Background

Vulcan, son of fire was created by Keith Giffen and Gerry Conway as an enemy for the earth-two Justice Society of America. Both identities of the character are influenced by Star Trek references.

History

Commander Christopher Pike was selected for a space mission aboard the Vulcan Probe One, a two hundred day orbit of the Sun. For unknown reasons however, he went berserk on board the spacecraft, killing his two colleagues Raoul Jerome and Dr Edward Solomon and sending the Vulcan Probe plunging toward the Sun. The ship's command module ignited, forming a molten shell around Pike's body which somehow protected him from the heat but caused him to become irradiated.

Three months later, Pike crashed to Earth (right on schedule), mutated, radiating heat and calling himself Vulcan, Son of Fire, and went on a rampage in Gotham City, absorbing huge amounts of electrical energy from the city. He attempted to kill his childhood heroes the Justice Society of America, believing that his desire to emulate 'heroes' had cost him his humanity, but the JSA learned that Pike's transformation had been caused by a benevolent alien named XLK-JNN, who had instigated the process in order to stop Pike from being consumed by the Sun's heat. The transformation was flawed, hence Pike's instability, and the alien intended to fix the flaw but Pike, angered at what had been done to him, incinerated him before he could do so. The Star Spangled Kid used Starman's Cosmic Rod to overload Pike with sunlight, seemingly destroying him.

Years later, Pike turned up alive, trapped in a Limbo dimension where he was discovered by the Secret Society of Super-Villains, whose ranks he joined in order to travel back to 1941 and battle the All-Star Squadron and the time traveling members of Infinity Inc at the command of the Ultra-Humanite. The Society were defeated and returned to Limbo, but have all since returned to Earth. Pike was later seen during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Vulcan would battle Superman, Power Girl, Kristen Wells, Supergirl, Chris Kent, Krypto, and Batman in the Third Kryptonian story arc. Vulcan and Amalak were the co-conspirators against the Super Team family.