Toad (comics)

Toad was often berated and verbally abused by Magneto.

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 primary 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'. Toad believed that Magneto loved him, while the mutant mastermind considered this henchman little more than a human shield. He also developed a crush on his teammate Scarlet Witch, but she did not return his feelings as she was repulsed by his appearance, mannerisms, and lack of hygiene.[1]

Toad abandoning Magneto.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Toad aided Magneto in repeated clashes with the X-Men.[1] Magneto tried to use him to infiltrate the X-Men, but they recognized his power and unmasked him.[2] At one point, Magneto and Toad were captured by the alien Stranger as part of his collection, encased in cocoons, and taken on a journey through space.[3] Magneto managed to escape by repairing a spaceship, but left Toad behind.[4] When Magneto was re-captured by the Stranger, whom Professor Xavier had telepathically communicated, he took Toad with him during his second escape, but by then Toad's attitude towards his master had already begun to change.[5] Toad aided Magneto against the X-Men once more,[6] but realized that Magneto didn't care at all for him and rebelled against Magneto, and fled his lair with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.[7]

However, he was soon captured by Sentinels, and then freed by the X-Men.[8] He was later captured with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.[9]

Some time later, Toad began to study the Stranger's technology, becoming familiar with it. He used the Stranger's alien technology to menace the Avengers.[10] He even attempted to kill the Angel in a castle outfitted with traps by Arcade. However, he instead turned the castle into an amusement park and became its caretaker.[11] Toad was eventually ejected from the castle by Doctor Doom, and he became suicidal, realizing that he was too dependent on others to work alone. He met and was befriended by Spider-Man, and teamed with Spider-Kid, and Frog-Man as the superhero adventurer team, the Misfits.[12] However, Toad suffered from constant depression.[13]

Eventually, Toad left the Misfits and returned to villainy. He sought repeatedly to abduct the Scarlet Witch, but was thwarted by Quicksilver, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch.[14] Much later, he played a "game" with Gideon, and sought to enlist Proteus in a new Brotherhood.[15] He then formed his own subversive version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, along with Blob, Pyro, and Phantazia. He transformed Karl Lykos back into Sauron, and with the Brotherhood battled X-Force.[16] Toad's Brotherhood also battled X-Factor,[17] and then fought Darkhawk, Sleepwalker, and Portal.[18]

Years later, still struggling with depression, Toad was captured by Prosh, along with Juggernaut, Iceman, Jean Grey and Mystique as part of a 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 had a taller and slimmer appearance 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.[19]

Not long after, Toad entered the Madripoor Bloodsport Tournament. In his first fight in the tournament, Toad wrapped his extremely long tongue around the villain known as Eel, crushing his opponent's bones and seemingly killing him instantly. In the next fight, however, Toad battled Wolverine. His new abilities caught the X-Man off guard and he managed to deal some damage. However, his overconfidence led to his defeat. Wolverine spared his life, not wanting to partake in the act of cold-blooded murder.[20]

Toad made a brief reappearance on Genosha some time after the island's annihilation, leading a team including Paralyzer and Unus to try to rebuild the statue of Magneto as a monument to him.[21]

For reasons unknown, Toad eventually returns 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, is 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 questions if Magneto may have been more powerful dead than alive. Nonetheless, Toad tries to defend his former master, only to be incapacitated by Fantomex, who shoots his kneecaps out. Shortly thereafter, Magneto is killed by Wolverine and Toad vanishes from the scene.[22]

It is 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 turns out to be alive after all. So far, Toad has made no known attempts to rejoin him. Unus' gang has come into conflict with Xavier and his allies, who have gained a foothold on Genosha soil.

Toad was among the group of mutants who broke out of the 198 camp, with help from Caliban, Domino, and Shatterstar. The group hid in what they believed was an abandoned nuclear bunker in the Nevada desert. While the X-Men and O*N*E battled outside the bunker, Johnny Dee was instructed by General Lazer to cause chaos amongst the 198. The group of mutants discovered this as Outlaw, being controlled by Johnny, pointed her gun at Domino. Domino's powers caused a misfire, giving Toad a chance to bring Outlaw down.

It was then revealed that the bunker was actually a blast-containment chamber for experimental weapons. As the auto-destruct sequence was initiated, Toad was trapped inside the chamber with the rest of the 198. The X-Men, teaming up with Bishop, Iron Man, and Ms. Marvel, quickly found a way to rescue the trapped mutants and the 198 walked away unharmed.

Toad is later seen rioting in San Francisco, angry about the fact that mutants have been forbidden to mate with each other to prevent new mutant births. Toad is faced by Cyclops and is defeated.[23] He is later seen being carried by Trance and Dragoness, who are being pursued by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents.[24] After the battle is over, Toad is seen together with Dragoness and Avalanche living on the X-Men's new Utopia homebase.[25]

After Cyclops deputizes the population of Utopia to help fight an invasion of Nimrod Sentinels from an unknown future, Toad advises a group of mutants including Sack to remain behind on the island, where they could remain safe. In the middle of arguing with Sack, a Nimrod Sentinel fires on them, decapitating Sack and blowing off Toad's right index finger.[26]

After the fight between Cyclops and Wolverine, the X-Men were divided between Utopia and Westchester. Toad decided to go to Westchester with Wolverine who accepts him as the school's janitor.[27]

In the miniseries "Magneto: Not a Hero", Joseph is resurrected under unknown circumstances and forms a new Brotherhood of Mutants with Astra and mutated deformed versions of Blob, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad. It is soon revealed that the mutated versions of Blob, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad are clones created by Joseph.[28]

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Toad became a member of New Tian's strike force following Hydra taking over the United States. He gained a secondary mutation where he can light his tongue on fire.[29]

During the "Hunted" storyline, Toad was among the animal-themed superhumans captured by Taskmaster and Black Ant for Kraven the Hunter's Great Hunt sponsored by Arcade's company Arcade Industries.[30] After most of the animal-themed superheroes regrouped, Toad mentioned that that Man-Bull was killed amidst the chaos caused by the Hunter-Bots.[31] Toad later assisted the animal-themed characters in fighting the Hunter-Bots.[32] When Yellowjacket finds Black Ant hiding in the bush, Toad joins Yellowjacket, Human Fly, Razorback, and White Rabbit in preparing to take revenge on him only for Taskmaster to appear and make off with Black Ant.[33]

Toad appears in the Marvel 1602 series working as a spy for Enrique (Magneto) in the Vatican. As Enrique's plot was to recruit the "witchbreed" who could conceal their abilities in the unfriendly world, it is unclear why Toad was included, as he is shown with a long tongue constantly coming out of his mouth. He also has the ability to move around on walls and ceilings. When his deception is discovered by the Papacy, he betrays Enrique and his allies in exchange for his life. However, when Enrique's group breaks free, they capture Toad.[37] Enrique 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.[38]

In the Age of Apocalypse, Toad was a member of Forge's resistance group, the Outcasts. This version of Toad was a highly articulate Shakespearean actor, and a master swordsman. When the Outcasts were attacked by Domino, Toad killed her henchman Caliban but dies immediately afterward at the hands of Grizzly.[39]

Toad (Mortimer Toynbee) is a mutant partner of homicide detective Fred Dukes in X-Men Noir.[40]

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.[41]

Toad is seen as a zombie, along with several other members of the zombie Freedom Force chasing after the still living Blob. They succeed, as he is seen as a zombie in Dead Days.

In the limited series Powerless where the characters of the Marvel Universe are ordinary humans, Toad, referred to simply as Mortimer or Mort, appears as member of the shadowy organization headed by Erik Lensherr. He briefly aids Victor Creed as they search for Weapon X, but they are attacked by their target and their car runs off the road. Mortimer's fate is unseen but Creed assumes Weapon X kills him. He does not appear again.[42]

In the limited series X-Men Ronin, Toad is an elderly teacher that several of the X-Men turn to for help when the entire Prefecture are made to believe they are monsters. Toad works to help heal Wolverine, who had been laid low by a telepathic blast.

In the Earth X reality, Toad gains Magneto's powers and rules over Sentinel City, humiliating Magneto as payback.[43]

Ultimate Toad's tongue wrapped around Cyclops' arm, while Cyclops is choking Blob.

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Toad was a founding member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. In this version, he is not the sycophantic Toad from the mainstream universe, but rather is ruthless and vicious. This Toad is also British like the mainstream version but has four fingers, green skin and can walk on walls and ceilings like Spider-Man. He became good friends with Ultimate Cyclops, when they were in the Brotherhood together. This friendship carried on even after Cyclops returned to the X-Men.[44]

After the supposed death of Professor Xavier and the consequent passing of control of the school to Cyclops and Jean Grey, Toad works as an instructor at the school, something with which Jean feels mildly uncomfortable. Cyclops asks Toad to visit the Morlocks and tell them of the new school regime that he is trying to create. Sunder, the Morlock leader had taken in Nightcrawler and believes the two to be working against him. Toad and Nightcrawler are then taken captive and then freed by Cyclops, Jean, Rogue, and Iceman.[45]

After the Apocalypse debacle, Professor X returns to the institute. The world outside has returned to how it was before Apocalypse appeared, but the mansion has both Cyclops' group who remained behind and Bishop's team of New X-Men together as a much larger team. Toad officially joins the team and, like Iceman, wears a bandana with the "X" symbol on it.[46]

Toad is then rarely seen in the Ultimate X-Men comic following this and is not even shown during the "Banshee Drug" storyline where Colossus makes an X-Men team of drug-enhanced X-Men to fight Xavier's X-Men. He is a part of Xavier's X-Men during the storyline, but is not shown. The Ultimatum Wave then hits New York, prompting William Stryker to attack the X-Men mansion with his soldiers. Toad is killed defending Firestar in the resulting massacre.

Ultimate Toad's personality and appearance is more snarky British punk than subservient yes-man, and he has been shown as a relatively competent fighter in his few appearances. In the first story arc ("The Tomorrow People"), Toad successfully disables both Cyclops and Storm by leaping on them, but is defeated by Iceman, who freezes his legs. Storm then strikes him with a kick across the face.[47]

On Earth-18119 as seen in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Toad is seen as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants.[48]

• Toad made a cameo appearance in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends animated series episode "The Prison Plot".
• Toad appears in the pilot episode X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, voiced by Frank Welker. He is an eager-to-please sycophant barely tolerated by Magneto, who at one point tells him to "go play in an airlock".
• Toad appeared in the X-Men animated series episodes "Secrets, No Longer Buried" and "Graduation Day". In his first appearance, Toad was part of the Children of the Shadow, a mutant-supremacist group led by Solarr.
• A teenage version of Toad appears in the X-Men: Evolution animated series, voiced by Noel Fisher. This version is named Todd Tolansky, speaks with a heavy Brooklyn accent, is a member of the Brotherhood of Bayville, is a former classmate of the X-Men, and shared a rivalry with Nightcrawler. While he is primarily depicted as a misguided youth and delinquent, he later aids his Brotherhood teammates and the X-Men in defeating Apocalypse in the series finale.
• Toad appeared in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, voiced by A. J. Buckley. Introduced in the episode "Hindsight" Pt. 2, he is a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants and is inexperienced in combat.
• Toad appears in The Super Hero Squad Show animated series, voiced again by A. J. Buckley.[49] This version is a member of Doctor Doom's Lethal Legion.

Ray Park as Toad in X-Men.

Toad appeared in a series of live-action X-Men films.

• Toad appeared in the 2000 film X-Men, portrayed by Ray Park. This version is a confident yet comedic member of Magneto's Brotherhood who possesses enhanced leaping capability and acrobatic speed, agility, dexterity, reflexes, coordination, balance, a sticky prehensile 13-foot (4.0 m) tongue, and the ability to spit mucus that hardens almost instantly. He also possesses some scientific ingenuity, as he helps Magneto build a machine capable of turning humans into mutants throughout the film. While helping the Brotherhood fulfill this plot, Toad battles the X-Men until Storm kills him.
• a younger version of Toad appeared in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past, portrayed by Evan Jonigkeit. In the interview in which he revealed the role, the actor said, "I read a lot of the comic books. I found out the storyline of my character, who is Toad," he said. "X-Men fans will know that Ray Park played him in the first movie, so it's a generation story of how he came to be. It's really cool."[50] He was formerly an American G.I. along with Alex Summers who is nearly taken into custody by Bolivar Trask as part of his anti-mutant efforts before he is rescued by Mystique. Toad later gets a job in a diner.

• Toad appears as an unlockable character in X-Men: Mutant Academy.
• Toad appears as a non-playable character in X-Men: Mutant Academy 2.
• Toad appears as an NPC character in X-Men: Next Dimension.
• Toad appears as a mini-boss in X-Men Legends, voiced by Armin Shimerman.[51] He resembles his Ultimate counterpart, but has the history and personality of the mainstream version. The X-Men encounter him at a HAARP base and defeat him. He was imprisoned in their holding cell until Magneto later rescued him. Upon arriving at Asteroid M, Emma Frost took control of Toad's mind to open the entrance.
• Toad appears as a playable character X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, voiced again by Armin Shimerman.[51]
• Toad appears in the Game Boy Advance version of X-Men: The Official Game.
• Toad appears in X-Men: Destiny, voiced by Alexander Polinsky.[51]
• Toad appears as a boss in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Toad appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Greg Cipes.[52]
• Toad appears in Marvel Heroes.[53]

• Toad received a figure in the Marvel Legends toy line's debut, and several in the X-Men film tie-in line.
• Toad received a figure in the X-Men: Evolution television series tie-in toy line.