Sunfire (comics)
For the car, see Pontiac Sunfire
| Sunfire | |
|---|---|
 Sunfire art by Alan Davis | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #64 (January, 1970) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas, Don Heck |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Shiro Yoshida |
| Team affiliations | X-Men, The Twelve, Unknown Champions, Pacific Overlords, X-Corporation (Mumbai), Big Hero 6 |
| Notable aliases | None |
| Abilities | Flight, plasma blasts, ability to view infra-red, radiation immunity. |
Sunfire (Shiro Yashida) is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe who has been affiliated with the X-Men. Created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck, he first appeared in X-Men volume 1 #64 (January, 1970).
Sunfire is a temperamental and arrogant Japanese mutant who can generate superheated plasma and fly. Not suited for teamwork, Sunfire was a member of the X-Men only briefly and has kept limited ties to the team since.
Sunfire is also the name of a related character in the Parallel universe-related Marvel series The Exiles (see Sunfire (Exiles)).
Character biography
Origins
Shiro Yoshida and his sister Leyu were born to a mother who suffered radiation poisoning due to exposure to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. As a result, he and his sister were born mutants possessing identical powers
(Note: Sunfire first appeared during the era of the original X-Men when several explanations for the existence of mutant powers had been given, one of which was radiation. Genetic evolution is currently the most common explanation).
Shiro's mother died of radiation poisoning when he was young and Shiro grew to hate the United States, despite the influence of his US-friendly diplomatic father. His greedy uncle Tomo inspired Shiro to take the identity of Sunfire and engage in a one-man battle against the U.S. He attacked the United States Capitol and battled the X-Men. Later, he saw Tomo kill his father. Distraught, Sunfire killed Tomo and surrendered to the X-Men. Their leader, Professor Xavier, allowed Sunfire to return to Japan.
Later life
Months later, Xavier recruited Sunfire to join a new team of X-Men to rescue the originals from Krakoa, the Living Island in Giant-Sized X-Men #1. Sunfire accompanied the fledgling X-Men on this mission, but resigned from the team before he ever received official membership. This was mainly due to his arrogance and his irrational temper.
Sunfire has appeared sporadically in various Marvel comic books throughout the years. On a few occasions his temper has led to conflicts with other heroes such as Iron Man, Rogue and Wolverine.
In 1998, Marvel published a mini-series entitled Sunfire and Big Hero Six about Sunfire's brief attempt to lead a new Japanese superhero team.
Death?
Later, it was revealed that Sunfire had worked with Rogue and Mystique back when Sunfire was still working with Tomo and Rogue was a member of the Brotherhood. Working with them was a girl called Blindspot, who at the time was allied with the Brotherhood and who had the power to erase and restore memories. The four were on a mission to steal Lord Dark Wind's (the father of Lady Deathstrike) adamantium bonding process. Mystique would later cut her ties with Blindspot, who she did not trust. Since she always erased her tracks once a contract ends, Blindspot wiped the minds of everyone who was involved so no one would remember her.
Later, Blindspot discovered Lord Dark Wind wanted all four dead for trying to steal his adamantium process. Realizing how the others would be in danger, with no memory of the mission to steal Dark Wind's adamantium process, Blindspot went back to Japan to erase his memory of the ordeal. When she got there, she discovered that his daughter, who later became Deathstrike had already killed him. Blindspot was able to erase Deathstrike's memories as well.
But now Deathstrike, who was more machine than woman, was able to restore her memories the same way one would a hard drive. Deathstrike kidnapped Blindspot, who released a photo of Sunfire, Rogue and Mystique to attract their attention to save her. Though Mystique never came, Rogue joined Sunfire, whose reputation had been ruined by the photograph, in Tokyo to discover why they were framed and who was responsible. They ran into Lady Deathstrike, who in a heated battle cut off Sunfire's legs, leaving him in critical conditition. Rogue surrendered to Deathstrike, who imprisoned the two. There, Rogue met Blindspot, who restored Rogue's memories and explained to her what was going on.
When Deathstrike discovered that the three were not actually responsible for stealing the adamantium, she went to kill them to destroy any evidence of what she had done. A weak Sunfire asked Rogue to absorb his powers so she could properly battle Deathstrike. Rogue had previously lost the powers of Carol Danvers that she had taken and was hesitant. She worried that she would harm Sunfire but Blindspot pushed her on Sunfire's face causing her to absorb all his powers and possibly killing him. With it, Rogue now also contained with her Sunfire's personality, similar to how she also once had Danvers' personality with her.
Sunfire's personality controlling her, Rogue went out to get revenge on Deathstrike, severely injuring the woman. The X-Men arrived in time to intervene, but Blindspot erased Rogue's memories of being an X-Man causing her to see her teammates as her enemies. After a brief altercation, Rogue's memories were restored and she told the X-Men what had happened to Sunfire. They went to where Rogue last saw Sunfire, but his body was missing leading some of the X-Men to believe he was somehow still alive.
Return
In X-Men vol. 02 #182 it was confirmed that Sunfire was, in fact, still alive, rescued by the world's leading specialist in prosthetic limbs, Masanori Kuzuya, with the help of a mysterious group of ninjas. Before the reasoning behind the rescue could be revealed, Apocalypse appeared and offered Sunfire the chance for vengeance, as well as the recovery of his lost limbs and power, in return for his service as one of the new Four Horsemen. Sunfire accepted, but after being chained away and locked in a prison while listening to the tortured screams of Gazer, another of the new Horsemen, Sunfire attacked Ozymandias and attempted to make his escape. Based on information and art already released regarding the current Apocalypse plotline, however, it is likely that he will fail and become one of the new Horsemen.
Family
Sunfire is the brother of the superheroine Sunpyre/Leyu Yoshida. He is also the cousin of Wolverine's late fiancée Mariko Yashida and her brother the Silver Samurai.
Yashida and Yoshida seem to be different spellings of the same name. While in his first appearance, Sunfire was called Shiro Yoshida in the story arc that introduced his cousin, Mariko, his name was spelled Yashida and this version of the name was carried on in Mariko's next appearances. Although probably a typo, it could just be based on the Romanization/transliteration of the Japanese names. In addition, there is no "l" in the Japanese alphabet, which may explain the name Leyu instead of Reiyu.
Appearances in other media
Sunfire was briefly seen in the X-Men animated series adapation of the Dark Phoenix Saga in the episode "Child of Light". He also had a non-speaking role in the episode "Slave Island," but he was clearly meant as a generic place-holder and his character had no importance to the story.
Sunfire also guest starred on the 1980s animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the episode "Sunfire".
Sunfire recently appeared as one of the initial fifteen playable mutants in the multi-platform action-RPG X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
It is conjectured actor Ken Leung will portray him in the upcoming film X-Men 3.