The Crimson Dynamo armor was created by Soviet scientist Dr. Anton Vanko, who was both feared and despised by his nation's dictatorial leaders. Vanko was assigned to commit acts of sabotage against Tony Stark's industrial empire thereby crippling America's military defenses. Challenging Stark's alter-ego, Iron Man, as the Crimson Dynamo, Vanko was defeated and persuaded by deception to defect. Hired by Stark as his chief electronics research engineer, Vanko was targeted for execution by his former Soviet masters.
Soviet spies, Natasha Romanov (Black Widow II) and Boris Turgenov, were sent to America to assassinate Vanko, but instead Turgenov kidnapped the scientist and donned the Crimson Dynamo armor to defeat Iron Man. Rescuing Vanko, Iron Man and the scientist setout to defeat the Soviet spies. In a last desperate attempt to stop Turgenov, Vanko used an untested laser weapon which lead to the apparent death of both men. For her failure to destroy Iron Man, the Black Widow was forced into exile to avoid execution.
The next appearance of the Crimson Dynamo would be an invention of Cord Industries scientist Alex Niven, who had changed has last name from Nevsky. Nevsky was an assistant of the first Crimson Dynamo, Dr. Vanko. When Vanko defected his friends and associates in the Soviet Union were repressed. Nevsky fled to the United States and plotted his vengeance against Stark and Iron Man. Nevsky would separately battle both Tony Stark and Eddie March, a professional boxer who had to quit the ring, but stood in as Iron Man for Stark when he temporarily retired due to health concerns. Nevsky was also being pursued by the Titanium Man, and armored agent of the Soviet Union. The Soviets desired Nevsky's genius to build an armor capable of destroying Iron Man. A battle between the three armored warriors resulted in the death of Janice Cord, the woman loved by both Stark and Nevsky, when the Titanium Man used his High-Voltage Electric-Beam. Nevsky swore vengeance upon Iron Man for interfering and causing Cord's death. Nevsky would eventually be executed as a traitor by the Soviet Union.
The next Crimson Dynamo, Yuri Petrovitch, was assigned to apprehend his defector father and the Black Widow, who was then serving as a member of the superhero team known as the Champions. Failing to complete his mission he was imprisoned in Siberia.
After Petrovitch was relieved of his armor, espionage agent Dimitri Bukharin became the Crimson Dynamo and was assigned duty as a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers to spy on the group. After his mission was discovered he was expelled from the team. Bukharin served as a solo agent until a disastrous encounter in the United States with the former Soviet agent known as the Titanium Man. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bukharin became the hero known as Airstrike.
Bukharin's failure in the United States was engineered by the former Soviet politician, Valentin Shatalov, who desired the armor for himself. After acquiring the armor, Shatalov formed a group dedicated to reclaiming the former glory of the Soviet Union called Remont 4.
The Crimson Dynamo would not been seen again until years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when student Gennady Gavrilov unearthed an armor's helmet stored away in a government building remotely reactivating a prototype armor.
Over the years various others wore Crimson Dynamo armors acquired on the black market by criminals. In one incident an early model was activated as part of a program developed by the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear war, but the armor seems to be currently back under the control of the Russian government and is piloted by a soldier working in the interest of the Russian people as the Crimson Dynamo.
Current Dynamo:
Galina Nemirovsky
Former Crimson Dynamos:
Anton Vanko
Boris Turgenov
Alex Nevsky
Yuri Petrovich
Dimitri Buhkarin
Valentin Shatolov
Gregor Valski
Gennady Dmitrievich Gavrilov
Boris Vadim
