Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 175. Who is Sunspot in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 175. Who is Sunspot in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

• 0:11
  Hello Marvel fans, I am here to talk about another underrated
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  mutant of the Marvel Universe. Also I am Megum of vigilante
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  vibes. I did that out of order and it
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  feels weird. So today I want to talk about
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  Roberto Dacosta AKA Sunspot. Sunspot first appeared in Marvel
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  Graphic novel #4 in 1982. Roberto Dacosta is the son of a
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  wealthy Afro Brazilian businessman, Emmanuel Dacosta
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  and his wife Nina, who works as an archaeologist.
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  Roberto's mutant powers first appeared when he was just 14,
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  during a championship soccer match for his school team in Rio
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  de Janeiro. Things took a very dark turn
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  when one of his opposing players, Keller, driven by
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  racist hatred, knocked Roberto to the ground.
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  Hot headed as ever, Roberto went after Keller, but Keller and
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  another teammate ganged up on him, beating him so badly.
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  In the middle of the fight, Roberto's powers suddenly
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  erupted. His body and clothes turned
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  completely black as he gained superhuman strength, hurling
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  Keller away without realizing what he was doing.
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  Everyone around him panicked and ran, except for his girlfriend
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  Juliana and his father, who stayed by his side as he tried
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  to make sense of what just happened.
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  To give you a good idea of what Roberto's powers are, Sunspot
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  absorbs and metabolizes solar energy to gain superhuman
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  strength, fight durability, and stamina.
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  He is not connected to sunspots, as in skin blemishes, but rather
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  his name and powers come from the concept of harnessing solar
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  power, including heat and light. When powered, his body appears
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  as a dark black solar energy being, sometimes with a black or
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  dark solar plasma look. Before long, Roberto's powers
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  caught the attention of Donald Pierce, a rogue member of the
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  Hellfire Club's inner circle who is out to eliminate mutants.
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  When Pierce's men failed to capture Roberto, they kidnapped
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  Juliana instead. Professor Charles Xavier, the
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  founder of the X-Men, got wind of the situation and sent Doctor
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  Myra Mctaggart because somehow it always goes back to her and
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  young mutants Karma and Psych to help.
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  Roberto agreed to meet Pierce's men to save Juliana, but the
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  mercenaries betrayed him and tried to take them both out.
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  In the chaos, Juliana sacrificed herself, jumping in front of a
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  bullet that was meant for Roberto.
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  Overcome with guilt and anger, he swore vengeance on Pierce and
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  joined Xavier's teams of young mutants, soon becoming one of
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  the founding members of the New Mutants at Xavier School for
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  Gifted Youngsters. Roberto, nicknamed Bobby,
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  trained in the Danger Room alongside teammates like
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  Cannonball and Wolfsbane, who became his closest friends.
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  During that time, Bobby's father secretly joined the Hellfire
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  Club as the White Rock, one of the few non mutants in its inner
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  circle, though he mostly went unnoticed there.
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  Over the years, Roberto faced plenty of wild experiences,
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  being experimented on with the same drug that gave Cloak and
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  Dagger their powers, getting captured and mind controlled by
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  Mojo and Spiral, and even briefly considering staying in
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  Asgard where the mutants weren't feared but celebrated.
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  He constantly wrestled with his fiery temper and his fear of
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  losing control over his powers. At one point, after accidentally
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  injuring his best friend Sam during a soccer game, Roberto
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  ran away believing he was way too dangerous to be around his
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  teammates living on the streets. He eventually joined a group of
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  misfit young mutants called the Fallen Angels, which included
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  Boom Boom Siren, even Deviled Dinosaur.
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  Yeah, yeah. But after realizing he'd been
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  running from his guilt and fear, he returned to the New Mutants
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  and helped them take down villains like Cameron, Hodge and
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  the Right. When Magneto took over as the
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  team's mentor, Roberto struggled to respect him and briefly left
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  the school after learning Xavier had once doubted his character.
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  Eventually, he came back and continued to grow as both the
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  fighter and the leader. As the years went by, the New
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  Mutants evolved into the X Force led by Cable.
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  When Roberto's father died, he was tricked by the immortal
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  Gideon, who had actually killed his father and experimented on
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  Roberto to supercharge his powers.
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  The ordeal left him stronger than ever.
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  He could now fly and shoot solar blasts.
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  Later, when he was manipulated by the villain of Rain Fire,
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  Cable intervened to break the psychic link between them,
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  teaching Roberto control and giving him mastery over his
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  abilities. Roberto's personal life was
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  messy too, just as messy as he was.
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  He developed feelings for Tabitha Smith, who was Meltdown
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  Boom Boom. She picked so many names.
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  But right now, it's Boom Boom, who was dating Sam at the time,
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  leading to some serious tension between the two best friends.
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  Despite that, they eventually made peace and continue to work
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  together. After being deported back to
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  Brazil, Roberto tried to live a normal life as a rich Playboy
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  but found it meaningless. That's when Celine lured him
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  into joining the Hellfire Club, promising to resurrect Juliana
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  if he served her. Torn by guilt and love, Roberto
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  agreed and became the Black Rook.
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  Eventually, though, he broke free and later became Lord
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  Imperial of the Hellfire Club. After Sebastian Shaw's downfall
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  during M Day, when most mutants lost their powers, Roberta was
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  among the very few who didn't. He later became a mentor to the
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  young X-Men, then reunited with his old New Mutants team under
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  Cyclops's direction. After the events of Avengers
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  versus X-Men, Roberto and Sam joined The Avengers, helping on
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  cosmic scale missions. When he realized he didn't agree
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  with Steve Rogers methods, Roberto took a bold step.
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  He bought AIM, which stands for Advanced Idea Mechanics, and
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  rebranded it into A Force for Good, turning it into Avengers
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  Idea Mechanics and forming his own New Avengers team.
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  Despite secretly battling Impox, a disease caused by the tarragon
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  exposure that made him age faster when using powers, he
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  kept leading with charm and confidence.
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  Later, Roberto struck a deal with the US government, turning
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  AIM into American intelligence mechanics and LED the US
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  Avengers under the alias Citizen V.
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  During Hydra's brief takeover, he was captured and nearly died
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  from a head injury that caused his powers to overload, but his
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  team mate Tony Ho saved him with a special device.
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  After Hydra's defeat, Roberto stepped down as Ames leader but
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  kept leading the US Avengers right up until the cosmic Crisis
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  forced him to push his powers to the limit once again,
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  accelerating his aging and prompting him to retire as
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  Citizen X. After that, Roberto couldn't
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  stay out of action for long. During the War of the Realms, he
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  fought alongside the X-Men against Frost Giants and Ice
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  Hounds, even though it seemed like he met a fiery end.
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  Fortunately, thanks to Kirkowa's resurrection protocols, Sunspot
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  returned to life as part of the new Mutant Nation.
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  Reuniting with his new mutant teammates, Roberto helped a
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  space mission with Sam Guthrie in the Shire Empire, where he
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  flirted shamelessly with Death Bird and even bought the entire
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  building Sam lived in so he could stay close to him and his
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  family. Later, when mutants terraformed
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  Mars into the new World of Morocco, Roberto opened a bar
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  called the Red Lagoon and became part of the Pimp Planet's
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  politics. Working with Storm and Magneto
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  as part of the New Brotherhood of Morocco, he clashed with
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  Vulcan, uncovered conspiracies by Abigail Brand, and even
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  served in a Rocco's Great Ring after the tragic events of the
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  Hellfire Gala. Feeling survivor's guilt, he
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  returned to Earth to help find his missing friend Cipher,
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  continuing his long journey as one of mutant kind's most
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  charming and unpredictable heroes.
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  So that is Sunspot, Roberto Dacosta.
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  He is an interesting character who comes with a lot of depth
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  and I don't think only one episode would really go into
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  every bit of his background, but to get to know him better, I do
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  have some comics for you to check out.
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  So the ones I really think you should check out or is the
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  original New Mutants run by Jonathan Hickman, Jonathan
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  Hickman's Avengers and X-Men Red.
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  So that is all I have for you today.
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  I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something
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  about Sunspot. If you have any more comic
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  recommendations or character recommendations, just drop them
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  in the comments and I will look into them.
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  So with that being said, have a marvelous day.