Benjamin Hammil (Earth-616)

Origin[]

Ben Hammil is a mutant. When his powers first manifested, Ben accidentally set fire to a park in his hometown.^[1] Afterward, Ben was enrolled at the Xavier Institute.^[4]

Paragons[]

When the Xavier Institute began the training squad system, Ben was placed with Wolfsbane's Paragons.^[5] He was codenamed Match, and although short tempered, he was a natural leader and was eventually made the field leader of the Paragons Squad.^[2]

Like the rest of his squad, Match was upset and saddened by the departure of Wolfsbane.^[5] Along with the other Paragons and the Alpha Squadron, Match was briefly mentored by Karma. Ultimately, former New Mutant, Magma stepped in to become the Paragons' mentor.^[6][2]

M-Day and Limbo[]

In the wake of M-Day, only 27 students (including Match) retained their mutant powers.^[7][8][9] Along with most of the other powered students, Match participated in Emma Frost's battle royale to become a member of the New X-Men.^[10]

Match, along with several of his fellow students, was sucked down into the realm of Limbo by Belasco. When attacked by demons, he quickly joined the fight, showing a great amount of control over his powers, killing several demons while trying to protect Pixie and Blindfold.^[11]

San Francisco and Utopia[]

Following the birth of the first mutant born since M-Day and the apparent death of Professor X, Cyclops disbanded the X-Men.^[12] Shortly after that, the X-Men and the majority of the world's remaining mutant population, including Match, relocated to San Francisco.^[13][14]

During the rioting over the anti-mutant reproductive legislation, Proposition X, Match was seen putting out fires with Angel. Later, after the Dark X-Men declared a city wide curfew, Match was seen in Avalanche's bar, with Hellion and other mutants. Angered by the U.S. government's response to the riots, the small group decided to cause a scene of after curfew riots. Match spread fire throughout Union Square until the Dark X-Men came to arrest the trouble-making mutants.^[15][16] He was briefly arrested and detained on Alcatraz Island until being freed by the X-Force.^[17][18]

Match participated with Loa and Rockslide in their raid on the Utopia food storage to steal ice cream. However, he was defeated when Warpath stuck him in a gas stove.^[3] Match was also one of the victims of the Stepford Cuckoos boredom, when they decided to begin trapping fellow students in horrible film-inspired mental illusions. Match was trapped in a well with an Asian ghost girl,^[3] probably inspired by The Ring.

Schism and Regenesis[]

Following the schism between Wolverine and Cyclops, Match chose to relocate back to Westchester, and attend the newly opened Jean Grey School of Higher Learning.^[19][20]

X-Men Dissassembled[]

Match was one of many mutants to oppose the crazed X-Man from imposing his version of the world upon the world. When X-Man realized that he couldn't carry out his vision with the X-Men around, he made his enemies vanish in an instant including Match.^[21]

Age of X-Man[]

Match and the mutants that vanished were taken to a different reality created by X-Man as an attempt to create a utopia where mutants could live in peace. The mutants relocated to the reality had their memories erased as they couldn't resist.^[22]

Match was one of a group of mutants that was a follower of En Sabah Nur who, along with Anole, Transonic, and Maggott, were engaged in planning an explosion at the Hope Summers Memorial Library in order to end the fake memories that had been plaguing them.^[23]

While not seen, Match was presumably allowed to leave the reality and return to the real world when X-Man decided to release the mutants he trapped in his reality.^[24]

House of X[]

Match later became a citizen of the mutant nation of Krakoa and attended the celebration of Krakoa becoming an officially recognized nation with Rockslide.^[25]

Ben is a mutant. He was assessed as a Significant Threat by O*N*E.^[9]

Flaming Head: His head is constantly engulfed in flames and he can't put them down.^[2][26] The rest of his body is always glowing, but its temperature seems to be normal, as he can wear normal clothes without burning them down.^[27][1][28] Temperature of his head's flames is likely also lower than normal fire, as he can stay close to other people without causing any discomfort to them.

• Fire Generation: Match can increase the fire on his head, guide it into arms and project it into blasts of flames. He doesn't seems to have any control over them, and direct the flames by simply pointing the arms in target's direction.^[10][29] The maximum temperature of the flames he can generate is unknown, but it is at least enough to instantly incinerate a demon.^[29]
• Fire and Heat Immunity: Match is immune to fire and high temperatures.^[9]

• Skilled Leader: Match has shown himself to be a capable team leader.^[2]

• Ben's impulsive nature and fiery temper has led some to wonder if it is due to his power.^[2][16] On the other side, he was quoted as giving credence to the Doctor Lucius Kleinstein's theories supposing "a correlation between an individual's personality traits and the nature of their genetic mutation".^[9]

• Ben's first name was first revealed in New X-Men (Vol. 2) #5. His full name and codename were revealed in New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook #1, but in story they hadn't been used for several years after. His last name was first used in New X-Men (Vol. 2) #32 and codename in New X-Men (Vol. 2) #43, both times by Rockslide (although his codename was used in caption in New X-Men (Vol. 2) #38). His full name "Benjamin" was used only once.^[3]
• In the New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook #1, Match was voted “Shortest Temper.”
• In the New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook #1, Match lists his likes as being in charge and winning, and his dislikes as indecision.
• Fellow students, especially Rockslide, liked to use Ben's head as an indoor campfire to roast marshmallows.^[30][31]