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St. John Allerdyce, also known as Pyro, was an Australian mutant with the ability to control and manipulate fire (pyromorphism). His first published appearance was in the "Days of Future Past" story from Uncanny X-Men 141-142, and his death was shown in Cable 87.
Abilities:
Pyro could manipulate fire by apparently giving it mental commands. He could control the heat, size, and intensity of any flame (including extinguishing it if need be), as well as force it to form shapes and do what he willed. Evidence suggested that it required a great deal of concentration and could be very taxing; Colossus thought to himself in UXM 177: "Why did Pyro's monster drop me??...unless --- its existence is maintained by Pyro through force of will. I couldn't hurt it, but my resistance must have affected him through that psilink, worn him out!" (on the other hand, Colossus is hardly an authority on the matter, and could have simply been wrong). In the Marvel Super-Heroes v.2 #11 story, he was injured by an attack against one of his flame creatures, but such an incident has never been seen anywhere else. The aforementioned "psilink" concept was never mentioned in later years, so it's not clear what exactly he was doing when using his powers, although they still remained psionic in nature.
Storm hampered his concentration by creating a powerful rainstorm right above him; he complained "she's setting off lightning to dazzle us --- an' thunder right about our heads, making it impossible to concentrate. I'm not sure I can even maintain my flame, much less do anything with it." (UXM 178). This was from an early appearance, when he was relatively inexperienced, and he seemingly became better at using his powers with practice, though pain still "makes it bloody impossible concentratin' on fire-forms" (Daredevil 355) and this suggests that he needed a great deal of focus and attention to maintain his control over the fire. However, after he contracted the Legacy Virus, his control was sometimes so erratic that he even accidentally started fires (which is strange, since he could not create fire until the very end of his life; perhaps he'd already had it burning on him, or inadvertently seized it from somewhere around him; neither idea is implausible). This was probably due to mental strain and physical unwellness. And, as stated in UXM 362, Legacy increased his powers so that his flames were hotter than they had ever been before.
As years went by, he seemed to be getting better at manipulating fire than he once had been, which is a logical progression of his skill and abilities. For instance, he was less easily distracted, and in recent years had been using more creativity in the shapes of his fireforms. In the first several years of his appearances, he relied heavily on flame 'hands' and birds when attacking, but in the last few years had created more monstrous and humanoid forms. As a joke, he once made a perfect fiery image of a teammate bowing in servitude and lighting a cigarette for him (UXM 223). He created faces and images in otherwise ordinary candle flame (X-Factor 129), and in the same issue was able to make flame creatures speak English for seemingly the first time. His control was such that he could incinerate the flesh of a dinosaur while leaving the bones intact (UXM 226), and have a durable flame creature grapple with and trade punches with the grey Hulk (Hulk 369). He occasionally used his powers to allow him to fly or hover (Daredevil 269 and Cable 87), and there's no reason he shouldn't have been flying regularly like Sunfire and the Human Torch; neither of these characters can fly under their own power, but they use their manipulation of fire and heat to propel themselves, and Pyro logically should have been able to do the same. He could also safely hold fire in his hands, or allow it to burn on his body, though he could be harmed by flames that he wasn't directly controlling (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, New Mutants Annual #7) --- it was for this reason that he wore an insulated suit, to buy him the time required to protect himself if taken by surprise or in a particularly dangerous situation.
Until recently, he could not create fire, and had to use existing flames to control (for this reason he wore a flamethrower on his costume, and sometimes carried a lighter). However, in Cable 87, he apparently generated his own flames, which was in all probability due to the altering effects of Legacy on his powers. The disease operated by increasing the powers of its victims until "they flare out an' die" (X-Men Annual #2), so it's very likely that this was what happened to him.
(In the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline, his counterpart could generate fire, but it burned him to do so. Since he'd escaped from the pens, and one of his comrades indicated she'd been experimented on, this was probably the result of the Beast's genetic tinkering. It's entirely possible, though, that the Pyro in this universe had the potential to do so too, which was certainly suggested by the events of Cable 87. The image to the left shows a panel from that issue, just prior to him attacking Post with his fire, and he is holding flames in his hands with seemingly no external source).
History and Character:
St. John (pronounced "SinJin") had a unique background that was largely shown only in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. According to that source, he had very little interest in using his powers for several years after they first emerged (in sharp contrast to the delight he took in using them after starting his career in the mutant business), although how he became interested in his abilities and how he got involved with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are as of yet unrevealed. He earned a university degree, left his home in Sydney, Australia, and spent some time as a journalist working in Asia, while at the same time writing novels based on his work/travels and from the "torrid Gothic romances" genre. His books weren't critically acclaimed, but were nonetheless popular with the public. The one reference in the comics (UXM 255) to his other career had him wondering "....if my new book's a bestseller". Obviously this means he was still writing and publishing during his Freedom Force days, although it's not known if his readers were aware of his double life or even that he was a mutant. UXM 338 strongly implied that he was Catholic, for he went to Confession, although he never made any serious references to religion aside from that, and was possibly lapsed in his beliefs.
He generally seemed to be holding back with his fire, for by all rights he should have easily been able to kill most opponents, and given the deadly nature of his powers, death of foes could have been a frequent occurrence. Despite this, he only killed on occasion (Reinhold Kurtzmann and Veil and possibly some enemy soldiers in Kuwait; Post; a dinosaur in Dallas). One conceivable explanation for this was that he may have been restraining himself, and did not really want to kill anyone except in extreme circumstances. He has said in the past that he didn't want to hurt an opponent (Avengers Annual #15), and shown obvious restraint in some fights (Rom 31, UXM 206), but in another instance stated that some would-be victims' families would need their pensions (UXM 142), which suggests he intended to kill. However, it should be noted that he was a bit more violent in the UXM 141-142 storyline (his first published appearance, and the Brotherhood was already on an extremist mission---to kill Senator Kelly). He wondered aloud as he attacked Colossus if his metal skin could melt, and had a flame hand grasp Wolverine in a probable attempt to kill. At this point his character was probably less defined; in-continuity one could argue that his point-of-view on using his abilities to kill or severely injure was a little harsher, and later modified.
The dinosaur was killed to rescue several civilians and Longshot (UXM 226), and Kurtzmann was killed to keep him out of Iraqi control (UXM Annual 15), as per orders. He killed Post to save the life of Senator Kelly from the would-be assassin (Cable 87). Veil's was a slightly more problematic death (X-Factor Annual 6), for although it took place in the midst of a fierce battle, Pyro appeared to take some sadistic pleasure in burning her. Personally I found this disturbing, though somewhat understandable; it was a very stressful situation and the Iraqi team had already killed and maimed other members of Freedom Force, as well as declaring their intention to kill Blob and Pyro. Still, it was a bit violent and unusual for him.
There was a story which took place in the Darkhawk series (issues 19 and 20, by Danny Fingeroth), in which Pyro, rather oddly, was going out of his way to hurt and kill. For instance, he said with a maniacal expression, "From Spider-Man, a gruesome death'll do. From you --- any teleportin' gimmicks your armor has --- and then the gruesome death." Later, Toad told him while he was tormenting a prisoner by setting a fire around his feet, "Enough, Pyro! You'll have your chance to hurt plenty of humans --- in a few seconds." Never before or since had Pyro appeared so bloodthirsty, so I think that this can be dismissed as a case in which a writer (a non-Xbook one, at that) simply did not have a very good grasp of his personality or past history. Even the worst crimes he committed in other issues did not come close to the activities or attitude he exhibited in Darkhawk 19-20. One intriguing possibility, though, is that he was already affected by early symptoms of the Legacy Virus --- the Darkhawk/Sleepwalker story was the last one before he was he was diagnosed --- and its periodic effects on his mental state are well known.
Another somewhat violent appearance, in the graphic novel Avengers: Deathtrap: the Vault, was also written by Fingeroth. It showed Pyro about to torture (or at least threatening to) a prisoner in order to get information out of him, stopped only by Captain America. It is perhaps notable that many of his less positive portrayals have come from non-X-book writers. True, the Kuwait/Iraq story was written by Fabian Nicieza, but FabNic's other portrayals of Pyro were often more sympathetic. In fact, I can only think of one time in which Pyro has ever truly and violently lost his temper in an X-book (the Kuwait/Iraq story) --- all others have been in comics from the regular Marvel universe, with outside writers to match. What does this mean? Possibly nothing --- or perhaps it indicates that most of his nastier appearances were written by people who didn't know his character very well.
Friends and teammates:
Pyro was fairly easy to get along with, friendly and personable, with rare losses of temper. Though they were clearly antagonists early on, as time went by he got along with and eventually became wary friends with the Blob, a man not known for being particularly easy to deal with, although later there was again much enmity between the two of them. He was engaged in some friendly chatter with teammate Stonewall shortly before the latter was killed (UXM 255), and was shocked and upset at his death (it's also notable that he and Stonewall were the only ones to bridge the gap between the former Brotherhood members and the later additions to Freedom Force). He got along well with Destiny, always treated her with deference and respect, and was shown leading her by the hand during the prison escape in Avengers Annual #10. There also appeared to be some mutual affection in his relationship with Rogue when she was with the Brotherhood (Rom 31), although a story which took place earlier but was written later (Marvel Fanfare 60) showed him to be aloof and annoyed with her when she flirted with him in front of Mystique (frankly, due to Rogue's youth --- she was about 16/17 years old then --- it probably wouldn't have been a good idea for him to reciprocate in front of her mother).
His smart mouth and behaviour sometimes strained relations with others --- a good example would be when he created the flame-slave replica of Crimson Commando at the time of their first meeting (UXM 223), which couldn't have endeared him to his new teammate. The two of them were never particularly friendly, but were not usually hostile either, despite the fact that Commando supplanted Pyro as the team's second-in-command and pushed him down in Freedom Force's hierarchy. Probably the most significant reasons for the rift between them (as with Pyro and Super Sabre) were the generation gap as well as the fair-sized egos on both sides; it was likely only inevitable that they were cool towards each other. Commando was also interested in taking Mystique's place as team leader, which clearly irritated Pyro and Blob.
Without a doubt, his closest friends were Mystique and Avalanche. He stood up for Mystique in his very first published appearance, and continued to fiercely do so afterward, even when she was not present (i.e., he was not currying favour with her). He was always willing to help her, most notably on her mission to save Graydon Creed even though he was quite ill with Legacy at the time (X-Factor 130). Unfailingly loyal, Pyro has been one of her most reliable colleagues and only once mildly criticized one of her decisions (Marvel Fanfare 60, in a fairly out-of-character scene for them both anyway), while the rest of his teammates often openly disobeyed and questioned her. It is clear that she always counted on him to be helpful and useful, particularly when he acted as her second-in-command. Only Destiny was more trustworthy and reliable to her, which isn't surprising, given the close and intimate relationship between the two women. It did seem as though Mystique wasn't too friendly with the men of her team during their Brotherhood days; she didn't show much regard for them as people, often risked their lives, and didn't let it concern her too much when they were imprisoned. One gets the impression that she saw them as useful tools, and little else.
However, this had clearly changed by their Freedom Force days, especially with Pyro. Though UXM 141 says that Destiny is the "only Brotherhood member Raven calls friend", Mystique later referred to Pyro as friend twice in X-Factor 130 and the two had a rather tender goodbye when they thought they were about to die in UXM 255. In that issue he referred to her (and presumably the other members of Freedom Force) as a friend. He also expressed concern and sorrow for her as she grieved for Destiny in the events immediately following the issue (X-Men Forever #2). In UXM 226, due to an injury, he was seen leaning on her as she helped him off a battlefield. They have had an interesting relationship through the years; in X-Factor 129 he played with her by creating a large fire monster to spook her. Clearly a joke, her somewhat bemused response indicates that she didn't mind it, though given Mystique's temperament, she might not have tolerated something similar done by another person. The two of them obviously had an easy-going, friendly, and trusting relationship. The one wrench in this came from the rather poorly-written UXM 338, in which Pyro went to the X-Men and tried to warn them of a murderous plan by "her", which in all probability referred to Mystique, although he was somewhat insane at the time. It was also later revealed in X-Men Forever #2 that she had tricked him into helping with her plan in X-Factor 129-130; he believed they were going to save Graydon Creed's life, though she intended to kill Creed and perhaps use Pyro's innocence as an alibi for her activities. It is not known if he ever became aware of this.
In his last appearance (Cable 87), he actively sabotaged Mystique's plan to kill Senator Kelly, indicating there was tension between the two of them. Pyro had changed his philosophy about human-mutant relations to one advocating peace, whereas she had become so extreme as to attempt to eradicate all humans, using a modified version of the Legacy Virus (which was probably the source of at least some strain between them). Before this, in X-Men 105, Mystique had mused to herself that if necessary she would kill "those who were once my closest friends" to get at Kelly, which in retrospect may have referred to Pyro. Obviously, there was a change in their relationship that seems to have happened behind the scenes.
Avalanche was clearly his best friend. Avalanche was the only person (other than, inexplicably, Toad) to call him by the nickname 'Johnny' (X-Factor 109 and X-Men Annual #2), and Pyro has called him 'Dom' in the past (X-Men Annual #2). They sometimes referred to each other by such friendly terms as "buddy" and "mate", and their close relationship led the ever-crude Blob to suggest they were lovers (X-Men Annual #2), although there is no evidence to suggest this was true (Blob disliked them both at the time, so it's easy to understand why he said it). Pyro tended to dominate the friendship and tell Avalanche what to do --- which is natural, given that Pyro was fairly bossy, talkative, and a bit headstrong --- but this didn't seem to bother Avalanche too much. He appeared to be content with Pyro doing most of the talking and making the decisions, even acquiescing to choices he didn't really agree with (Avengers 312). He generally allowed Mystique to treat him similarly, too. The few decisions Avalanche has made on his own tended to be rather disastrous anyway (X-Factor Annual #6, Hulk 263, Rom 31), so it's not surprising that he's a bit reluctant to be assertive, and he has always let his teammates walk all over him. It remains to be seen what direction his character will go in now that Pyro is dead, although he has been teamed up with Blob in all but one of his appearances since Pyro's death (in fact, if one looks at all of Avalanche's total appearances, there are very few issues in which he appears without at least one of his Freedom Force teammates/friends).
Interestingly, one story (Marvel Super-Heroes v.2 #11) taking place early in their acquaintanceship --- the first story in which they were seen working together --- had Avalanche calling Pyro an "annoying twerp", which indicates they had a rocky start. Avalanche also put a heavy strain on their later strong friendship when he abandoned Pyro and Blob to die in occupied Kuwait (X-Factor Annual #6), but afterward he seemed truly contrite and eventually Pyro forgave him, although he mentioned that he felt hurt by it ("I'm not going to pretend it didn't hurt, Dom. An' here I thought we were mates and all"; X-Men Annual #2) . It's possible that Pyro acquired Legacy while he was in Kuwait (one of the people he was fighting in that key battle was later revealed to have died of Legacy, and Pyro himself was diagnosed not long after returning to the United States), and Avalanche felt somewhat guilty about his role in this; in the Quicksilver series, he joined up with his friend in order to find a cure. Avalanche did not have the disease, but was simply helping Pyro.
However, as with Mystique, the friendship between Pyro and Avalanche may have ended or become strained again, particularly when Pyro foiled the Brotherhood's plans to kill Kelly. Avalanche was a member of that team, and stated his belief that Kelly had to die to save the lives of mutants everywhere, so his friend's act of sabotage was a serious blow to the cause. Since Pyro is now dead, they can't patch up their faltering friendship as they did previously.
Battle with the Legacy Virus:
Pyro was revealed to have Legacy in X-Men Annual #2, though it was foreshadowed in X-Men Unlimited #2 when he was deemed "tainted" by Exodus. At the time of the Annual, he was seeking relief on the island of Empyrean, whose owner was able to leech the excessive mutant energies generated by Legacy, and this lessened the pain St. John was enduring. Later this plot was ignored and there was no explanation given as to why Pyro and the Brotherhood had departed. At the time, he had accepted that he was going to die, but not surprisingly seemed rather depressed and passive about it.
By Daredevil 355, he had become fairly proactive---albeit suicidal---insisting that he would prefer to be killed battling a foe rather than "dying in bed". He had a somewhat crazed and reckless attitude in this issue, but it's not clear if this was due to stress or an actual symptom of the disease itself.
He next showed up in UXM 338, in which his physical condition had clearly worsened. Apart from his gaunt, rather corpse-like appearance, he had lost control over fire and accidentally set a church ablaze; he tried to stop it but was unable. His mental state had deteriorated, which resulted in rambling, almost incoherent speech and even a sudden apparent change in his relationship with Mystique and Avalanche. He tried to warn the X-Men of a murder plot by "her", and accused "them" of abusing him --- probably referring to Mystique and Avalanche, before being pulled away by the latter. But why would Pyro, completely loyal to Mystique and a good friend to Avalanche at the time, suddenly snitch on them and ask the X-Men to stop them? Especially since his next appearance had him helping Mystique in her scheme (presumably the same plan that he was warning the X-Men about). The most plausible explanation is that he was having some mental problems and paranoia caused by the disease; this does have some precedence, given his behaviour in his previous issue (and in UXM 362) and the severe deterioration in his health. Under this scenario, Avalanche might have been rescuing him from himself, rather than the implied kidnapping. Regardless of the explanation, Pyro was friendly with both Avalanche and Mystique soon afterward, and for this reason the entire issue makes very little sense, but the revelation in X-Men Forever #2 that Mystique had tricked Pyro into helping with her plot to kill Graydon Creed may shed some new light on it. It may be that he'd had an inkling of her real intentions and reacted negatively to it (hence his words in UXM 338), only to be later 'reassured' that she was planning to rescue Creed, and assisted her because of this erroneous belief.
Pyro's next two appearances (X-Factor 129 and 130) featured him helping Mystique in her plan to 'save' Graydon Creed from assassination, expressing a desire to make amends for past misdeeds. He seemed more like his old self, without any mental instability, though once again he had some difficulty controlling his flames, and still looked very ill. It was later revealed in X-Men Forever #2 that she had duped him into believing they were going to rescue Creed, and that she had secretly always intended to kill him (and she succeeded). Pyro, however, had genuinely tried to save him.
His next appearance was in UXM 351, in which he looked physically well but was unable to shut off his flames, causing considerable difficulty for the doctors treating him for gunshot wounds. By this issue, Pyro seemed to have adopted a new, more proactive way of thinking: he robbed a bank in order to pay a doctor who claimed to be able to remove mutant genes (thereby hopefully curing him of Legacy). He began to actively seek a cure, possibly because he had become more optimistic since he had not yet died of a disease which often killed its victims so quickly. An attempt to have his beloved powers removed was certainly indicative of his desperation to be cured.
Next, he was seen in Quicksilver #6-9, looking and sounding hale and hearty (with no problems controlling his flames), undertaking a mission for Exodus in order to obtain a promised Legacy cure. He made it very clear that he desperately wanted the cure, and acted very differently from the fatalistic, depressed behaviour exhibited when he was first diagnosed. But why did he look and feel fine here after having been so ill? Possibly due to forgetful writing and erratic artwork, or perhaps because the disease had gone into temporary remission or something similar (as happened with Maverick). In earlier issues he'd made it clear that he was in tremendous pain and was having great difficulties controlling fire, as well as looking disfigured; in the Quicksilver series there was no trace of any of those symptoms.
By UXM 362, he had become extremely unwell in both mind and body, and was burning fields in Nebraska in a desperate attempt to ward off an unseen pursuer (Cerebro). Eventually he succeeded (at least temporarily), but only after causing a great deal of damage, thoroughly convincing everyone that he was completely insane---by ranting at apparent thin air---and ensuring that SHIELD had to take him into custody, which they did although he'd sort-of exploded and already been subdued.
Note: in the original plot (and art, which is why he did indeed explode into flames), Pyro died at the end of the issue in the fiery explosion. It was later changed at the last minute by the editor. I was told this by the writer of the issue, Steven Seagle.
By Cable 87, he had changed his personal philosophy on mutant-related matters, apparently due to a self-examination of his life after getting the disease. When his former teammates in the Brotherhood attempted to assassinate Senator Kelly again, Pyro thwarted their plans---apparently killing Post in the process---by saving Kelly's life. However, using his Legacy-affected powers allowed the disease to accelerate in his body, with disastrous results. He pleaded with the Senator to stop the hatred and fighting between humans and mutants, and then died in the man's arms. Unfortunately, his sacrifice was mostly for naught, because Kelly was assassinated by a human shortly afterward, and Pyro died soon before the Legacy cure was discovered. He has only been mentioned in passing a couple of times since his death, although his ghost (or soul, or something similar...or he could have been a hallucination) appeared in Wolverine 176 in a rather bizarre scene.
The English/Australian question:
To which nationality did St. John Allerdyce belong? There are several examples of both, though the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists him as Australian. In his first appearance he was intended to be English, for he was referred to as "Englishman" and "Limey". Throughout his other early appearances he was also supposed to be English, but this was eventually canonically changed (most of the time), approximately when Freedom Force was formed, and most explicitly in Captain America 333 (1987). However, there are subtle references dating back to 1984 which suggest he was meant to be Australian even then. From 1987 and on he was called "Aussie" fairly regularly (with the notable exception of Daredevil 269, which refers to him as "Englishman", and Avengers 312 calls him "limey"), and was sometimes put into a stereotypical Australian role (Daredevil 355, in which he says "G'day" and "throw a shrimp like you on the barbie!"). It might be worth noting that his personality, behaviour, and speech mannerisms also changed considerably around the time when his nationality was switched. The entire question is made more confusing by the Kuwait story (New Mutants Annual #7, UXM Annual #15, X-Factor Annual #6), in which he is called "Limey" in one issue and "Aussie" in another! Personally, I just go with the Official Handbook and consider him Australian, given that it suited him and there are so few Australian characters (and even fewer that aren't blatant stereotypes...Boomerang and the Kangaroo come to mind). It's an easy retcon to accept because he never claimed to be English (only other characters called him that), though he himself said that he was Australian. There's also no doubt that Marvel considers him to be Australian, for he has been repeatedly called such in recent years. The only conclusion is to simply ignore the instances in which he was called English; chalk it up to mistakes on the part of other characters who didn't know any better.
Final Thoughts:
For a villain, and a former member of "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants", Pyro was overall not a bad person. He had some bad moments, most notably in Kuwait and during some Brotherhood appearances, but generally he was shown to be easy-going, friendly, loyal, and above all, not much of a killer despite the deadly nature of his abilities. In the Fall of the Mutants storyline (UXM 225-227), he, along with the rest of Freedom Force, was portrayed as heroic. There he saved human lives by killing the dinosaur threatening them, participated in a huge battle with the barbarians (getting injured in the process), and acted quite proud to be a hero. In UXM 206, he was quite insistent that Freedom Force's behaviour befit "good guys" and "heroes". And in Cable 87, he gave up his close ties with his friends and even his life in order to save Senator Kelly and plead for human/mutant peace ("Please...Senator...make it end. The hatred...the death. There's a war coming...stop it! You're the only one who can"), albeit by killing the would-be assassin.
I see his personality as one that was decent and ordinary but slightly corrupted by the power his mutant abilities gave him (basically an ego trip); take away his powers and he would have reverted back to being an average person, no more 'evil' than the next. However, despite the power-trip and the namesake of his old group, he was not evil. His morality was certainly different from mine, but his positive traits and the good things he did in the past strongly suggest that at heart he was not a bad person. He told the X-Men in UXM 338 that he hadn't meant to start the church fire, and regarding his death, said "I don't want to take any of you with me!" Perhaps he and Avalanche started along the wrong path and then just continued; both have expressed regrets over past actions (Pyro said in X-Factor 129 that he was "ready to make amends for every dog deed done in my black life", and Avalanche apparently believes he is doomed to Hell, as suggested in UXM annual #15) but for whatever reasons continued to act in the villain role. I could see Pyro originally getting into the villainy business out of loyalty or respect for Mystique, for he certainly never displayed any real animosity towards his opponents, nor any sense of mutant superiority. Sure, the money and adventure would have been a bonus, but given his past history as a globe-trotting writer, he certainly could have had those in a law-abiding life.
Here's what I wrote in the previous version of this article, while he was still alive:
What I would like to see for his character in the future: survive Legacy, through a cure or whatever has kept him alive all these years, and become more thoughtful and introspective. Not necessarily becoming a good guy, but with more of an emphasis on morality and toning down some of the negative aspects of his personality (such as his sadism in Kuwait). Being in the unique and lucky position of surviving a fatal disease ought to change a person to some degree, especially one who's demonstrated such positive traits in the past. I could see him as an anti-hero; perhaps not the most squeaky-clean of heroic characters, but he certainly seemed to enjoy being a hero and the centre of adulation in UXM 226, so there is precedence. However, doing so would mean abandoning and likely even opposing Mystique, and he might be reluctant to do that. He has always been a conflicted character, seemingly unsure of what he wants to do with his life---sometimes leaning towards good, sometimes bad, and tempted towards both---so it would be nice for future stories to reflect this. Whichever side he ultimately chooses, he ought to give both some serious thought.
Obviously, some of this sort-of came true in his final appearance, although most did not. He didn't survive the disease, and even died shortly before it was cured. He did become at least somewhat heroic, by standing up for his new beliefs about peace, but had to do so by opposing Mystique and the Brotherhood's plans. It could not have been an easy decision to make, as she is a formidable enemy and does bear grudges, and he had always been so loyal and dedicated to her, but this is what makes his actions heroic. He became a hero not because he valued harmony and tolerance, and not because he died as a result of his actions (since he was probably soon to die anyway), but because he sacrificed his relationship with his only friends to stand up for his beliefs and to help save lives. Without a doubt, his comrades must have been bewildered and angered by this betrayal of their cause. It remains to be seen if their reaction to it will ever be explored; as of six years since his death (2007), they have never mentioned him.
