Toad

British-born Mortimer Toynbee was abandoned by his parents so early in childhood that he cannot remember them. He was placed in an orphanage where the other children, who regarded him as a freak due to his ugliness, his unusual physique, and his leaping ability, continually tormented him. Toynbee was so traumatized by his loneliness and the continual abuse he received that it affected his learning abilities. The teachers and administrators in the orphanage therefore regarded Toynbee as mentally retarded, even though, in actuality, he was of normal intelligence. So desperate did Toynbee become for affection that he developed a pathetically subservient personality, and would unquestioningly obey anyone he thought sincerely cared about him.

Mortimer Toynbee is a former subject of the Alamogordo Project, which observed the development of genetically flawed mutants. Due to his flawed genetic make-up, Toynbee experienced extreme physical changes and mental instability throughout his life, at one point requiring him to ingest a prescription drug Ridilin to remain stable.

At some point after achieving adulthood, Toynbee was discovered by Magneto and recruited for his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto gave Toynbee the alias of the Toad because of Toynbee's powers, appearance, and personality. The Toad blinded himself to Magneto's continual verbal and physical abuse because Magneto was out to conquer the human race that had rejected the Toad.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Toad met the Scarlet Witch and became infatuated with her, though she did not reciprocate the feeling. The team's nefarious schemes would often be confronted and defeated by the mutant heroes known collectively as the X-Men.

After one such confrontation with the X-Men, Magneto and the Toad were captured by the alien called the Stranger and imprisoned on the alien's distant world. When Magneto first escaped, he callously left the Toad behind, and the Toad's attitude toward his master began to change. After being recaptured, Magneto escaped a second time and took the Toad with him, but his continued bullying caused the Toad's resentment to increase until it flared into murderous hatred. The Toad abandoned Magneto to die in an explosion that followed an encounter with the Avengers. (Although it was later discovered that Magneto survived.)

Toad was once captured with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch on the world of Arkon, but after their adventure there, he elected to stay instead of returning to Earth. Eventually, the Toad built a dimensional breach/space ship that allowed him to return to the Stranger's homeworld, where he studied and stole the Stranger's technology and equipment in an effort to become more powerful and thus more appealing to the Scarlet Witch. However, just as he prepared to return to Earth, he learned that the Scarlet Witch had married the Vision. Enraged, he planned to strike out at her, attacked the Avengers to learn her whereabouts, and was defeated.