1St Appearance Nitro * 1st "NITRO" (Robert Hunter) APPEARANCE. Nitro would be responsible for creating "Civil War". Blown Away! The Lunatic Legion send their agent, Nitro-The Exploding Man, to steal a top secret government nerve gas called Compound 13. He is confronted by Captain Marvel who defeats Nitro by having Rick hit his nega bands together at the moment Nitro explodes. The gas canister is ruptured in the explosion and Mar-Vell successfully reseals the container, not before inhaling some of the toxic gas that will eventually give him the cancer which kills him in "The Death of Captain Marvel" graphic novel.