Superhero Origins: Firestorm
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VOICE OVER: Dan Paradis
Script written by Craig Butler
Being able to work as a team is key to this heroes' success. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Firestorm. As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character's past.
Special thanks to our users great7aaron for submitting the idea using our interactive suggestion tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
Being able to work as a team is key to this heroes' success. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Firestorm. As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character's past.
Special thanks to our users great7aaron for submitting the idea using our interactive suggestion tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
Script written by Craig Butler
Being able to work as a team is key to this heroes’ success. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Firestorm.
As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen primarily to follow the storyline which unfolded in 1978’s Firestorm #1 and which was expanded upon in 1989’s Firestorm #85, 2004’s Firestorm #1 and 2011’s Fury of Firestorm – The Nuclear Men #1-2.
Several characters have taken the name Firestorm, but they’ve all had the same power: the ability to rearrange inorganic matter on an atomic and subatomic level. In other words, the dude can, for instance, change a taxi into a mass of water. You’d be surprised, but that can come in handy sometimes.
The aptly nicknamed Nuclear Man burst on the scene in his own comic in 1978. Ronnie Raymond was a high school student in a new town who quickly caught the eye of fellow student Doreen. Jealous, resident smart aleck Clifford Carmichael took an instant dislike to Ronnie, and vice versa.
While Ronnie was dealing with high school drama, Dr. Martin Stein, a certified genius, was preparing to open a revolutionary fully-automated fail-safe nuclear power plant. Ronnie, hoping to impress Doreen, joined a group of protestors intent on shutting down the plant before it even opened. Unbeknownst to Ronnie, however, this group actually wanted to blow up the plant and plan to leave him to take the blame. When he realized their plot, he tried to stop them but was knocked unconscious. The same happened to Dr. Stein.
Ronnie awakened moments before the bomb exploded and attempted to shield the still-unconscious Dr. Stein. The combination of the dynamite and the nuclear energy melded Ronnie and Dr. Stein into one being – Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. Suddenly the not-so-bright Ronnie had the benefit of an elevated I.Q., as well as tremendous power.
It turned out that while Firestorm’s physical form was largely Ronnie Raymond, his mind was a shared entity between Ronnie and Dr. Stein. Working together, they tracked down the villains, who were attempting to blow up another power plant, and – naturally – put an end to their nefarious doings.
Some years later, in 1989, Firestorm learned a little more about his origin. It turned out that when Ronnie and Dr. Stein were fused in that explosion, there was a third consciousness which fused with them. This was the consciousness of a fire elemental that has been present in many different forms throughout human history. It’s important for the fire elemental to have a human host, as it needs their influence to control it’s powers; otherwise, it’s likely to act without compassion.
Another revision occurred in 2004, after the death of Ronnie Raymond. This time the fire elemental fused with a young man named Jason Rusch and, initially at least, a gangster by the name of Gordon.
More recently, the New 52 reboot of the DC universe has seen yet another re-tooling of the Firestorm origin. In the latest telling, members of a ruthless international secret society were trying to locate a “magnetic bottle” with the power to create a new Firestorm. Dr. Stein had asked Jason Rusch, now a high school colleague of Ronnie Raymond’s, to safeguard one of them. When the villains tried to steal it, Jason unleashed its power – changing both him and Ronnie into two separate Firestorms, with the ability to fuse into one massive Firestorm.
Firestorm had the misfortune to debut at a time when the comics industry was in a massive nose-dive, and so his first series burns away pretty quickly. But fan interest in the Nuclear Man has always been high and he’s come back several times and is now a fixture of the DC Universe in all its forms.
Are you a fan of the Nuclear Man in all of his variations? For more comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
Superhero Origins: Firestorm
Being able to work as a team is key to this heroes’ success. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Firestorm.
As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen primarily to follow the storyline which unfolded in 1978’s Firestorm #1 and which was expanded upon in 1989’s Firestorm #85, 2004’s Firestorm #1 and 2011’s Fury of Firestorm – The Nuclear Men #1-2.
Several characters have taken the name Firestorm, but they’ve all had the same power: the ability to rearrange inorganic matter on an atomic and subatomic level. In other words, the dude can, for instance, change a taxi into a mass of water. You’d be surprised, but that can come in handy sometimes.
The aptly nicknamed Nuclear Man burst on the scene in his own comic in 1978. Ronnie Raymond was a high school student in a new town who quickly caught the eye of fellow student Doreen. Jealous, resident smart aleck Clifford Carmichael took an instant dislike to Ronnie, and vice versa.
While Ronnie was dealing with high school drama, Dr. Martin Stein, a certified genius, was preparing to open a revolutionary fully-automated fail-safe nuclear power plant. Ronnie, hoping to impress Doreen, joined a group of protestors intent on shutting down the plant before it even opened. Unbeknownst to Ronnie, however, this group actually wanted to blow up the plant and plan to leave him to take the blame. When he realized their plot, he tried to stop them but was knocked unconscious. The same happened to Dr. Stein.
Ronnie awakened moments before the bomb exploded and attempted to shield the still-unconscious Dr. Stein. The combination of the dynamite and the nuclear energy melded Ronnie and Dr. Stein into one being – Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. Suddenly the not-so-bright Ronnie had the benefit of an elevated I.Q., as well as tremendous power.
It turned out that while Firestorm’s physical form was largely Ronnie Raymond, his mind was a shared entity between Ronnie and Dr. Stein. Working together, they tracked down the villains, who were attempting to blow up another power plant, and – naturally – put an end to their nefarious doings.
Some years later, in 1989, Firestorm learned a little more about his origin. It turned out that when Ronnie and Dr. Stein were fused in that explosion, there was a third consciousness which fused with them. This was the consciousness of a fire elemental that has been present in many different forms throughout human history. It’s important for the fire elemental to have a human host, as it needs their influence to control it’s powers; otherwise, it’s likely to act without compassion.
Another revision occurred in 2004, after the death of Ronnie Raymond. This time the fire elemental fused with a young man named Jason Rusch and, initially at least, a gangster by the name of Gordon.
More recently, the New 52 reboot of the DC universe has seen yet another re-tooling of the Firestorm origin. In the latest telling, members of a ruthless international secret society were trying to locate a “magnetic bottle” with the power to create a new Firestorm. Dr. Stein had asked Jason Rusch, now a high school colleague of Ronnie Raymond’s, to safeguard one of them. When the villains tried to steal it, Jason unleashed its power – changing both him and Ronnie into two separate Firestorms, with the ability to fuse into one massive Firestorm.
Firestorm had the misfortune to debut at a time when the comics industry was in a massive nose-dive, and so his first series burns away pretty quickly. But fan interest in the Nuclear Man has always been high and he’s come back several times and is now a fixture of the DC Universe in all its forms.
Are you a fan of the Nuclear Man in all of his variations? For more comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
