Tim Fitzgerald is a mutant with the ability to rechannel nearby energy sources who is a member of the renegade X-Men.[3] His ordinary life as an employer to corporate America radically changed when his powers were activated and accidentally caused the death of his girlfriend.[4] Running away and becoming homeless, he was contacted by Shakti Haddad to meet the X-Men, a group of mutant fugitives led by Xi'an Chi Xan who resisted the aggressive and unequal corporativist ideology.[1]
Initially cautious and restrictive about the use of his violent powers,[5] Fitzgerald had his feelings shaken upon contact with vicious woman known as La Lunática[4] and eventually embraced the darker aspects of his soul, being more comfortable with using his energy-based powers.[6] Following Xi'an's betrayal to the X-Men,[7] Fitzgerald has stepped up as a leadership figure to put his former master down.[8]
Fitzgerald's edgy attitude has developed further with his more complex connections with death. After mutants were benefited with sanctuary in Halo City,[9] the X-Men became its police force; in one of their operations against the Graverobber, Fitzgerald was mortally wounded and subsequently revived, starting a new existence as an undead being.[10] When Halo City was threatened, Fitzgerald then had his body utterly destroyed by Vulcann the Bloodsmith[11] but once again he thrived over death, evolving past his corporeal existence as an energy being.[12]
History
Timothy Fitzgerald was a wealthy, young urban professional until his mutant powers manifest. An uncontrollable burst of energy destroys his apartment and kills his girlfriend, Reiko.[4] Timothy goes into hiding, living on the streets. He was approached by Cerebra, who gave him a card and told him to go to Las Vegas.[1]
In Las Vegas, Timothy joins the future X-team, X-Men. He had his reservations about joining, but found he had little choice in the matter after using his mutant power of channeling the energy around him and helping to botch the assassination of X-Men's leader, Xi'an Chi Xan; other members of the team rushed to Fitzgerald's aid and they all sped off in a van to get Xi'an medical help. He became close friends with Serpentina, another X-Man. Soon after she is slain by Junkpile.[5]
Tim struggled with controlling his powers, but after pent-up dramatic events were opened in his mind by the psychic vampire, La Lunatica, he became much more adept at refocusing energy at will. Tim also experienced a transformation in his personality, becoming much less shy and more of a daredevil, bordering on suicidal.[13]
Timothy assists several of his X-Men allies in a trip to New York. Their goal was to find Meanstreak's old friend Jordan Boone. They do, as Boone had become part of a plot by the corporation Alchemax to create superpowered deities based on the revered warriors of Asgard.[14][15]
Tim later encountered La Lunatica again and wanted to pay her back for her attack. Around this time, she changes his look by implementing a skull-like face paint design. Instead they ended up as romantic partners. Timothy offers to help her against the Theatre of Pain, but found that his powers were no match for Brimstone Love, the leader of the Theatre of Pain. The X-Men's leader Xi'an decided to join the Theatre though and Brimstone Love left with him.[16] With Xi'an gone, Timothy took over leadership of the X-Men and Luna became a member.[17]
After restoring Xi'an to normal and defeating the Theatre of Pain, Timothy and his X-Men accept an offer to protect Halo City by President Victor von Doom. The X-Men were now special police officers and under their protection Halo City became a place where humans and mutants could live in peace.[18]
The peace was short-lived though, as a villain called the Graverobber revives several dead mutants, including Serpentina as the Undead. Dependent on the Graverobber for their continued existence, the Undead follow his orders and went to Halo City to kill Cerebra's father, Zail Haddad, a ruthless businessman who had been responsible for the Graverobber's transformation from a normal human into a corpse-like being. Undead use Serpentina to lure Timothy into a trap. They kill him with a poison dart. They then stole his body from the morgue and the Graverobber revives Timothy. As one of the Undead, Timothy was used to take Halo City hostage: he enters the Halo City powerplant and absorbed all its output, causing a city-wide blackout. The Graverobber is defeated and knocked out. With the Graverobber unconscious, all of the Undead die again, except for Timothy, who now was powered by the absorbed energy of the entire city.[10]
As time passed, Tim died again in an attack by Vulcann and Darkson. Darkson was the altered form of the son of his friend Metalhead. This time his body was completely destroyed by the body-reshaping power of Vulcann, but an energy being in the form of Reiko informs Timothy about the true nature of his powers; Timothy's body had been just a shell for the being of pure energy living inside. She offers him a chance to join a society of other energy beings, but Timothy returns to the X-Men to be with Luna.[12] He disappeared after that, however, and his absence was never commented on.[19]Attributes
Powers
Ambient Energy Particle Absorption: Originally Skullfire was capable of absorbing all forms of ambient energy particles into his body where he metabolized it to a usable form and then dispersed it in destructive energy blasts. He had no control over this power though and was only capable of using it during moments of great stress. Cerebra's powers allowed her to trigger his powers at will, but she had to make physical contact with him. After La Lunatica made him relive Reiko's death, Timothy could control his powers at will. Absorbing the energy of Halo City's power plants gave Timothy a permanent source of power, but as a side-effect he was constantly glowing with a green light.
- Energy Blasts
- Energy Channeling
- Levitation
Notes
- Fitzgerald was never given the Skullfire codename in the series, despite its frequent use in other media. He was referred to as Skullfire on the cover of X-Men 2099 #7, but never inside the comics, even in narration boxes.
See Also
- 38 appearance(s) of Timothy Fitzgerald (Earth-928)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Timothy Fitzgerald (Earth-928)
- 29 image(s) of Timothy Fitzgerald (Earth-928)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 X-Men 2099 #1
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #31
- ↑ X-Men 2099
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 X-Men 2099 #4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 X-Men 2099 #1–3
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #10
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #11–13
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #14–16
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #25
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 X-Men 2099 #26–29
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #34
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 X-Men 2099 #35
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #4–6
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #5
- ↑ Doom 2099 #14
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #10–13
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #14
- ↑ X-Men 2099 #25–26
- ↑ 2099: World of Tomorrow #1