Hero Profile: Firestorm

I think most of us have that little voice inside our heads. The “voice” that you hear when you’re about to do something stupid or dangerous. Some people, like my dear little brother Matt, have a tendency to ignore this voice and thus get into trouble quiet often. I wonder if he’d have a harder time ignoring that voice if it was literally another person. Such is the case with the Nuclear superhero, Firestorm, a fusion of two distinctly different people. But I’ll get into that in a second. Let’s get to it.

Something about this picture seems off
Not sure what...

The being known as Firestorm is the result of a nuclear accident. High school student Ronnie Raymond was caught in a nuclear accident with Nobel Prize winning physicist Martin Stein. The young man and aged scientist melded together, Stein’s body and mind essentially being absorbed into Ronnie’s body. Ronnie was in charge of the body while Stein was regulated into being the voice of wisdom and insight for their combined form. Stein was largely ignorant of his role in the hero Firestorm, due to the fact that he was knocked out during that little nuclear accident. As Firestorm became more and more of an active superhero, Stein began to grow concerned about his blackouts and unusual disappearance. Eventually, Ronnie let Stein know about their escapades as the Nuclear superhero, and a little while after that Stein accepted this information. The banter that the two of them have as Firestorm is one of the most memorable parts of their series.

Initially a New York based superhero, yes New York is still a place in the DC-Universe, he moved to Pittsburg after Ronnie graduated high school. Ronnie had gotten accepted into a Pittsburg College while Stein was hired at the same school as a physics professor. How convenient. While the two men juggled their lives as a college student and college professor, they also spent time battling villains like Killer Frost, Multiplex, and a ton of heroes you’ve never heard of. But thems the brakes when you fight crime in a place like Pittsburg, everybody knows the real big villains gather in places like New York, LA, Metropolis and Gotham. Also Star City, Coast City and Central City, to a lesser degree. A few years later Firestorm became a more…controversial superhero. Martin Stein had developed a terminal illness. Knowing that Firestorm would die with him, can’t make a fusion hero without two people, he decided to leave a lasting impact on the world. This impact, it turns out, was to destroy all the nuclear weapons held by the US and USSR. When they refused, Firestorm decided to take matters into his own hands. Now, attacking military instillations is a very, very stupid idea, especially when the JLA owes them a few favors. Firestorm is an immensely powerful character, but throw the majority of the DC-verse’s heroes and villains at him, which include Superman, Batman and the new Parasite, well, even he would have some trouble.  Despite this, Firestorm managed to destroy quite a few nukes. The USSR sent in their own Nuclear powered hero, Mikhail Arkadin aka Pozhar (Which means Fire, in Russian. Not much of an inspirational name.) The two Nuclear supermen fighting it out in the Nevada desert, which apparently distracts them long enough for one or both Superpower Countries to drop yet another Nuke on top of them. Why they thought this would work, I’ll never know. The two superbeings were fused together forming a newer Firestorm.

I'd do what he says.

After this Firestorm went through a number of alterations, for a while Stein was written out of the equation instead focusing on the Ronnie/Mikhail combo, and later Ronnie and Mikhail were written out while Stein became the one true Firestorm. Stein-Firestorm flew off into deep space for a while. And while Stein was away, Ronnie developed leukemia. While he was undergoing chemotherapy, something in the treatment caused his original Firestorm powers to manifest. Ronnie loses control and starts destroying stuff, it takes the combined effort of the Justice League and the returned Stein-Firestorm to stop Ronnie, and restore him to health. Ronnie became the solo Firestorm, before dying a few years later. A new Firestorm was created when the “Firestorm Matrix” was absorbed by Jason Rusch, a seventeen year old from Detroit.

A short time later during the “Blackest Night” a DC-Universe wide event where deceased heroes and villains are revived as zombie warriors of the Black Lantern Corps, Ronnie Raymond is revived as a Black Lantern Firestorm. BL Firestorm is able to singlehandedly took on six JL heroes, including Barry Allen, GL Hal Jordan, and the Martian Manhunter. He then attacks Jason, absorbing the young hero into BL Firestorm’s Matrix. Adding Jason to the mix greatly augments BL Firestorm, and he wreaks havoc on the JL. He also murder’s Jason’s girlfriend. Low blow undead Firestorm. BL Firestorm is finally defeated when Nekron, the power behind the BL’s, is defeated. This somehow restores Ronnie to life as well. A few days later, at the funeral for Jason’s girlfriend, he and Ronnie get into a fight. The two fuse together into Firestorm, and cause a massive explosion. From then on, both Ronnie and Jason are taunted by nightmarish visions whether they are separate or fused. Dr. Stein explains that he believes that Firestorm’s matrix is part of the spark that triggered the big bang and that the boys emotional instability might be causing “Mini-bangs.” It’s then revealed the force behind the visions isn’t the matrix, but the undead Black Lantern Firestorm that still resides within said Matrix. Proclaiming itself as Deathstorm, he separates itself from Ronnie and Jason, and absorbs Stein as well as Jason’s father. Apparently his evil plan is to cause such an emotional imbalance between the two boys that it creates a new big bang and destroys the universe. And he’s going to use their Mentor/Former partner and Father’s memories respectively to do so. Not going to lie, solid villain plan. Deathstorm also steals the White Lantern Central Power Battery to do so. After an intense battle, which ultimately leads to Professor Stein’s death, Firestorm is able to fight off his dark doppelganger. Ronnie and Jason agree to work together from that point thereafter.

Say what you like about the Black Lanterns
but they know how to make a character
much much scarier.

As of the new 52 timeline, Firestorm was reimagined as the fusion of Ronnie Raymond, the jock, and Jason Rusch, the nerd. Their superhero persona first manifested during a terrorist attack on their school. During said attack, Jason accidently exposes himself and Ronnie to the “God Particle” created by Professor Stein. The two teens fuse into a creature known as the Fury, but later combined into Firestorm. It’s sure been a bumpy ride for this guy. Guys. Whatever, moving on.

Firestorm has the power to rearrange the atomic and subatomic structures of inorganic matter. In layman’s terms he can transform any non-living substance into something less. For example, he can do what the ancient alchemists dreamed of doing, transforming lead into gold. Furthermore, he can manipulate the shapes of objects. So basically if I put a lump of coal in front of him he can transform it into a diamond shaped like a flower, a spike, or something. He can’t effect organic matter, well, he can but it’ll destroy whatever he’s manipulating. He can, however, manipulate his own body. He can regenerate lost limbs and tissue, shapeshift and survive without food, water or air, seemingly indefinitely. After Jason was added to the Firestorm Matrix, Firestorm gained the ability to change whom is controlling the body. Basically, if Jason’s in control of Firestorm then Ronnie is the voice in the back of his head and vice versa. He can also fly and blast stuff with nuclear energy. Oh, and he’s superstrong. Because all those other powers aren’t enough.

Firestorm has only been used a handful of times in DC media. Two times, to be exact.

Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch appeared in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This version had Jason as a nerdy young high school Freshman and Ronnie Raymond as a former football star and current science teacher. They appeared in “A Bat Divided.” In it, the two are caught in the middle of a fight between Batman and minor villain Doctor Double X. Double X was attempting to use nuclear energy to supercharge his powers, but instead fuses the student and teacher together. Batman gives them a containment suit, and the two…er three, work together to stop Double X. He’s a recurring character from that point on.

Simple. but awesome.

Dr. Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond appeare in The Flash. Nine months before the start of the series Ronnie Raymond is shown to be a scientist working at STAR Labs with his fiancée Caitlin Snow. He’s assumedly killed in the explosion that gives the Flash and other Metahumans their powers. It’s revealed in the episode “Flash vs. Arrow” that he survived the explosion and gained pyro related powers. In the mid-season finale, “The Man in the Yellow Suit,” Caitlin and coworker/friend Cisco Ramon locates him. He denies being Ronnie Raymond and runs off. He flies in and saves the Flash when Reverse-Flash gets the upper hand in their battle. He flies off after telling Caitlin to not look for him again. In the following episode, Jason Rusch, a Hudson U grad student explains the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M project. F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M being an acronym for Fusion, Ignition, Reseach Experiment and Science of Transmutation Originating RNA and Molecular Structures. Cause that doesn’t sound forced at all. It’s then later discovered that the scientist working on the project, Martin Stein, also disappeared the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. Barry Allen and his team learn that Stein and fused the night of the Accelerator explosion. They also learn in a later episode that its Martin’s mind in control of Ronnie’s body. They track down Firestorm and give him some anti-psychotics which put Ronnie back in the driver seat of his own body. The team then design a prototype “quantum splicer” which splits the two apart. This causes a nuclear explosion that draws the attention of the evil General Eiling. He captures Ronnie and Martin in the hopes of recreating their powers and creating an army of supersoldiers. The Flash helps rescue them, where the two learn how to fuse and separate at will. They fly off planning to learn about their powers. Firestorm appears alongside the Arrow in the second to last episode of the season, the three heroes combining their powers and skills to defeat the Reverse-Flash. Which was also pretty cool just because Ronnie Raymond and Oliver Queen are played by brothers Robbie and Steven Amell.

Stein and Firestorm are both confirmed to appear in the spin-off Legends of Tomorrow.

Conceptually, Firestorm is a very interesting character. He’s a “whole is greater than the sum of his parts” situation. He’s also interesting in that we have two major hero story arcs to follow, for Ronnie and Jason it’s the more typical heroes journey, learning to use their powers and all that. And for Martin Stein its’ the story of an old scientist that learns that there is more to life than just work in the lab. Still, he’s a rather confusing character, what with all these different characters mixing together to make this one superhuman. So, overall, weird but interesting. He’s the fantastic, fusion hero, Firestorm. Next time, let’s cover the monstrous Killer Croc. 

 http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101022203210/marvel_dc/images/8/84/Firestorm_010.jpg

 http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Jason_Rusch_%28New_Earth%29

 http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Deathstorm_%28New_Earth%29

 http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150218055013/arrow/images/9/96/Firestorm.png