The Beginning

The first Firestorm was an amalgam of two people - high school student Ronnie Raymond and university professor Martin Stein.

Raymond joined an anti-nuclear activist group as a student, but tried to stop them when their protests turned violent. The group wanted to blow up an experimental nuclear power facility that had been designed by Stein. They wired the place to explode, knocked Stein unconscious, and tied up Raymond, thus leaving them both to die.

The explosion that followed fused them into one being, with Ronnie in control of the body and Stein acting as a kind of phantom spirit alongside him (usually portrayed as a disembodied head). They adopted the name Firestorm, and used their ability to rearrange the atomic structure of matter to create a costume. Firestorm was all set to be a hero, and a powerful one at that.

When Raymond and Stein split, however, problems emerged. Stein couldn't remember his time as Firestorm, and could not trigger the hero's manifestation. When his time as Firestorm ended, Stein would often find himself in a strange place or situation, with no memory of how he got there. He turned to alcohol and was bent on self-destruction.

Raymond, on the other hand, was trying to balance the life of a student with that of being a super-hero. He would often find himself battling a rogues gallery of strange villains, often while trying desperately to hide his double identity.

It was not until Raymond and Stein actually met each other that they were able to come to grips with who they were. Firestorm became a popular hero, and a member of several incarnations of the Justice League of America.

Things change....

After a few years, however, Professor Stein was diagnosed with malignant cancer. The realization that his death would also be the death of Firestorm led the hero to try to leave a legacy, in the form of forcing the nuclear powers of the world to give up their arsenals.

This flagrant opposition to American and Soviet leadership led the two superpowers to try and bring him down. To do so, the Soviets sent their own Nuclear Man, an experimental soldier code-named Phozar, to bring him down. The resulting battle resulted in a massive nuclear explosion and the birth of a new, tripartite Firestorm.

This Firestorm was made from the physical forms of Raymond and Phozar (whose real name was Mikhail Arkadin), but was controlled by the disembodied and amnesiac mind of Martin Stein. Not knowing who he was, or anything about the world he was in, the new Firestorm was a dangerous force in the world. Fortunately, this incarnation was short-lived. Firestorm was revealed to be the potential Fire Elemental, and gained yet another form. This new form was composed of the combination of Ronnie and Mikhail, but had its own mind. Stein's mind was returned to his comatose form and regained consciousness.

The elemental Firestorm also struggled to find his place in the world, consulting other elementals, such as Swamp Thing, Naiad and Red Tornado to find out what he was supposed to be doing. His quest was cut short, however, by the appearance of the Apokolyptian villain, Brimstone.

During the battle, the technoseed that powered Brimstone was hurled into the sun, where it threatened to cause a chain reaction that would set off a supernova. In order to stop it, Firestorm would have to leave Earth, but as an elemental, he was bound to the planet. Martin Stein found a solution - he piloted a high-altitude jet into low Earth orbit with the assistance of Firestorm, flying as high as he could. Once that point was reached, Stein triggered an explosion that resulted in the destruction and re-formation of Firestorm. Mikhail and Ronnie were returned to themselves, and Stein became the sole possessor of Firestorm's powers.

He dove into the sun and destroyed the technoseed, creating a wormhole that flung him into the far reaches of the universe.

The story continues

Ronnie Raymond did not escape unscathed. He soon discovered that he had leukemia, and underwent treatment for it. During these treatments, the Firestorm powers reasserted themselves, giving Raymond another chance to be a hero. But he was a sick hero, and it took the combined efforts of the Justice League and the surprising return of the elemental Firestorm to restore his health.

Raymond continued to act as Firestorm from that point, until his death during Identity Crisis. He was impaled on the Shining Knight's sword by The Shadow Thief, and exploded.

The torch is passed

The "essence" of Firestorm found its way to a young man named Jason Rusch, and imbued him with powers very similar to the original. However, in order to become Firestorm, Rusch needed another person to complete the matrix. Unlike previous incarnations, this was not a fixed set of people. It was Rusch and whomever happened to be nearby.

This was usually a surprise for the other person, which made controlling Firestorm more difficult. There were risks, however. If Jason over-exerted himself, the person he merged with could fade away and die. Also, if he merged with someone strong enough, it was possible for that other person to take over Firestorm and bend it to their will.

At one point, the mind of Ronnie Raymond reappeared in the Firestorm matrix, but didn't last very long. Raymond vanished again, perhaps never to return.

During the Infinite Crisis, Firestorm was part of the team that went into space to close the rift opened by Alexander Luthor. Rusch's companion in the matric, his friend Mickey, died during the fighting, and Firestorm was saved by the reappearance of the elemental Firestorm, Martin Stein. Stein offered to help him, and Rusch talked Stein into rejoining the Firestorm matrix. They returned to Earth, though not unscathed, and eventually resumed work as a hero.

In the events of 52, Firestorm, with Firehawk, tried to lead a new Justice League, but that proved to be a failure when the new League was decimated by Skeets, the robot companion of the late Booster Gold.

With knowledge of a quarter of the Life Equation hidden in the Firestorm Matrix, Firestorm and Shilo Norman are attacked simultaneously by the New God Orion (who wanted to keep Martin Stein safe), and the Female Furies and Kalibak of Apokalips, who carried out Darkseid's plans to secure the Matrix. Darkseid himself feared that the Life Equation would hinder his Anti-Life Equation. With the combined might of Firestorm and Shilo, Orion, Apokalips and the Female Furies were defeated. But that didn't stop Darkseid from arriving in a boom tube, and snatching the essence of Martin Stein from from the Firestorm Matrix. With sheer determination, Jason merged with his girlfriend Gehenna to become Firestorm, in order to find Martin Stein.

While searching for Martin Stein, Jason was later taken down by Lex Luthor, Joker and the Cheetah. After his recovery, he helped the Justice League break free of imprisonment and joins them in battle against the Injustice League. After the battle, Firestorm is drafted into the Justice League by Batman.

During the events of Countdown, Firestorm teamed up with Una and Karate Kid to find a cure for Karate Kid's infection in Bludhaven. They were later confronted by the Atomic Knights, but they made quick work of them. Digging deeper into the underground of Bludhaven, the team stumbles upon Desaad torturing Martin Stein. While attempting to stop him, Firestorm was trapped inside of a mystical barrier, and that alone allowed Desaad to take over the Firestorm entity and relentlessly attack Karate Kid and Una with the intent to kill them. The Atomic Knights intervened just in time to separate Desaad (who then fled back to Apokalips through a Boom Tube) from the Firestorm Matrix. While Firestorm held off the Atomic Knights for another go-around, Karate Kid and the rest of the team continued into the Bludhaven Underground. Meanwhile, Brother Eye and the OMACs arrive in Bludhaven and take over the area, using Firestorm as a power source. During a battle between an OMAC and Red Robin, Firestorm is freed from Brother Eye.

The current incarnation of Firestorm is composed of Jason Rusch and Martin Stein, although not necessarily all the time. He is currently merged with his girlfriend, Gehenna.

Firestorm was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom.

Powers and abilities

Ronnie Raymond

• The ability to transmute inorganic matter. Any attempts to do so for organic matter can be lethal.

• Superhuman speed in flight. He can move at speeds of up to 600 mph.

• Can shoot powerful nuclear blasts.

• Can absorb electromagnetic and kinetic energy into his body without hurting himself.

• Possesses molecular vision, allowing him to see the make-up of atoms and molecules.

• Can see the ultraviolet spectrum.

• Possesses telescopic and microscopic vision.

• Possesses limited superhuman strength.

• Can phase through solid objects and energy. At the same, it is harmful, and Ronnie is unable to use his powers in the state.

Jason Rusch

• Possesses the ability to transmute both organic and inorganic matter with ease. This ability is limited by his will, imagination, and scientific knowledge. It is not limited by weight or volume.

• Can shoot concussive force, heated or charged particles, and powerful 'fusion blasts.'

• Possesses quark vision, allowing him atomic interactions and the structure of molecules.

• Can see the ultraviolet spectrum.

• Can see and detect thermal signatures.

• Possesses microscopic and telescopic vision.

• Superhuman speed in flight. He can fly up to speeds of 600 mph.

• Possesses limited superhuman strength. He can lift up to at least 10 tons.

• Possesses limited superhuman durability.

• Possesses superhuman reflexes and reaction time.

• Can easily regenerate injuries many times faster than normal human beings.

• Possesses elemental reconstruction.

• Can self-sustain himself for extended periods of time with food or water. He can survive in space without equipment.

• Can become intangible and phase through solid objects and energy without any harm. This ability is a more stable version of Ronnie's.

• Can playback memories of the Firestorm Matrix.

• Possesses the ability of limited timesight, allowing him to see the Matrix's past or future while dreaming.

• Has a psychic connection with the Elemental Firestorm.

• Can communicate with Gehenna through a telepathic link.

Superfriends

Firestorm (the Raymond-Stein mix) appeared in the later seasons of the Superfriends. Due to the non-violent nature of the show, his powers were mainly limited to transmuting objects, mostly turning villains' weapons into harmless items or neutralizing Kryptonite for Superman. Of course his weakness, namely an inability to alter "organic materials", was known to all his enemies and exploited in every episode, mainly because he talked about it every two seconds. Silence is golden, kid.