Origin Sunspot, or Roberto da Costa, is a
Afro-Brazilian, the son of wealthy Afro-Brazilian businessman
Emmanuel da Costa and white
American archaeologist Nina da Costa. In
The New Mutants #7, his father is described as a very driven man, who "grew up [...] a barefoot houseboy", was "by age 20 [...] a millionaire [and] by 30, an economic and political force to be reckoned with." Emmanuel constantly pushes his son to reach for both his physical and intellectual peaks. Thanks to his father's encouragement, Roberto rises to the position of star
soccer player at school and is considered by recruiters for the
Olympic Games. When Roberto is playing a soccer game with his team, members of the opposing team assault him while hurling racialized insults at Roberto and his father for being
black. While taking a brutal beating, his mutant powers manifest, suddenly transforming him into a creature of solid black solar energy. Surprised and terrified, everyone abandons the stadium except for his girlfriend, Juliana. During this time, Sunspot is tutored by
Gideon of the
Externals, an old business partner of Emmanuel da Costa (who has since died), who suspects Sunspot to be a fellow External. Gideon experiments on Sunspot, granting him new powers such as flight and the ability to fire blasts of solar energy. Sunspot becomes lost in the
spacetime continuum after interfering with the
teleportation powers of
Locus.
Reignfire The villain Reignfire first appears before Sunspot's disappearance and assumes command of the
Mutant Liberation Front.
Dani Moonstar, who has infiltrated the MLF, sees Reignfire without his mask and believes him to be Sunspot. During a battle with X-Force, Reignfire removes his mask to reveal himself as Sunspot. Cable 'heals' Sunspot of Reignfire's persona, giving him knowledge of the
Askani's language and
meditation techniques. It is later revealed that Reignfire is actually a protoplasmic entity who was injected with Sunspot's blood. Reignfire is defeated when Sunspot removes his powers, reducing him to his original protoplasmic state.
Hellfire Club Roberto is approached by
Selene of the
Hellfire Club, who offers to have him replace his deceased father Emmanuel's seat in the club's Inner Circle, as the seats are inherited. She promises Roberto that she will resurrect Juliana if he joins and he agrees. Selene does bring back the spirit of Juliana, but put it into the body of a
comatose girl. Possibly because he feels obliged to fulfill his promise, Roberto decides to stay, becoming Selene's Black Rook. Roberto attempts to contact the resurrected Juliana, but seeing she has no memory of her previous life, he decides to leave her alone. Roberto next appears in the title
X-Treme X-Men as the head of the
Los Angeles branch of
X-Corporation, along with former New Mutant
Magma and former
Hellion Empath. Roberto's ties to the Hellfire Club are not severed, as
Sebastian Shaw approaches, having taken over the position of Hellfire Club's Lord Imperial and wanting Roberto as his Black King. Shaw claims that he is trying to turn the Club into a force of good, so Roberto accepts, though he keeps his involvement with Shaw a secret. Soon after, Shaw is injured in battle by Donald Pierce, leaving him incapable of overseeing the Hellfire Club. Roberto takes over as Lord Imperial. At his side is
Sage, who leaves the X-Men to make sure Roberto is not corrupted by power. Later on, Sunspot leaves the Hellfire Club and joins the X-Men in San Francisco, as noted by Sebastian Shaw, who is currently looking for a replacement. Cyclops later asks Sunspot and Danielle Moonstar to help train the
Young X-Men and both accept.
Reforming the New Mutants After receiving an anonymous tip in
Colorado about a young mutant endangering a small town, Dani and
Shan are sent to investigate and calm the locals. During their mission,
Magik reappears back at the X-Men's base in San Francisco after teleporting into the future after the events of
X-Infernus. Upon her return, she informs Sam and Roberto that Shan and Dani are in fatal danger. Sam assembles a team with Sunspot, Magma, and Magik to go find them. Sam and Roberto come across a tied-up and comatose Shan in the back of a bar, while Magik and Magma are tricked into freeing
Legion from a box, who apparently has Shan's personality imprisoned inside of him. Roberto and Sam approach Shan's body but when Roberto gets too close he almost gets pulled into Legion's mind. After they leave the bar, they find they are surrounded by police; Roberto and Sam fly away to the jail to find Dani. When they arrive, Legion is trying to kill Dani. After Roberto and Sam repel him, Legion comes back and Roberto fights him. Cannonball soon joins him and they fend Legion off and regroup. During the fight, Legion takes on Magma, Cannonball, and Roberto, who gets seriously injured when Legion slashes him with a shard of metal.
Avengers After the events of
Avengers vs. X-Men, Roberto and Sam are offered membership in the Avengers by
Captain America and accept. The two become involved in a time travel plot involving the Next Avengers, children of the Avengers from an alternate future, but their memories of this event are wiped by
Maria Hill. During an eight-month time-skip, Roberto engages in a hostile takeover of
Advanced Idea Mechanics and gets rid of the villainous upper management, renaming the company Avengers Idea Mechanics. In the storyline
Avengers: Standoff!, Roberto orders his Avengers team to free
Rick Jones from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. In response, the American government sends
American Kaiju to attack A.I.M. Island. Roberto, having seen this coming, has the island evacuated, and American Kaiju is depowered by Avenger-5, a giant mech suit. As a result, Maria Hill decides to try and shut down A.I.M., at the same time the
Maker launches his own attack. However, Roberto also sees these attacks coming and manipulates both sides to stop Maker and his group W.H.I.S.P.E.R. It is also revealed that Roberto has been exposed to Terrigen Mist, which is toxic to mutants; every use of his powers now accelerates his aging. With the Maker captured, Roberto strikes a deal with the U.S. government to round up the remaining rogue branches of A.I.M.
U.S.Avengers Following the deal that would get the Avengers Idea Mechanics to merge with the U.S. government as the American Intelligence Mechanics, Sunspot leads the
U.S.Avengers as
Citizen V. During the
Secret Empire storyline, Captain America, whose memory has been altered by
Kobik, has a meeting with Roberto and tells him that he is no longer in charge of the U.S.Avengers. Roberto is attacked by one of his scientists, who has allied with
Hydra, and is captured. However, he manages to escape with the help of Toni Ho. In the aftermath, Roberto, during a meeting with the team's new congressional liaison in the White House, resigns from his position despite objections from the senator. He meets
Izzy Kane, Cannonball's wife, who tells him that Cannonball, who went missing in action during the takeover and was presumed dead, is still alive on another planet.
The War of the Realms After the
Age of X-Man sends most X-Men members to an alternate reality, Sunspot reappears to assist
Mirage and the remaining X-Men in repelling
Malekith's
invasion of Midgard. In a ploy to allow
Magik to teleport the invading horde to Limbo, he breaks a cursed amulet blocking Mirage's powers, and in doing so, is vaporized, joining the fallen
Valkyrior in their journey to the afterlife. Roberto is resurrected on the newly established mutant nation of
Krakoa. He invites Cannonball, still living in
Shi'ar space, to join him, and talks several of the New Mutants into accompanying him. ==Powers and abilities==