Since the Empire Magazine covers were released, I’ve been seeing a backlash
about Toad appearing in “Days of Future Past,” so I think it’s high time I
spread some Toad awareness. It’s easy to forget that characters like Toad are
important to stories since we’re naturally inclined to prefer that more
prominent/popular characters to fill the cast. After all, we all want to see
our favorite characters get their own flashy action scene on the big screen.
However, a roster full of Hulks, Juggernauts, and Colossuses does not a good
movie make. A cast is made diverse both to give the audience variety and to
emphasize the characters’ differences by them playing off each other. So let me
make my case for why this slimy Toad deserves his place in the X-Men world.
THE ARCHETYPE: Here, I analyze what Toad is made of and why
he can be an asset to stories.
TOADS OF FUTURE PAST: Based on the archetype, I analyze his
past and speculate on what’s to come, including the movie.
Of the 50 years Toad, (a.k.a. Mortimer
Toynbee) has been in the Marvel universe, he’s been drawn/written drastically
differently in half of them. Understandably, he’s one of the last priorities
for comic titles to focus on, so fixing his characterization is rarely on the
agenda. He’s been stuck in a limbo where his design is constantly experimented
with and never settled on. Let me guide you through his mess of a timeline to
better understand how this true toad might be saved.
- THE PAST -
We all know him as Magneto’s toady
back in 1964 (Uncanny X-Men #4), but his real story begins four years later when
he finally grew independent of Magneto and betrayed him. Toad detonated his
master’s ship and supposedly killed him (back then, Magneto’s death might’ve
been more believable), and he saved the lives of all the Avengers and X-Men. (Avengers, vol.1 #53) His moment of glory
was a twist ending to the big battle between the Avengers, the X-Men, and
Magneto, and it provided Toad much needed character development. Despite growing
into a unique and compelling individual in this issue, Toad would have scarcely
any weight in comics for the next 32 years!
Toad
was at his strongest from 1968 to 1985, as we can see in the great names
he defeated, proving that he is no normal peon:
-Magneto (Avengers, vol.1 #53)
-Thor (Avengers, vol.1 #137)
-Iron Man (Avengers, vol. 1 #137)
-Wasp (Avengers, vol.1 #137)
-Spider Man (The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #11)
-The Vision (The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #11)
His
existence was heavily reliant on his goal to win over the Scarlet Witch until
after the events in The Vision and the
Scarlet Witch in 1985. Toad had fallen out of love with her then and had no
other preestablished objectives to keep him going. Even upon founding his own
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (X-Force
vol.1), he was given no discernable objective and was a mere accessory to the
stories that he appeared in. Writers focused more on making him quirky and
comedic, which is a good intention and a trait that Toad mysteriously lacked in
the past, but they neglected the rest of his character, and so it fell apart.
He gradually degenerated into babbling cannon fodder (Uncanny X-Men #364) until his renaissance following the first X-Men
movie.
Just when Toad looked like he might
have been killed off for the last time, the first X-Men movie arrived in 2000,
where Ray Park played him as an attractive, green-skinned punk flaunting a
fantastic prehensile tongue. The success of the movie and new fanbase for Ray
Park’s Toad instantly inspired Marvel to reinvent the character with X-Men Forever, debatably Mortimer’s most
noteworthy appearance to date. Artists Kevin Maguire and Andrew Pepoy revived
Toad’s facial construct from the first Jack Kirby days and created an
expressive, colorful, and strikingly realistic depiction of him, while writer
Fabian Nicieza breathed new life into a character who was becoming dangerously
trite. Nicieza provided an origin story for Toad and engaged our sympathy for
this strange man throughout his life experiences. It was explained that Toad’s
fluctuation in personality and physicality over the years was due to the
instability of his mutation and that he now takes a drug Ridilin to subside the
affects, which both excuses his inconsistent portrayals in comics history and
complements Mortimer’s need of psychological help. The omniscient Prosh speaks
to Toad in regards to these diverse aspects of his personality: “Happily, I am
dealing with… the best one. The caring
one,” acknowledging that Mortimer is a good person under his tragic
psychological mess, and he is on the road to recovery. (Iss. 1) Nicieza even
made Toad blossom into a main character and a full-fledged “good guy” for the
first time, and he gave Toad an extraordinarily plot-relevant role, the likes
of which had only occurred once before in 1968. “Morty might be the most important player in this whole
game,” Iceman realizes, voicing the team’s surprise that this unassuming flunky
had proven to be their wildcard. “My
survival depends on his survival,”
Mystique monologues in disbelief. (Iss. 6) And what an unbelievable comeback
for Toad this was! The story recognized Toad’s mechanical ingenuity that had
been too often forgotten, established him as the sympathetic and compelling
character he is, expanded upon his past, opened a gateway for further character
development, and gave him the iconic superpower that had been introduced in the
X-Men film: the prehensile tongue. There may have been a few jokes pointed at
Mortimer’s misery, but one thing the story did not do is make him particularly
quirky or comedic until after he transformed into a handsome man at the end, as
if a lack of self-confidence and humor don’t go together.
Toad’s renaissance involved a trend
to reinvent him as a slim, grungy, punk baddie of sorts with all the attitude
and humor you could ask for. Plus, the subsequent storytellers almost instantly
ignored the fact that Mortimer had become handsome, which was for the best;
Toad’s ugliness is a core attribute of his character, so to remove it would
destroy his very identity and betray his archetype. The punk concept worked
well for the other Toads but was out of character for Mortimer. He dabbled in
various villainous scenarios with no clear motivation to return to villainy at
all, much less to rejoin the Brotherhood (X-Men,
vol.2, #106) or to enter a blood sport tournament (Wolverine, vol.2, #167). Considering how “caring” he was established
to be before, I guess Mortimer quit taking his Ridilin! While Ray Park’s Toad
may have opened storytellers’ minds to allow the character to change and grow,
the transformation it inspired in the main comics universe was unfounded and seemed
to be an attempt at imposing certain marketable, quirky, comedic qualities onto
a character that just don’t belong. The fact of the matter is that Marvel has
an obligation to sell Mortimer because he’s from their main universe franchise,
but frankly, Mortimer was never fit to be a punk.
 |
| Left to right: Ray Park as Toad ("X-Men" film, 2000), Todd Tolansky (X-Men: Evolution TV series, 2000), Toad (Ultimate X-Men comics series, 2001), Mortimer Toynbee (Marvel’s main comics universe, 2000) |
In Wolverine and the X-Men, Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s bold
redesign of Mortimer—a softhearted, portly, older man with now green skin— occasionally
succeeded in combining his humorous side with his age and depression in a
believable way (mostly by exploiting his misery) and was an educated step
toward making him a marketable character in his own right. Aaron has done Toad
a huge favor by giving him a full character arc complementing his struggle of
becoming a better person complete with romance and genuine plot involvement.
How rare! Artist Pepe Larraz helped to create a gorgeous contrast between the
harmless, well-intentioned, love-struck janitor Toad has become and the monster
he’s been suppressing when Toad discovers himself a true villain once again.
(Iss. 41) I’ve even begun to notice a fanbase for Mortimer surface (not Ray Park, not Todd Tolansky, not
the Ultimate Universe Toad—Mortimer)
thanks to his role in this series, and I hope Marvel recognizes this attention
as well. Many people don’t see potential in Mortimer to be a great character,
but considering how sparingly and haphazardly he’s been used in the past, it
should be hard not to see how much uncharted territory there is. Wolverine and the X-Men could likely be
the beginning of Mortimer’s best run yet. That being said, I’m doubtful that
he’ll stay consistent for long, because the jokes Aaron wrote for Mortimer are
based on his depression and sadness, and there’s only so much comedy to be
found there before his situation becomes just pitiful. On the other hand, if
future creators portray him as a completely serious, tragic villain, I’m afraid
that won’t last long either—he’s Toad, not Magneto.
Before moving on to the Toads of
the future, there’re some things you gotta understand about Todd Tolansky, voiced
exceptionally by Noel Fisher in the 2000 TV show X-Men: Evolution. I’d be remiss not to address the relevance of
this Toad that was so well-received and lingers in the minds of fans today.
Unlike his punk counterparts of the time, he was made sympathetic, which is a
mark of a Toad portrayed at his very best. X-Men:
Evolution director Frank Paurr commented on Todd’s depiction: “…I would say we do all our villains fairly
sympathetically. They were people who life didn't treat kindly and then made a
lot of wrong decisions. There's no real heavy black and white here.”
Todd is a foil that brings out the best in other characters like Nightcrawler,
has a character arc, has dramatic tension, has compelling romance, and is a
very believable and compelling character; nonetheless, his primary role in the
show is comedic relief. His well-roundedness makes Todd one of the truest and
best representations of Toad. Todd revealed a new side of this archetype with
his youth, vivaciousness, and endearing personal quirks, making him a very fun,
amusing, and marketable character—qualities that have been imposed on Mortimer
time and time again but failed to produce positive results.
Considering how often Mortimer is
forced into comedic roles, Marvel must still be experimenting with how to sell
this character as fun, quirky, and amusing. As sympathetic and compelling as
Mortimer can be, his archetype is largely responsible for providing stories
with flavor and colorfulness and memorability, so he seems incomplete without
that fun, amusing quality that made Todd Tolansky so comedic and successful. Among
other things, Todd’s youth allows for him to be concerned with his social
status and with receiving attention from his attitude and bad behavior, but
Mortimer is older and jaded and should be treated as such. He’s shown in his
most honest moments to only want to live a good life and get revenge on those
who ruin it for him. He tends to be a somber, depressed person, and I hope that
Marvel can find an in-character way to lift Mortimer’s spirits so that we’re
more often inclined to have fun reading about him than pity him. I have a
recommendation: There is another character of the same archetype who exhibits
confidence, playfulness, and vivaciousness like Todd does and age and experience like Mortimer does, and most importantly, he is legendarily successful. He is none
other than Eli Wallach’s Tuco from the 1966 film “The Good the Bad and the Ugly.”
I think that Marvel creators will find a more fun, amusing, in-character, and
more marketable portrayal of Mortimer if they take careful inspiration from
this fellow vengeful outlaw.
At last, the movie! Toad didn’t
appear in the original “Days of Future Past” comic, so to see him in the cast
is no less than a pleasant surprise. In the first X-Men film, Ray Park played a
somewhat prevalent role and had only four lines, yet we’ve already seen that
Evan Jonigkeit is given at least one line in this movie that juggles over a
dozen more characters and has no obligation to Toad, so that’s a nice nod to
the character. The thoughtful design of Toad in the upcoming X-Men film is a
testament to the higher standards for movie makeup in the last decade, and it
gives me hope that he may leave another lasting impression on the audience.
It’s no less than impressive that the designers achieved a believably warty,
sickly look for him despite how beautiful Evan Jonigkeit’s face is underneath.
His design shows off his moral ambiguity by being neither completely handsome nor
completely ugly, which is an old dichotomy of Hollywood. He clearly has some
punk influence in there, rightfully preceding Ray Park’s presentation, and I
think he looks fun. I say it’s never a problem that Toad is given a smaller
than ideal role so long as it’s done well. Toad is a very underappreciated
X-Men character, and I hope he is a favorite of Evan Jonigkeit as he is mine.
This may be a very small role, but it should be a very sweet one.
It’s clear that Toad has been developing
a greater presence in comics over the years, largely influenced for the better
by his occasional screen appearance. I hope this movie gives him the spotlight
needed to remind people of the potential hidden behind his warty exterior. I
can see Toad easily having his own spinoff comic or becoming a main X-Men
character in the future with the right amount of dedication, and if I’m the
only one who believes in him, I’ll offer to make it happen myself. Marvel has a
dynamite character in their arsenal that can bring out an extra layer
perspective and color and fun in their stories, and I hope they recognize it.
