Crash (Character)

Created by: Louise Simonson, Joe St. Pierre (Clay Irons);Christopher Priest and Denys Cowan (Crash)

1st appearance: Steel Annual #2, Year One; 1995 (Clay Irons); Steel #39, 1997 (Reggie Glover/Crash)

Nationality: American

Aliases: Clay Irons; Reggie Glover

Relatives: John Henry Irons (brother) Blondell Irons (wife), Jehmal Irons (son), Natasha Irons (daughter), Grandpa and Grandma Parks (maternal grandparents, deceased), Butter and Bess (paternal grandparents, Bess deceased), unnamed parents (deceased)

Group Affiliations: none

Height: 6”4”      Weight: 180lbs

Eyes: Red        Hair: Black

Skills and abilities: skilled assassin

Powers: none

Weapons: Crash is armed with guns, concussion grenades, a flame thrower, and a pair of Steel’s flight boots.

Biography

Clay Irons grew up with his big brother John Henry and their parents. They all stayed with his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Parks. One day while their parents were away at the National Black Political Convention in which they were delegates and he and his brother were away from the house, his grandparents were killed. As time passed, his brother got into sports. While he attended one of his brother’s games, his parents were involved in a car accident and killed. He and his brother moved to Washington DC to stay with their paternal grandparents Butter and Bess. John Henry continued to excel in sports, and gained a scholarship to college, Clay on the other hand joined the neighborhood gang named the Dragons. One day while with the gang he spotted a girl named Blondell. He and Blondell became a couple and at the age of 16 they got married and had their first child. While John Henry worked on his degree, Clay worked at the local grocery store and had another child. When John Henry was getting ready to graduate from college he got the news that Clay had been gunned down in a drive-by. (Steel Annual #2, Year One; 1995) turns out the grocery store owner; Hosan was involved with the mob at the highest level. Hosan’s grocery store was a mob bank, and Clay was his enforcer. Hosan taught Clay philosophy, psychology, economics, martial arts, weapons, and tactics, and gave him the name Crash due to him always knocking things over. He also taught Clay how to anticipate, adapt, and overcome, but Clay didn’t always listen, and that’s how they were caught off guard by the drive-by. Although Clay’s family thought he was dead, he actually survived the drive-by and was put in the witness protection program. Clay, going by the alias of Reggie Glover, was found, and a gang was paid to kill him and his new family. Crash goes to Hosan’s safe room and retrieves the 175 million therein. Crash uses the money to buy what is known as a permit in order to go after those responsible for the deaths of his new family and Hosan. Crash also makes moves to take over what is called Parliament, which is the nationwide network of youth gangs. Crash makes Jersey City New Jersey a “drug-free” zone since that is where his brother and daughter now reside. He breaks into his brother’s home and steals blueprints for the flight boots, mass produces them, and distributes them to his soldiers. His brother was stopped by crooked cops who assaulted him and stole his boots. Crash killed the officers and retrieved the boots for himself. Steel learns of Crash, but did not recognize him as his brother. He goes to confront him, but Crash slips away. Crash hires the mercenary known as Skorpio to get Steel’s attention. Skorpio does so by assaulting Crash’s daughter and giving her a deadly toxin. While Steel battles Skorpio, Crash goes and gives his daughter a blood transfusion that saves her life. The brothers meet face to face and Crash tells Steel that Clay Irons is dead. (Steel #39, 41-42, 44, 48, 51-52; 1997-1998)