Born and raised on a farm outside of Central City, the young Mick Rory grew increasingly obsessed with fire. As a child, he set fire to his house, and was unable to tear himself away from watching the flames. Due to his failure to get help, his family burnt to death. Later, he trapped a schoolmate and his family in their house and burned them to death after the boy had jokingly locked him in a meat locker. He ran away from home, and was never able to resist his pyromaniacal urges for long. As an adult, he was inspired by the Rogues to channel his pyromaniac urges into villainy. Heat Wave was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. He made his first appearance in The Flash #140.