Heat Wave (Mick Rory) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He is commonly as an enemy of the Flash and a member of the Rogues along with Captain Cold, among others. Actor Dominic Purcell has portrayed Heat Wave in The CW's Arrowverse television series The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Publication history Heat Wave was first introduced in The Flash #140, written by John Broome. He was first made to be a rival for Captain Cold. In later 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.
Fictional character biography
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. As a result, Rory went to live with his uncle. However, his pyromania continued when Rory set a schoolmate’s house on fire in retaliation for locking him in a frozen meat locker on a school trip to a slaughterhouse, which resulted in Rory developing cryophobia— an intense fear of cold. He later took a job as a fire eater with a traveling circus, but this was not enough to satiate his obsession, and he ended up setting the circus on fire. These tragedies and compulsive episodes made him desperate to fight his fire obsession, and after seeing the Rogues in action in Central City, he decided to direct his mania to supervillainy. He created a protective costume from asbestos (in a story written before the dangers of asbestos were known), built the Hot Rod, a hand gun-sized flamethrower, and became Heat Wave. As he was committing crimes in Central City, it was inevitable that he would 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 complete a larger crime spree, but the Flash jailed them both. Eventually, Mick went straight, due largely to the manipulations of the Top. He took a job as a firefighting consultant, using his vast knowledge on fires and heat. He also became good friends with Barry Allen, whose secret identity as Flash was discovered by Rory years before. Years later without explanation, Rory returned as Heat Wave. During the Underworld Unleashed storyline, Abra Kadabra tricks Heat Wave and four other members of the Rogues into sacrificing themselves to unleash the demon Neron. Neron returns the Rogues' soulless bodies to Earth in a plan to force Flash into a deal. The five Rogues each wreak havoc, death, and destruction before Flash forces Neron to halt his actions and return the Rogues' souls to their bodies. Heat Wave would only briefly return to his criminal ways before abandoning them to study with Zhutanian monks. Afterwards, he worked for Project Cadmus as a backup agent, but eventually quit that too and moved to the Quad Cities, Illinois, area. He eventually got a job at the FBI, along with other reformed members of the Rogues. This was a spectacular failure and Rory became a villain once again after the Top arrived and undid the mental program that had kept him reformed. In Infinite Crisis, Heat Wave joins the Secret Society of Super Villains.
One Year Later One Year Later, Heat Wave is next seen being recruited by Inertia to team up against Bart Allen. He is one of the rogues who deliver the killing blow to Bart. He freaks out about what he and the Rogues have done and flees only to be captured by Captain Boomerang alongside Weather Wizard. He is sent to "hell planet" Salvation with the other Rogues. When the conflict starts, he sides with Lex Luthor. When they beat Martian Manhunter, he is worried about killing another hero, claiming that they will kill them with rusty razors. He returns to Earth with the villains who are still alive.
Salvation Run Heat Wave is one of the exiled villains featured in Salvation Run along with his fellow Rogues Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, and Abra Kadabra.
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge He was seen as the member of Rogues who joined Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, Heat Wave and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used, particularly after they find that Paul Gambi, the Rogues' tailor, has been badly beaten by the 'New Rogues' organised by Libra. During the hunt for Inertia, Heat Wave also kills Burn- his own counterpart in the 'New Rogues'- when the two shoot their weapons at each other, Heat Wave noting that Burn's costume was of poorer quality than his own, allowing him to burn Burn to death while he is barely sweating while subjected to Burn's own weapons. Captain Cold later has him kill Cold's father, abducted by Libra as a hostage against Cold. While Libra tries to hypnotize the Rogues, Captain Cold tells Rory to watch a nearby fire to retain his focus. When they are fighting Inertia, Rory melts his boots, making him unable to move. He then helps the other Rogues kill Inertia. Once the crisis is over, the unarmed Human Flame seeks out Heat Wave, hoping to purchase one of his signature flamethrower guns after his own equipment was lost in a confrontation with the Mafia. After learning that the Human Flame can only offer him $5,000.00, Heat Wave refuses, denouncing Human Flame as "pathetic". Noting that Captain Cold advised against this meeting and he only agreed to see what the other man had to offer, Heat Wave gives Human Flame a harsh beating, the fight concluding with Heat Wave blowing up the fireworks factory they were meeting in, noting that he had always wanted to do something like that.
The Flash (vol. 3) Heat Wave and the Rogues visit Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass written on it. Rory is still on the run with The Rogues.
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