His early years were marked by adversity as he found himself in the care of an orphanage, enduring relentless torment from other children due to his unconventional appearance, which bore the hallmarks of his mutant genetics.

Despite his innate intelligence, Mortimer faced unjust assumptions about his mental capabilities, stemming from his extreme shyness and minor learning difficulties during his formative schooling years.

These challenges led him to depart from formal education at a remarkably young age, opting to navigate the world on his own terms.

However, the scars of his past experiences left him grappling with profound feelings of inferiority, a testament to the enduring impact of his tumultuous upbringing.

Toad also developed a crush on his teammate Scarlet Witch, but she did not return his feelings as she was repulsed by his appearance, mannerisms, obsequiousness, and lack of hygiene.

[3] At one point, Magneto and Toad were captured by the alien Stranger as part of his collection, encased in cocoons, and taken on a journey through space.

[19] Years later, still struggling with depression, Toad was captured by Prosh, along with Juggernaut, Iceman, Jean Grey and Mystique as part of a time-hopping plan to stop a global threat.

The Stranger's equipment corrected his genetic flaws, resulting in an almost complete metamorphosis: Toad had a taller and slimmer appearance and had his powers augmented.

In his first fight in the tournament, Toad wrapped his extremely long tongue around the villain known as Eel, crushing his opponent's bones and seemingly killing him instantly.

[21] Toad made a brief reappearance on Genosha sometime after the island's annihilation, leading a team including Paralyzer and Unus to try to rebuild the statue of Magneto as a monument to him.

The X-Men, teaming up with Bishop, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel, quickly found a way to rescue the trapped mutants and the 198 walked away unharmed.

[26] After Cyclops deputizes the population of Utopia to help fight an invasion of Nimrod Sentinels from an unknown future, Toad instructs a group of mutants, including Sack, to remain behind on the island, where they would be safe.

[28] In the miniseries "Magneto: Not a Hero", Joseph is resurrected under unknown circumstances and forms a new Brotherhood of Mutants with Astra and mutated deformed versions of Blob, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad.

It is soon revealed that the mutated versions of Blob, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Toad are clones created by Joseph.

[29] During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Toad became a member of New Tian's strike force following Hydra taking over the United States.

[35] He was eventually freed by Cypher along with all the other Pit inmates on the condition that they leave Krakoa and hunt down the recently escaped Sabretooth so he can be punished for his crimes.

When they end up in Station Three, which was built inside the Astral Plane, Victor and Toad get into a fight about their mission to the Orchis Forge which led to him being put in the pit.

Sabretooth and Toad fled, assuming the person to be hostile, but later Oya approached everyone and showed them that the prisoner was a second Victor Creed.

[37] The team escapes with the freed Orchis prisoners on their boat which Maddison uses debris from the destroyed base to turn into a vessel big enough to contain them all.

Sabretooth decides to enact one last plan for revenge against the Quiet Council by turning all the young mutant prisoners against Krakoa, he is interrupted when the team arrives at the final, underwater Orchis base and is hit by a tidal wave.

The rest of the team, alongside Dr. Barrington and her creation, are trapped in the base with the kids who instinctively attack them out of fear that they are there to perform more experiments.

Despite his reluctance to hurt her, Toad begins to rip off layers of her flesh until she is left in her human form, confused about where she is and why she is not still in the Grey Academy, having lost most of her memory.

But Frankenstein creates self-replicating energy robots to attack the city and distract the staff so he and Enduque can escape the Grey Academy.

He possesses some degree of superhuman strength and endurance, primarily concentrated in his lower torso and legs, which grants him superior leaping abilities.

Recently, he has demonstrated a better sense of combat and a leaner physique, using both his leaping ability and his elongated prehensile tongue to his advantage.

As a result of having his genetic structure restored (thus stabilizing and augmenting his mutation), Toad can extend his elastic tongue up to 25 feet in length to ensnare objects and people.

[volume & issue needed] He can also secrete odorless pheromone venom and psychoactive chemicals from his tongue and fingertips that allow him to influence, manipulate, and control the minds of others to a limited extent.

[volume & issue needed] Thanks to special pads on his hands and feet, Toad can stick to and climb most surfaces with ease, even if they are vertical, inverted, or slick.

Toad has also demonstrated the ability to telepathically communicate with amphibian life (which he often uses as spies),[volume & issue needed] and to expel powerful gusts of wind from his lungs capable of knocking someone down.

Although Toad's amphibian-like traits extend to his physical appearance, this was revealed to be contingent upon his mutation when the High Evolutionary depowered every mutant on Earth.