Toad (comics)
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Toad (Mortimer Toynbee) is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an enemy of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #4 (March 1964).
Toad was originally a weak, hunchbacked mutant, with a superhuman leaping ability and protracted tongue. He was Magneto’s sniveling servant in the 1960s line-up of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He eventually led his own version of the Brotherhood, which was more involved in petty crime than mutant liberation.
Ray Park played a significantly different Toad in 2000’s X-Men film. He was cocky and sarcastic and his superhuman agility and wall-scaling abilities made him a match for several X-Men. Aspects of this Toad have since been implemented into the comic book version. Subsequently, most versions of Toad written or drawn after 2000 resemble the Ray Park version more closely than the original Toad.
Character biography
Magneto's Lackey
Mortimer Toynbee was born in York, England, and was quickly abandoned by his parents and spent many years in an orphanage, where he was constantly tormented by other children due to his ugliness and strangely shaped body (as his mutant appearance was present from birth). He was considered to be mentally inferior due to his extreme shyness and mild learning disabilities during his (elementary) school years, though he was actually quite intelligent. He dropped out at an extremely early age and decided to fend for himself. Based on years of abuse and knowing full well he was a freak, Mortimer developed a severe inferiority complex, becoming servile to anyone that showed him the slightest bit of affection.Later, he was recruited into Magneto's original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, becoming Magneto's sycophantic toady. The Toad believed that Magneto loved him, while the mutant mastermind considered this henchman little more than a human shield. He was also obsessed with his then-teammate, the Scarlet Witch, leading to a continuing enemity with her and her brother, Quicksilver, though the crush was dropped years later after he saw her pregnant belly and became disgusted.
At one point, Magneto and Toad were captured by the alien Stranger as part of his collection. Magneto managed to escape, but coldly left his lackey Toad behind. When Magneto was re-captured by the Stranger, he took Toad with him during his second escape, but by then Toad's attitude towards his master had already begun to change. Toad realized that Magneto didn't care at all for him and left his side.
Solo Career
Some time later, Toad began to study the Stranger's technology, becoming familiar with it. Over the next several years, Toad attempted to strike out on his own, but met with little success, realizing that he was too dependent on others to work alone. He even tried his hand as a superhero, forming a group called the Misfits with Spider-kid and Frog Man. However, Toad suffered from constant depression.Eventually, Toad left the Misfits and formed his own version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, along with Blob, Pyro, Sauron, and Phantazia. The team met with little success, however.
X-Men: Forever
Years later, still struggling with depression, Toad was captured by Prosh, along with Juggernaut, Iceman, Jean Grey and Mystique as part of a convoluted, time-hopping plan to stop a global threat. Toad learned that his deformed body was the result of experimentation by Juggernaut's father, Kurt Marko, at Alamogordo, New Mexico, which left Toad with an unstable genetic structure. The Stranger's equipment corrected his genetic flaws, resulting in an almost complete metamorphosis: Toad was thinner, stronger, and had his powers augmented. Among the most notable changes was a prehensile tongue.Though his change improved his self-esteem, Toad continued to live life without direction. He joined several more incarnations of the Brotherhood of Mutants, none of which lasted for long.
Planet X
For reasons unknown, Toad eventually returned to Magneto's side during the Planet X storyline; however, Toad was not as docile and subservient as he had been in the past, even openly questioning Magneto at times. Magneto, in turn, was less tyrannical in his treatment of Toad, who had become his second-in-command. At that point, the long-presumed-dead Magneto's image had taken a Che Guevara-like notoriety, and Toad questioned if Magneto may have been more powerful dead than alive. Magneto was soon killed (again), and Toad was among those who gathered in Genosha to form a monument to him. It was later revealed that this was not the real Magneto, but a copycat named Xorn. It is unknown if Toad was aware of this. Either way, the real Magneto turned out to be alive after all. So far, Toad has made no known attempts to rejoin him.House of M
When a mentally unstable Scarlet Witch warped reality into the mutant-dominant House of M, Toad appeared as a member of Wolverine's Red Guard, and wrote a best-selling book about his time in Magneto's service. When his real memories were restored, he agreed to help the heroes in changing the reality back to normal.The 198
During the battle with the House of M, the Scarlet Witch changed back reality, genetically altering over ninety percent of the world's mutant population and only leaving a few hundred with their powers as a result, Toad among them. After rescuing Lorelei from anti-mutant thugs in Mutant Town, Toad escorted her to the Xavier Institute, where the X-Men had set up a camp for refugee mutants. Once he arrived at the institute he was paired with Fever Pitch as his tent mate, and made his disgust of the Sentinels "watching" them well known.Future
Though said to have been one of the main characters in , Toad played only a minimal role in the story. After being confirmed as one of the few mutants to retain his powers, Joe Quesada has commented, "You won't be able to put the Toad back in the box," leading to speculation that Toad may take a more active role in X-Men storylines.Powers and abilities
The Toad's intellect and physical abilities have gone through some changes over the years. In the character's inception, he had enhanced physical strength (superhuman leaping ablity), superhuman agility, and moderate intelligence.Toad's main power is his ability to leap great distances. He has a vertical leap of over twenty-four feet and a horizontal jump of approximately thirty-six feet. In his first appearances, Toad had very little knowledge of hand to hand combat, fighting mainly by kicking wildly and by leaping about and attempting to land on his opponents (as Toad once weighed over 250 lbs, this could be quite harmful). Recently, Mortimer has demonstrated a better sense of combat and a slimmer physique, using both his leaping ability and his long, prehensile tongue to his advantage.
The Toad's intellect has increased and he has vast technological and scientific knowledge, which he gained as a lackey to geniuses such as Magneto and by studying technology while in the captivity of the alien Stranger. He has demonstrated the ability to apply this sophisticated knowledge, but lacks the creativity to make progress beyond his existing knowledge - for example, while he could build a powerful exoskeletal armor, he would be unable to improve on its base design.
The Toad's strength has increased slightly over the years. It has been written that he is able to lift one ton with his arms and press three tons with his legs. Toad also has a very flexible spine, allowing him to remain in a crouching position comfortably for hours, though he can stand if he wishes. He also has gained the ability to extend his tongue great distances and ensnare objects and people. He is also able to spit a caustic phlegmatic substance that hardens like a rock . These last two abilities were invented in the movie, but the comic writers liked the traits so much they decided to write them into the character in the comics as well, when he was enhanced by the Stranger's equipment. Recently, Toad has always been depicted wearing goggles; whether this is indicative of further mutation or just an art choice across the board is unknown.
The Toad once possessed the ability to psionically communicate with most amphibian life and expel powerful gusts of wind from his lungs. He has not demonstrated these powers in recent appearances, and as he first manifested them during a period of genetic instability, these powers may have dissipated.
As a result of not bathing and the fact that his skin secretes unusual chemicals, the Toad usually has an offensive odor. The Toad also has a neurological chemical imbalance, which explains his drastic changes in personality.
It has been shown in some scenes from the future that he will gain the power to crawl on walls not unlike Spider-Man.
Alternate versions
Ultimate Toad
Toad was a founding member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who in this version is not the sycophantic Toad from the mainstream universe, but rather resembles the vicious version of the first X-Men movie. This Toad is also British like the mainstream version but has four fingers, green skin and can walk on walls not unlike Spider-Man. He remarkably became good friends with Ultimate Cyclops, when they were in the Brotherhood. This friendship carried on even after Cyclops returned to the X-Men. Toad recently returned in Ultimate X-Men #69, where he crashed a dance alongside the Brotherhood. This world's Toad had a drastic personality change from the mainstream: His attitude is that of a person who thinks of themself as an efficient being that gains strength from confidence. His personality is almost resembling that of a warrior seeing as he has confidence when going into battle and can now do anything when he wants to. He is cautious around Magneto obviously not fully trusting him, and sees the brotherhood members as opponents in achieving his goals and being the best in the brotherhood.
Toad appears in as Magneto's spy in the Vatican. As Magneto's plot was to recruit the "witchbreed" who could conceal their abilities in the unfriendly world, it is wondered why Toad was included, as he is shown with a long tongue constantly coming out of his mouth. He also has the ability to climb around on walls. When his deception is discovered by the Papacy, he betrays Magneto and his allies in exchange for his life. However, when Magneto's group breaks free, they capture Toad. Magneto promises to kill him, but his death is at least delayed, as he is seen alive on the ship later, though he doesn't appear in the climax. It's possible Magneto killed him between these two periods, off-panel.Appearances in other media
Toad, as he appeared in the first X-Men movie
- Toad appeared as a character in the 2000 movie X-Men, played by Ray Park. He is a member of Magneto's Brotherhood and possesses leaping and agility movement, a 13 ft tongue and the ability to produce a toxic mucus that he spits on his victim. In the battle at the Statue of Liberty, Toad was electrocuted by Storm and it implied he died. However, in the GBA version of , Toad appeared, hinting he might have survived being electrocuted by Storm.
- He appears in the cartoon as an American named Todd Tolensky instead of Mortimer Toynbee. In the series he is a member of the Brotherhood and a former classmate of the X-Men. He has a crush on Magneto's daughter, Wanda, a.k.a the Scarlet Witch. He was one of the mutants who helped defeat Apocalypse in the series finale.
Toad appears in the pilot episode "Pryde of the X-Men," in which he is voiced by Frank Welker.
- He made a cameo in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on a TV moniter, when Magneto is demanding for The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants to be freed from prison (in the episode "The Prison Plot").
- Toad appeared in the X-Men animated series episodes Secrets, No Longer Buried and Graduation Day. In his first appereance, Toad is part of the Children of the Shadow, a mutant-supremacist group led by Bill Braddock, a.k.a. Solarr.
- It was falsely believed he made a cameo in - a mutant similar to him is seen crawling on a wall when Magneto makes a speech in a mutant meeting. This mutant is then later seen in the first wave of attacks on Alcatraz, where he is hit by a bullet containing the mutant cure and then fell from the structure he was clinging to, his skin changing colors. The character however was confirmed as not being Toad, according to the credits of the movie; many believe it to be Anole.
- Toad is an unlockable character in the video game ', and a regular character in its sequels ' and X-Men: Next Dimension.
- Toad makes an appearance as a mini-boss in the multiplayer action-RPG video game X-Men Legends and is a playable character in the sequel, .
- Toad had one figure in the Marvel Legends toy line's debut, and several in the X-Men Movie line.
External links
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