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Background
The Molten Man was known for a good portion of his life as Mark Raxton, a
lab assistant for Spencer Smythe (inventor of the Spider slayers), and the
stepbrother of Liz Allen, a longtime friend of Peter Parker. One night,
Raxton stole a strange metallic alloy derived from an organic meteor he and
his boss had been experimenting on. Raxton, however, spilled the alloy all
over his body, transforming him into the Molten Man! The metal alloy made his
skin inpervious to damage, gave him super-human strength and granted him the
ability to increase his body temperature to super-heated degrees.
Raxton spent most of his supervillain career seeking desperately to find a
way to reverse his condition. After a fight at the suburban home of the
now-married Liz Allen Osborn, a quick dousing into the pool put out his
fire. Since then, Raxton has worked side by side with Spider-Man more than
once. While still a bit of a (ahem) hothead, Raxton seems to have switched
to the side of the angels... at least for now.
Life has not been easy for Mark Raxton, as his dysfunctional family and
criminal past has caused him countless headaches. His brother in law gave him a
job at the Osborn Chemical factory, but this seeming struck of luck turned bad.
He was coerced by Tombstone into stealing an experimental plant
preservation chemical called DIOX-3 from Osborn Chemical. The robbery was
foiled by Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, as Harry Osborn was attempting
to reform himself at the time. Spider-Man vouched for Mark's innocence when the
police arrived and Harry gave him a job as head of security at the factory.
As Harry's sanity continued to fall apart, Spidey asked Mark to keep an eye on
him. Harry kidnapped Mark, Liz Allan and Norman Osborn, Jr, and
forced them to sit together at dinner as a family. As Harry ranted and raved
about how the Osborns would rule New York, Raxton activated a spider tracer
that Spider-Man had given him, which alerted Spidey to the danger. After Harry
beat the Molten Man into submission for alerting Spider-Man, the Goblin was
defeated and sent to prison.
Mark was sent to an Osborn factory in California by Harry (after he got out of
prison) and wasnt able to aid Spidey when Harry and Peter had their final
battle. He was much more helpful when Norman Jr was kidnapped by a trio of
robotic Goblin women. Harry created the robots to kidnap and expose his young
son to the Green Goblin formula, not knowing that the chemicals were toxic. Liz
called her step brother to watch Spider-Man and Daily Bugle reporter Ben
Urich's backs. He protected Urich as Spidey battled the Goblin robots and
destroyed the mind control device that Harry used on Liz.
Mark was next used as a pawn by Norman Osborn, who used mind control to
make Raxton attempt to assassinate Alison Mongrain, whom Norman considered
a threat to
his plans. Mark was stopped at the last minute, when Robbie Robertson got
rid of the homing device that allowed the Molten Man to follow them.
Raxton continued trying to turn his life into a more postive direction by
becoming a mentor to a young boy, but this backfired when the Chameleon
threatened to kill the boy unless the Molten Man agreed to join the Deadly Foes
of Spider-Man (made up of Swarm, Will O the Whisp, Electro and
Scarecrow). He reluctantly agreed but was defeated.
Thanks To:
Some of the above information is extracted from the various
versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent
Marvel Encyclopaedias.
The assistance of the
Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
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