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Mortimer Toynbee (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Character Template Help
Real Name
Current Alias

Aliases
The Terrible Toad-King, impersonated the Stranger

Identity

Alignment

Affiliation
Member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, member of the Misfits, Defenders

Universe

Base Of Operations
Mobile

Characteristics
Gender

Height


Eyes

Hair

Status
Citizenship

Marital Status

Occupation
Professional criminal

Origin
Origin

Place of Birth


First appearance

X-Men, Vol 1 #4, March 1964

Contents

History

Mortimer Toynbee was abandoned by his parents so early in childhood that he couldn't remember them. He was placed in an orphanage where the other children, who regarded him as a freak due to his ugliness, his unusual physique, and his leaping ability, continually tormented him. Toynbee was so traumatized by his loneliness and the continual abuse he received that it affected his learning abilities. The teachers and administrators in the orphanage therefore regarded Toynbee as mentally retarded, even though, in actuality, he was of normal intelligence. So desperate did Toynbee become for affection that he developed a pathetically subservient personality, and would unquestioningly obey anyone he thought sincerely cared about him.

At some point after achieving adulthood, Toynbee was discovered by Magneto and recruited for his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto gave Toynbee the alias of the Toad because of Toynbee's powers, appearance, and personality. Magneto did not believe that the Toad's powers would be of any great service to him, but he thought it useful to have an expendable pawn who would follow his orders unquestioningly. The Toad was indeed pathetically devoted to Magneto, whom he subconsciously referred to as a surrogate father. He blinded himself to Magneto's continual verbal and physical abuse because Magneto was out to conquer the human race that had rejected the Toad. The Toad believed that he would be given a place of honor in the new society that Magneto would create.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Toad met the mutant Scarlet Witch, and became infatuated with her, though she did not reciprocate the feeling. Also on the team were the Scarlet Witch's brother Quicksilver and the illusionist Mastermind. The Brotherhood battled the original X-Men repeatedly, but the X-Men continually thwarted them.

Magneto and the Toad were captured by the alien called the Stranger and imprisoned on a distant world. When Magneto first escaped, he callously left the Toad behind, and the Toad's attitude towards his master began to change. After being recaptured, Magneto escaped a second time and took the Toad with him, but his continued bullying caused the Toad's resentment to increase until it flared into murderous hatred. The Toad abandoned Magneto to die in an explosion that followed an encounter with the Avengers and the X-Men. It was later discovered that Magneto survived.

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol 1) #4

The Toad became a recluse, but was soon captured along with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, first by the mutant-hunting robots called the Sentinels and later by the extra-dimensional warrior Arkon. When the Avengers rescued Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, the Toad asked to remain on Arkon's world, where he employed its technological resources to build a ship that would carry him across space and the dimensional barrier. He returned to the Stranger's planet.

There he studied and stole the Stranger's technology and equipment in an effort to become more powerful and thus more appealing to the Scarlet Witch. However, just as he prepared to return to Earth, he leaned that the Scarlet Witch had married the Vision. Enraged, he planned to strike out at her, attacked the Avengers to learn her whereabouts, and was defeated.

He served a short prison term and was released, at which time he commissioned the criminal Arcade to construct a series of deadly traps in a seemingly deserted castle in upstate New York. Renaming himself the Terrible Toad-King, he planned to entrap everyone who he felt had abused him, placing them in the castle where they would be killed in the attempt to escape. His first victim was the X-Man Angel. In capturing the Angel, the Toad accidentally kidnapped the Thing, too. Just as the two were about to escape, Arcade stepped in and demanded immediate payment for his services. Unable to pay and fearful for his own life, the Toad fell into a panic.

The Angel took pity on Toynbee and formulated an agreement with him to convert the castle into an amusement park, paying the debt in the process. The endeavor was a success until it was discovered that the castle's original owner was Victor Von Doom. Doom sent a robot of himself and a security force to remove the Toad and restore the structure to its original state.

Toynbee again fell into despondency and decided to commit suicide, an attempt that was interrupted by Spider-Man. In an effort to buoy Toynbee's spirits, Spider-Man offered his friendship. As eager for this acceptance as he had been for Magneto's, the Toad became determined to be Spider-Man's partner, despite Spider-Man's gentle protests. The Toad resorted to a ruse in an effort to change his mind, and hired a group of criminals to attack Spider-Man, an assault the Toad would then help foil. In the process he attracted the attention of Frog Man and Spider-Kid, two young men who also wished to team-up with Spider-Man. During the fight, the three found themselves interested in a partnership of their own and formed a trio they called the Misfits.

Toad

Though seeking the help of a psychiatrist during this period, Toynbee was still obsessed with the Scarlet Witch. In direct contradiction to his law-enforcing partnership with Frog Man and Spider-Kid, the Toad used the technology stolen from the Stranger to attempt to kidnap her. His first such try, during a Thanksgiving celebration, involved robot doppelgangers of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and was stopped by the Vision, Quicksilver, and the recently-reformed Magneto. It was Quicksilver who actually subdued the Toad, who was again calling himself the Terrible Toad-King.

Toynbee and his automatons were removed to Project Pegasus for study, but one of the robots reactivated on a timed program and freed its builder. The Vision pursued the Toad to his ship and narrowly defeated him, sending the ship into space, out of control. The toad regained control in time to successfully return to Earth, where he attacked once again. He became violently agitated when this attempt brought him into conflict with Spider-Man, whose approval he still valued. The Toad defeated Spider-Man and the Vision using a powerful exoskeleton and forced his way into the New Jersey home owned by the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. The Scarlet Witch was eight months pregnant, and when the Toad confronted her, he found her condition repulsive. She defeated him, but he escaped.

Eventually the Toad sought to form a new Brotherhood, recruiting Blob, Pyro, Sauron, and Phantazia. Allied with the Morlocks, the team attempted to take down the mutant strike team X-Force in a violent battle. Following a clash with Darkhawk and Sleepwalker over the interdimensional mutant Portal, Toad's Brotherhood disbanded.

For a time, Toad stayed at the Canadian estate of Emma Frost, after the former White Queen had taken pity on him. This led to a minor skirmish with Emma's students, Generation X, who were not expecting to find him there.

Toad, Mystique, Juggernaut, Iceman, and Phoenix were later summoned by Prosh to stop the Stranger's attempt to accelerate the evolution of humans and mutants. During their time jumps an embryo thought to be an unborn Toad was examined by the Black Womb Project and deemed unfit. His powers were later increased by Prosh and Mystique as the team battled the Stranger. After their success, Toad left.

Toad eventually resurfaced in Genosha after Sentinels killed nearly all 16 million of the country's mutant citizens. Toad, along with Toad-In-Waiting, were paying respects to his former master Magneto, who was believed to have been among the casualties. Most recently Toad was seen on his way to the Xavier Institute.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Toad is a Beta-Level mutant.

  • Superhuman Leaping: The Toad's primary mutant power is the ability to leap to heights and distances far greater than that of an ordinary human. He possesses some degree of superhuman strength, particularly in his legs, which grants him his superior leaping abilities. He has a vertical leap of over 24 feet and a horizontal jump of approximately 36 feet in a single leap. No definite limit to his leaping ability is yet known. Although the Toad usually stands in a crouching position, he can stand erect if he wishes. His unusually flexible spine enables him to crouch continually without strain. 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. Recently, he has demonstrated a better sense of combat and a slimmer physique, using both his leaping ability and his long, prehensile tongue to his advantage.
  • Superhuman Stamina: The Toad's muscles produce much less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the muscles of an ordinary human. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue begins to impair him.
  • Superhuman Agility: The Toad's bodily coordination and balance are enhanced to levels that are beyond the human body's natural limits.
  • Superhuman Durability: The Toad's body is somewhat tougher and more resistant to physical injury than an ordinary human's. He can withstand impacts and physical trauma that would severely injure or kill an ordinary human with moderate discomfort. However, he is far from invulnerable and can be injured in ways similar to an ordinary human. For instance, he is not bulletproof and can be injured by weapons composed of conventional materials.
  • Super-Prehensile Tongue: The Toad has the ability to extend his tongue up to 25 feet in distance and ensnare objects and people. His tongue is superhumanly strong to the extent that he once killed a magistrate of Genosha by ensnaring him with his tongue and squeezing him, causing the magistrate to be crushed to death.
  • Mind Alteration: The Toad's super-prehensile tongue contains mind altering toxins bending a person's will so that they obey Toad's commands.
  • Toxic Saliva: He is also able to spit a caustic phlegmatic substance.
  • Paralytic Resin: His pores secrete a mucus resin that adheres to any surface and paralyzes the nervous systems of whatever it touches.
  • Superhuman Respiratory System: He can also contain large amounts of air in his expanding cheeks and throat and expel it with enough force to knock someone off their feet.
  • Amphibian Control: In the past, the Toad has demonstrated the ability to psionically communicate with amphibian life, such as frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders.

    Abilities

The Toad has no knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. However, his powers enable him to execute a leaping kick of superhuman force at an opponent. The Toad has a surprisingly great knowledge of advanced technology, thanks to his studies of machinery in the possession of Arcade, Magneto, and the Stranger. However, he is not himself talented at developing technological devices.

Strength level

  • Superhuman Strength: The Toad is superhumanly strong, primarily in his lower body, and is capable of leg pressing 3 tons. He possesses superhuman strength in his upper body as well, although to a much lower degree, and can lift about 1 ton.

Notes

  • Mortimer's identity is known to law enforcement agencies.
  • 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.
  • Toad has always had an unstable mutation, thanks to his infancy in the Black Womb Project.

Appearances in Other Media

Toad

Mortimer Toynbee was a greedy, pathetic little toady when the genetic evil mutant known as Magneto took him in as a member of his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But years of hard knocks toughened the Toad's hide, and the once sniveling creature grew a spine. Now, a leaner, meaner Mortmer stands poised to exact revenge on all those who mistreated him! Description from Marvel Legends packaging

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