If there’s one thing I love more than anything else, it’s a misunderstood antihero with a tragic past. Many of us can agree that X2: X-Men United is a masterpiece of a superhero movie. But for me, a large part of that excellence harkens back to one quick scene in the middle of the film where Aaron Stanford’s Pyro, a.k.a John Allerdyce, sees his solitary reflection looking back up at him from a framed picture of Bobby, a.k.a Iceman’s, happy family. Juxtaposed to this are scenes of Bobby and Rogue flirting and stealing a first kiss while Pyro remains all by himself, looking in at what he has never had. For me, the meaning of this X2 moment is clear: Pyro is coming from a place of hurt, and he is alone, even among other outsiders.
Fast forward nearly twenty years from the time I first saw this sequence, and it was my total pleasure to delve deep into it with Aaron Stanford himself. And yes, Stanford confirms, Pyro is more than just a jerk; he’s lonely, in pain, with what was likely a tragic backstory. And ultimately, Pyro is just looking for a connection, a place to belong. So, if you, like me, have held an angsty vision of Pyro in your hearts for lo these many years, here’s a feast for all our antihero-loving souls.
Aaron Stanford shares of Pyro’s backstory and ultimate narrative:
Yeah, I absolutely love that you’re familiar with that moment [where Pyro looks at his reflection X2] and that you brought it up because it’s a small moment in the film, but to me, it was enormous. Because, to me, that little moment, like that Pyro is staring at a picture on the mantle of somebody else’s happy family, and he’s clutching his lighter close to him like a security blanket almost. And just that one little moment lets you know so much about him. Like that this character who sort of comes off like a jerk in the early scenes, he’s very arrogant, he’s very brash, and you see where that’s coming from, and it’s coming from a place of pain. And obviously, what’s suggested at that moment is that this is a kid didn’t have a family like that. He didn’t have an experience like that.
I think Pyro is very much, he’s an outsider among outsiders. He goes to Professor X’s school for gifted mutants, and I think a lot of the other students there, they finally found their place where they fit. But for Pyro, it’s just yet another place that he didn’t quite fit in. And I think there’s a real loneliness there. I think there’s pain there. And that’s what the Magneto character capitalizes on in the other really great, small but great moment, where they’re sitting next to each other, and Magneto holds out the lighter to Pyro and makes that connection with him.
And you can see that there’s already a bond forming and that maybe Magneto is sort of going to become a father figure that Pyro really desperately needs. So yeah, X2 was my favorite because it did have all those little moments that really, even within this gigantic huge action film, there did exist this little, very, very, poignant little character arc for Pyro that was just done very, very elegantly.
I worried so much at the time that people would just think Pyro was a jerk. But he’s a complicated man. He was a complicated kid at the time. But yeah, I think people were able to see through some of the arrogance and some of the brashness to the wounded soul beneath that he was. The two writers were Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris, and they just did a really, really beautiful job with small, tiny moments hinting at just an ocean of depth.
Nerdist’s Conversation with Aaron Stanford about Pyro
An “ocean of depth,” that’s music to our ears and absolutely true. Stanford is right to suggest that Pyro certainly comes off as abrasive during many different parts of the X-Men films. He doesn’t want to be a hero or part of the X-Men like Bobby and Rogue so clearly do. Instead, he lashes out. He is rude. He feels anger. And he uses his powers without a thought of their consequences. But as Stanford points out, there are deeper machinations at play with Pyro—and we can see them gleaming across the original X-Men movies, especially X2. Stanford credits that to writers Dougherty and Harris, but we’ll go ahead and credit a good amount of Pyro’s brilliance to Stanford himself.
It isn’t often that an actor can portray such an immense depth of character with so little screentime. But for those looking, the nuance of Pyro in the hands of Stanford is obvious and gorgeous—“elegant,” even, as Stanford says. And even if not every viewer feels as strongly about Pyro as I do, it’s clear that this ability to deliver on characters and emotions is exactly what makes X2: X-Men United so great.
At the end of the day, Pyro’s journey is every bit as much about belonging as any other character in the X-Men movies, “hero” or not. Pyro is looking for a home and a place just like Rogue, Bobby, or anyone else. But, unlike many of the other students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Pyro doesn’t find any respite from the pain of his past in this new “safe” haven. As Stanford shares, Pyro remains tragically alone, achingly isolated, even as, around him, others like him are finding comfort.
In some ways, his story reflects Wolverine’s in the movie, a loner who yearns for a place but can’t quite soften his edges enough to remain in the one he finds. But while Wolverine ultimately zips up his leather suit, Pyro follows his wounded soul elsewhere. Although technically, Pyro joins up with “the bad guys” in the X-Men movies, what he’s really doing is giving his arc a happy ending, completing his search for connection. And that’s a beautiful story, if I do say so myself.
Sadly, X-Men: The Last Stand didn’t handle Pyro with as deft a hand as X2, although Stanford still gave a wonderful turn as the fire manipulator. But happily, Stanford and Pyro get another shot at resolving their story in the MCU’s Deadpool & Wolverine. We can only hope the movie understands Pyro as intimately as Aaron Stanford does and builds on all of these powerful ideas about his past, loneliness, and search for a home. The beautiful tragedy of Pyro has remained resonant with the character’s fans since 2003, and it would only be fitting for it to find new life in 2024.