Publication History
The character debuted in Tales of Suspense #47 (Nov. 1963) as an industrialist who specializes in providing munitions to the United States government. After an initial encounter with hero Iron Man, the character reappears in Avengers #6 (Jul. 1964) as part of supervillain team the Masters of Evil. A version of the Masters of Evil return in Avengers #15 - 16 (Apr. - May 1965), with the Melter being jailed.
The Melter reappears to battle Iron Man in Tales of Suspense 89 - 90 (May - Jun. 1967), and then Avengers #54 - 55 (Jul. - Aug. 1968) as part of the next version of the Masters of Evil (formed without the villains knowledge by the robot Ultron) and again in Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970). The character becomes a perennial villain in the title Iron Man, appearing in issues #72 (Jan. 1974); #92 (Nov. 1976) and #123 - 124 (Jun. - Jul. 1979) and #127 (Oct. 1979).
After another attempt to sabotage the company Stark International in Iron Man #166 (Jan. 1983), the character reappears in Marvel Two-in-One #96 (Feb. 1983) before being assassinated during the Scourge of the Underworld storyline in Avengers #263 (Jan. 1986). As writer Mike Conroy stated "Bruno Horgan was one of those villains who suited simpler times...Times moved on, though, and Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's creation didn't. Despite numerous upgrades to his weaponry, the Melter was never a major player."
Long-time Marvel writer Roger Stern recalled:
| “ | ...Mark Gruenwald had complied a list of villains who were either less than inspired or had outlived their welcome. I picked the Melter because he was such a doof. There had been maybe one good Melter story...which had been repeated over and over again by various writers. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with the name. | ” |
The character also made several posthumous appearances in the titles Fantastic Four; X-O Manowar/Iron Man: Heavy Metal; and Avengers.
Another character using the name "Melter" debuted during the Dark Reign storyline in the limited series Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 - 5 (July - Dec. 2009).
Read more about this topic: Melter
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