BLACK TOM CASSIDY
Created By: Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #99 (June 1976)
Role: Evil Family Member, Blaster
Group Affiliations: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
PL 9 (120)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 11
DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Athletics 2 (+4)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Terrorist) 9 (+11)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Blast) 2 (+10)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 3 (+4)
Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Daze (Deception), Equipment 2 (Shillelaugh, Weapons), Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Shillelaugh, Blast), Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Taunt, Teamwork
Equipment:
"Shillelaugh" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Power Blasts Via Wooden Mediums"
Blast 8 (Flaws: Medium- Requires Wooden Objects) [8]
"Cassidy Clan" Immunity 1 (Banshee's Powers) [1]
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Shillelaugh +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Blast +10 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +7
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6
Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Sean Cassidy)- Sean & Tom were the best of friends as youngsters, though they quarreled at times. None more so than when they fought for the love of Maeve Rourke. Eventually, she married Sean, and Tom spent the rest of his life trying to prove her right for doing so.
Relationship (Theresa Cassidy)- When Terry was born, Sean was away on government business. Maeve was killed shortly thereafter, leaving Tom to raise the girl. When Sean came back, he assaulted Tom for failing to take care of Maeve, and in revenge, Tom never told him of Terry. He was a devoted guardian to the girl, but she was enraged upon learning of his deception, as was Sean.
Relationship (Cain Marko)- Black Tom & The Juggernaut eventually became Heterosexual Life Partners (well... maybe not ENTIRELY...), teaming up in all things. Eventually the two split when Tom went increasingly-crazy, his body mutating into the wood that he used to fire his powers.
Involuntary Transformation (Plant Monster)- Tom has transformed into a hideous plant-creature in the past, and may do so again.
Disabled (Leg)- Tom walks with a limp, requiring a walking stick (which he uses as a weapon). Without it, Tom's speed will be half it's normal level.
Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 9 / Defenses: 13 (120)
Black Tom- Suddenly-Introduced-Kinda-Sibling:
-Black Tom was an interesting villain, being your token "evil sibling" (well cousin, really, but they were childhood best buds, so it accounts for the same thing) driven to villainy by tragedy. He was a rogueish charmer to Sean's more stable, stoic personality type, and was friendly to Sean, despite wanting the Cassidy Keep estate, and the hand of Maeve Rourke. There's a nice
X-Men Vignettes story by Claremont, where Tom lies to prevent Sean from taking Maeve out, finds himself able to get into her heart... but gives her up, because he sees how much she loves Sean, and can't stand her sorrow at thinking he abandoned her. He confesses everything, and drives her into Sean's arms.
-Tom, however, took a dark path. When Maeve was killed in an IRA bombing, leaving Sean a widower, Sean blamed Tom for failing to care for her. He unleashed his Sonic Scream, tearing apart the ground beneath Tom's feet, leaving him hobbled for the rest of his life. Out of revenge, Tom decided to hide the fact that Maeve had given birth to her & Sean's daughter, Theresa, and raised the girl himself. Eventually, Terry became Siryn, and was a criminal like her Uncle- Tom had since fallen into a life of crime. "Black" Tom, as he'd now been known, was introduced by Claremont as a Suddenly-Introduced Relative to Banshee, during the early years of that version of the X-Men.
-Tom is also given as the best friend of Silver Age X-Men foe The Juggernaut, forming a partnership that would last a long time (well, whenever the writer didn't want to just use Juggernaut solo, which eventually they almost all did). Tom was beaten in a duel by Banshee (they are immune to each other's powers), and later hired Arcade to kill them. He & Siryn were eventually arrested in a fight against the X-Men & Spider-Woman (against whom Siryn had debuted fighting), but Tom, feeling this wasn't the life he wanted for Theresa, exonerated her of all crimes, and wrote a letter to Banshee, explaining who she was.
Iron Age Tom:
-The 1990s was odd to Black Tom- it was a time where most of the X-Men villains of old were done away with, and Tom was badly injured in an
X-Force story (also involving Spider-Man) where he & Juggernaut took over the World Trade Center (which included beating up Gideon & Sunspot, in that little arc). Tom nearly died, but doctors grafted wooden materials into his wounds, which allowed him to heal, using his mutant powers through that instead of his trademark walking stick/shillelaugh. This, however, turned Tom into a weird Plant Monster. This eventually caused Tom to lose his mind, but not before he helped Theresa get over her alcoholism (this was an odd bit, as the two were antagonists to the point of Tom trying to kill Siryn earlier in the series, but now he was a patriarchal figure).
-Tom later formed a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, having The Juggernaut infiltrate the X-Men and fake a "Face Turn". However, Juggy, like all popular villains, had actually started to see the light and became what he was only pretending to be. A vindictive Black Tom thus murdered young Sammy the Squid-Boy, who'd been responsible for Juggy turning good. Tom was then sucked into a portal by Xorn, returning after M-Day as a human once more. He later attacks Excalibur while Juggernaut was on that team, with Juggy rejecting him for his past actions, despite Tom pointing out "that wasn't me". They've lately reappeared as partners once more, apparently having made up.
-Black Tom, despite having close relationships with three characters of varying importance (Banshee, Siryn & Juggernaut), actually doesn't appear that much, likely owing to his plain appearance (bearded guy in baggy clothes) and lame powers (Generic Energy Blast through a shillelaugh). The relationships are actually quite complex- Tom is Juggernaut's closest friend; Banshee was Tom's brother-in-spirit; Siryn is his daughter, for all intents and purposes, and she both loves and despises him for what he did to her life- he raised her, but left her without her birth father. Unfortunately, we really don't see much of him. I have a feeling that if they'd given him better powers and a neater concept, they could have kept using him. But nowadays, it seems like the writers just want the Juggernaut, and always leave Tom by the wayside- his ten-plus year arc of being a Plant Man seem to indicate that.
Somehow Makes Wielding a Shillelaugh Kind of Lame:
-Black Tom's fairly low-level in combat, having only one really solid attack that itself is limited badly, but he can still kick ass at a PL 7.5 level with his Shillelaugh (pronounced "shill-AY-lee"). His terrorist stuff is far more effective, as he's more of a planner. Also effective are his allies like Juggy. Note that he gains the "Sibling Immunity" that only the Summers boys also have to my recollection, being immune to Banshee's Sonic Scream.
BLACK TOM CASSIDY
Created By: Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #99 (June 1976)
Role: Evil Family Member, Blaster
Group Affiliations: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
PL 10 (168)
STRENGTH 7
STAMINA 7
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 11
DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Athletics 2 (+9)
Expertise (Terrorist) 6 (+8)
Intimidation 8 (+11)
Perception 4 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Blast) 2 (+10)
Vehicles 3 (+4)
Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Daze (Deception), Equipment 2 (Shillelaugh, Weapons), Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Shillelaugh, Blast), Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Taunt, Teamwork
Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Power Blasts Via Wooden Mediums"
"Cassidy Clan" Immunity 1 (Banshee's Powers) [1]
Blast 10 (Feats: Split) (21) -- [23]
- AE: "Siphon Life Energy Via Tendrils" Weaken Stamina 6 (Extras: Ranged) (12)
- AE: "Plant Control" Move Object 10 (Extras: Perception Range) (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (20)
"Summon Plant Duplicates" Summon 4 (Plant Minions) [8]
"Impossible to Destroy"
Regeneration 12 [12]
Immortality 2 [4]
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Blast +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +7
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +7, Will +6
Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Sean Cassidy)- Sean & Tom were the best of friends as youngsters, though they quarreled at times. None more so than when they fought for the love of Maeve Rourke. Eventually, she married Sean, and Tom spent the rest of his life trying to prove her right for doing so.
Relationship (Theresa Cassidy)- When Terry was born, Sean was away on government business. Maeve was killed shortly thereafter, leaving Tom to raise the girl. When Sean came back, he assaulted Tom for failing to take care of Maeve, and in revenge, Tom never told him of Terry. He was a devoted guardian to the girl, but she was enraged upon learning of his deception, as was Sean.
Relationship (Cain Marko)- Black Tom & The Juggernaut eventually became Heterosexual Life Partners (well... maybe not ENTIRELY...), teaming up in all things. Eventually the two split when Tom went increasingly-crazy, his body mutating into the wood that he used to fire his powers.
Involuntary Transformation (Plant Monster)- Tom has transformed into a hideous plant-creature in the past, and may do so again.
Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 48 / Defenses: 15 (168)
-Plant-Form Tom is WAY more powerful (he was largely created to make Tom more of a threat, really), possessing an unkillable nature and PL 10 Blasting capabilities. By contrast, he's also crazy and loses most of his Skills.