Dr. Chen LuRadioactive Man

Once China’s preeminent nuclear physicists, Dr. Chen Lu becomes an infamous super-being capable of radiation absorption and manipulation after experimenting on himself. His codename: Radioactive Man. 

While he starts out as a criminal, working for the likes of the Masters of Evil, he eventually reforms and joins the Thunderbolts. His life, though, continually toes the line between hero and villain.

Scientist Turned Superhuman

Born in Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China, Chen Lu grows up to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. When the United States-based Asgardian God of Thunder, Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, thwarts a Chinese military assault on India, China’s communist leaders charge their scientists to create a Chinese superhuman capable of defeating Thor. Unknown to his colleagues and superiors, Dr. Chen already dabbled in experimenting in this vein for quite some time, seeking a means of superhuman power via radiation. Secretly dreaming of world domination, Lu decides not to risk sharing his discoveries or the power with anyone else. He subjects himself to radiation treatments for many months in a custom-built secret laboratory staffed only by robots, gradually becoming immune to radiation poisoning. This experimentation culminates in a self-administered massive radiation dose, which finally gives him radiation-fueled super-powers. Dubbed the Radioactive Man, Chen Lu volunteers to go to America and attack Thor, but the thunder god defeats him and hurls him back to China, where he seemingly explodes.

Surviving, Dr. Chen decides to seek personal gain rather than serve the Chinese state, and he joins Baron Heinrich Zemo, AKA Baron Zemo’s Masters of Evil. The Avengers capture Zemo’s Masters, but Zemo never frees Chen Lu, who then becomes embittered towards the Baron. Escaping prison twice on his own, Radioactive Man is twice recaptured, first by Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, and later by the Avengers. 

When the mad robot Ultron frees Dr. Chen, he rejoins his Masters of Evil, but the Avengers and Dane Whitman, AKA Black Knight defeat them. He is later bested in a later battle by the Lady Liberators. Over time, Radioactive Man becomes mentally unstable, a side effect of his bodily radiation.

A Suite of Radioactive Powers

Radioactive Man can generate radiation and manipulate that energy for various effects. He possesses superhuman strength, lifting up to 2 tons. He can control infrared radiation or heat emission, sufficient to incinerate a city block at maximum strength as well as “hard” radiation emissions, which can inflict nausea, dizziness, and radiation poisoning symptoms. He can cast a blinding light and create hypnotic illumination that enables him to control viewers through verbal commands. Chen can also create destructive radioactive shock waves; generate microwaves, which he can transmit directly via radiation beams or remotely within nearby targets. He can also make force fields, apparently impenetrable, which have even repelled Thor’s hammer.

He can tailor his radioactive emissions for precise effects. He can spread a radioactive infection, emit time-released radiation that activates long after initial exposure, or generate radiation designed to affect only specified physiologies and not others (enabling a carrier to spread radiation to others without being afflicted by it).

Radioactive Man can absorb radiation from external sources, up to and including a nuclear bomb blast. However, he needs to purge excess radiation from his system after this sort of drastic intake to prevent damage to him physically or mentally. In recent times, technicians have periodically drained excess radiation from his system via special machines, greatly improving his mental and emotional stability. 

He can cleanse environments, objects, or beings of radiation by absorbing the energy into himself. By redirecting radiated heat, he can help suppress fires or at least reduce their destructive potential, though this action cannot douse any preexisting open flames. Chen Lu is also capable of detecting, tracing, and analyzing any radiation in his vicinity. He can create makeshift tracking devices by slightly irradiating an object, which results in traceable emissions. He can also emit low-level radiation that interfere with most listening devices and surveillance equipment, disrupt electrical systems, or block electronic transmissions. 

His bodily functions may be sustained by radiation, as he has proven capable of functioning without oxygen (for instance, operating underwater without breathing equipment). He can manipulate the physiologies of other radiation-powered super-beings if he can isolate their power wavelength, using this to drain their energies or inflict pain. With practice and concentration, he can also identify and manipulate radiation wavelengths that disrupt the energy-based powers of other super-beings, such as Karla Sofen, AKA Moonstone’s phasing abilities.

Chen Lu’s body emits radiation constantly, and these radiation levels increase with exertion. While he can dampen his power down to safe levels with conscious effort, he normally “leaks” residual radiation at a rate of roughly 50 millirads per hour (the average American is exposed to approximately 150 millirads per year). His traditional costume contains a device that dampens his ongoing emissions to extremely low levels, making it safe for unshielded people to be in his presence indefinitely. This null-radiation body harness was designed by Chen Lu and modified by Heinrich Zemo. The Radioactive Man’s skin is usually an iridescent green, but he can temporarily assume normal human flesh-tone appearance if his bodily energies are sufficiently dampened. He formerly carried an Adhesive X paste gun designed by Heinrich Zemo. 

Chen Lu is a brilliant nuclear physicist with knowledge in various other scientific fields, notably robotics and inter-spatial teleportation, and is an expert on mutations and the effects of radiation. In addition to his scientific background and radiation powers, Lu is proficient at hand-to-hand combat, and is bilingual, speaking both Chinese and English.

Heroic Opposition and Extremist Enemies

While he allies with the Mandarin and works as his agent, Radioactive Man lets him down, and the Mandarin tortures him for his failure. Radioactive Man also battles Spider-Man, and Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, but ends up captured.

Radioactive Man often goes up against western Super Heroes, being a part of known criminal groups such as the Masters of Evil. He eventually joins the Thunderbolts, his former enemies though the group reformed. 

When the Atlantean extremists At’la’tique and their terrorist strike force Fathom Five attacked Beijing, killing thousands, Radioactive Man made it his mission to target At’la’tique. He does so by infecting Fathom Five’s Llyron MacKenzie, AKA Llyron, with a form of radioactive plague. The plague spreads as intended but Namor the Sub-Mariner, AKA Namor, traced it back to Lu and attacked him. Lu purged the radiation from Atlantis but covertly irradiated alien adventurer Tamara Rahn, Namor’s spy within At’la’tique, with a time-release version of his radiation to wipe out the terrorist forces where Rahn would inevitably end up.

Later, forced to join Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin’s version of the Thunderbolts, Radioactive Man works alongside mostly criminals to capture unregistered Super Heroes. Though Lu teams up with Melissa Joan Gold, AKA Songbird to undermine Osborn’s corrupt management. He left the team after confessing his love for Songbird which she did not return (though unbeknownst to Lu, she was being held at knifepoint at the time).

Villainous and Heroic Alliances

Missing his old role as a state-sponsored hero but feeling he could not return to China, Radioactive Man partnered with Russian super-agents Alex Nevsky, AKA Crimson Dynamo, and Boris Bullski, AKA Titanium Man, as the government-sanctioned Titanic Three in Vietnam. Their ruthless methods occasionally brought them into conflict with western heroes such as the Avengers and Iron Man, and the Three broke up after falling out of favor with the Vietnamese authorities. 

Returning to America, Lu joined criminal scientist Egghead’s new Masters of Evil, helping them abduct disgraced scientist Hank Pym and frame him as their supposed employer. Pym defeated the gang single-handedly, and the Avengers apprehended the Masters, with Radioactive Man being deported. Though, he later helps the Avengers and Raven Darkhölme, AKA Mystique’s Freedom Force.

With the Thunderbolts in disarray, the U.S. government’s Commission on Superhuman Activities (CSA) reorganized the group as a team of CSA-backed special marshals dedicated to capturing unregistered Super Heroes. Only Songbird, Radioactive Man, Andreas Strucker, AKA Swordsman, and Moonstone were kept on, joined by new recruits Bullseye, Robbie Baldwin, AKA Penance, and Mac Gargan, AKA Venom, under the leadership of CSA-appointed director Norman Osborn, a corrupt and mentally ill tycoon also known as the super-criminal Green Goblin. Since the new team consisted primarily of unstable or unrepentantly criminal personalities, Songbird and Radioactive Man became increasingly reliant on each other as the only trustworthy and idealistic people left in the group, strengthening their close friendship. By this time, Dr. Chen had also developed a strong romantic interest in Songbird, though whether these feelings were ever mutual is unclear.

A Radioactive History

His self-confidence apparently waning with his radiation-driven mood swings, Lu became a virtual slave of Chinese criminal mastermind the Mandarin, who treated him with contempt. As Mandarin’s agent, Radioactive Man unsuccessfully battled Iron Man (then Stark’s replacement James Rhodes), and the Mandarin tortured Radioactive Man for his failure. Leaving the Mandarin’s service, Lu joined Stane International as a research scientist. He was bored with his duties but needed Stane’s resources to further his long-neglected radiation research. Under the ethically dubious Stane corporation’s oversight, Dr. Chen conducted dangerous and illicit experiments. When the Radioactive Man abducted the radiation-mutated Spider-Man for experimental purposes, Iron Man (Stark) helped Spider-Man defeat and capture Lu. Incarcerated at Colorado’s Vault super-prison, Radioactive Man later helped the Avengers and Mystique’s Freedom Force prevent a nuclear disaster there during a failed mass escape attempt.

His internal energy surges impaired his intellect, so Radioactive Man worked as hired muscle for the crime boss Bono and corrupt media tycoon, Tiberius Stone. During this time, he clashed with Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk, Paxton Page, AKA Death’s Head (freelance peacekeeping agent) , and Iron Man. In between these jobs, he was sent back to the Vault and participated in a mass escape attempt foiled by the Thunderbolts, a team of Masters of Evil posing as heroes, who later genuinely reformed. Coincidentally, Chen Lu soon underwent a reformation of his own. Homesick, tired of crime, wanting to regain his mental stability and hoping to atone for his past mistakes, Dr. Chen returned to China and offered the government his services again. Under their guidance, he began regular treatments to siphon off his excess radiation, greatly improving his mental and emotional stability. He also found another strong motivation to reform: “The Count,” an ongoing tally which the government helped him compile, estimating how many people Lu’s powers had killed or seriously harmed over the years.

When Atlantean extremists At’la’tique and their terrorist strike force Fathom Five attacked Beijing, killing thousands, it shattered the reformed Lu’s growing contentment. Haunted by his inability to prevent this tragedy, Dr. Chen followed the criminals back to America, where he helped the Thunderbolts save the United Nations building from destruction. Team leader Abe Jenkins, AKA MACH-4 (now Mach-V), invited Radioactive Man to join their group, and he accepted, mostly in hopes of using their resources to target At’la’tique. Eventually, the Thunderbolts defeated Fathom Five and saved Manhattan from a Hydra-masterminded nuclear threat. During this period, Lu secretly infected Fathom Five’s Llyron with a form of radioactive plague and set him free, hoping that Llyron would infect his fellow terrorists and wipe them out. Lu prepared to leave the Thunderbolts, having fulfilled his original mission, but Chinese officials urged him to stay on since the group’s victory over Hydra made the team respected celebrities, and his continued participation was good for China’s image.

Radioactive Man became a valued mainstay of the Thunderbolts and the group’s resident scientist, though the At’la’tique case soon came back to haunt him. Atlantean guards captured Llyron and brought him to the capital of Atlantis, where Lu’s radioactive plague spread throughout the city. Atlantean ruler Namor the Sub-Mariner traced the plague back to Lu and attacked the Thunderbolts, trying to force Radioactive Man to undo the damage. Lu, reluctant at first to help the Atlanteans—regarding them as collectively guilty of Fathom Five’s crimes—turned his attention to the sight of a dying child and thoughts of “the Count” changed his mind. Lu used his powers to purge the radiation from Atlantis; however, before the Thunderbolts departed, he covertly irradiated Namor’s spy Tamara Rahn within At’la’tique. Designed to activate after she returned to the At’la’tique camp, this time-release radiation would not harm Tamara herself, and would theoretically wipe out the terrorist forces there.

Radioactive Man continued to serve with the Thunderbolts, developing great respect for new team leader Songbird after she replaced Jenkins. However, when Songbird’s Thunderbolts merged with another Thunderbolts faction led by the current Baron Zemo (the late Heinrich’s son Helmut), Lu grew wary of the team’s new co-leader. He warned Songbird that he was loyal only to her and not to Zemo. The perceptive Lu soon realized that Songbird and Zemo had been secret allies for some time before they openly merged their operations, and that the two leaders seemed to be romantically linked. When Radioactive Man angrily confronted Songbird with his conclusions, she admitted to everything. However, she also assured Lu that she did not love Zemo and only manipulated him for the greater good since the megalomaniacal Zemo was a necessary component in a long-term plan to save the world from the cosmic gamesman En dwi Gast, AKA Grandmaster. Appeased by this explanation, Radioactive Man kept her secret, becoming Songbird’s confidant and staunchest ally.

When the new federal Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA) ordered super beings to register with the American government, the Thunderbolts registered and joined the government’s new SHRA-derived Initiative program. They captured super criminals and forced them into government service as part of an expanded Thunderbolts army. The Thunderbolts also helped Initiative forces battle rogue anti-SHRA heroes, such as the Secret Avengers. Meanwhile, Radioactive Man aided in developing some of the Initiative’s early high-tech resources, notably collaborating with Reed Richards, AKA Mister Fantastic, Hank Pym (secretly an alien Skrull impersonating the true Pym), and Tony Stark to develop the super-prison “42” within the Negative Zone. Richards came to trust and respect Lu, and the pro-SHRA forces were greatly appreciative of Lu’s vital contributions to their work. Still, Dr. Chen couldn’t help but note the irony of the pro-SHRA regime violating civil liberties when the USA had long criticized similar practices in China.

When Zemo and the Grandmaster vied for control of the seemingly infinite alchemical energy source known as the Wellspring of Power, the Thunderbolts defeated Grandmaster’s Squadron Sinister and seemingly slew the Grandmaster. Radioactive Man helped save his teammates by absorbing or redirecting most of the tremendous energies released during the battle, pushing his powers to their limits. In the end, with the Wellspring safely sealed off and Zemo lost in its vortex, multiple Thunderbolts were depowered or disabled. In the battle’s aftermath, Dr. Chen delayed the safe extraction of his excess radiation to lead the science team aiding Songbird and Sofen, who were both stuck in a catatonic state via mind-link, helping restore them to consciousness.

The U.S. government’s CSA reorganized and backed Thunderbolts with their new mission to capture unregistered Super Heroes. The team included Songbird, Radioactive Man, Swordsman, Moonstone, Bullseye, Penance, and Venom under the leadership of Green Goblin. Songbird and Radioactive Man relied on each other, and during this time, Dr. Chen developed a romantic interest in Songbird.

Most of the Thunderbolts were treated like convicts under the new CSA regime, except Radioactive Man who they gave more freedom to as a voluntary representative of the Chinese government. Ironically, this made him less comfortable in the new group since he felt his special treatment set him apart. Dr. Chen also resented the full-body radiation suit Osborn ordered Lu to wear as his new costume. Purely for public relations optics, the non-functional suit purposefully obscured Lu’s racial features due to concerns over a Chinese man arresting rogue American Super Heroes; and to reassure the American public that Lu’s radiation was safely contained. Though unhappy with the team’s new direction, Radioactive Man remained with the group—partly out of loyalty to Songbird, and partly because the Chinese government ordered him to stay on, supposedly as an international goodwill gesture. Osborn told Lu he was only slated to serve with the team for another year and would then be recalled to China. Unknown to Dr. Chen, the Chinese authorities decided it was safer to employ Lu as their agent in America indefinitely in case his powers ever became dangerously unstable again. They had no intention of calling him back to China.

As a member of the CSA’s Thunderbolts, Radioactive Man helped battle assorted villains and rogue heroes such as Jack Flag, Steel Spider, Jason Strongbow, AKA American Eagle, Sepulchre, Brother Nature, the armored Jury vigilante team, Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight, Rich Rider, AKA Nova, Fletcher Traynor, AKA Biohazard, and Fritz Von Meyer, AKA Swarm. However, Dr. Chen and Songbird allowed outlaw hero Spider-Man to escape after he helped rescue endangered civilians. When the Thunderbolts’ efforts to apprehend criminal scientist Arnim Zola prompted the team’s unauthorized entry into China, a conflicted Radioactive Man threatened to inform his Chinese superiors until Osborn revealed the truth about Dr. Chen not being wanted back home. After his trusted fellow Chinese super-agent Collective Man confirmed Osborn’s information, a disillusioned Radioactive Man resigned himself to continued Thunderbolts service. However, he secretly let Zola escape to avoid endangering Chinese civilians.

Songbird and Radioactive Man subtly undermined Osborn’s management as best they could, trying to steer the team’s actions in more noble directions. By the time the Thunderbolts played a key role in defeating the alien Skrulls’ “Secret Invasion” of Earth, Osborn had viewed Songbird and Radioactive Man as unacceptable liabilities. He took Radioactive Man off-duty during the “Secret Invasion” campaign, supposedly for scientific testing to ensure the stability of his powers, and did his best to make Songbird look bad during the remaining media coverage of the Skrull conflict. He became the head of the Initiative, its flagship team the Avengers, and the USA’s elite intelligence resources.

Consolidating his power, Osborn resolved to purge the Thunderbolts of any disloyal elements, having Penance institutionalized and secretly ordering Bullseye, Moonstone, Swordsman, and Venom to assassinate Songbird. Unaware of these developments, Radioactive Man was finally called back to China, his superiors having apparently decided they needed all active super-agents at home in the wake of the Skrull invasion. However, Osborn’s new political influence may have played a role in this sudden policy reversal. Glad to be going home but sad to be leaving Songbird, Dr. Chen confessed his romantic feelings for her as he prepared to depart. Seemingly uncomfortable with this revelation, Songbird urged Lu to leave, which he did, not knowing that a concealed Bullseye was holding Songbird at knifepoint and forcing her to hasten Lu’s exit. 

Lu returned to China and joined the country’s People’s Defense Force with Collective Man, Scientific Beast, Princess of Clouds, The Ninth Immortal, Most Perfect Hero, and Lady of Ten Suns. During this time, Lu safely absorbed radiation from Inhumans and Xerogen crystals, crystals left by the Kree to de-evolve humans. The group goes up against the Unspoken, and when defeated, the Mighty Avengers stepped in and saved the day. 

A member of the Bastards of Evil, Warhead, claimed to be Radioactive Man’s son but killed himself in an explosion that killed hundreds of others.

Radioactive Man later released a Chinese magical dragon into the Federal Bank Reserve, and while the dragon kept the Avengers busy, he made his escape. Later, while in Vietnam at a temple, the Mercs for Money led by Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, sought to contain dangerous threats like Radiation Man. Hired by Umbral Dynamics to bring him in, the mercenaries did not realize what they signed up for with Radioactive Man. He attacked first and held them off for a time, until blasted with radiation absorbent material from a R.A.M. Cannon, which captured Lu in stasis. 

Later seen at a press conference with a new incarnation of Thunderbolts led by Baron Zemo and Mayor Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, Lu reunited with former teammates Moonstone, Bert Ebersol, AKA Fixer, and Ghost. Their charge, to defeat New York City’s terrorist Frank Castle, AKA Punisher, once and for all.