Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Wildfire

Wildfire....Do we ever see him punch anyone ever? I don't recall any such moments, he always blasts with his enti-energy. In The Legion of Super-Heroes #283(January 1982) its mentioned that he's able to perform amazing feats of strength, agility and metamorphosis. How much of these powers is he considered to have lost after emptying out his containment suit when he fought the Devourer (Agriculture eating machine)? He can't metamorphosis any more and duplicate other powers, but is he still considered to have the Super Strength, Agility and Invulnerability. Seems to me he does, but I would like to clairify that.

This sentance I read in the Encyclopedia Galactica section of this web site.

"He waived personal combat training, as none of his containment suits allow for complex enough movements necessary for effective use of the more sophisticated techniques."

Has anyone every seen Wildfire get into a brawling Hand-to-Hand fight? The above indicates he hasn't had any training in hand-to-hand combat.

I think at one point it's stated that he's the strongest Legionnaire, short of the Kryptonian class members. I don't recall anything offhand of him engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but I believe there are examples of him lifting heavy stuff.

Who needs to fight hand to hand when you can blast 'em with Anti-Energy?

I remember recently re-reading Drake's first appearance (as ERG-1) and how he displayed more super powers than I ever saw him shown as using as Wildfire. I can't remember them all offhand, but there sure was an ASS of them! Anyone know why that changed after he was brought back? (Other than the writers not wanting him to become Mr. Deus Ex Machina, of course!) Any in-comic explanation or, contrarily, examples where he DID use that range of powers again?

The in-comic explanation was that only Professor Vultan's original Wildfire suit gave him that range of powers. Brainiac Five's duplicate suits didn't work as well.

I've started statting Wildfire for my Legion rpg and it raised some questions. I was inclined to give him a mid level invulnerabilty, mid level super agility, though higher when flying and some super strength based on the way I recall seeing him presented.

The strength ranges to consider are:
Good/6: 320 lbs.
Excellent/7: 640 lbs.
Remarkable/8: 1,280 lbs.
Astonishing/9: 2,560 lbs
Heroic/10: 5,120 lbs.
Powerful/11: 10,240

What would you folks suggest based on our readings?

Ive never really seen him display great agility unless he was flying, anyone else have a different opinion?

I guess I've always saw him as one of the more powerful Legionnaires, thus as long as its reaconably accurate I'd like to think he is a little below Ultra Boy, but still one of the top guns.

Opinions?

The only time I can remember him punching anyone was during the Great Darkness.. he punched the Servant Guardian of the Universe.. although he had yellow anti-energy surrounding his fists at the time.

In S&LSH #225 there is a mostly shadow brawl between Wildfire and Superboy and in the same issue it is implied he has some sort of telescopic vision still which he uses to track down the Resource Raiders.

Then S&LSH #227 he and Superboy are shown punching Pulsar Stargrave into a nearby sun.

I think when he was in that alt-dimension with Jacques and the fake Lyle, he *may* have taken a swing at Jacques. Of course, he seemed to be in human form at the time.

otherwise, I can recall no punch.

He originally had Kryptonian level powers *and* could grow like Colossal Boy, in addition to shooting ridiculously powerful energy blasts, in the first suit. I think he even went intangible and walked through a wall, at one point. He might as well have been the Composite Superman...

The suits made by Brainy, a million times smarter than the guy who made that first suit, are inexplicably incapable of any of these stunts. [From a 'meta' narrative standpoint, he pretty much needed to be toned down.]

But he has no need to punch someone.

He shoots (and is made of) energized anti-matter plasma. Anti-matter explosions are four orders of magnitude more powerful than nuclear fission, making one of those explosion where his whole 'body' blows out of his uniform 10,000x the potency of a nuclear warhead the size of his body. (or ten orders of magnitude greater than chemical explosives, so assuming an 180 lb. 'mass' he'd detonate with the force of 1,800,000,000,000 lbs (or 900 million tons) of C4. (Note that these numbers assume that he is in a place with material for his anti-energy to react with. In the vacuum of space, he'd make much less of a boom, as the free-floating atoms of hydrogen and such would be few and far between. The results might be more like a hand grenade, than an atom bomb... He'd explode nicely in atmosphere, and even more spectacularly in denser atmospheres, such as underwater.)

In Drake's case, being 'the most powerful Legionnaire' has nothing to do with how much he can bench-press.

If anything, punching someone could be a bad idea, as he could crack open the gauntlet of his containment suit on a suitably tough-skinned opponent (like the Silver Slasher) and, after the explosion, be helpless.

I DO remember that punch with Superboy against Pulsar Stargrave!

I always found that odd too ... but then Wildfire was one of those characters I tried not to think too much about in terms of plausibility ... he was one of my favorite during the original Levitz/Giffen run ... the scene when he blew himself up after Dawny left to seek her soulmate always stuck with me ...

But, to stay on topic ... I don't remember off-hand if he ever punched anyone ...

As the Stargrave punch with Superboy was mentioned, only then did I recall it. I'm just trying to stat the character for the game and my research was lacking. I had always considered him to be one of the more powerful Legionnaires and I'll having to categorize him in a grouping based on overal power, skills, and traits. I'd like him to be put in the highest of these four groupings if possible, along with Superboy, Supergirl, Mon'el, Ultra Boy and maybe Blok. That is of coarse if wildfire appears to be in the same league as the rest of them.

The next group below that would be individuals such as the three founders, maybe Element Lad and Sun Boy or Star Boy as well.

Anyone ever wonder how Drake would make out power-wise if the energy that makes up his unstable form were put to use other than in a human form body containment suit to act as a hero (by his own choice)?

I mean if you think about it he could basically "possess" the circuitry of a interstellar battle cruiser, let's say, and turn it into a powerful mega monster battlecruiser capable of now quickly dispatching any invading unknown alien forces, etc.
Or how about assist a scientist by donating his energy into an instrument designed to, oh I dunno, cut through the core of a planet or sun or something? Can you imagine how Wildfire could influence any man-made instrument by amping up its power level?

I wonder why Drake was never utilized in this fashion in any past stories. Maybe no writer has thought to do so yet. Maybe someone should.

I remember a reference to him being one of the most powerful Legionnaires during the Earthwar story when he, Ultra Boy, Mon El and Superboy "contained" an explosion by surrounding the bomb.

Interesting...I have a twist on this in store in my fanfic.

Someone did use Wildfire as more of a power source. (I don't remember the specifics) It happened near the end of the twoboot Legion when he switched from the Coipel armor to the modified Cockrum suit. That look didn't stick though.

And I would say that WILDFIRE is absolutely among the heavy-hitters. He's there though solely because of the power of his anti-energy blasts - he's not extremely versatile. I would gauge his strength level as just below Ultra Boy's ultra strength for explosive strength, but probably not continued exersion.

Hm. I'd guess that for Drake to "inhabit" some other contraption, it would have to either be designed especially for him or modified specifically for his energy signature. Even if the device was designed to be powered by anti-matter energy, I'd assume that's no guarantee it could handle his sentient variety. I'd suspect he'd "fry" 99% (or more) of devices, ships, etc. he'd attempt to power.

There could also be a danger of the device using him up. Most machines (pretty much all, really) consume energy to make them work, so he'd have to be protected somehow.

I guess you can argue that Drake's energy is somehow renewable. After, all he's always blasting away baddies without any ill effects. But it seems to me he just kinda distributes it and probably collects it afterward. I don't think he's ever been shown to actually 'lose' what he expends.

I also wonder why he's helpless (and powerless) outside his containment suit. Apparently, he has to direct himself through the suit to be a threat. Always seemed kinda odd to me.

I also think that if he did inhabit a particular contraption and then use his energy, that energy would not be used up for good but rather be expelled and then gathered up from wherever it went (open space?) and re-assembled into that Erg energy mass allowing him to then re-enter his Wildfire suit.

Well, in the DCU anti-matter doesn't automatically explode when in contact with matter. The science of the DCU is rooted in physics theories from '50s and '60s. That's how an entire Anti-Matter Universe can exist and it's citizens/energy can exist in our Universe.

At the end of the story I mentioned above, Brainiac tells Wildfire that he actually did have a finite amount of energy to expend and that from that point on, the more energy he used, the more he was essentially killing himself. This was never a follow up to this though.

That would seem like something Lightning Lad / Lass would be able to do, not Drake. His anti-energy would destroy any man-made instrument it was shunted into, unless that instrument was made of anti-matter, or magnetically shielded from contact with the anti-energy (in which case it wouldn't be able to *use* that energy...).

It's kind of what makes Drake's personality work as established, that his power is purely destructive and annhilates / endangers anything he comes into contact with. The containment suit isn't to protect *him,* after all, it's to protect the rest of the universe from him.

Sun Boy, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, etc. can all generate incredible amounts of energy, and use them to power things or construct buildings or provide life-giving warmth and light, etc.

Wildfire is 10,000 nuclear bombs, walking around in the shape of a man, and I think it would detract from the pathos of the character if he was just like Sun Boy or Lightning Lad.

[snip]

Makes you wonder what would happen if he were to team up with a character like, say, the second Computo?



Also, I forget who previously mentioned this, so forgive me. I also would like to see Drake become adjusted, or more at peace with, the fact that he doesn't have his original corporeal from anymore. It might open up a little more of his character and even be a jumping-off point for him to be able to use his powers in other ways than the traditional one.

Wouldn't that ruin what makes the character unique? Wildfire to me screams of a character directly influenced by the Marvel-style of writing. He reminds me of The Thing or Rogue. His has an edge which differentiates him from the older members.

Frankly, I've always found those characters being eternal angst machines to be kind of tedious, too.

I'm not saying that it has to be a perfect transition and that the character has to be a beacon of peace and happiness all the time. Just... angst and alienation doesn't need to be the central focus of the character's life forever. Usually, when writers take a heroic character in a "new direction," what they really mean is, "turning the character into a doormat and/or a complete rat b*st*ard."

What would be wrong with a "new direction" in which the character actually became better rather than worse, for a change? Particularly in a futuristic environment where there might be species and/or cultures that didn't think of bodies and organic physical forms in the same way that humans traditionally do.