Who's This? Flash's hottest Rogue.
The facts: Mick Rory, AKA Heat Wave, was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino for The Flash #140 (November 1963), as a rival to the already well-established Captain Cold. Thereafter one of the Rogues, he appears often in Flash comics over the decades. He was all set to be a member of the Legion of Doom on Super-Friends when he was replaced by Captain Cold, but he's had other animated appearances since.
How you could have heard of him: A big part of the Legends of Tomorrow, spinning out of the Flash TV series, Heat Wave is one of the best known Rogues. He is played by Dominic Purcell.
Example story: The Flash #266 (October 1978) "Heat Wave Plays It Cool!" by Cary Bates, Irv Novick and Frank McLaughlin
The Rogues are, first and foremost, thieves. Heat Wave is no different, even if he seems like he's more of an arsonist type. So what's he cooking up this time? Let's crash into his conversation with henchmen Moxie, Sims and Travers.
Yep, they're gonna rob the King Ah-mose treasure exhibit... from the inside! Barry and Iris are visiting, and the former thinks the scale model of a pyramid is really tacky, but they've moved off when it starts melting and Heat Wave & gang walk out of it. We need a superhero here, because the museum guards are putting their foot in their mouths with the banter.
And I you think Heat Wave can easily be disarmed because he depends on a heat gun, he has other tricks up his sleeves, or rather, his goggles - invisible infrared rays that heat-trigger bullets from a distance and steam the opposition (so a portable microwave?).
His goons are safe thanks to air-cooled underwear, so like, wow, but it doesn't help them against the Flash and they're easily put out of commission between seconds. And Barry himself is immune to the heat because of his friction-shield. So how's Heat Wave going to pull this off? He melts the floor so that the Flash's boots get stuck! But Barry is no sitting duck.
The fire blast instead hits the air conditioning unit which - and I'm pretty sure this isn't what would happen - ices up the whole room and freezes Heat Wave to his core. But the Flash gets hit by a fragment, so Mick gets another chance. He hotfoots it out of there, leaving Barry to wonder why the asbestos-clad criminal didn't finish him off (you know that's not what the Rogues are about, Barry!). Iris might be asking better questions, like why does Heat Wave suddenly need useless henchmen. Well, maybe we'll find out if we unethically listen in on Mick's therapy session.
The DC underworld has its own SHRINK?! I really want to read more about this. Under hypnosis, Mick delves further into his feelings of "criminal inadequacy", remembering that, age 9, a field trip to a meat-packing plant (what a school experience), he got locked in a freezer. He's had cold PTSD ever since, and it's why he developed a heat-based persona, verging on Gothamite Obsessional Psychosis.
The Therapist of Crime makes him confront his fear by making him do the ice bucket challenge and he gets back on the horse, luring the Flash to a marble mansion that looks like a massive igloo, where the staff has been mesmerized by heat, so he can try his new "heat-seeking" flame blast on the Scarlet Speedster.
The stuffed polar bear gets it (man, that was just a baby), and then so does Heat Wave, in a most undignified way.
But as it turns out, when unmasked, Barry discovers this isn't Mick Rory at all, but the hypnotized butler. Mick gets the better of him after all, shoots him in the back and unmasks HIM. Unfortunately, though Barry Allen looks familiar, he can't quite place that face (is this the inspiration for the famous Luthor unmasking Wally West in the Justice League cartoon?). Well, no matter. He puts the Flash, whoever he is, in deep freeze and gets ready for his next crime spree.
Who says therapy doesn't get results?
Who's Next? A big head.
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