Japan's Greatest Hero: Shiro Yoshida aka SUNFIRE! Appreciation 2019

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Iron Man #68 Jun 1974
"Night of the Rising Sun!" Guest-starring Sunfire.
Iron Man helps lead Roxanne's expedition through Vietnam to find Marty March with the hesitant cooperation of the Vietnamese.
As they reach the village of An Thoc they find it in flames. Iron Man berates a Vietnamese major whose men fire at them.
As the major fumes over working with the USA, the Japanese hero Sunfire arrives.

Sunfire explains that he is in Vietnam on behalf of Japan to assist in reconstruction.
The major cannily tells Sunfire to eliminate Iron Man to help his country;
Sunfire is eager to cooperate, knowing that Tony Stark rivals Japan's manufacturers.
Meanwhile, in a base below the Pacific Ocean, the Mandarin is still trapped within the Unicorn's body
and has constructed a Mind-Transfer Machine to restore himself to normal.
However, the machine's power source is insufficient.
Roxanne and Iron Man's search is interrupted by Sunfire's arrival.

In the middle of their fight, the Mandarin teleports Sunfire to his base.
Iron Man tracks them down, but the Mandarin fires a missile at him which cracks the plexi-glass shields covering his mask's eye and mouth holes.
Unwilling to risk them bursting under the increasing sea pressure, Iron Man flees.
The Mandarin hooks Sunfire up to his Mind-Transfer Machine and uses his mutant ability to power it.
Mandarin successfully returns to his own body while the Unicorn's body is left inert.

Iron Man arrives at a Stark Industries complex in the Philippines where he manufactures a new mask, complete with a nose.
He then heads back for a rematch with the Mandarin.

Story by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito.

[stormphoenix]

How fast can Sunfire fly???

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Iron Man #69 Aug 1974
"Confrontation!" Guest-starring Sunfire.
Iron Man breaks into the Mandarin's base and battles him,

but a flame blast from the Mandarin's rings sets him alight.
The Mandarin flees, but first causes his base to sink back below the waves.

At Stark Industries, Pepper meets with Eddie and tells him that Iron Man has gone to help look for Marty.
Happy arrives. Determined to save their marriage, he hands Pepper a note that he thinks holds the solution.
In Vietnam, Roxanne walks through a village that is suddenly blasted apart by artillery, despite the cease-fire.
A shadowy figure pulls her into a cave to save her and she is surprised to see her rescuer is Marty March himself.
Iron Man heads underwater to rescue Sunfire.

However, upon his return to the surface the Mandarin ambushes him with a karate blow that
knocks him unconscious in mid-flight, causing him to propel straight up and toward outer space.
In China, the Yellow Claw explores the Mandarin's fortress arsenal, but a nearby mountain begins to erupt;
the Mandarin has returned to reclaim his home and has reawakened Ultimo!

Story by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito.

[AdamFTF]

Kind of surprised Sunfire isn't in the new Agents of Atlas. They don't have any representatives from Japan.

[K7P5V]

Probably his demeanor rubs certain individuals the wrong way, but I thought Sunfire acquitted himself rather well as a member of the Avengers' Unity Squad.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Iron Man #70 Sep 1974
"Who Shall Stop...Ultimo?" Guest-starring Sunfire.
Iron Man is shot into orbit. He's picked up on radar by an American missile defense station
who believes it's an attack from China, so they launch anti-ballistic missiles.
Iron Man destroys them and returns to China


where Mandarin makes his way into his fortress.
In Vietnam, Marty shows Roxanne the Hidden City he helped build.
At Stark Industries, Happy patches things up with Pepper by taking the head of security force job at Stark Industries.
Mandarin fights Yellow Claw's mutations then destroys a Yellow Claw robot with the resulting explosion apparently killing Mandarin.
Yellow Claw orders Loc Do to remove the body, but he steals the ten rings instead.
Iron Man helps Sunfire defeat Ultimo

making Sunfire rethink his stance on Americans.
He then heads off to fight Yellow Claw as Sunfire goes home.

Story by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito.

[Phoenixx9]

How fast can Sunfire fly???

I don't know, but I believe that when he flies, a force-field of some sort surrounds him automatically protecting him to a slight degree from physical and energy assaults.

[rdman]

I am surprised marvel has not brought him out for Agents of Atlas as a major Asian mutant/x_men character. And why is he not representing Krakoa for Asia as oppose to Gorgon? He was used as a supporting role in Avengers. I hope Shiro will make an appearance with the X-men at some point.

[DragonsChi]

I am surprised marvel has not brought him out for Agents of Atlas as a major Asian mutant/x_men character. And why is he not representing Krakoa for Asia as oppose to Gorgon? He was used as a supporting role in Avengers. I hope Shiro will make an appearance with the X-men at some point.

Was he not dead when that series first dropped?


He may be alive now due to the happenings of Power of X but before.....

[Anduinel]

Shiro's AOA look is getting a Marvel Legends figure.

[ChronoRogue]

Probably his demeanor rubs certain individuals the wrong way, but I thought Sunfire acquitted himself rather well as a member of the Avengers' Unity Squad.

That's because of Roguefire friendship. <3

But anyway, I hope to see Shiro somewhere in the Dawn of X Wave 2 line-ups. For a character that's been around since the ANAD team, he's never really been on an X-team proper. I know he's very patriotic, but I'm curious to see if he'd have a dissenting perception to Krakoa, especially since everyone seems to be blindly drinking the Kool-Aide right now.

[Glio]

Sunfire, Justice or Collective Man seem too loyal to their respective countries to join Krakoa.

[Anduinel]

Tiny Sunfire cameo in X-Force today:

[raidensix]

Has his sister been resurrected on Krakoa?

[Heroine Addict]

For the DoX #1's, Bagley "Every Mutant Ever" variants, Shiro was included on the one for Marauders:

And I think his sister might've been also, on one of the others.