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Pyro
Real
name: St. John Allerdyce Other aliases:
None Identity: Known to federal authorities Occupation:
(current) Professional criminal, subversive, (former) Journalist, novelist, special
government operative Legal status: Citizen of Australia, formerly
wanted as an outlaw, granted presidential pardon, currently being held in U.S.
government custody Place of birth: Sydney, Australia Marital
status: Single Known relatives: None Base of operations:
Mobile, (former) The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia Group affiliation:
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants V, Brotherhood
of Evil Mutants IV/Freedom Force First appearance: X-MEN (first series)
#141
History: St. John Allerdyce was born and raised in Australia.
His powers emerged at puberty, but since he could not think of a way to use them
for profit, for years he did not use them except in emergencies. For a time, Allerdyce
drifted from job to job around the South Seas. Eventually, he became a journalist
for an Australian wire service and covered Viet Nam and Indonesia. What he saw
and experienced in his travels became the basis for novels he began writing. (He
also wrote torrid Gothic romances.) Allerdyce's novels were despised by serious
novelists and the critics, but they found wide readership throughout the English-speaking
world. Under circumstances that have yet to be revealed, Allerdyce met the mutant
called Mystique, who learned of his mutant powers. As a result, Allerdyce joined
her new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants under the name of Pyro.
Months later, Mystique's Brotherhood, renamed Freedom Force, entered the
employ of the United States government, which pardoned its members for their past
crimes. After several missions for Freedom Force, which brought Allerdyce and
his comrades into conflict with various super powered crime fighters, the U.S.
government disbanded the group.
Pyro resurfaced as a member of another
version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, headed up the X-Men's old foe (and
member of the original Brotherhood) the Toad. This group went up against the fledgling
mutant team X-Force and met defeat.
Recently, Pyro discovered that he
had contracted the Legacy Virus, a terminal illness that affects mutants. (One
effect of the Virus is that Pyro now seems to be unable to shut off completely
any flames that may surround his body.) At first he sought help from the millionaire
Jonathan Chambers, alias Empyrean, but Chambers was using his own powers to drain
Pyro's energies. Wanting to go out in a blaze of glory rather than die a slow
death in bed, Pyro committed a spectacular crime that brought him into conflict
with the costumed crimefighter Daredevil. Pyro narrowly escaped being killed in
a burning building at the end of this encounter. Mystique later recruited Pyro
to prevent the assassination of her son, Presidential candidate Graydon Creed,
but he failed.
Recently, Pyro robbed a New York City bank to get money
to pay a scientist who claimed he could cure him by removing his mutant genes.
In the course of the robbery Pyro was shot several times in the abdomen. He was
taken to a nearby hospital where Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a surgeon who was a mutant
and had recently joined the X-Men, operated on him. Shortly afterwards, Pyro tricked
Dr. Reyes into loosening his bonds and he escaped. Pyro remains at large, still
suffering from the Legacy Virus.
Height: 5'10" Weight:
150 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: Blonde
Strength
level: Normal
Special skills and abilities: Successful writer
of Gothic romances prior to turning to crime.
Known superhuman powers:
Pyro is invulnerable to any fire that he has placed under his mental control and
has the psionic ability to cause any fire to grow in size and intensity and to
take any form he wishes, even that of a living creature. (Such fire creatures,
however, have no intelligence or life.) He can psionically manipulate the flame
to do whatever he desires. Pyro's fiery creations have greater solidity than normal
flame; hence a giant "bird" he created from fire could grasp and carry a solid
object with its claws. The degree of Pyro's concentration necessary to manipulate
a flame being is directly proportional to the being's size, power, and flame.
Special limitations: Pyro can be harmed by any fire that he does
not mentally control. Pyro has to be able to see a flame in order to take control
of it; in practical terms the flame must be within a 100-yard radius of him. Pyro
cannot affect flames that he sees on television but which are not within this
radius. Any of Pyro's fiery creations will immediately revert to ordinary flame
if he turns his interest from it.
Costume specifications: A specially
insulated costume made of unknown materials that provides him with a certain degree
of protection against fire.
Personal weaponry: A flame-thrower
that can throw a stream of flame a maximum distance of 25 feet.