MAYOR THOMAS F.X. SMITH

Real Name: Thomas Francis Xavier Smith

Identity/Class: Human (real life character)

Occupation: Author;
    former mayor, vice president of Hudson County Community College, director of placement of St. Peter's Prepatory School, basketball player

Group Membership: The Democratic Party;
    formerly the New York Knicks

Affiliations: Human Torch (Johnny Storm)

Enemies: None identified

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Mouth That Roared" (political nickname)

Base of Operations: Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

First Appearance: (in a Marvel Comic, identified only as the mayor of Jersey City) Avengers I#206 (April, 1981);
    (fully identified by name) Official Marvel Index to the Avengers II#4 (January, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Mayor Thomas X.F. Smith had no superhuman powers but he was a very skilled and vocal politician.

Height: Unrevealed (see comments)
Weight: Unrevealed (see comments)
Eyes: Blue-gray
Hair: Brown

History:
(real life) - Thomas Francis Xavier Smith was born on July 5, 1928 and later attended St. Peter's Prepatory School in Jersey City, New Jersey. While there, Smith became a star college basketball player, graduating with a degree in English and later a master's in educational psychology from Fordham University. In 1951, due to his time and skill in college basketball, Smith was drafted by the NBA onto the New York Knicks basketball team. Remaining near his alma mater, Smith later returned to St. Peter's, where he became director of placement before moving to the position of vice president at Hudson County Community College. He later became a very outspoken Democratic politician fighting against corruption in Hudson County and earning himself the affectionate nickname of "the Mouth That Roared."

(Official Marvel Index to the Avengers II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Thomas X.F. Smith was elected mayor of Jersey City.

(Avengers I#206 (fb) - BTS) - Following an act of arson that resulted in a large fire in Jersey City, New Jersey, Mayor Thomas F.X. Smith urgently summoned the Fantastic Four's Human Torch for assistance.

(Avengers I#206 - BTS) - The WNBS television station reported on the Human Torch's arrival to Mayor Smith's summons, interrupting nearby radio to report the news of the fire.

(real life) - After serving as mayor of Jersey City for several years between 1977-1981, Thomas X.F. Smith left his position as mayor to pursue a unsuccessful bid for New Jersey Governor. He later again ran for Jersey City mayor in 1989 but failed to win the election, subsequently writing the book Powerticians about the history of Jersey City politics and the various attempts to remove the city from the so-called "political machine." Thomas X.F. Smith died of cancer on May 31, 1996.

Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan and Dan Green.

    Due to Marvel's sliding time scale, the original identification of Thomas X.F. Smith as simply "the mayor of Jersey City" would be accurate, as the actual mayor would change with the sliding time scale. However, the Official Marvel Index to the Avengers II#4 confirms that the mayor character in Avengers I#206 was indeed Thomas X.F. Smith, hence this profile...

    Most of the real life information on Thomas X.F. Smith comes from the Historica Wiki website and Wikipedia itself. I tend not to prefer using Wiki pages for information but it wasn't easy finding a lot of info on Smith since his political career was so local to Jersey City...With that in mind, I also could not any official height and weight figures on him.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mayor Thomas F.X. Smith should be distinguished from:

• SMITH, TOM - member of the Teen Brigade who turned bitter & tried to kill Rick Jones--Avengers I#6
• other "Mayor," "Thomas" or "Smith" characters, groups, items, races or events
  

Appearances:
Avengers I#206 (April, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Official Marvel Index to the Avengers II#4 (January, 1995) - Murray Ward (writer), Gene Colan (Avengers#206 entry pencils), Dan Green (Avengers#206 entry inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 11/09/2025
Last updated: 11/09/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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