Contributed by Mike McDermott
Simon Lasker was a student at Rooks Borough Community College when his mutant powers of fire manifested for the first time, burning the school to the ground. He was found by the villainous mutant telepath Mentallo, who posed as Charles Xavier to comfort Simon and brainwash him into joining his new Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants as the second Pyro.
After the Brotherhood was defeated by the X-Men it was revealed that anti-mutant bigot Lydia Nance had been backing Mesmero and using the Brotherhood’s terrorist actions to further her agenda. After escaping from prison, Pyro and other members of the Brotherhood went after Nance for revenge, but Pyro couldn’t bring himself to kill her, declaring that he’s not a murderer. After learning that Nance was also responsible for facilitating their prison escape and that Mesmero still had them working on her behalf, Simon quit the Brotherhood.
Unsure of how much of his earlier actions had been his own choice and how much had been due to Mesmero’s manipulations, Simon decided he needed to atone for his actions and approached the X-Men to make amends. Iceman, who was leading the team at the time, was initially skeptical but after Rogue reminded him of the X-Men’s history of offering second chances he agreed to allow Simon to join the team.
Pyro served alongside the team for a couple of missions and also joined them in some non-adventurous activities, such as when he was invited along for Colossus’ bachelor party. On the night of the wedding, Simon and Iceman had a one-night stand. Although both agreed there was no serious relationship to pursue between them, they had another casual sexual encounter after Iceman’s birthday party.
The original Pyro has recently been resurrected and joined the X-Men as well as part of Kate Pryde’s Marauder’s crew. What impact this may have on Simon’s future with the X-Men remains to be seen.
Pyro II first appeared in X-Men Gold (2017) #1 by Marc Guggenheim and Ardian Syaf.
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