Originally the owner of a
munitions company, Bruno Horgan
was driven to bankruptcy by a government inspection team. His defence contracts
were then awarded to his biggest competitor, Tony Stark of course. As one
of his factories was being dismantled, Horgan realised that one of his
malfunctioning radar devices had become a potent beam that could melt iron.
He redesigned the unit, strapped it to his chest and became the terrorist
known as the Melter. His first target was one of the factories of Tony
Stark, but he was defeated by Iron Man.He then joined Baron
Heinrich Zemo's Masters of Evil and twice
battled the Avengers (the first time was in the classic Avengers #6).
He was later redesigned his chest device into a hand-held gun but he was
still not satisfied with it. He decided to kidnap Tony Stark and forced
him to design him a new melting gun that would be able not only to melt
metal, but that would also affect human flesh, wood and stone (TOS #90). Thwarted
once more by Iron Man,
Horgan was returned to prison. Upon his escape from prison,
the Melter sought new allies. He first joined the new Masters
of Evil assembled by Ultron (Avengers #54-55),
and afterwards teamed up with Whiplash
and the Man-Bull
to attack Iron Man
at a comics convention, but all three of them were defeated by the Golden
Avenger (IM #72).
The Melter again redesigned his weapon that he now wore on his belt. He
again teamed up with Whiplash and the original Blizzard
but this time, the three criminals were financed in their endeavour by
billionaire Justin Hammer
in return for a percentage of the proceeds from their robberies. But the
three crooks had the misfortune to stage their first robbery in a hotel
of Atlantic City where Tony Stark happened to be staying with Bethany Cabe. Stark
donned his latest armor, that had been developed to withstand the Melter's
ray, and overcame the three thieves who were returned to Ryker's island
penitentiary (IM #123). In jail, the Melter met with
a nuclear physicist who helped him adjust his beam so that it would affect
Iron Man's armor once more. After leaving prison, Horgan once more confidently
attacked Iron Man. To
his surprise, Iron Man
showed up wearing one of his old armor against which the
Melter's new beam (adjusted to melt the Avenger's new armor) was useless.
He was once again defeated and returned to prison (IM
#166). Despite numerous defeats,
Horgan was still obsessed with his revenge against Iron
Man. He was planning another attack on Stark
and the Avengers when he was fatally shot by the enigmatic assassin called
Scourge who was
posing as the Melter's assistant. Scourge then crushed the Melter's beam
beneath his foot (Avengers #263).
First ever & IM appearance: Tales
of Suspense #47. 
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