Heat Wave (comics)

Heat Wave
Heat Wave on the cover to The Flash #218. Art by Howard Porter, Inked by Livesay
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The Flash #140 (November 1963)
Created by	John Broome (Writer) Carmine Infantino (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Mick Rory
Species	Human
Place of origin	New Earth
Team affiliations	Rogues Secret Society of Super Villains
Notable aliases	Rory Calhoun
Abilities	Possesses a handgun sized flamethrower and knowledge of pyrotechnics and combustibles Wears an asbestos suit that protects him from fire and heat Pipe attached to his left arm that allows him to put out fires New 52: Chest based pyrokinesis

Heat Wave (Mick Rory) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an enemy of The Flash.

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.

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.