Mick Rory

"You're the best guy I ever knew. You may not think you're a hero, but you're a hero to me."

- Mick talking to Leonard Snart after his "death"

Mick Rory, nicknamed Heat Wave by Cisco Ramon, is a pyromaniac criminal and accomplice of Leonard Snart. Together with Snart, Rory was an opponent of the Flash for a time, before being recruited into the Legends. Rory traveled through time, as both a bounty hunter named Chronos for the Time Masters, as well as their enemy, before finally vowing to kill Vandal Savage.

Biography
In 1990, a teenage Mick's house was burned down, which killed both of his parents, leaving him as a target for The Pilgrim. However The ATOM arrives to save him and the Legends bring him to the Waverider. After, a younger Sara Lance arrives on board. Mick tries to flirt with her, but only to receive a slap. Older Sara Lance appears to break them up. Later, Mick accompanies the team to the Refuge, where he only leans against the wall doing nothing. Older Mick appears and tells him not to do anything wrong in his life. Mick agrees and is returned to his timeline.

In 2014, Mick was working on a job with Leonard Snart, however it went wrong. Half of Rory's body was burnt in a resulting fire, and despite being taken to the hospital for medical attention, he escaped from the ambulance and fled.

Teaming up with Captain Cold
Later that year, Snart gave him a handheld flamethrower and offered to work a few more jobs with him in Central City. Mick, pleased at the offer and the heat gun, gladly accepted. Snart had him learn how to fix up the flamethrower when needed, which proved handy.

The two men began by crashing through a frozen door in to a building. Snart had hoped to wait for The Flash, rather than steal the expensive cars inside, though he failed to appear, resulting in them leaving the scene. Back at their base, Snart revealed his plan to steal an expensive painting, Fire & Ice, to Mick, which was being brought back to Central City by a rich couple. Sometime later, the men intercepted the couple as they were leaving their plane with the painting, requesting that they call the cops.

When the police arrived, Snart attempted to use his cold gun to freeze them, though it was no match against their specially-made shields. Instead, Mick showed himself, instead using his handheld flamethrower to burn them. He was momentarily mesmerized by the flames, but he was stopped when Detective West shot through his gun from afar. They returned to their base, where Mick began fixing the minor damage. Snart quickly approached him with his gun pointed towards him, arguing that his obsession with fire would get the better of him, as with their previous job. Mick in turn pointed his flamethrower back, rebutting that Leonard was just as obsessed, but with precision on their heists. Mick wished to simply stop at the painting, but Snart wished to further kill The Flash. He reasoned with Mick, who decided to burn Fire & Ice and continue on.

Realizing that The Flash had partners, they tracked down Caitlin Snow. They took her to their hideout and recorded an ultimatum for The Flash, asking him to come to a location at sundown. Mick tied up Caitlin, who remarked upon his third-degree burns over his body. He claimed to have had fire reveal his "true self". He wanted to uncover her true self, but was stopped by Snart, who planned to leave. Mick gagged Caitlin and placed a bomb attached to a tripwire under her seat. At the crossroads of their meeting with The Flash, they began shooting, missing him almost every time. However, they were able to hit him, knocking him down. Before he could be killed, Detective Thawne intervened with an element-proof shield. The Flash rushed him to safety and returned, deciding to take the blasts. He led the two beams towards each other, cancelling each other out and knocking the men away from The Flash. From there, they were arrested and taken back to the Central City Police Department. Mick attempted to escape, but was held back. They were soon on their way to Iron Heights Prison, before Leonard's plan came in to affect. The truck was intercepted and the back doors were opened by Leonard Snart's sister.

Aiding Rip Hunter
One year later, Snart and his partner Mick Rory conducted a heist on Central City Bullion exchange and making their escape in a mini-van when they were intercepted by Rip Hunter, who took them to Star City alongside the other heroes. At first, he was a helpful member of the team, working alongside the others, but tensions began to arise as time went on, such as when he attempted to stay behind in a possible 2046 where Star City was conquered by various gangs.

After finding out that he was only recruited by Rip because he was a package deal with Snart, Mick betrayed the team to a group of time pirates that had taken the Acheron and sought to take the Waverider. No longer trusted to be around the team safely, Snart brought Mick to an unknown time period and seemingly shot him with his cold gun, Snart, however, intentionally missed and instead knocked Mick unconscious with the butt of his gun.

Hunting Rip Hunter's team
Mick was found by the Time Masters and brought to the Vanishing Point. Mick was trained by the Time Masters and became the very bounty hunter he and his former team had been fleeing from, Chronos.

Mick was sent by the Time Masters to bring in the Rip of 2166 in after he commandeered the Waverider. Due to having been with the team himself he knew exactly where and when to locate them. Mick arrived in 2016 shortly after Rip Hunter's team departed to 1975. While investigating, he killed two onlookers whom he deemed to not be integral to the timeline. He then traveled back to 1975 in pursuit of Rip, where he found the camouflaged Waverider with only Jax inside.

Mick began an assault on the vessel in an attempt to break through the hull, but was interrupted by Rip, Carter, Kendra, Stein and Ray, along with Aldus Boardman. They were soon joined by Sara, Leonard and his past self. The Atom and Firestorm tried their best to fend him off, before the team were able to time travel away to safety. During the battle, Aldus was dealt a mortal blow by one of Mick's weapons, and he passed away aboard the Waverider shortly after.

Mick later followed the Waverider into 1986 into Soviet Russia. At the same time, a Russian jet intercepted them, which Rip tricked into disabling Mick's ship. Surviving the crash, Mick worked with Time Master Zaman Druce into luring Rip into a trap with a false promise of amnesty. Before Mick could execute Rip, Firestorm and the younger Mick attacked. Druce retreated while Mick stayed to fight Firestorm and his younger self, but as Mick tried to shoot Firestorm he blasted a fire ball at him which knocked him out against a tree. Before falling unconscious however Mick managed to throw a grenade at Firestorm injuring him badly. Mick later pursued the Waverider in the timestream, the resulting dogfight causing the Waverider to emerge in Star City in 2046.

Mick then tracked the Waverider down in 1958 and began to attack the team while inside. The Waverider was then forced to flee, leaving Ray, Kendra and Sara behind. Mick knocked Rip unconscious and captured Snart aboard the Waverider, just as Jax and Stein merged into Firestorm. Back on his ship, he revealed his identity to Snart and his retrieval by the Time Masters and conversion into Chronos after being knocked unconscious by Snart and abandoned. Mick made plans to bring Leonard to 2016 Central City with the intention of killing Lisa in front of him over and over again, before Mick could carry out his plan the team was tracked to Nanda Parbat in 1960. Leaving Snart handcuffed Mick headed out to kill the team and engaged Rip, Hawkgirl, Atom, Firestorm and Sara in combat where he was ultimately subdued by Atom. Before any further action could happen, Snart (now with his right hand missing after freezing it with his Cold Gun and shattering it to escape his handcuffs) stopped the team and forced Chronos to reveal himself as Mick. Mick lunged for his gun but was knocked out by Sara and woke up in a holding cell aboard the Waverider. Mick vowed to kill everyone once he got out with Rip and the others (minus Snart) believing that they could undo the Time Masters' training and get their old team member back.

In his holding cell, he was visited by Rip and Sara, the former apologized and took the blame for bringing Mick onto the team under false pretenses and the latter encouraging him to repair his partnership with Snart as he was still a loyal friend to Mick despite being sold out. Mick and Snart later get into a fist-fight inside of the cell with Mick overpowering Snart and refusing to kill him despite the promise of getting to take the jump ship and escape to freedom. Mick then warned the team about Hunters, a team of mercenaries working for the Time Masters that lack humanity and will pursue the team, including Mick as he failed to bring them in, and will stop at nothing until they are all dead.

Reformation
As a member of Rip Hunter's team once again, Mick proved himself an efficient fighter, with additional knowledge of time travel and the Time Masters organization, both of which helped when the team was hunted by the Pilgrim.

Mick opposed Rip Hunter's decision to bring the captured Vandal Savage to the Vanishing Point before the Time Masters, knowing that the organization would not suffer a "betrayal" and would execute the team's members. This proved true after Druce ordered the Waverider boarded and the crew captured. However, the Time Masters had different designs for Mick, wanting to brainwash him into being Chronos once again. Tortured by Declan, Mick managed to keep his sanity, focusing on his feeling of being needed by the team, but pretended to be controlled once again. However, when Declan ordered Chronos to shoot Leonard Snart, Chronos shot the Time Master himself and crushed his head with a boot. Mick's Chronos suit and its related list of commands was used by Ray Palmer and Gideon to send the entry codes to the Time Masters HQ, disengaging the Waverider from tractor beams. After escaping the captivity, the team formulated a plan to destroy the Oculus device, which allowed the Time Masters to predict and control the timeline, supporting the rise of Vandal Savage. Ray Palmer has set up the Oculus to explode, but realized the need to stay with the device to prevent the failsafe from blocking the explosion. Mick volunteered to stay in Ray's stead, only for Leonard Snart to knock him out and sacrifice his life, destroying the device and killing Druce. On the Waverider, Mick, shaken by the events, discussed Snart's sacrifice with Ray, and vowed to use his newly-gained free will to kill Vandal Savage, putting an end to the Time Masters' plans. .

After Rip returned the team to 2016, Mick returned to Central City and returned to his old habit. At one point Mick met a new partner and robbed a bank. Mick killed his partner after the latter wasted ammo to kill a security guard. Upon entering a car, he discovered that his driver is none other than Ray. Ray noted that Mick didn't waste time to fall back into his old habit. Mick told Ray that stealing money made him feel good. The two ultimately agree to finish their job and defeat Savage.

Thanks to Stein, the team discovered that the best way to kill Savage was to return to three different times when Savage practiced a ritual with meteorites. Mick and Atom traveled to 1958, while Atom confronted the Manhawks, Mick confronted Savage in hand to hand combat. Mick ultimately came on top and set Savage on fire. After Ray shrunk the meteor, Mick and the former joined Rip and the team in 2021. After discovering the last meteor could destroy the Earth, Rip left with the meteor, planning to sacrifice himself. Mick, however, told Rip he didn't want to lose another friend. After Rip managed to eject the meteor unharmed, Mick called Rip a moron.

Mick travelled back to 2013, where he told Leonard that he considered him to be a hero. Later, Rip told Mick that he would bring him back to this time as a consolation, though Mick said he was fine. After Kendra and Carter bid their farewell, Mick commented that their fresh start would last no more than three months. As Mick and the team made their way to the Waverider, the Waverider from the future came crashing down. A man then emerged, introducing himself as Rex Tyler and noted that Mick from the future told the former to warn them at that particular time.

Protecting the Timeline
After defeating the Time Masters and Savage, Mick decided to protect the timeline along with the Rip's team.

☀16

Future
Sometime after disembarking from 2016 the team encountered an unknown threat that saw the entire team killed, except for Mick who escaped with the Waverider. At some unknown time period Mick met Rex Tyler, a member of Justice Society of America, and sent him to warn Rip's team about entering the Waverider providing him the current-time Waverider.

Personality
Mick is obsessive, unstable, a pyromaniac, hot-headed and sometimes loses focus. He is highly impulsive, combative, and is somewhat hyperactive as he despises sitting around and doing nothing. He is certainly a man of action who prefers getting things done as opposed to analyzing them as thoroughly as his partner.

Despite his less than sophisticated demeanor, Mick is incredibly philosophical in his view of the nature of fire itself. He had poetically described it as being ever-changing, indefinable, and transformative. He views his burns as revealing the truth of who he really is, and as such, he has embraced this self-determined truth of who he is: A man who burns the world to reveal its own inner nature as it did to him. This is an unusual trait, but does show that he is much more than the image of the unstable pyromaniac that he projects himself as.

In spite of Mick's nature, he still has a code of honor, even though he initially claimed to Ray Palmer that his only loyalty is to Leonard Snart. During the rescue mission from the Russian gulag, Mick refused to abandon Ray, despite Leonard's insistence to leave him behind after Ray insulted the interrogator's mother and took a beating in order to keep Mick from being tortured further. However, it appears that any shred of loyalty and honor he has regarding Rip Hunter's team was gone when he learned that Rip only recruited him to the team to sway Leonard into joining and viewed him simply as a dumb psychopathic arsonist, causing Mick to betray Rip to the time pirates to give up The Waverider in exchange to be sent back to the present day; proving that he is a selfish individual in the end.

As he was left in an unknown time, he became wild, eating raw animals until the Time Masters found him, brought him to the Vanishing Point. As he lost himself from being in an alien time for too long, they manipulated and trained him as a bounty hunter and assassin over what he described as "lifetimes" and "being reborn". He returned with extensive knowledge of temporal physics, Time Master protocols and futuristic weapons and technology, on par with that of Rip Hunter. However, despite his knowledge, he was still bent on avenging himself against the team and Snart. He threatened to kill Lisa Snart over and over by time traveling, as well as forcing Leonard to watch each time. However, he later returned to his old self while back on the Waverider and became a member of the team once more. He also became more emotionally reflective, forgiving himself for accidentally setting fire to his house and killing his family. He also seemed to forgive Snart and the team, becoming more friendly towards them.

Abilities

 * Expert marksman: Mick has the skill to hit multiple police officers, although they were using shields to protect themselves at the time. He also could handle regular weapons, as he did in the Old West.
 * Indomitable will: Will at times seeing deranged or barbaric, Mick is shown to have a remarkable fortitude, unyielding to seemingly any form of torture, at times even seeming to revel in it. Even the Time Masters admitting their brainwashing of Mick into Chronos the first time was only a partial success. During their second attempt, Mick was shown to be very deceptive, feign being successfully broken fully consumed by his Chronos persona long enough to leave him prime to turn on them.
 * Master hand-to-hand combatant: Despite his unstable and hot-headed demeanor, Mick is a very capable unarmed fighter. When seemingly taken captive by a mafia boss, he and Leonard quickly broke free and killed all of the mafia boss and most of his men with ease. He was even able to fight on par with a highly skilled assassin, Sara Lance. After his training in the Vanishing Point, his abilities appear to have improved significantly as he is able to swiftly subdue and almost kill Snart with little difficulty, give the entire team trouble on numerous occasions as Chronos and defeat Vandal Savage.
 * Peak of human physical condition: Stemming from his violent nature, Mick is in top physical condition, shown to be very muscular. He is very resilient, as he was unyielding to most forms of torture.
 * Skilled engineer: Like Cold, Rory has shown himself to be adept at mechanical engineering and repairs, as he regularly repairs his heat gun and has memorized the entirety of its design and functionality, being more than capable of repairing the secondary internal fuel chamber without assistance.
 * Temporal agent training: After left stranded in time, the Time Masters found Mick and forcibly trained him as one of their agents over a span of countless years. Operating under the alias of "Chronos", Mick became one of their most skilled assassins, well-versed in the various future tech proved by the Time Masters. Also from this, Mick obtained a greater clarity and understanding of the manipulation of time. Like Rip, Mick now has full understanding of the time-space continuum, able to immediately comprehend how any changes in time will effect the rest of the timestream.

Equipment

 * Bounty Hunter rifle: Rory was also armed with a powerful blaster rifle that was able to fire blasts of green energy.
 * Goggles: Mick also wears a pair of black wraparound goggles, which are designed to protect his eyes from the flashes given off by his heat gun.
 * Heat Gun: Can generate a beam of absolute hot temperature. When fired, the heat gun increases the temperature of the air dramatically, like some sort of "extreme heat wave". This wave achieves "absolute hot", or Klein temperature. When activated, certain lights on it turn red, in contrast to the Cold Gun's blue. The weapon can burn almost anything. The flame blast projects to any location and burns anything in its path.

Former Equipment

 * Bounty Hunter Armor: When Mick joined the Time Masters he was trained to be a temporal bounty hunter, when his training ended he was given armor to conceal his identity and keep him protected from enemies. The armor's glove communicator was also used by Ray Palmer and Gideon to send commands to the Time Master HQ, outsmarting the Time Masters' defense systems.
 * Bounty Hunter Rifle: Rory was also armed with a powerful blaster rifle that was able to fire blasts of green energy.
 * Bounty Hunter Timeship: As Chronos, Rory traveled through time on a time ship, hunting temporal criminals and time pirates alike, eventually taking on the members of Rip Hunter's team, that at times included his past self.

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Trivia

 * His mom played Captain & Tenille records back in the '70s.
 * He met Leonard in a workhouse when they were young.
 * He mentioned whenever he sees Hawkman and Hawkgirl fly off, he gets hungry for chicken.
 * Chronos interacting with his past self as Mick Rory and his teammates was the cause of a predestination paradox.
 * Although Mick referred to his Chronos armor as a "robot suit" in jest, it wasn't confirmed whether or not the suit could, in fact, act autonomously of its wearer. Some semi-autonomy is possible, since Ray Palmer and Gideon were able to use the suit's glove to send "Chronos's" commands to the Time Masters HQ.

Behind the scenes

 * In DC Comics Heat Wave is an enemy of the Flash and a long-time member of the Rogues, a team of Flash villains kept together by Captain Cold and Golden Glider.
 * In DC Comics Chronos is an alias used by three different, but loosely connected, super-villains, two of which were the enemies of the Atom. The first was David Clinton (first appearing in The Atom #3, 1962), a meticulous thief who based his crimes on precise timing and used gimmick time themed weapons. This character did, in fact, create a time traveling machine which latter became the basis of his successors' own equipment. The second incarnation of the character is Walker Gabriel (debuting in Chronos #1, part of his 12-issue mini-series), an actual time traveler and a reluctant hero. The third incarnation of the character is Jia (introduced in The Atom comics run of 2007), a Chinese woman who had been in a relationship with Ryan Choi, Ray Palmer's replacement as the Atom. She partnered up with Clinton in a scheme to torment Ryan Choi and destroy his life.
 * As the name implies, the characters relate to Chronos (often associated with the Titan Kronos), a pre-Socratic Greek deity who personifies time. Fitting with Rory's unstable personality, the Titan Kronos was often portrayed as being extremely twisted and somewhat insane.
 * Chronos has been called Darth Vader and Boba Fett, two characters from the "Star Wars" franchise.