Heat Wave (comics)

Heat Wave (Mick Rory) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the Silver Age Flash. He is a member of the Rogues.

Publication history

Heat Wave was first introduced in The Flash #140 which was written by John Broome. He was first made to be a rival for Captain Cold. However, in recent comics by Geoff Johns, Rory looks to Captain Cold to help him keep his obsession at bay, though Cold thinks he'll eventually become beyond help.

Fictional character biography

Born on a farm outside Central City, Mick Rory became fascinated with fire, as a child. This fascination turned into an obsession and one night, he set his family's home ablaze. His obsession was so great, that he simply watched the flames engulf his house, instead of running to get help.

After this event, Rory went to live with his uncle. His pyromania continued and he was forced to run away after locking a schoolmate in his house and setting it on fire, after the boy locked Rory in a meat locker during a field trip. He took a job as a fire eater with a traveling circus. This did not last long either, as he ended up setting the circus on fire. He has an intense fear of cold, called cryophobia. This was due to a school field trip (noted above) to a slaughterhouse, during which one of his friends locked him in a freezer. It was these events that made him desperate to fight his fire obsession and after seeing the Rogues in action in Central City, he decided to use his mania to become a villain. He created a protective costume made of asbestos (this was back before the dangers of asbestos were known), built a gun-sized flamethrower (nicknamed the "Hot Rod"), and became Heat Wave. As he was committing crimes in Central City, it was inevitable that he'd run into the Flash, which he did quite regularly. Subsequently, he also ended up in jail quite regularly. He also became an adversary of Captain Cold, due to his aversion to cold temperatures. It was Captain Cold who introduced Heat Wave to the Rogues, and in his first appearance they teamed up to get rid of the Flash as they competed over a newscaster they had both fallen in love with and fought each other as they each tried to compete a larger crime spree, but the Flash jailed them both.

Eventually, Mick went straight, due largely to the manipulations of the Top. He took a job as a firefighting consultant, using his vast knowledge on fires and heat. He also became good friends with Barry Allen, whose secret identity as Flash was discovered by Rory years before. Rory later succumbed to an offer by Abra Kadabra of gaining respect and infamy in the world. He and four other members of the Rogues sacrificed themselves, quite unwittingly, to unleash the demon Neron.^[1]

Neron returned the soulless bodies of the five to Earth, in a plan to force Flash into a deal.^[2] The five Rogues each possessed incredible powers and wreaked havoc, death, and destruction before Neron was forced by Flash to halt their actions and return their souls to their bodies.^[3]

Heat Wave would only briefly return to his criminal ways before abandoning them to study with Zhutanian monks.^[4] Afterwards, he worked for Project Cadmus as a backup agent, but eventually quit that too and moved to the Quad Cities, Illinois area. He eventually got a job at the FBI, along with other reformed members of the Rogues. This was a spectacular failure and Rory became a villain once again after the Top arrived and undid the mental program that had kept him reformed.

In Infinite Crisis, Heat Wave became a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains.

One Year Later

In One Year Later, Heat Wave is next seen being recruited by Inertia to team up against Bart Allen. He is one of the rogues who deliver the killing blow to Bart. He freaks out about what he and the Rogues have done and flees only to be captured by Captain Boomerang alongside Weather Wizard. He is sent to "hell planet" Salvation with the other Rogues. When the conflict starts, he sides with Luthor. When they beat J'onn, he's worried about killing another hero, claiming that they will kill them with rusty razors. He returns to Earth with the villains who are still alive.

Salvation Run

Heat Wave is one of the exiled villains featured in Salvation Run along with his fellow Rogues: Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, and Abra Kadabra.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge

He was seen as the member of Rogues who joined Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1, however, Heat Wave and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used, particularly after they find that Paul Gambi, the Rogues' tailor, has been badly beaten by the 'New Rogues' organised by Libra. During the hunt for Inertia, Heat Wave also kills Burn- his own counterpart in the 'New Rogues'- when the two shoot their weapons at each other, Heat Wave noting that Burn's costume was of poorer quality than his own, allowing him to burn Burn to death while he is barely sweating while subjected to Burn's own weapons. Captain Cold later has him kill Cold's father, abducted by Libra as a hostage against Cold. While Libra tries to hypnotize the Rogues, Captain Cold tells Rory to watch a nearby fire to retain his focus. When they are fighting Inertia, Rory melts his boots, making him unable to move. He then helps the other Rogues kill Inertia.

Once the crisis is over, the unarmed Human Flame seeks out Heat Wave, hoping to purchase one of his signature flamethrower guns after his own equipment was lost in a confrontation with the Mafia. After learning that the Human Flame can only offer him $5 000, Heat Wave refuses, denouncing Human Flame as "pathetic". Noting that Captain Cold advised against this meeting and he only agreed to see what the other man had to offer, Heat Wave gives Human Flame a harsh beating, the fight concluding with Heat Wave blowing up the fireworks factory they were meeting in, noting that he had always wanted to do something like that.^[5]

The Flash (Vol. 3)

Heat Wave and the Rogues visit Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass written on it.^[6] Rory is still on the run with The Rogues.^[7]

The New 52

In this timeline of The New 52, Heat Wave is now able to shoot fire from his chest, and has issues with Captain Cold, blaming him for the breakup of the Rogues. Both villains end up being defeated by the Flash, but upon being incarcerated they meet with Cold's sister Golden Glider who recruits him for an unknown plot.^[8]

Powers and abilities

Pre 52

In the Pre 52 continuity Heat Wave had no meta-human abilities; however, he was able to create a flamethrower that allowed him to project intense streams of flame that reach temperatures well over 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The flame that his weaponry projects is so hot that it has been able to melt Flashes friction proof boots, the same boots that allow Flash to run at light speed. He also has an in-depth knowledge of fire and pyrotechnics.

New 52

In the New 52 continuity Heat Wave merged his DNA with his flamethrower thus granting him the ability to project and manipulate fire from his own body.

Weapons & Equipment

Heat Wave carries a hand held flamethrower that allows him to project a concentrated stream of fire at opponents. He wears an asbestos suit with a breathing mask that affords him protection against fire and heat. His suit was once shown to be able to project heat as well, staving off an attack from Captain Cold's cold gun. Heat Wave has a pipe attached to his left arm that can project a fire retardant which allows him to put out fires.

Other versions

Justice League Unlimited

Heat Wave has appeared in the Justice League Unlimited spin-off comic book, in issue #21.

Tangent Comics

In Tangent Comics (now Earth-9 of the DC Multiverse) Heat Wave is mentioned as New York's weather-manipulating villain that was defeated by Superman.

JLA/Avengers

In JLA/Avengers Heat Wave is among the villains enthralled by Krona to defend his base in #4. He is shown blasting Jocasta.

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Heat Wave kills Jason Rusch in an attempt to take his place in the Firestorm Matrix, but is defeated by Cyborg. He is then sent to death row in the military Doom prison. During this time, Eel O'Brian arrives to break him out, having been hiding in the body of his cellmate Cluemaster.^[9] During the prison break, Heat Wave forces an inmate to join him, after taking out another inmate Victor Zsasz and the corrections officer Atom, who controls the actions of Amazo. While retrieving his weapons, Heat Wave then attacks the guards' control room and attempts to ram Cyborg's home city of Detroit with the Doom prison.^[10] Heat Wave then betrays O'Brian and apparently kills him with his flamethrower. Cyborg arrives and moves the Doom prison away from the city with his sonic weapon. When the Doom prison crashes, Heat Wave attempts to escape, but Cyborg challenges him to a fight. During the fight, Cyborg manages to defeat Heat Wave and the inmates are willing to surrender. Later, Heat Wave is imprisoned in Belle Reve with his new cellmate, when O'Brian is revealed to be alive in his new cellmate's body and gets revenge on him at the end of the page.^[11]

25th Century Heat Wave

A futuristic version Heatstroke is a heroic Heat Wave as part of the 25th Century cops known as The Renegades from Professor Zoom's future.^[7]

Earth-3

At the time when the "Forever Evil" storyline was happening, Grid access the files of Rhonda Pineda where the Earth-3 version of Mick Rory was a police officer alongside Leonard Snart where they have been pursuing Jonathan Allen and Rhonda. When Jonathan and Rhonda wanted the two of them to fight to the death upon being captured, Mick won the fight only for him to be killed by Jonathan anyway.^[12]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In Injustice: Gods Among Us comic, Heat Wave appears in the villains exclusive bar World's End throwing darts at a board with a picture of the Joker on it before Wonder Woman, the Flash and the rest of the League crash the bar looking for Mirror Master. He and the Rogues are recruited into Batman's Insurgency in Year Five to help take down Superman, as Bruce values their "no killing" rule. He and Weather Wizard end up getting incinerated by Bizarro's heat vision.

In other media

Television

Animation

• Heat Wave was originally going to be a villain for the third Superfriends series, in a group called the League of Evil. They were eventually changed to the Legion of Doom, and most of the planned members did not appear.
• Heat Wave (spelled Heatwave in the show's billing) was shown in Justice League Unlimited voiced by Lex Lang. He appears as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. In "To Another Shore," he was seen helping Giganta, Killer Frost, and Devil Ray retrieve a frozen Viking ship containing the Viking Prince's corpse. In "Alive," he was seen burning Blockbuster and being struck by Silver Banshee. In "Destroyer," he was with Lex Luthor and the other remaining Secret Society members when it came to Darkseid's invasion upon Earth. In Justice League Unlimited #21, he shared a relationship with Killer Frost.
• Heat Wave appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!" voiced by Steven Blum. He assists Captain Cold and Weather Wizard in a crime spree.

Arrowverse

Dominic Purcell as Heat Wave on the television series The Flash.

• Mick Rory/Heat Wave appears on The CW's television series The Flash, portrayed by Dominic Purcell. This version is depicted as a pyromaniac with burns covering half of his body, including his upper arms. He debuts in the episode "Going Rogue", where his ex-partner Leonard Snart (played by Purcell's Prison Break co-star Wentworth Miller) recruits him into his criminal gang. Snart offers Rory an experimental 'heat gun' that he stole earlier and proposes that they work together to kill the Flash so that no one could interfere with their crimes in Central City. However, in "Revenge of the Rogues", the Flash tricks Snart and Rory into firing their guns at each other, destroying both weapons. After being apprehended, they are rescued by Snart's sister, Lisa, and are able to coerce the Flash's ally Cisco Ramon into recreating their weapons. In season 2, Mick reportedly made off with cash from an interrupted robbery after the Snart siblings were ambushed by their father, Lewis, and he abandoned them ("Family of Rogues").
• Heat Wave next appears in the spin-off DC's Legends of Tomorrow with Dominic Purcell reprising his role.^[13] Here, Snart reveals that when he was first sent to juvenile prison, fellow inmate Rory protected the much-smaller Snart from the other inmates. Snart since looked out for Rory, tempering his more violent tendencies. In "Star City 2046", Rory becomes the leader of a criminal gang in a dystopian Star City and wants to remain in this alternate reality, as it suits his temperament. Unable to persuade Rory to leave, Snart - for his own reasons - knocks him unconscious and forcibly returns him to the Waverider. This creates tension between the two partners. In "Marooned", Rip Hunter admits that he only recuited Rory because he wanted Snart, and the two were "a package deal". This leads Rory to betray the team to a band of space pirates and him nearly killing Sara Lance/White Canary, before being stopped by Snart. Since returning him to 2016 would open the team's family members to retaliation, Snart volunteers to "handle" Rory. He takes his former partner to an isolated area and fires his cold gun at him, distracting Rory in order to knock him out and abandon him. Rory is later revealed to be the Time Masters' bounty hunter Chronos, saved from near death and trained by the Time Masters at the Vanishing Point some time after Snart "handled" him. He captures Leonard and plans to kill his sister, Lisa, in front to him. Rory/Chronos later attacks Rip's team, but he is overwhelmed and defeated by them. Imprisoning him on the Waverider, the team elects to try rehabilitating their former teammate. The team not making any headway, Snart proposes that he and Rory settle matters with their fists; if Rory kills Snart, he can escape in the jump-ship and go wherever he likes. Rory soundly beats Snart, but does not kill him, claiming it no longer matters now. He tells the team that the Time Masters have now sent out the Hunters to kill them all, including Rory for failing his mission and realigns himself with the team. Escaping to the town of Salvation in 1871, Rory and the others encounter bounty hunter Jonah Hex, an old friend of Rip's. Rory, Hex and the team are ultimately able to defeat both the Hunters and the Jeb Stillwater gang. Before Rory kills the final Hunter, the latter informs him that an assassin known as the Pilgrim has been sent to kill the team's younger selves in the past. As a young Rory watches his home burn in 1990, the Pilgrim secretly targets him from behind as she prepares to make the kill.^[14] After Snart sacrifices himself to destroy the Time Masters' Oculus device, a more subdued Mick has Rip take him back to Central City in 2013 to see Snart so that he can ensure that his old friend knew how he felt about him: that Snart was "the best guy I ever knew". In the final episode of season 1, Rex Tyler says that Mick Rory sent him to stop the team from boarding the Waverider. In the second season, Rory is the last member of the team left on the Waverider after Rip is forced to use the ship to ram a Nazi submarine intending to destroy New York with a nuclear bomb in 1942, initiating a 'time scatter' option to disperse the team across history, Rory remained in the ship because he was too injured to survive the jump, being left in stasis until he was retrieved by Nate Heywood and Oliver Queen, subsequently using the Waverider to find the rest of the crew across history.
  • Mitchell Kummen portrayed a younger Mick Rory in the episode "Last Refuge",^[15] when the team rescue him from the fire that killed his parents when he was a child. A conversation with his future self reveals that Mick started the fire- albeit by accident- but the conversation helps Rory accept that his younger self was just a foolish child who didn't know any better rather than causing the fire out of genuine malice, advising his younger self to be better than him.
• Purcell reprised his role as Heat Wave in Arrow during the "Invasion!" crossover event.

Film

Heat Wave appears in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox in a non-speaking role. At the start of film, Heat Wave and the Rogues attacked the Flash, but Professor Zoom betrayed them and attached irremovable bombs to them. The Justice League arrived to dispose of the bombs, Superman removed Heat Wave's by gripping the bomb in his hands to muffle the explosion and save Heat Wave's life.

Video games

• Heat Wave appears in the NES video game Batman on the first and fifth levels and shoots a Fire Gun.
• Heat Wave appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame as one of the villains, with Steven Blum reprising his role.
• Heat Wave appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by David Jennison as a Tech arms dealer in the Hall of Doom.
• Heat Wave appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham', voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.^[16]

References

External links

• Alan Kistler's Profile On: THE FLASH Part 1 and Part 2 – A detailed analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler. Covers information all the way from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to today, as well as discussions on the various villains and Rogues who fought the Flash. Various art scans.
• Arrowverse entry for Heat Wave