Scorch (Earth-199999)

Scorch, born Chan Ho Yin, was a street performer and magician from Hong Kong in Earth-199999 with the power of pyrokinesis. He died in 2013 after Project Centipede injected him with their serum and extracted his own heat-resistant abilities, causing him to become more aggressive and forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to take him down.

Biography

Chan Ho Yin grew up loving the art of performative magic, but lost a degree of respect for its "tricks" after gaining the ability to manifest fire under mysterious circumstances c. 2010. S.H.I.E.L.D. took notice and advised that Chan keep his powers under wraps for his own safety, assigning agent Quan Chen to check up on him every few days. In late 2013, Chan was approached by a woman named Raina, who seemed interested in his pyrokinetic abilities. They spoke in his apartment, where a pair of people clad in fireproof equipment jumped and abducted him. When he awoke, he was in an unidentified building, where Raina calmly spoke to him. He suspected that she was with S.H.I.E.L.D., but she firmly asserted that she was not. Raina told Chan that she could help him enhance his powers and give him the fame and notoriety that he deserved. Chan was convinced with little effort, and was open to Raina's suggestion of a new moniker: Scorch. She took Chan to a secret facility and introduced him to a serum that would strengthen the cytoskeletons in his cells, increasing the potency of his powers. A scientist injected him with it, and the flame from his hands became stronger and fuller. Chan was ecstatic at his new strength, and was excited to show the world what he could do, no longer restrained by S.H.I.E.L.D.

However, after a series of tests, Chan was again knocked out and this time awoke literally restrained. Raina and her colleague Debbie explained that what allowed him to create fire without harming himself were heat-resistant platelets in his bloodstream, and while he was out they had extracted them. Raina called this his "gift" to their organization. That organization was Project Centipede, a mysterious group interested in giving people superpowers for reasons unclear. Agents from S.H.I.E.L.D.—including Quan Chen, Phil Coulson, and Melinda May—soon stormed the Centipede lab and attempted to free Chan, but the effects of Centipede's serum had warped his mind, making him more aggressive. He was now readily calling himself Scorch, declaring that he had been set free. He killed Quan and Debbie and attempted to kill the others, but May was able to get behind him and inject him with a major overdose of Extremis, an ingredient in the overall serum that is normally combustive but his platelets allowed him to resist. Now faced with a larger dose and no resistance, Chan violently combusted moments later.