Black Tom Cassidy

Did You Know?

• Black Tom Cassidy first appeared as a shadowy figure in Uncanny X-Men #99 (June 1976).
• An alternate universe version called 'Blackie' Cassidy appears in X-Men Noir #1 as a drug dealer with ties to a secret society of corrupt police officers and detectives.
• Black Tom Cassidy appears in Deadpool 2, portrayed by Jack Kesy, as an inmate of the Ice Box who is later killed during a fight between Deadpool and Cable.

Fictional character biography

Black Tom Cassidy, a Dublin native, is the cousin of Sean Cassidy, the X-Man known as Banshee. He also once counted the Juggernaut as his only friend. His original mutant ability allowed him to project blasts of heat through any wooden object, most notably the shillelagh he frequently carries. A bitter rivalry with Sean began when Sean won both the family estate, Cassidy Keep, and the entire Cassidy fortune from Tom in a dice game.

The two also competed for the affection of Maeve Rourke, who eventually married Sean. While Sean was abroad working for Interpol, Maeve gave birth to their daughter, Theresa. Soon after, Maeve was killed in an IRA bombing. Unable to reach Sean, Tom took responsibility for raising Theresa.

Tom later turned to crime and met the Juggernaut in prison, where they became close friends and partners. Together with Theresa, now calling herself Siryn, they stole the United States' entire vibranium supply in San Francisco. The X-Men and Spider-Woman recovered the vibranium and captured Tom and Siryn. Believing a criminal life was too dangerous for Siryn, Tom cleared her of any blame for the theft.

The Juggernaut broke him out of prison that same day. During a fight with Cable, Tom was shot and taken to France, where doctors treated his wounds by grafting a wood-like substance onto them. The substance began to spread across his body. He tried to stop it by using Deadpool's genetic material to gain a healing factor, but this failed.

The substance eventually consumed him entirely, turning him into a humanoid plant and driving him insane. Tom later joined a new version of the Brotherhood of Mutants. The Juggernaut had previously infiltrated the X-Men for the Brotherhood but began to reform, largely due to his friendship with a young mutant named Sammy Pare. When Juggernaut rejoined the Brotherhood, he secretly planned to betray them at the right moment.

Sammy stumbled upon the Brotherhood, and Tom murdered him. After M-Day, Tom lost his ability to transform into a plant but kept his power to control plants. The organization Black Air hired him to attack Excalibur, which now included the Juggernaut. Tom easily defeated the other members, but the Juggernaut confronted him and convinced him to surrender for killing Sammy. Tom expressed remorse for the murder, claiming he had not been thinking clearly at the time.