Yogi Dakor was a circus performer with the ability to resist flame until he was arrested for trying to steal the show’s payroll and put in jail. But Doctor Doom soon posted his bail and released him along with two other criminals that he gathered to use against the Fantastic Four. Doom enhanced Dakor’s flame resistance to outright fireproofing with his XZ-12 treatment in order to make him the perfect nemesis of the Human Torch.
Dakor later stirred up a media frenzy by declaring that he worked for a wealthy maharajah who was offering a unique sports car to the Torch. Being young, Johnny didn’t question it, and he showed up to claim his car. Dakor drove him away and claimed to be taking him to the maharajah, but instead trapped him in the fireproof car to bring him to Doctor Doom. The Torch tried to heat up the inside but failed, as it and Dakor were fireproof. Dakor then pushed a button on the dashboard that released a powerful nerve gas, and after he donned a gas mask, Dakor drove the unconscious Torch to his master.
Once there, however, Doom rewarded Dakor and his two fellow criminals by giving them each a priceless dimensional-transport machine in the shape of a plain box, telling them it was their payment. When they opened it, the machine transported each to another dimension where they would wait until their master needed them again.
