Charcoal

Charles Burlingame was a teenage runaway recruited and experimented on by the Secret Empire, which gave him the ability to transform his body into living charcoal and manipulate carbon. He later sought a more heroic path by joining the Thunderbolts.

Bursting onto the scene in Thunderbolts #25 in 1999, Charcoal is a Modern Age Marvel creation from the acclaimed team of Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley — two of the architects behind one of comics' most celebrated team books. Keeping company with heavy-hitters like Hawkeye, Karla Sofen, and Jolt across Thunderbolts and Avengers pages, Charcoal occupies a fascinating corner of Marvel's late-'90s landscape, a period when morally complex storytelling was redefining what superhero comics could be. With appearances stretching across 26 years and into Avengers Assemble, this character has quietly endured well beyond their debut moment — a testament to the richness of the world Busiek and Bagley built around them.