A member of the Cirque Sinister supervillain group.
Biography[]
Adriano Bompani was born in Salerno, Italy in 1972. As an adult he worked as a plumber and occasionally took odd jobs for local gangsters as a low-level thug and debt collector. A scientist working for the local VIPER Nest recruited him in 1999 as a test subject for a experimental “super-soldier” drug, supposedly reverse-engineered from blood samples stolen from UNTIL’s own program. Adriano experienced what appeared to be an allergic reaction to the serum and died on the operating table. VIPER quietly disposed of his body by dumping it in the Via Del Greci. Bompani’s “allergic reaction” and apparent death were only temporary manifestations of a mutation on the cellular level. His body washed ashore on a deserted beach several days later, where he regained consciousness. Bompani discovered that his body had physically changed — his mouth was now considerably larger, and his eyes glowed with an internal fire. More importantly, his upper torso had become like a powerful oven, capable of generating smoke and fire from his mouth, and anything he ingested was consumed by the terrible fires that burned painlessly in his chest. Fearing that if VIPER found him it would subject him to even more awful experiments, he stowed away on a tramp freighter that took him to America. By the time he arrived in Florida, he had adjusted more to his new appearance and powers and decided to try to make his mark as a supervillain for hire. He called himself Cauldron, and after demonstrating his abilities for Guy Sweetland he was hired as freelance muscle. It was while working for Sweetland that he encountered Black Mask, who defeated him in combat a couple of times but never apprehended him. In 2001 he met Minimax while she was on one of her sprees of vandalism and was instantly smitten. Minimax was intrigued by his powers and found him entertaining to hang around with, so Cauldron abruptly quit his job with Sweetland to work as her partner, leading to some bad blood between himself and the mobster. The two shifted their activities north, committing crimes in Atlanta and other parts of Georgia and Alabama. When Minimax joined the Cirque Sinister, he did, too, and it was his suggestion that the team move back to Vibora Bay when things got hot in Atlanta.