History: (Firestorm: The Nuclear Man II #26 (fb, BTS), 27 (fb, BTS)) -Adrian was a student of physics under Prof. Martin Stein. Adrian went on to be a student advisor at Columbia University, but was fired for asking very inappropriate questions of the students.

(Firestorm: The Nuclear Man II #31 (fb), 25-27) - Adrian remade himself as the Pupil, seeing himself as an endless seeker of knowledge. The Pupil allied himself with Tokamak, a villain who planned a nuclear holocaust and had an army of cybernetic Dollies build by his new partner at his disposal. Prof. Martin Stein, one half of the superhero Firestorm, uncovered his plans and kept files on the Pupil’s schemes. The Pupil realized he was being watched, so he kidnapped Stein. His partner wanted to know everything he could about Firestorm, and that was a job up Pupil’s aley. He later sent Dollies to capture Jason Rusch, but they were defeated by Jason as Firestorm. Pupil was not upset by the setback, merely seeing it as knowledge learned. Jason, the other half of Firestorm, made telepathic contact with his mentor, but Pupil observed him, and Stein forced him to cut off the communication. Pupil pumped Stein for information about when he was Firestorm, especially the period when he was an elemental in tune with the cosmos. Stein said he would never understand, and the Pupil struck him, warning him to never utter that phrase. Firestorm composed of Jason and Firehawk discovered Stein’s location, but were defeated by the Dollies. The Pupil put an inhibitor hood on Firehawk, taking away her powers. He presented the dead Stein to Jason, saying he’d been too rough on him seeking information, and offered him the chance to form the Firestorm-matrix with a dead man. Jason tried to make the matrix, and found a small spark of life in Stein. Firestorm’s girlfriend Gehenna removed the hood from Firehawk, and she joined the matrix, enabling them to bring Stein back from the brink. The Pupil captured Gehenna, and recognized her. He wanted to know all her secrets, and started torturing her, but one of the Dollies stopped him. Firestorm revived, and the Pupil and Dollies were forced to flee.

(Firestorm: The Nuclear Man II #31) - The Pupil rejoined Tokamak at Hewitt Enterprises alongside an army of Dollies to complete Tokamak’s plans. The villains detonated explosives set in nuclear power plants around the world, and using a giant energy-collecting Dollie orbiting Earth to transfer the energy to Tokamak. Once he fully powered up he planned on bringing the planet to the brink of destruction with a nuclear blast from his own body. Firestorm and his allies had finally unraveled Tokamak‘s plans, and they showed up at Hewitt to stop him. Professor Stein took Pupil out of the fight by flooring him with a single blow. The heroes saved the day, and Tokamak died during the fight..

Comments: Created by Stuart Moore & Jamal Igle.

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