NITRO (Robert Hunter)
Created By: Jim Starlin & Steve Englehart
First Appearance: Captain Marvel #34 (Sept. 1974)
Role: Mid-Tier Villain
PL 11 (131)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Technology 4 (+7)
Advantages:
Improved Critical (Blast Punch), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2
Powers:
"Explode & Reform"
"Living Bomb" Damage 11 (Extras: 120ft. Burst +3) (Quirks: Not Every Round -2) (42) -- [44]
- AE: "Hand Blast" Damage 11 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (Quirks: Not Every Round -2) (20)
- AE: "Blast Punch" Strength-Damage +9 (9)
Features 1: May Spend a Hero Point to Increase Area Effects' Range [1]
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Area Attacks +11 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Blast Punch +8 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5
Complications:
Power Loss (Explosions)- Though Nitro can explode easily, anything that prevents him from reforming will prevent him from exploding again. If a portion of his body is kept apart from the rest, he will become trapped and unable to reform. He can also not explode indiscriminately- when Iron Man controlled him to explode repeatedly, he passed out from the strain.
Reputation (The Stamford Killer)- Not only are several heroes gunning for the guy due to killing a few of The New Warriors, Nitro is hunted by the general public, and the people of Atlantis.
Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 51 / Defenses: 12 (131)
-Straight outta Scranton, Pennsylvania, Nitro had some experiments forced upon him by the Kree, and of course then became an evil super-villain opposing Captain Marvel. A low-level villain, he was nonetheless responsible for Mar-Vell developing his rare form of cancer- one of his Blasts blew up a canister containing some carcinogenic gases, poisoning the hero and dooming him to a long death. Despite being responsible for the death of a great hero, he was basically used as a Villain Whore, generally pairing off with every hero in the Marvel Universe at least once. His opponents included Omega the Unknown, Spider-Man, Skids (his body could not re-form inside Skids' Force Field), Iron Man, and more.
-He was generally under-utilized until the opening portion of Marvel's giga-event Civil War- teaming up with a group of forgotten super-villains, he was attacked by The New Warriors, and since his powers were hopped-up by super-drugs, he exploded with MUCH more force than normal, killing six-hundred people (including sixty children) and the heroes Namorita, Night Thrasher & Microbe. The idea of some under-trained kids going up against lethal super-villains in a public space ended up being the spark that ignited the Superhuman Registration Act, causing the Civil War. He escaped punishment at first, but was soon maimed by Wolverine and imprisoned by Namor for his crimes (since Namorita was his cousin). He has since popped up in mostly background scenes (with Penance/Speedball punishing him once more for Stamford), as despite having the one-two punch of having been responsible for killing FOUR super-heroes (making him more deadly than Doctor Doom, Magneto, Apocalypse and the Kingpin combined, if you wear tights), he still has zero character beyond "villain who blows up", so nobody really feels like using him.
-Nitro has a very high-powered Area Effect (if boosted, it can be INSANELY powerful, since it takes over such a large range- the one at the start of Civil War was HUGE and more strong enough to one-shot Namorita (who's pretty tough). He doesn't have much else to him, and his power is easily-nullified by a smart character- pretty much the #1 most-common way Nitro loses is somebody prevents him from reforming, like quickly trapping his gaseous after-form in something before he can regenerate.