As the Crimson Dynamo, Vanko was sent by the Soviet Government to sabotage Stark Industries and defeat his American counterpart Iron Man in battle. Vanko's armor allowed him to generate and control electricity in all of its forms, such as firing devastating bolts of lightning and flying using electromagnetic propulsion. Unlike Iron Man, who at the time had to regularly charge the chest plate powering his suit (and keeping him alive), the Crimson Dynamo was powered by a self-sustaining generator.