Who's This? Male and female Firestorm villains.
The facts: Unrelated to a one-off 70s Batman villain, the Enforcer is a nuclear-powered villain who first appeared in Fury of Firestorm #14 (July 1983) working for the 2000 Committee and was dead by issue 18. He was supplemented by a female version, a character who had also premiered in issue 14, but got into the action really only as of issue 17. After that storyline wrapped, she wound up in jail and died as a member of the Suicide Squad in her next appearance, issue 58 of that series, during the War of the Gods in 1991.
How you could have heard of them: She stayed dead, appearing in Blackest Night as a zombie. He stayed deader.
Example story: The Fury of Firestorm #14 (July 1983), "Enforcer" by Gerry Conway, Pat Broderick and Rodin Rodriguez
Let's look at the first appearance of BOTH Enforcers, even if Micah won't wear the suit until later. What we need to know: The 2000 Committee want Martin Stein. His ex-wife has sold him out. Time for Enforcer to make his big debut.
One thing about this dude. He doesn't take no for an answer and he doesn't like getting disrespected in his brand new fiber-plastic armor. Two things!
And he doesn't mind slapping a teenager with his super-strength. THREE things!
As long as our heroes are fissioned off, they're no match for the Enforcer. He shreds anything thrown at him, and with one mighty stomp, sends Ronnie flying. And then he does what he was always going to do and flies off with Martin Stein in tow. One wonders why he even took a chopper in. I don't know what his deal is, but he has a big speech about how New Yorkers gleefully ganging up on muggers (really?!), but chickens when it comes to supervillains (well...). When Ronnie comes to, he tries to merge with the Firestorm matrix, but it doesn't work. Stein is in a tank, getting shock treatment. It's disrupting their ability to fuse. And Enforcer knows this!
But Martin manages to get out of his painful restraints and they DO become Firestorm. Enforcer quickly arrives in... WHAT?!
You've got a super-cool armor and you need a chicken-legged tank? I guess the suit is great against unarmed teenagers and stuffy old college professors. When it's superheroes, well, he's about as brave as a New Yorker. Cough cough. To be fair, it DOES work and Firestorm is soon thrown in the pain tank himself. Indeed, that was the plan all along. And the plan was... Multiplex's!
But that's a tale for another day. In the meantime, let's track back a few pages and check out Micah's first appearance:
She threatens a U.S. Senator and teleports out of his office. These 2000 Committee people do NOT mess around. Well, she's already pretty cool and probably doesn't have weird opinions about New York's citizenry. In her hands, Lorraine Reilly will become Firehawk, so we have a lot to be appreciative about. Give her the suit already!
Who's Next? An explosive senator.
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