Ferro Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Ferro Lad
Name: Andrew Nolan
Home Planet: Earth
Super-Power: Transforming into iron
Member Since: 2966

Origin | Super-Power | Personal Data | Membership Record

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Origin
 
Andrew and Douglas NolanAndrew Nolan and his identical twin brother, Douglas, were born mutants with the power to turn their bodies into iron. They were also born with grotesquely inhuman faces and so wore full head masks to keep others from reacting aversely to their appearance. Unfortunately, even this proved to be a target for the taunts of their classmates, who did not know what lay beneath the masks (Adventure Comics No. 354).

First Appearance: Adventure Comics No. 346 (written and drawn by Jim Shooter)

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Super-Power

Ferro Lad is able to transform his body and costume into iron. While in this form he is "nearly indestructible" and possesses "almost inconceivable" strength (Adventure Comics No. 346, 354, 365 "The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes"). While in his iron form, Ferro Lad is capable of surviving in freezing, airless space. He communicates in space by means of a radio built into his mask (351), which can also be picked up on Science Police intercoms (352).

Ferro Lad is nearly indestructible

Limitations and Weaknesses: Ferro Lad is not completely invulnerable and was "knocked for a loop" by a beam from one of Brande's sentinel satellites. An intense enough heat, like in the core of the Sun-Eater, turns his body white hot, and only his will-power can keep him from melting. When he carried the absorbatron bomb into the "creature", the awesome forces and scattered energies released and then absorbed by the blast proved too much for even his super-tough body to withstand (Adventure Comics No. 353).

Speculative Explanation of Power: Scientists have proven that carbon (with oxygen) can quite easily be transmuted into iron through the use of electricity. During the process of transmutation, a radioactive isotope of nickel is temporarily produced and lasts for only one-thousandth of a second. In these experiments, transmutation of up to 20% of the material is immediate, with a larger percentage occuring gradually afterwards in the air. The iron that is created from this experiment is stainless, does not rust easily, and is less affected by heat than ordinary iron due to its composition with silicon, which also results in it having a gray color.

The Nolan brothers were born with the mutant ability to generate a sufficient arc of eletricity through their body that combines with the oxygen in their blood and transforms them from carbon-based life forms into iron-based life. The process combines their iron atoms with the silicon atoms in their bodies. (Biogenic hydrated silica is essential to life and exists in human connective tissues, skin, eyes, glands, and organs. It is a major constituent of collagen, which helps keep the skin elastic. In bones and teeth it helps calcium maintain bone strength.) The result of the composition is that his body turns gray and becomes incredibly strong and durable, though just as flexible, as well as rust-proof and highly resistant to heat.

Scientists speculate that iron-based life is not only possible, but could have existed on Mars at one time.

Ferro Lad wears a special costume made of carbon and silicon because the transformation process extends to objects that are in close contact with his skin. In this way, he can transmute his clothing into near-invulnerable iron as well.

It is known that nuclear fusion can turn iron into carbon and oxygen. It is possible that intense heat can reverse the process of his transformation, for when Ferro Lad passed through the Sun-Eater he had to use his will-power to keep from melting, and possibly to maintain his invulnerable form as well. In a similar process, Ferro Lad uses his will-power to "fuse" himself back to his non-iron form.

Ferro Lad's daring and willpower

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Personal Data
 
A close-up on Ferro Lad's facePhysical Description: Since Andrew wears a mask, his facial features are mostly unknown but what is seen through the eye-lets - his eyes and the bridge of his nose - appears to be normal-looking.

Ferro Lad vs the Science PolicePersonality: Andrew is an extremely daring and courageous person, often hurling himself headlong into dangerous situations, usually to save his friends (Adventure Comics No. 347, 351, 353). Andrew is a forthright, honest, and outgoing person. Blunt in his observations and glib-tongued, Andrew is a bit of a wild card, but he is a highly respected and well-liked Legionnaire (350/351, 352). Probably the person he is hardest on, though, is himself and he cannot abide personal failure (352). This self-criticizing side to his nature may have led him to the decision to wear a mask to conceal his "less-than-perfect" features, which in his mind were hideous.

Skills: Pottery-making (though he claims not to be an expert; Adventure Comics No. 351)

Interests: Unknown. Unfortunately, Andrew's career as a Legionnaire did not last long enough for others to get to know him as well as they would have liked.

Relationships: Andrew's closest Legion friends are Matter-Eater Lad (Adventure Comics No. 351) and Superboy (352).

Known Relatives: Douglas Nolan (later Ferro Man; twin brother)

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Membership Record

Ferro Lad applies for membershipApplication: Ferro Lad applied for membership in 2966 at the same time as Princess Projectra, Nemesis Kid, and Karate Kid. After passing all the qualifying tests, Ferro Lad demonstrated his power to the Legionnaires. First, he transformed into iron, informing his audience that his costume could transform along with him. Next, he asked Lightning Lad to blast him with a bolt of lightning to prove his near-invulnerability. Then he bent a solid steel bar to show his great strength. He also asked the Legionnaire to fire a barrage of ray-missle guns at him to further establish the toughness of his armored skin.

Induction: As the Legion was short-handed at a time when the Earth and the rest of the United Planets was potentially under threat from the Khund empire, they accepted more members than ever at one time, and Ferro Lad was voted into the Legion along with Princess Projectra, Nemesis Kid, and Karate Kid (Adventure Comics No. 346).


Career Highlights:

Adventure Comics No. 346/347 (July/Aug. 1966) "One of Us Is a Traitor" / "The Traitor's Triumph"

  Ferro Lad cannonballs into a Khund shipFerro Lad joined the Legion at a time of crisis. The warlike Khund Empire had just been discovered and Earth was preparing for attack. Ferro Lad was assigned to Chameleon Boy's team and sent to Tierra Del Fuego to defend one of Earth's three electro-towers. Although his jet platform was destroyed, he managed to destroy one of the invading alien ships by rolling into a ball and hurtling his nearly invulnerable self into it by means of his flight-ring.

Adventure Comics No. 350/351 (Nov./Dec. 1966) "The Outcast Super-Heroes" / "The Forgotten Legion"

  Ferro Lad tries his hand at pottery-makingAfter receiving an emergency call to Brande's planet estate, Ferro Lad, Cosmic Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, and Miss Terious were sent to help. Ferro Lad protected his team-mates from a sentinel satellite by letting his iron body intercept its deadly beam. While on the planet, the evil Hag conjured up four portraits draped in cloth, each picture a solid representation of her Naltorian predictions for each Legionnaire. Ferro Lad immediately leaped forth to reveal his fate: being melted into slag. This prophecy was destined to come true the following month.

Ferro Lad also helped Miss Terious with her spell to transform the Hag back into the super-heroine, the White Witch, by using his strength to mold a sentinel satellite into a cauldron in which she could brew the potion.

Adventure Comics No. 352/353 (Jan./Feb. 1967) "The Fatal Five" / "The Doomed Legionnaire"

  The moment of Ferro Lad's sacrificeFerro Lad was one of the five Legionnaires who battled the all-powerful Sun-Eater. Ferro Lad "recruited" Mano to help, saving the villain from execution at the last minute.

When Superboy was too weak from red sun radiation to carry Tharok's absorbatron bomb into the center of the destructive cloud, Ferro Lad took the courageous initiative and slugged the Boy of Steel, detonating the bomb on target himself. He was vaporized in the blast along with the Sun-Eater. Ferro Lad's comrades sent a special missile memorial to the cemetery asteroid of Shanghalla.

Adventure Comics No. 357 (June 1967) "The Ghost of Ferro Lad"

  The ghost of Ferro LadThe Renegade Controller that sent the Sun-Eater to Earth's galaxy returned to hoax the four Legionnaires that survived the attack. Using a fake "ghost of Ferro Lad" he managed to convince the four that they were guilty for their teammate's death. After disbanding the Legion, Superboy was captured and Ferro Lad's spirit returned to activate the Boy of Steel's flight-ring's danger signal. When the others arrived, the Controller was about to destroy them all when Ferro Lad's spirit confronted the renegade and caused the Controller the alien equivalent of a heart attack, thus balancing the scales of eternal justice. Even after death, Ferro Lad proved to be a protector of his friends in their hour of need.

Ferro Lad Memorial Coin

IN MEMORIAM

ANDREW NOLAN (FERRO LAD)

A MUTANT WHOSE NON-HUMAN FACE WAS KEPT HIDDEN BEHIND A MASK.

HE GAVE HIS LIFE TO SAVE THIS GALAXY.


For information concerning Ferro Lad after 2969, click here.

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