Charcoal (comics)
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Charcoal is a Marvel Comics character and member of the Thunderbolts who was created by a comic book fan for a "Create-A-Villain" contest sponsored by Marvel and Wizard Magazine.
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[edit] Character History
Charles "Charlie" Burlingame's father moved around a great deal and had trouble finding work, until he attended a rally of the Imperial Forces of America. The elder Burlingame joined that organization and took his son with him. Arnim Zola, working for the Imperial Forces, discovered that Charlie possessed the genetic potential to develop superhuman powers and facilitated the youngster's transformation into Charcoal, the Burning Man. As part of a group called the Bruiser Brigade, Charcoal fought the Thunderbolts as an enemy, but joined the team soon after.
He was subsequently killed in battle with Graviton; this was because Marvel had not properly secured the rights to the character [1].
[edit] Superhuman powers
Charlie Burlingame can transform into a being seemingly composed of charcoal. He has the ability to manipulate heat and reshape himself into any carbon form, including flaming incendiary or rock-hard diamond.
[edit] Film
Charcoal appears with cameo in X-Men:The Last Stand
[edit] Trivia
- Charcoal was created to be a villain, by means of a Wizard magazine contest. However, Wizard Entertainment failed to establish certain legal specifics in the language of their contest rules, leaving the ownership of the character's copyright in question. (Normally in such a situation, steps would be taken to ensure that, unless otherwise stated, such a character's copyright would legally belong to the comic's publisher.) Furthermore, Wizard Entertainment reportedly failed to provide the contest winner with other prizes promised along with the winning character's appearance in a Marvel comic. Feeling undercompensated, Charcoal's creator attempted to legally claim the copyright for the character from Marvel, which reacted by asking then Thunderbolts writer Fabian Nicieza to kill Charcoal off and remove the character from contention.
- It is notable that only the superhuman form, powers, and the name "Charcoal" were created by the contest winner--his "normal" form of an African-American teenager, the name "Charlie Burlingame", and all aspects of his personality and origins were created by Thunderbolts writers Kurt Busiek and Nicieza. Nicieza has stated that he has an idea of how to bring back "Charlie Burlingame" without bringing back "Charcoal".
