Xavier Institute Villain File.

Powers: Mortimer Toynbee is a mutant with superhuman leaping ability. He has been observed reaching an altitude of 24 feet and covering a distance on the ground of 36 feet in a single leap. The Toad's adaptive metabolism allows him to excrete slime from his pores that paralyzes his victims. Also, he is able to manipulate his tongue as would a real toad, most often using it like a whip. Mortimer's unusually flexible spine enables him to crouch continually without damage, but he can stand erect if he wishes.

So desperate for affection that he developed a pathetically subservient personality, Mortimer would unquestioningly obey anyone he thought sincerely cared about him. Case in point: Magneto, mutant Master of Magnetism. The genetic terrorist recruited Mortimer for his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a subversive organization dedicated to the cause of human subjugation. Magneto conferred upon Mortimer a new alias -- the Toad -- because of his powers, appearance and personality. As a member of the Brotherhood, Mortimer came into conflict with the X-Men -- masked, mutant adventurers standing in defense of a world that had learned to hate and fear their kind.

Magneto did not believe the Toad would be of any great service. Rather, he viewed him as an expendable pawn who would follow his orders unquestioningly. The Toad was pathetically and blindly devoted to Magneto, whom he saw as a surrogate father. Mortimer thought he would merit a place of honor in the new society Magneto sought to create, but the Master of Magnetism betrayed the Toad's trust when the two were captured and imprisoned for observation by the enigmatic alien entity known as the Stranger. Magneto left the Toad behind when he first fled, only to be recaptured. He took Mortimer with him the second time he escaped, but his continued bullying bloated the Toad's resentment until it flared into murderous hatred. Pushed too far, Mortimer abandoned Magneto to die in an explosion that followed an encounter with the X-Men and the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Following another short stint with the Brotherhood, the Toad was called upon to play the part of hero. The sentient spaceship Prosh escaped the confines of a Celestial prison, returned to Earth and dispatched a group of disparate beings on a journey through time to uncover the keys to preserving human evolution. Besides the Toad, Prosh's task force included Marvel Girl and Havok, members of the X-Men; Mystique, a shapeshifting mutant terrorist; and the Juggernaut, a mystically empowered human. Their mission: Save the human race from a threat that might not manifest itself for millions of years. Forced to revisit his past, the Toad discovered that he and thousands of other mutant infants had been held for study in a secret, non-governmental facility known as the Black Womb. He learned that individuals had begun tracking the evolution of mutation in humans long before Magneto rose up to terrorize the world. When Prosh reassembled the members of his team in the present, they fought and defeated the Stranger, who sought to control the natural evolution of humans and mutants. The alien mortally wounded the Toad, who was healed by the systems aboard Prosh's ship; the experience significantly altered his appearance and abilities. The result: a leaner, meaner Mortimer.