Issue(s): Avengers #192, Avengers #193
Cover Date: Feb-Mar 80
Title: "Steel city nightmare!" / "Battleground: Pittsburgh!"
Credits:
David Michelinie - Writer
Arvell Malcolm Jones & Ricardo Villamonte / Sal Buscema & Dan Green - Penciler
Ricardo Villamonte / Dan Green - Inker

Review/plot:
The "Pittsburgh Comix Club" is given a plot assist credit on issue #193.

Tony Stark takes Wonder Man to tour a factory that used to be owned by Williams Industries before Simon became Wonder Man. Stark is considering acquiring the factory. The factory was once visited by Thor to repair his hammer , and one of the workers has been using an Uru flake as a good luck charm.

The character is supposed to be black and there's a bit of tension because i guess some of the other workers are racists. But he's colored like a white guy in issue #192. Now, in a future lettercol, Michelinie says that he gave the character "black dialogue", which means the character has a lot of apostrophes in his speech and bad grammar. "I found this tiny chip o' Uru what'd flaked off." "I-I gots to go get Wonder Man's autograph for my little girl." When i read this issue, i had no idea he was supposed to be black and i though the guy just had some kind of speech impediment or something and that's why the other workers didn't like him.

In any event, the guy is pushed into a vat of molten steel. But thanks to his Uru flake, instead of dying, he is transformed into a fire monster and he starts taking out vengeance on the other workers.

There's a bit of hijinx as Wonder Man grabs Tony Stark's suitcase to throw at the factory controls, not realizing that Stark is Iron Man.

Meanwhile, after Gyrich confirms that the Avengers' new security measures are working...

...he leaves, and the Avengers start to react to the fact that they are no longer under his control.

They try to call back a few Avengers, and the Scarlet Witch decides to take some time off.

The team is soon called in to help Iron Man and Wonder Man fight Inferno as he rampages through Pittsburgh.

But they aren't able to make much headway. Eventually Inferno makes his way to the factory owner, who it turns out is corrupt and was using the factory as a money laundering operation for the Maggia. Once Inferno is sure that the Avengers have heard the owner's confession, he turns away and heads into the water, preferring death to a life in a fiery body.

This Inferno character is not related to the Ghost Rider villain with the same name.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Thor repaired his hammer here in Journey Into Mystery #120.
  
• The Falcon tries to give Hawkeye a call to talk through the differences they've had, but Hawkeye has left to work for Cross Technological Enterprises, as shown in Avengers #189.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Weirdly, this story was first announced in FOOM#18(6/77) as being written by Jim Shooter and the villain called "Infernus".

Ah, so it turns out there's a downside to Byrne starting his great run on Captain America - after a fantastic year, he's done on Avengers. This art is just such a letdown after Byrne's run.

The guy who becomes Inferno is killed (we;ll, accidentally turned into a giant slag monster) because he owes a bunch of gambling debts to the mobsters running the factory and they're afraid he'll rat them out.

Given how many different powers Inferno gets from just a flake of Thor's hammer, the story does nice job of reinforcing that Thor is on a whole other level than most superheroes.