Roberto da Costa

**Roberto "Bobby" da Costa** (*Sunspot*) is the son of Brazilian millionaire Emmanuel da Costa and his American wife, an archaeologist. Bobby first manifested his mutant powers when, at the age of fourteen, he was playing in a championship soccer match for his school team in Rio de Janeiro. Motivated by racial hatred, two members of the opposing team knocked Bobby to the ground. The hot-tempered mutant retaliated by tackling one of the boys, who began brutally beating Bobby. It was then that, without being aware of what was happening to him, Bobby first manifested his superhuman strength. His body and clothing temporarily turned black in the process, and he inadvertently hurled the boy away from him. Confused and frightened, Bobby sought help but both the players and most of the spectators panicked and fled.

## Relatives

* Emmanuel da Costa - father
* Nina da Costa - mother
* Reignfire - genetic copy

## Powers

**Solar Radiation Absorption:** He can absorb solar energy and utilize it for physical strength. The cells of a normal human body convert energy from foodstuffs into a form of energy usable by the body. This energy is stored by converting molecules of adenosine diphosphate in the cells into adenosine triphosphate; the energy is released when necessary by breakign a chemical bond in the adenosine triphosphate molecules, converting them back to adenosine diphosphate. Apparently, Bobby can store solar energy in his cells through the same, or a similar, method and release it when necessary to enhance his physical strength. His body is cloaked in darkness because he drains all the ambient light from his skin.

* ***Solar Re-Channeling:*** He possesses the ability to re-channel the solar energy which his body absorbs for a variety of related purposes:
	+ ***Flight:*** He possesses the ability to fly by propelling himself through the air by force of will by generating thermal updrafts. Bobby has also refined this ability to be able to hover in the air without leaving a heat trail and can reach speeds of up to 150 miles per hour maximum without over-exerting himself.
	+ ***Enhanced Strength:*** When Bobby's cells are powered by solar energy, he has the superhuman ability to augment his physical strength. The original limits of his strength was that of two tons. Since then, however, his strength has increased to 50 tons. During the game between the Grandmaster and the Challenger, Bobby considered himself to be the strongest mutant on Earth.
	+ ***Enhanced Durability:*** Bobby is one of the interesting powerhouses of the universe due to the fact that he is one of the only beings that does not have a heightened sense of invulnerability. Bobby is often reminded by his teammates that he is super strong but not super durable. Although Bobby has not been seen able to deflect bullets, his limited durability does provide his body the needed protection to be able to lift the massive weight that hsi super strength allows him to. However, he recently has taken a bomb blast from a device latched onto his side and came out of it unscathed, taken blows from Smasher with some discomfort, and survived a laser blast to the face.
	+ ***Thermokinesis:*** He has the ability to project heat in intense waves when he absorbs and re-channels solar energy from any part of his body and raise the temperature. Bobby can also absorb heat into his body to lower the temperature in his immediate area. He can project and absorb heat directly into/from people, causing intense discomfort at their fluctuating body temperatures.
	+ ***Thermokinetic Energy Blasts:*** During Bobby's time with X-Force, he was kidnapped by a supervillain who performed various experiments on him. Bobby was exposed to massive amounts of solar energy in order to test the limits of his absorption ability. After these experiments, Bobby's body was overloaded with solar energy, and he later gained the ability to fire blasts of heat and concussive force.
	+ ***Dark Solar Plasma Blasts:*** He has the ability to project concussive dark plasma energy blasts from his hands with about 20 tons of force behind them at their most powerful.
	+ ***Energy Absorption:*** Bobby can absorb various forms of energy available to him beyond just sunlight in order to bolster himself even further.
	+ ***Self-Sustenance:*** While in transformed state, Bobby uses his energy abilities to provide nourishment to himself, allowing him to survive in the cold of deep space.
	+ ***Fire/Heat Immunity:*** As is the norm with most pyrokinetics, Bobby is immune to all forms of heat and fire, since they simply add to his abilities, and his mutant metabolism is able to simply convert these forms and augment his powers. This includes heat-based powers that are directed at him, as well as heat that is present because of weather conditions.

## Abilities

**Unarmed/Armed Combat:** As part of the X-Men, Bobby has been trained by the likes of Wolverine and other mutants in combat. Since joining the Avengers, Bobby received further training. He has further honed his skills by fighting and training against opponents such as Captain America, Daredevil, and Black Panther. Bobby has become a very skilled fighter by this training. He has also trained in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira.

**Athlete:** Bobby is a very skilled soccer player and used to play for his high school soccer team.

**Business:** Since becoming the CEO of Da Costa International, Bobby has developed skills for business and finance.

**Multilingual:** Bobby speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese. He is also fluent in the future language of the Askani.

**Tactician:** Following his acquisition of A.I.M., Bobby has shown to be a proficient tactician, being able to turn a ploy of the Maker to take over A.I.M. against the villain himself through misdirection and exploiting the flaws in the Maker's own plans.

## Weaknesses

**M-Pox:** Suffering under the effects of the mutant-killing Terrigen Cloud, Bobby suffers from chronic coughing fits as a sign of the M-Pox. Although he initially misled people into believing that the M-Pox cost him his powers, Bobby maintained his mutant abilities at a much higher level than before, but using them caused him to age prematurely.