John Allerdyce

"You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about in the news? I'm the worst one."

- John Allerdyce

John Allerdyce, also known a Pyro, is a Class 4 mutant with the ability cause any fire, however small, to grow in size and intensity and project it. He was a student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

X-Men
John only has a small role, seen in Xavier's physics class before Wolverine walks in. He leaves along with Bobby, Jubilee, and Kitty Pryde. He is next seen creating a fireball in a class taught by Ororo Munroe. Bobby Drake freezes the fireball making John drop it and get in trouble. He is identified by Storm as "John".

Later, John is seen playing table football with Bobby, Rogue and another boy from the school.

X2: X-Men United
"I can only manipulate the fire I can't create it."

- John Allerdyce

John's role is expanded greatly, he is a close friend of Bobby Drake and Rogue. During the museum tour, a boy takes John's Zippo lighter that he uses to generate fire to light a cigarette. With so John makes the flames jump to the boy's top, setting him on fire, Bobby steps in and puts it out with his ice powers. The entire museum (apart from the mutants) comes to a stand still by Professor X, telling John if he ever feels like showing off, don't. Everyone is unfrozen, and the class has to leave.

When the Mansion is attacked by William Stryker and his men, John escapes with Bobby, Rogue and Logan. The four of them head to Boston to stay at Bobby's house until they can contact the other X-Men. When Bobby's family return home Ronny, Bobby's younger brother, is frightened by the fact his brother is a mutant and phones the police. When the police arrive they shoot Logan in the head provoking John to retaliate. Using his pyrokinetic abilities he subdues the police until Rogue absorbs his abilities to reduce the flames. Storm and Jean arrive and pick up the four mutants.

The X-Jet is pursued by fighter jets that fire at the X-Jet forcing it to crash-land. Magneto stops it and requests the team's help. Seeing John's potential, Magneto asks him his "real name" to which John replies "Pyro". When the team reach Alkali Lake, Pyro, Iceman and Rogue are told to wait on the X-Jet. Pyro gets impatient and decides he's going to go and help when Professor X initiates the attacks against all mutants.

Once Magneto has finished, he and Mystique take Stryker's helicopter, Pyro approaches them and joins the Brotherhood.

X-Men: The Last Stand
"You should go back to school Bobby."

- Pyro

He attended the gathering an abandoned church where the Brotherhood recruited the Omega Gang. He later defended Magneto when Quill said that he was just a man in a cape. Pyro was with Magneto when the Brotherhood attempted to free Mystique from her mobile prison. When Mystique took a cure dart for Magneto he shot a stream of fire so powerful that it completely disintegrated the man who had fired the dart.

He later had a brief confrontation with his former friend Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman outside a medical center that was housing cure injections for mutants. After Bobby backed down Pyro blew up the center. He was then seen with Magneto when he made an announcement. At Alcatraz Island, he torched cars that Magneto threw. Pyro fought Iceman and briefly gained the upper hand, but Iceman defeated him. It is unknown if Pyro survived Alcatraz but The Last Stand novelization states that Iceman saved Pyro. Overall, most likely he did.

Character traits
A troubled young man with the ability to control (although not create) fire. A friend of Bobby and Marie, John has anti-social tendencies because he is very angry at humans for how they treat the mutant community. Magneto tells him that "You are a god amongst insects; never let anyone tell you different". He attends a school run by and for mutants who, like John, possess strange and frightening powers. The school promotes a peaceful and beneficial relationship between mutants and the rest of humanity, but when it is invaded by forces who would destroy all mutants, John, his fellow students, and his teachers (The X-Men) must join forces with the Brotherhood of Mutants, who advocate total domination over non-mutants. As the two groups battle together against a relentless and cunning foe, John's dark side emerges, and he is drawn toward his ultimate identity as Pyro, an ally of the Brotherhood. The mutation giving John the ability to control fire made him different. But to what purpose? At Professor Xavier's refuge and school for those with equally bizarre mutant powers, he rebelled against that well-intentioned teacher's authority. John wanted to be noticed, but he was not energized by doing good. Now, known as Pyro, this outsider has found somewhere he belongs and someone he can believe in. He is still a wise-ass with a temper to match his fiery gift, but his former rebelliousness has beeen replaced with extreme loyalty to Magneto. That loyalty does not waver as he and the other mutants of Magneto's Brotherhood face his former teachers and schoolmates in a battle whose outcome will determine the mutants' place in the larger human community.

Powers and Abilities

 * Fire Manipulation: Pyro is a mutant with the psionic ability to cause any fire, however small, to grow in size and intensity. For this reason he wears a lighter strapped around both hands.
 * Fire Invulnerability: Pyro is invulnerable to any fire that he has placed under his psionic control. However, he could be harmed (just as any ordinary human would be) by any fire that he did not mentally control.

Relationships

 * Bobby Drake/Iceman - Best friend turned enemy.
 * Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue - Friend turned enemy.
 * Magneto - Ally.
 * Mystique - Ally.
 * Brotherhood of Mutants - Allies.
 * The X-Men - Allies turned Enemies.

Behind the scenes

 * In X2 Pyro is shown examining a series of Drake family photos with an expression of envy; the commentary hints that it is because he comes from a dysfunctional home.
 * A deleted scene of X-Men shows Pyro listening to Rogue talking to the other girls behind his back so then (for unknown reasons) he grins and wants to impress her by creating a fireball behind his back. Bobby Drake freezes it and Ororo Munroe says "John" but in the extended scene she says "John, what did I tell you?" and so he responds "Sorry". He is later watching Bobby talking to Rogue. This could be that he has an interest in her.
 * Anoher deleted scene of X2 shows Pyro sitting down at night and Bobby and Rogue are struggling to build a campfire. Rogue says that he could help so Pyro takes a deep breath and the fire starts.

Appearances/Actors

 * Canon (3 films)
 * X-Men (First appearance) - Alex Burton
 * X2: X-Men United - Aaron Stanford
 * X-Men: The Last Stand - Aaron Stanford

Trivia

 * In the comics, Pryo is Australian and his named was Saint-John Allerdyce, in the film he's portrayed as an American teenager instead of Australian.
 * Iceman doesn't have a close connection with Pyro in the comics.
 * In the comics, Pyro never worked under the team's original mentor, Magneto. Instead, he has been loyal to Mystique and much later to Toad. In the film, he is loyal to Magneto.