Merge:Sunfire

Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) is a superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Don Heck, he first appeared in X-Men #64 (January 1970).

Sunfire is a temperamental and arrogant Japanese mutant who can generate superheated plasma and fly. Not suited for teamwork, Sunfire was only briefly a member of the X-Men and has kept limited ties to the team since. He has had some presence in the greater Marvel Universe.

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. Random mutation without extra-ordinary cause is currently the most common explanation. Besides, the only source that indicates that Sunfire's mutation came from his mother was his Uncle Tomo, an unreliable source. The fact that Sunfire's relative Mariko Yashida has the same powers in an alternate reality and that the Silver Samurai, also Sunfire's relative, is a mutant, albeit one with different powers, indicate that the potential for mutation runs in Sunfire's paternal family).

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 diplomat 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 authorities.

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 membership in a new superhero team sanctioned by the Japanese government.

Sunfire's life became involved with the X-Men once again when Apocalypse kidnapped Sunfire, as he was one of the Twelve, a group of unique mutants Apocalypse required to obtain the power to warp reality.

Later on, Sunfire became a member of X-Corporation, a non-government organization devoted to the protection of mutant rights. Sunfire joined the Mumbai branch of X-Corp.

Rogue
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 of Evil Mutants. 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. The two ran into Lady Deathstrike, who in a heated battle cut off Sunfire's legs, leaving him in critical condition. 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.

Horseman of Apocalypse
In X-Men #182, it was revealed that Sunfire had been rescued by a mysterious group of ninjas, and taken to a hospital in Aspen. After being revived from his coma, the world's leading specialist in prosthetic limbs, Masanori Kuzuya, offered him his services. 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 Apocalypse's 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. Captured by Ozymandias and Apocalypse, Sunfire was transformed into the Horseman of Famine. When Apocalypse launched his attack on the X-Men, Sunfire caused an intense feeling of hunger and weakness in the mutants and humans on the institute grounds. As he was fighting the X-Men, Havok shot him down and Rogue, who recognized him, caught him as he fell. He was taken to the Medical Lab and Emma Frost entered his mind in an attempt to help him. When Apocalypse departed he sent War to retrieve Famine but Shiro broke free from Apocalypse's control and attacked War.

Sunfire was last seen running off with the unconscious body of Gambit, like him a former X-men turned Horseman. At the temple where Sunfire first took Gambit, Mr. Sinister told them, "I am glad you both feel able to move on from the past... for I am your future!".

Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Shiro Yoshida was one of the few survivors of the destruction of Japan at the hands of Holocaust, one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. He was captured and given to Maximus, the Horseman of Death, as a test subject for his experiments, which pushed Shiro's powers to the point in which they became uncontrollable, causing Shiro to be constantly on fire, thus injuring himself, as his body wasn't immune to the flames.

Shiro was eventually rescued by the X-Men and joined their cause, taking on the codename Sunfire. To prevent his powers from killing him, Sunfire wore a containment suit that helped him control his powers, though he remained constantly on flames. Haunted by the destruction of his nation, Sunfire joined Rogue's taskforce of X-Men when they were sent to Chicago to fight Holocaust, who had begun a new series of Cullings.

House of M
In the House of M, Sunfire became the Emperor of Japan. Under his rule, the country had prospered, though the poverty levels were extremely high among the baseline human population. In secret, Sunfire was one of the masterminds of Project: Genesis, a project sanctioned by the Japan branch of S.H.I.E.L.D with the goal of forcefully mutating baseline humans. When the the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives-in-training dubbed the Hellions investigated a terrorist attack, they discovered the existance of Project: Genesis and its link to Emperor Sunfire, though he lied to the Hellions and told them that Project: Genesis's purpose was to recycle organic waste into food.

Family
Sunfire is the brother of Leyu Yoshida, alias the superheroine Sunpyre, who shares his flame-based powers. He is also the cousin of Wolverine's late fiancée Mariko Yashida and her half-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 a phoneme in Japanese somewhat between an English R and an English L - at the time of his first story it was more popular to use an L, whereas nowadays one would write in Latin letters an R, which may explain the name Leyu instead of Reiyu. For example, Godzilla would today likely be spelled "Gojira".

Powers
Sunfire has the ability to absorb solar radiation, and convert it into high energy plasma which bursts into flame when exposed to oxygen. He can project his powers though his hands as blasts of searing heat, deadly radiation, explosive force, or simple bursts of fire. By ionizing the air around him, he can surround himself with an aura of heat intense enough to melt steel, or fly by focusing his aura downwards in a tight stream of ionized gas to propel him though the air like a rocket. Sunfire can see heat, by shifting his vision from visible light to infrared. Due to the nature of his powers, Sunfire is immune to extreme heat and radiation.

After his transformation into Famine, a Horseman of Apocalypse, Sunfire gained the ability to use his flames to create flashes of light that affected the sections of the human brain which control hunger, causing any people who saw his light flashes to feel as if they were starving.

Appearances in other media

 * Sunfire guest starred on the 1980s animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the episode "Sunfire".


 * Sunfire was briefly seen in the X-Men animated series adaptation of the Dark Phoenix Saga in the episode "Child of Light". He also had a speaking roles in the episode "Slave Island" and "Graduation Day" but he was clearly meant as a generic place-holder and his character had no importance to the story.


 * Sunfire recently appeared as one of the initial sixteen playable mutants in the multi-platform action-RPG X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

Influence

 * Sunfire's costume may be the source of inspiration for Kazuma Kaneko's design for Apollo, a demon in the 2nd Persona title by Atlus. Both characters share a similar color scheme, have a flame patterned headdress, have similar fire-based powers and a sunburst pattern on the abdomen.
 * It is interesting to note that his appearance as a Horseman is virtually identical to his appearance in the Age of Apocalypse timeline.