Jun Tenta (Earth-616)
Sumo was recruited by Stryfe to join the Mutant Liberation Front (MLF) with Dragoness and Kamikaze shortly after the team was created. The MLF fought the New Mutants in Madripoor.
Later, Garrison Kane stumbled upon Sumo, Wildside, and Forearm in the Canadian mountains. After a brief scuffle, Kane followed them through their teleportation portal, where he was tortured.
On a mission to steal an ancient sword from a museum for Stryfe, Sumo and several other members of the MLF ran into Cable, who has been waiting to ambush them. Cable shot Sumo in the head, killing him instantly. The android Zero teleported the rest of the MLF to safety leaving Sumo's corpse behind.
In the year 3086 of one of the seven prime timelines, Sumo appeared alongside a version of Stryfe and the original Mutant Liberation Front. Because of the time travel and multiple realities involved, it is unknown whether this Sumo was an alternate version of Sumo, Sumo of Earth-616 from an earlier point in his personal timeline, or Sumo-616 somehow resurrected and reunited with the MLF.
Years later, when former teammate Tempo was reliving her judgment from the Progenitor; it was revealed Jun was the one judging her. Through this encounter, it is revealed he is dead, and Tempo feels guilty. At the end, she puts him in the resurrection queue.
Powers
Sumo has an enhanced mass multiple layers of elastic, fatty tissue grant him superhuman strength, endurance, and resistance to physical injury. He has flexible flesh which can absorb impacts, temperature extremes and puncture wounds. He also has a mass-shifting ability which enables him to reposition his weight and form at will, enabling him to leap great distances and apply enormous amounts of pressure to different parts of his body, crushing solid objects with his weight.
Trivia
John Tenta (June 22, 1963 – June 7, 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler and sumo wrestler. He was best known for his work in WCW where he was known as Avalanche and The Shark and WWF where he wrestled as Earthquake. He passed away from bladder cancer on June 7, 2006 at the age of 42. The character Jun Tenta, being a sumo like John Tenta, may have been an homage to him.
| Comic Book Issue | Title | Release Date | Notes on Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mutants Vol 1 #93 | Madripoor | 1990.07.10 | First appearance of Sumo |
| New Mutants Vol 1 #94 | Lethal Weapons | 1990.08.14 | Sumo continues his conflict with the New Mutants |
| New Mutants Vol 1 #100 | The End of the Beginning (The Beginning of the End, Pt. 3) | 1991.02.12 | w/ Kamikaze |
| X-Force Vol 1 #7 | X-Tenuating Circumstances (Part 1 of 3) | 1991.12.30 | with Mutant Liberation Front |
| X-Force Vol 1 #9 | X-Tenuating Circumstances (Part 2 of 3) | 1992.02.25 | with Mutant Liberation Front |
| X-Force Vol 1 #10 | X-Tenuating Circumstances (Part 3 of 3) | 1992.03.24 | with Mutant Liberation Front |
| Cable: Blood and Metal Vol 1 #1 | Blood & Metal - Pt 1 | 1992.08.11 | with Mutant Liberation Front |
| X-Force Vol 2 #5 | The Blood is the Life | 2004.12.22 | with Mutant Liberation Front |
| Uncanny Avengers Vol 1 #14 | The Day Nor the Hour | 2013.11.27 | with Mutant Liberation Front; also first appearance of the Horsemen of Death and Daken (Akihiro) |