Blizzard
Real Name: Gregor Shapanka.
AKA: Jack Frost
First appearance: As Jack Frost II, Tales of Suspense 45; as Blizzard,
Iron Man 86.
Died in: Amazing Spider-Man Annual 20.
What's His Problem? A brilliant scientist, Gregor Shapanka
was a greedy, ambitious man who envied the success of his employer,
millionaire playboy inventor Anthony Stark (secretly Iron Man, Stark's
supposed bodyguard). Fired for stealing from Stark but spared criminal
charges out of respect for his achievements, Shapanka struck back using
his unique refrigeration devices to attack Stark as the super-criminal
Jack Frost. Years later, Shapanka further refined his refrigeration
technology and assumed a new, deadlier criminal guise as The Blizzard.
Abilities: Shapanka turned his scientific and engineering genius toward exploring alternative uses for advanced refrigeration technology, eventually designing and constructing his Blizzard battle suit. For a time, Shapanka was able to manifest his Blizzard powers without his armor after an accident changed him into a sort of ice creature, but he later regained his human form and lost those powers through unrevealed means.
Weapons: Shapanka's Blizzard costume contains miniature refrigeration units capable of draining heat from the surrounding area almost instantaneously, creating freezing temperatures that can incapacitate normal, unshielded individuals. The costume's insulation protected Shapanka himself from the adverse effects of extreme cold.
Favorite quote: "By providing myself with a coating of ice armor--I may yet prove triumphant!" Iron Man 124. The preceding quote was one of Blizzard's wonkier ideas, and worked about as well as you'd think: in a contest of ice versus electromagnetically reinforced iron, Blizzard didn't stand a snowball's chance (never mind how he mustered the strength or mobility for fisticuffs from inside a super-thick bodily shell of solid ice; but I digress...)
Heroes He Kept Running Into: Shapanka battled Spider-Man twice and also ran afoul of Daredevil and the Hulk, but his eternal nemesis was Iron Man. Though he got his licks in (and darn near killed Iron Man in his first outing as Blizzard), Shapanka was trounced by Stark ad nauseam, climaxing in Shapanka's unfortunate encounter with the alternate future Iron Man of 2020. Blizzard attacked, believing IM 2020 to be his old foe, and the no-nonsense future Iron Man blasted him dead on the spot. A sadly senseless demise for one of Marvel's veteran villains; the dying Shapanka should have at least been given the chance to utter those immortal lines, "I'm melting...melting!....all my beautiful evil...What a world, what a world..." (Editorial note: Sean neglects to mention that Blizzard got whacked right when he got a truly spiffy new costume, after a decade or so in the classic blue-with-icicle-trimming get-up. The cold, inhuman waste of it all...)
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: Truth to tell, Blizzard was a cold-blooded, egomaniacal creep. He had business associates, like his sometime employer, Justin Hammer, and occasional partners like Electro and the Melter, but he wasn't the sorta fella folks (ahem!) warmed up to.
Most Despicable Act: Viciously assaulting Iron Man and leaving him for dead in Iron Man 86-87. Ol' Shellhead barely escaped with his life.
What's The Blizzard Been Up To Since His Death? Uniquely for Marvel, Shapanka remains quite deceased. However, the costume lives on. It's since been used by two small-time thugs, neither of whom was in Shapanka's league in terms of either skill or sangfroid. They'd both ditched the suit at last report, and Tony Stark (perhaps hoping to succeed with them where he failed with Shapanka) had taken a reformatory interest in both men before his own death.
by Sean McQuaid
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