Baron Death - retconned "Golden Age" villain 2021 Appreciation \

[MajorHoy]

First appearance = Steel, The Indestructible Man #1 (March 1978)


No, he wasn't responsible for the explosion that resulted in Hank Heywood becoming Steel or anything, but a few pages into the story we get this page:


But after that: nothing, except for a headshot of Baron Death in the bottom corner of the last page of the story:


But . . . whatever became of the Baron?!?
As far as I'm aware, he never appeared in any other stories.
(Now whether that was because of Steel being cancelled after issue #5 due to the "DC Implosion" or maybe Gerry Conway just forgot about him, I have no idea.)

[DrNewGod]

Yikes. TBH, I'm not all that surprised that nobody picked up for future use. Neither the name nor the costume design are all that compelling.

[MajorHoy]

Yikes. TBH, I'm not all that surprised that nobody picked up for future use. Neither the name nor the costume design are all that compelling.

Yeah, he may not be that memorable (except in minds like mine), but he would have been an interesting possibility to throw in to a story since he was already in the U.S. to wreak havoc.

[Dr. Poison]

Did the Baron have any powers or special weapons?

[DrNewGod]

Yeah, he may not be that memorable (except in minds like mine), but he would have been an interesting possibility to throw in to a story since he was already in the U.S. to wreak havoc.

Yeah, and Roy Thomas didn't leave any other corner of the Golden Age he could access (including Steel's retrofit) unmined. From that point of view, it is at least a little surprising we never saw him in All-Star Squadron.

[MajorHoy]

Did the Baron have any powers or special weapons?

Not that we know of, but that one page was really all we got of him.

[Restingvoice]

The costume can always be modernized, but even if they do that, my first reaction on seeing him will still be "is this Starman?" so they'll need to work on the logo too

Wait I just realized this thread is talking about Baron Death

The same answer then, except I'd ask "is this Captain Nazi?"

[MajorHoy]

. . . The same answer then, except I'd ask "is this Captain Nazi?"

No.

This is Captain Nazi:

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...Fawcett-Comics

[Dr. Poison]

Not that we know of, but that one page was really all we got of him.

So there's a lot that could be developed with this villain.