Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) is a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck, he first appeared in X-Men #64 (1970).

Sunfire is a temperamental and arrogant Japanese mutant, who can generate superheated plasma and fly. Not suited for teamwork, Sunfire was a member of the X-Men only briefly and has kept limited ties to the team since.

Sunfire is also the name of a related character in the Parallel universe-related Marvel series The Exiles (see below).

Fictional Biography

Shiro Yoshida and his sister Leyu were born to a mother who suffered radiation poisoning due to exposure to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. As a result, he and his sister were born mutants, possessing identical powers (Note: Sunfire first appeared during the era of the original X-Men when several explanations for the existence of mutant powers had been given, one of which was radiation. Genetic evolution is currently the most common explanation).

Shiro’s mother died of radiation poisoning when he was young and Shiro grew to hate the United States, despite the influence of his US-friendly father, a diplomat. His greedy uncle Tomo inspired Shiro to take the identity of Sunfire and engage in a one-man battle against the U.S. He attacked the United States Capitol and battled the X-Men. Later, he saw Tomo kill his father. Distraught, Sunfire killed Tomo and surrendered to the X-Men. Their leader, Professor Xavier, allowed Sunfire to return to Japan.

Months later, Xavier recruited Sunfire to join a new team of X-Men to rescue the originals from Krakoa , the Living Island (in the classic Giant-Sized X-Men #1). Sunfire accompanied the fledgling X-Men on this mission, but resigned from the team afterwards.

Sunfire has appeared sporadically in various Marvel comic books throughout the years. On a few occasions his temper has led to conflicts with other heroes, such as the Iron Man, Rogue, and Wolverine.

In 1998, Marvel published a mini-series entitled Sunfire and Big Hero Six about Sunfire’s brief attempt to lead a new Japanese superhero team.

Family

Sunfire is the cousin of Wolverine's late fiancée Mariko Yashida and her brother the Silver Samurai. (Yashida and Yoshida seem to be different spellings of the same name. While in his first appearance Sunfire was called Shiro Yoshida, in the story arc that introduced his cousin, Mariko, his name was spelled Yashida, and this version of the name was carried on in the woman’s next appearances. Although probably a typo, it actually doesn’t have to be a mistake; it could just be based on the Romanization/transliteration of the Japanese names.)

His sister Leyu, who possesses similar powers, joined the X-Men for a single mission under the name of Sunpyre in Uncanny X-Men #392-393 and X-Men #112-113 (May - June, 2001). She appeared to be killed while working with Banshee in his X-Corps team (Uncanny X-Men #404 - May, 2002), though she reappeared alive and well in Alpha Flight vol. 3 #9 (January, 2005). She had even replaced her brother among the Big Hero Six. No explanation has been offered of her apparent resurrection.

Exiles Sunfire

The alternate world series Exiles portrayed a reality in which a young Mariko Yoshida developed powers similar to those the ordinary Marvel Universe’s Sunfire. She adopts that name and joined the Exiles, a group of reality-hopping mutants. She shared a brief flirtation with Morph, despite the fact that this version of Yoshida was a lesbian. She once had a short romance with another universe's version of Mary Jane Watson, who was also Spider-Woman in that universe.

She died in an epic battle in Exiles #37 (2003).

Links

• UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Sunfire
• UncannyXmen.net Sunfire's family tree