SUNSPOT

Roberto Da Costa was the son of a Brazilian millionaire and his American wife Nina, an archaeologist. Roberto first manifested his superhuman mutant powers when, at the age of fourteen, he was playing in a championship soccer match for his school team in Rio de Janiero. Motivated by racial hatred, members of the opposing team knocked Da Costa to the ground. The hot-tempered Da Costa retaliated by tackling them. It was then that, without being aware of what was happening to him, Da Costa first became able to use his superhuman strength, his body and clothing temporarily turning black in the process.

. Bewildered, Da Costa sought help, but both the other players and most of the spectators panicked and fled. However, his girlfriend, Juliana Sandoval, who had been watching the game along with Emmanuel Da Costa, stood by Roberto in his time of need.

Roberto's powers came to the attention of Donald Pierce, the renegade White Bishop of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, who sought to murder any superhuman mutants he found. Pierce's mercenaries failed to abduct Roberto, but then they kidnapped Juliana.

The mutant telepath Professor Charles Xavier had learned of Pierce's plan to kill Roberto and sent his colleague Moira MacTaggert and the young superhuman mutants Karma and Mirage to help Da Costa. Roberto agreed to meet with Pierce's men in order to obtain Sandoval's release, but the mercenaries refused to free her and intended to keep Da Costa prisoner as well. One of the mercenaries was apparently about to shoot Da Costa when he again became superhumanly strong and fought them, but the young mutant exhausted his power too soon, and a mercenary was about to kill him when Karma and Mirage intervened. The mercenary fired at Da Costa, who had returned to normalcy again, but Sandoval leapt in front of Da Costa, taking the fatal bullet herself.

Anguished with guilt that Sandoval had died because he was a mutant and thus had become the target of these killers, Da Costa vowed to take vengeance on Pierce. He joined Karma, Xavier, and another young mutant named Wolfsbane, in tracking down Pierce and battling him and his men. Xavier succeeded in defeating Pierce. Da Costa decided to stay with Xavier and receive training in the use of his superhuman powers as a member of the New Mutants, though ironically, his father Emmanuel later became a member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club.

As a member of the New Mutants, Sunspot became close with Sam Guthrie. Initially the two were the only boys on the team, and became best friends. It was on a trip with Roberto's mother that the New Mutants discovered Nova Roma and Magma joined the team. After the encounter with the Beyonder that killed and resurrected the entire team, Sunspot took a leave of absence from the team, but returned in time for the time travelling adventure where his teammates discovered a future where Roberto had become a monarch of a mutant-only society.

Later, Roberto discovered his father had become a member of the Hellfire Club and they became estranged. After his father was murdered by the villain, Gideon, Roberto was deceived into befriending Gideon, and he left the New Mutants right before it disbanded to become X-Force.

Sunspot has the ability to absorb solar energy and convert it for use as physical strength. His physical resistance to impact also increases somewhat when he employs superhuman strength, but he is by no means invulnerable. For unknown reasons small black spots appear in the air around Sunspot when he utilizes superhuman strength. Although Sunspot can absorb energy from stars and reflected solar energy from the moon, the amounts that reach him on Earth are too minuscule to add significantly to his power.

Since leaving the New Mutants, Sunspot has developed his powers to a much further extent. He can now use that solar power to fly, as well as to fire concussive blasts of solar energy. Sunspot also seems to be able to hold more solar energy than he could suring his younger days, and as a result does not often lose his power at inconvenient times like he used to.

After leaving the New Mutants, Sunspot eventually learned the truth about the evil Gideon and rejoined his friends in X-Force. In a battle against the mutant terrorist Reignfire and the Mutant Liberation Front, Sunspot was kidnapped. Months later, the villain Reignfire was unmasked as Sunspot. It was later explained that Reignfire was not Sunspot, and 'Berto defeated his doppleganger.