Contents 1 HistoryEdit 1.1 Early Solo Adventures 1.2 Invaders 1.3 Modern Era 2 Powers and AbilitiesEdit 2.1 Powers 2.2 Strength level 3 NotesEdit 4 LinksEdit 4.1 Discover and Discuss 4.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

Early Solo Adventures

Foreign correspondent Mark Todd, assigned by his newspaper to cover the Second Sino-Japanese War, is forced to take refuge in a cave during an artillery bombardment by the Japanese. There he meets the Skull Men, a strange race with burning skulls for heads. They inform him he has been chosen by the forces of destiny to be the champion of freedom, and they begin his training, which grants him abilities such as invulnerability to fire. Once his training is completed, he returns home and, motivated by the horrors of Nazism, dons a uniform with a flaming mask (in honor of the Skull Men), taking the name "The Blazing Skull". (As time passes and he continues to master the Skull Men's teachings, he gains the ability to turn his flesh invisible, mimicking his teachers' appearance, and stops using the mask.)

In his earliest recorded adventure, the Blazing Skull smuggled himself into Nazi Germany in the early days of 1941. He was sent by his friend Powell to destroy an enervating gas being created by a Nazi scientist named Metzer. Although he was captured and tortured by Adolf Hitler himself, the Blazing Skull remained brave and mocked Hitler to the point where the dictator fled the room in tears. Breaking free from his bonds, the Blazing Skull destroyed Metzer's lab and fled into the night^[1].

Arriving in England, the Mark stumbled upon a Nazi plot to assassinate British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he was scheduled to take a secret flight over Germany. The Blazing Skull managed to rescue Churchill from behind enemy lines and return him safely to Britain, where he was commended for his bravery^[2].

Returning to the United States, the Blazing Skull began taking more on more typical costumed heroics, battling criminals on the home front. The first of these adventures was capturing a crook who was robbing a museum by posing as a statue during the day and robbing it at night^[3]. Later, he would stop the murder spree of Mister Fear, whose face was so horrible it frightened his victims to death^[4]. In his last recorded solo adventure of the 40s, the Blazing Skull paid a visit to family friend "Old Man" Lester, and exposed Killer Brogan was posing as Lester in order to rob a bank^[5].

Invaders

Soon afterwards, Todd comes into contact with the World War II superhero team, the Invaders, and aids them against a team of Axis superhumans, saving the life of Namor the Sub-Mariner. He also fights alongside the team during a massed Allied superhuman airdrop into a Nazi stronghold.

As the war in Europe comes to a close, the Blazing Skull teams up with Union Jack and the Destroyer to break up an enemy spy-ring in England.

Modern Era

The Blazing Skull later appears in modern times as a captive of Middle Eastern terrorists, having not aged in the decades since the war due to his healing factor. He is freed by the U.S. Agent, who recruits him into a new, present-day version of the Invaders. He has related that between the war and the present he has fought as a superhero at different times in different places, even using different names, such as the Smoking Head during the 1960s.

He is now a member of the Defenders with Nighthawk and is part of the 50-State Initiative.^[6]

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Long-term exposure has granted Todd the ability to make himself a living flaming skeleton. In this form he possesses superhuman strength, can generate heat and flame, and incredibly durable. In his normal form he no longer seems to age and can go at least several days without food or water.

Todd also possesses a healing factor which has caused him to have not physically aged at all since the Second World War.

Originally Todd possessed limited control over fire while wearing his mask, as well as enhanced strength.

Power Grid [7]
Intelligence	2
Strength	4
Speed	2
Durability	6
Energy Projection	3
Fighting Skills	4

Strength level

Strength level 10 Tons

NotesEdit

The Blazing Skull debuted in "The Story of Mark Todd", a nine-page tale in the comic that also introduced cover character the Black Marvel and fellow superhero The Terror. He continued to appear in Mystic Comics through issue #9 (May 1941), with at least one story ("The Thing", in #8) confirmed to have been penciled by Golden Age great Syd Shores.

A simulacrum of the Blazing Skull was briefly appeared, along with those of the Patriot, the Fin, and the Golden Age Angel and Vision, to aid the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers Vol 1, #97 (March 1972).

The actual Blazing Skull starred in a solo period adventure, set during World War II, in Midnight Sons Unlimited #9 (May 1995). Nearly 10 years later, he reintroduced into modern-day continuity in the four-part story arc "Once an Invader" in The Avengers Vol 3, #82-84 (July-Sept. 2004) and in the quirkily numbered New Invaders #0 (Aug. 2004). The Blazing Skull appeared through the final issue, New Invaders #9 (June 2005).

Confusingly, a separate character, Jim Scully, also known as Skull the Slayer, was depicted as an unrelated and differently designed Blazing Skull in Quasar #46 (May 1993), as part of the group Shock Troop.

LinksEdit

• 33 Appearances of Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• 6 Images featuring Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• Quotations by or about Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Mark Todd (Earth-616) 
• Blazing Skull at Toonopedia

Discover and Discuss

• Search this site for: Blazing Skull · Mark Anthony Todd · Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• Search the Forums for: Blazing Skull · Mark Anthony Todd · Mark Todd (Earth-616)
• Discuss this and other characters on the forums

Footnotes

1. ↑ Mystic Comics #5
2. ↑ Mystic Comics #6
3. ↑ Mystic Comics #7
4. ↑ Mystic Comics #8
5. ↑ Mystic Comics #9
6. ↑ Last Defenders #1
7. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2