History
Milestone Media/Dakotaverse
Blood Syndicate
Holocaust was born Leonard Smalls Jr. to the son of Thomasina Jefferson, the mayor of Dakota. From the beginning of Holocaust’s first appearance he is a power hungry individual. He was a proud member of the Pairs Island Bloods and part take in The Big Bang turf war on Paris Island. When experimental tear gas (Quantum Juice) was used on gang-bangers, most either died or became mutated survivors called Bang Babies.
As a member of the Blood Syndicate, Holocaust was a powerful ally but then he wanted to be the leader. So he challenged the then leader, Tech-9, and lost. As a part of the rules that the gang lived by, Holocaust was cast out of the Syndicate. He would then start his own super powered gang including Tarmack, Bad Betty, and a few others. He would also try to recruit Static, but would only succeed in making a rival.
Holocaust at one point owned his own club called the Hot Spot.
His philosophy is
“If you ain’t takin’, then your getting took.”
Holocaust is always seen in major events of the Dakotaverse. Holocaust was recruited by Star Chamber, a rogue faction of the Shadow Cabinet in The Shadow War. Holocaust was briefly seen against Rift in Worlds Collide only to die and then be resurrected.
At one point Holocaust joins the major crime group in Dakota called The Coalition, but he has to sacrifice something to join. He gives up his name that he is so proud of. At this point he is called Pyre. Later on, he finally gets his name back after taking over The Coalition and reviving the disbanded Blood Syndicate with a mixed roster of original members and his old flunkies. Holocaust is then defeated by a combination of Dakota’s heroes like Icon and original Blood Syndicate members.
Milestone Forever
Holocaust, using his reincarnated version of the Blood Syndicate, had planned to take over Dakota once and for all. The first step to his plan was to finally kill Icon. After using Fade to lure Icon into a predictable ambush, Holocaust proceed with his plan. Rocket was secretly undercover in the Syndicate and already acquired back up for her partner. With Hardware, Static, Rocket, and a side-flipping Harm backing him up Icon took on Holocaust’s Blood Syndicate. The over-all brawl was halted with the appearance of Wise Son. Wise Son claimed that Holocaust held false leadership of the Blood Syndicate, and the members agreed. Holocaust challenged Wise for the role. In the climatic ending, Holocaust in an attempt to kill Wise Son burned his own body away until there was nothing left but bones.
Holocaust’s death would mark one of the major changes occurring in Milestone’s big follow up before the complete merge with DC’s world. However, his appearances in the DC universe, suggest that he is somehow resurrected.
DC Comics
Following Milestone’s assimilation into the DC Universe, the timeline was altered so that politician and superhero Jefferson Pierce used his pull in Washington to shut down a casino Holocaust had planned to build. Sometime later, Holocaust attacked Pierce during a graduation speech he was given at a Ernst Hemingway High School, only to be defeated after being bound up in metal and buried alive by Static.
Teen Titans
He was later encountered by Static and the Teen Titans during a flu outbreak. He revealed that he has reformed and was trying to help, but after getting into an argument with Static, he began to attack him. Revealed to be the same as ever, Holocaust took to fighting the entire Teen Titans Team, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, Miss Martian, Static, Aquagirl, Bombshell, and former Titans Superboy, Beast boy and Kid Flash, before being defeated and sent to the Earths’ core, though they didn’t think it would keep him down forever
Powers and abilities
Holocaust is a Bang Baby, much like most of the superpowered beings in Dakota. His main superhuman ability is his pyrokinetic powers. He has shown to be able to project fire from his body, and has even shown the ability to conjure up fire out of thin air, as well as cause things to explode with a thought. He also possesses superhuman strength and durability at an undefined level. Although, he’s not as strong as Icon, he is easily somewhere in his strength class, effectively making him strong enough to exceed Class 100 (has recently shown to be able to give Superboy a physical fight). Because of his powers, Holocaust is immune to heat (was unaffected by Superboy’s heat vision). He is also resistant to telepathy (having resisted Miss Martian’s telepathic assaults). Leonard underwent second exposure to the bang baby mists which originally gave him powers, Holocaust’s meta abilities underwent an uptick which enabled him to trigger explosions via direct line of sight thermovariance shifting.
In Other Media
Young Justice: Outsiders
Holocaust first appears as a young metahuman gladiator in an underground fight cub. Holocaust is seen fighting against Tara Markov. Holocaust later returned as a member of Onslaught as they were to kidnap metahuman teens for Queen Bee.
Voiced by Zeno Robinson