Black Tom
Real Name: Thomas Samuel Eamon Cassidy
Height: 6'
Weight: 200 lbs.
Eyes: Dark Blue
Hair: Black
Group Affiliation: None currently
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #101

History: Thomas "Black Tom" Cassidy was the heir to his family fortune and the estate of Cassidy Keep in Ireland. However, he wagered both the fortune and the estate on a throw of dice and thereby lost them to his younger cousin, Sean Cassidy (Banshee). Black Tom and Sean Cassidy were rivals for the love of Maeve Rourke, and Sean eventually prevailed and married her.

While still a young man Black Tom Cassidy turned to crime as a way of seeking thrills. Discovering how much he liked it, Cassidy decided to make crime his profession. At first he masked his criminal activities under the guise of being a soldier of fortune. As such he roamed the world offering his services as a gun for hire while pursuing his criminal activities as well. While imprisoned in a Third World jail for acting as a mercenary for defeated revolutionary forces, Cassidy met a fellow mercenary, Cain Marko (Juggernaut). Cassidy and Marko struck up a friendship, and Cassidy used his own mutant power, which he had already discovered, to enable both of them to escape.

Interpol assigned Sean Cassidy to a top-secret mission, which required that he stay out of touch with his family for a considerable period of time. When he left on his mission, his wife Maeve was in her first month of pregnancy, although neither Sean nor Maeve knew it at the time. Their daughter, Theresa, was born during Sean's absence. Maeve took the infant Theresa with her on a visit to her relatives in Armagh in Northern Ireland. While she was there, an explosion caused by terrorists killed Maeve, an innocent bystander. The authorities found no trace of Theresa, and it was assumed that she too had been killed. However, Black Tom Cassidy had been present at the scene of the explosion and had secretly carried Theresa off with him. Knowing of his own and Sean's mutant powers, Black Tom suspected that Theresa might herself develop superhuman powers as she grew older. Moreover, Black Tom saw Theresa as the daughter he wished that he and Maeve could have had together. So Black Tom decided to raise Theresa himself secretly.

Eventually Black Tom Cassidy was reunited with his friend Cain Marko, who had become the superhumanly powerful Juggernaut. Cassidy suggested they form a partnership for criminal activities, and this partnership has proved profitable to both ever since. Cassidy's hatred of his cousin Sean and the Juggernaut's longstanding enmity for the X-Men brought Black Tom into conflict with the X-Men, whom Sean had joined under the code-name Banshee.

Black Tom Cassidy forced Theresa, who had grown into adolescence and developed superhuman powers, to aid them in their crimes in the costumed identity of Siryn. But Theresa's heart was never in a life of crime. While briefly in the custody of legal authorities, Black Tom exonerated Theresa of responsibility for her crimes and wrote a letter to Seam explaining who Theresa was. Black Tom escaped and Sean and Theresa were joyfully reunited.

Later, Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut took the multimillionaire mutants Gideon and Roberto DaCosta, alias Sunspot, prisoners and held them for ransom. The mutant action team X-Force went to the captives' rescue and its leader, Cable, shot Cassidy, inflicting what should have been lethal injuries.

However, Cassidy was taken to a genetic engineering research facility outside Angouleme, France on the orders of the mysterious "Mr. Tolliver," who was actually Cable's son, Tyler Nathan'son. There the injured portions of Cassidy's body were replaced with a wood-like substance through which he could now focus and project his bio-energy blasts. (Previously he had used his wooden shillelagh for this purpose.)

However, the genetic experimentation had infected him with a genetic virus that proceeded to transform an increasing amount of Cassidy's body into the wood-like substance, thereby threatening to kill him. Using cell samples from Cassidy's enemy, the mercenary Deadpool, the physician Dr. Killebrew succeeded in halting the spread of the genetic virus, thereby stabilizing Cassidy's condition.

But soon the virus began spreading once more, finally mutating Cassidy's entire body. It did not kill him, but instead transformed Cassidy into a sentient plant-like being with vast new superhuman powers. In the process Cassidy also went insane.

Cassidy sought to kill his longtime rival Sean, and captured most of Sean's students, the young mutants belonging to the team Generation X. But Black Tom was ripped apart by the claws of the Generation X member known as Penance.

It is unlikely, though, that in his new plantlike form Black Tom Cassidy could truly have been destroyed this way, and presumably he will eventually regenerate his body and menace his cousin Sean once again.


Unusual physical features: Black Tom Cassidy has been genetically altered into a plant-like being who retains basic human features like a face and hands, but whose flesh has been transformed into a substance resembling wood. He can sprout branches and roots from his limbs and the rest of his body.

Strength level: In his original human form Black Tom Cassidy possessed the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engaged in moderate regular exercise. In his current form Cassidy can increase his strength to superhuman levels through growing in size.

Known superhuman powers: Originally, Black Tom Cassidy was a mutant with the superhuman power to generate blasts of force or heat. In his original human form Cassidy used a wooden shillelagh (a kind of Irish cane) to help him project the blasts, since wood acts as a focus for his power. After genetic engineers repaired injured portions of his body with a wood-like substance, Cassidy could channel his force and heat blasts directly through the wood-like parts of his body, such as his hands. No upper limit has yet been observed as to the power of the energy blasts Cassidy can project. He can wreak considerable damage with his force blasts, and he can melt metal with focused heat blasts. Ultimately, the genetic virus introduced into Cassidy's body mutated him into a sentient plant-like being whose flesh had been transformed into an organic substance resembling wood. Cassidy can grow to immense size and grow branches and roots from his body at tremendous speed at will. If part of his body is injured, he can rapidly grow new parts to take its place. By extending his roots throughout a wide area he can mentally control all plant life within that area and cause it to grow with immense speed and move as he wishes. He can create simulacra of human beings from plant matter and mentally control their actions.