LATINO SUPERHERO SPOTLIGHT: FIREBRAND

What is this, some sort of Amalgam comic? From the boys Brian Augustyn and Sal Velluto over at DC comics during the 1990’s, we got yet another legacy superhero, and once again they figured “why not make him Hispanic” for the third one in line!

Alejandro “Alex” Sanchez is an NYPD Detective who had an abrupt retirement due to an explosion in his own apartment.

The accident had crippled him for life, OR DID IT?! He was taken in from a special scientific department led by Noah Hightower, who had done experimental surgery on his body.

He got his legs back (although he still needs a cane), and was thrust into another experiment, a super soldier mech suited one if you will, which gives us the new superhero FIREBRAND!

Powered by an overhead satellite which strikes him down like a fucking He-Man transformation, he has but four hours of power before his suit explodes with the strength of a nuclear bomb!(or something like that)

All of that with a sick metallic gold finish, and with a splash of that grimey 90’s edge, god there’s so much EDGE!! What could go wrong??

Well..

I believe most of the time and effort went into the suit design and nothing else really. With offbeat yet boring storylines like a children of the corn bit with robots, and a serial killer with a gardening gimmick, our hero feels sorely misused.

I mean, there’s not even a super villain until the very last issue, which is #9 (that means it didn’t even last the full year).

I really wish they did lean into an Iron Man/Ghost Rider blend of technology and supernatural mysticism. They made him too grounded. As it was, Firebrand didn’t even have powers past super strength and agility, and when you look at someone who looks as awesome as him, you expect just a little more you know?

Moreover, within these 9 preciously limited issues, you just don’t get much of who Alex Sanchez is as a character past the fact he wants “justice!” Though, fire does play a heavy theme in his story.

When he was 12 years old, he lost his little sister in a fire, and vowed to always protect and save people.

Funny because as I write this, I’m thinking why didn’t the guy become a firefighter? That would’ve been different, but every hero needs to have some kind of connection to the police and crime syndicates I suppose..

This is all an ironic twist considering he has a flaming bucket head while wearing the suit. You could have the turnaround of him using fire to save people, despite it taking away both his sister's life and his legs.

Basically what I’m saying is this character really had potential, but they missed the mark. It didn’t help that this was the mid 90’s (1996), when X-TREME edge filled superhero stories were abundant and kind of tanking the entire industry as a whole.

But hey, there’s no doubt that this was the most badass Firebrand out of the bunch!

The first one from 1942 was a guy wearing a plastic see through shirt, the second was a generic superhero girl from the 80's(at least she had fire powers) and the guy who would come after Alex Sanchez in the early 2000's was a generic Nightwing type.

So why do I bring up this obscure Latino superhero if he’s not truly worth the time? Well, I’ve seen some theories about the recent casting in the upcoming Blue Beetle film (2023), specifically Harvey Guillen as Dr.Sanchez.

Hmm, Sanchez eh? That was enough for people to assume they would blend his character with Noah Hightower, the guy who created the Firebrand suit in the first place.

I think this is HIGHLY unlikely, one because Harvey Guillen wouldn’t fit the initial look of Alex Sanchez (although, as we’ve seen in recent films, anyone can truly be anything) but also, this character would be way too obscure to bring out into the light.

I mean, in a world where we still suck on the teat of Batman by bringing back Michael Keaton, why would they think about bringing out the third Firebrand??

Though, it would be really fucking epic to see these two fighting together!

Regardless, it gave me the excuse to dive into this character to share with you all!