WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Tech-On Avengers #3, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
The Avengers have found themselves back on the defensive after one of the Marvel Universe's most notorious supervillains, the Red Skull, gained the shards of the Infinity Gems. Using his newly gained omnipotence to mutate himself into a monstrous overlord and rob the superheroes of their powers, the Red Skull gave himself the advantage as he prepared to conquer the universe. And as the Avengers rally for an inevitable rematch, they are joined by a familiar X-Man who has since created a new superhero moniker for himself, Sunfire.
To compensate for many of the Avengers losing their powers due to the Red Skull's Infinity Gem machinations, Tony Stark constructed a line of Iron Man suits custom-designed for his various teammates to play to their natural strengths and replicate their usual powers as much as possible. This set of upgrades would come in handy during a skirmish against the Red Skull and his latest cosmic creation, a kaiju-sized facsimile of Venom, leading the Red Skull to create a monstrous vision of Loki to strike at Japan. And in Avengers: Tech-On Avengers #3 -- by Jim Zub, Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz and VC's Travis Lanham -- the Avengers call in armored reinforcements of their own to contend with this false God of Mischief.
While a false construct resembling Loki created by the Red Skull, this enemy possesses all of the Norse God's signature knack for magical trickery -- including an entire ensemble of menacing doppelgängers. In order to turn the tide against this false god, Sunfire arrives on the scene, wearing his own set of tricked-out armor designed by Stark, able to replicate his fiery powers. Dispelling the faux Loki with a contained inferno emanating from his armor, a victorious Sunfire reveals himself to Earth's Mightiest Heroes before announcing that he has rebranded himself as Battle Fire to better suit his armored appearance moving forward.
Shiro Yoshida was one of the mutants considered to join the X-Men when the original roster was captured on the living island of Krakoa, but he declined the invitation and remain in Japan as its superhero Sunfire instead. Sunfire would continue to occasionally help the Avengers and X-Men while keeping his roots in Japan over the years before suddenly losing his mutant powers after the events of the crossover event House of M before temporarily being transformed into a Horseman of Apocalypse to regain his powers. Shiro admits to the Avengers that his powers continue to remain in flux throughout the Dawn of X era, leading Stark to design the Battle Fire armor for him to continue his superhero activities in defending Japan.
While the Battle Fire moniker is unlikely to stick much longer than the Tech-On Avengers comic book miniseries, it does give Sunfire a welcome shot back at the spotlight and a fan-favorite moment against a Marvel Cinematic Universe supervillain. Sunfire has had a particularly turbulent history over the past several years and Shiro's return restores a sense of justice for a character with a bit of a convoluted history. And with a frustrated Red Skull deciding to provide his own twist on another classic MCU character as he moves to accelerate his plans for total domination, Shiro's inclusion on the team may give the armored Avengers the edge they need to restore reality once again.