Solarr is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema, the character first appeared in Captain America #160 (April 1973). Silas King belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities.^[2] He is known under the codename Solarr.^[3]

Publication history

Solarr debuted in Captain America #160 (April 973), created by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema. He appeared in the 1963 Avengers series.^[4]

Fictional character biography

Silas King was born in Carson City, Nevada. King was a latent mutant and drug runner whose mutation was catalyzed when he spent several days out in the desert sun after his truck broke down. While recovering from sunstroke and dehydration in the hospital, he realized he could discharge the solar energy he had stored as heat blasts.

Calling himself Solarr, he began a criminal career in New York City, starting with bank robbery. He partnered with Klaw and became a member of the Emissaries of Evil.^[5]

Solarr later battled Daredevil and Spider-Man when he was hired to kill a hitman. The duo defeated Solarr, though the hitman went insane.^[6]

He repeatedly met defeat and was eventually captured and imprisoned at the Project Pegasus research center in New York State, where scientists studied his powers.^[7][8]

One of the other captives and subjects for study at Project Pegasus was Bres, one of the other-dimensional Fomor. Bres began to use his powers to manipulate the staff at the facility, and caused a guard named Harry Winslow to die of heart failure. Bres also freed Solarr from his cell. Solarr hated Winslow, and when he found his corpse, he incinerated it. Bres used his magic to animate the charred corpse, which killed Solarr.^[9]

It was later revealed that Solarr was one of the possible targets of Scourge of the Underworld, until Scourge found out that Solarr was already dead.^[10]

Solarr was later seen among the revived mutants on Krakoa at the time when the X-Men, Juggernaut, and Deadpool dealt with the Human-Adaptoid.^[11]

Powers and abilities

Solarr is a mutant who possesses the ability to absorb, store, and manipulate large amounts of energy from light, especially direct sunlight.

In other media

Television

• Solarr appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Secrets, Not Long Buried,"^[12] voiced by Lorne Kennedy.^[13] This version is known as Bill Braddock. He is the leader of the mutant-supremacist group Children of the Shadow, and ruler of the mutant and human cohabitation community called Skull Mesa. He is aided by the Toad and series-original mutant character Chet.