas. Exposure to extreme cold can return Ion to human form.
She has the ability to fire bolts of electromagnetic energy, the ability to imbue metal objects with electromagnetic energy, and the ability to capture opponents in her electromagnetic field. She also has the ability to control her body and parts thereof in gas form while her head is not solid and her mind only exists in astral form. She is able to manipulate electromagnetic fields, project electromagnetic energy, and levitate herself or objects, as well as sense the atomic composition of matter.
Voletta Todd has a gifted intellect and a Ph. D. in nuclear physics. She is an extremely gifted nuclear physicist specializing in hydrogen fusion.