Special Limitations: John can be harmed by any fire that he does not mentally control. He 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. Any of John's fiery creations will immediately revert to ordinary flame if he turns his interest from it.
History: Not much is really know about John's past history as he doesn't talk about it much. However, he's reckless and is believed to be a runaway with a criminal record and he may have family ties to Syndey, Australia. Perhaps one or both of his parents hail from the land down under, but that has yet to be determined. However, it is known that John was raised in the US as evident by his typical teenage American values and lack of an Aussie accent.
He began his life simple enough, a bright boy easily entertained by small things like open flames. This also meant he possessed a small attention span, becoming distracted and bored quite readily which usually led to him getting into mischief and trouble. In later years, John was frequently seen in detention and would only end up increasing his stay with his smartmouth and flaring temper.
John was relatively a good kid, if not a little misguided. That was until pubertry struck and hit him hard when his powers manifested. John began to adopt the attitude that he was better than the rest of his peers because of his "gift" which in his eyes made him special -- almost godlike. After that, the problems only escalated. He became reckless and adopted a bullying streak, getting into fights whenever the odds were in his favor, developing a reputation as the tough kid in school. And as he explored his powers more, he took up smoking to explain the lighter which become his own personal talisman that he toyed with continuously like a nervous habit.
Local police began to suspect John as the cause of several mysterious fires that plagued the small county, but they couldn't trace the arson back to him until the night he set the school ablaze right before final exams. Afraid of being caught, John finally ran away from home and that's when Charles Xavier found him. After descretely sweeping the arson charges under the rug, the Professor brought John back to his School for Gifted Youngsters. There John came to the humbling realization that he's not the only one with "gifts", but that hasn't prevented him from being the consumate trouble maker while learning about his powers and what it means to be a mutant. |
