Firestorm I

Firestorm I
	;
Real Name	Ronald "Ronnie" Roy Raymond
Alias	Firestorm, Ronald Rockwell; Flamehead
Identity	Secret
Alignment	Good
Hair	Auburn
Eyes	Blue
Occupation	Adventurer; former employee of "Bun 'n Run"
Universe	New Earth
First appearance	Firestorm #1 (March, 1978)

History[]

The original Firestorm was distinguished by his integrated dual identity. High school student Ronnie Raymond and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Martin Stein were caught in a nuclear accident that allowed them to fuse into the "nuclear man" Firestorm. Due to Stein's being unconscious during the accident, Raymond was prominently in command of the Firestorm form with Stein a voice of reason inside his mind. Banter between the two was a hallmark of their adventures.

After the accident that created him, Firestorm took to defending New York from such threats as Multiplex (created in the same nuclear accident that produced Firestorm) and Killer Frost. Their adventures began with the teenaged Raymond adjusting to his newfound role and later delved into the issue of the nuclear arms race and Firestorm’s role as an "elemental." Upon graduation from high school, Raymond entered college in Pittsburgh, where Stein had been hired as a professor. Firestorm's list of enemies included such generally forgotten foes as the Hyena, Zuggernaut, Typhoon, Silver Deer and Black Bison. One Firestorm enemy, Plastique, would later play a major role in Captain Atom's life; she later reformed and married Atom. He also fought Killer Frost, who was forced by the Psycho-Pirate to fall in love with him during the Crisis.

After the Crisis, Firestorm was pitted against the world, as the hero, acting on a suggestion from a terminally ill Prof. Stein, demanded the United States and the Soviet Union destroy all of their nuclear weapons. After tussles with the Justice League and most of his enemies, Firestorm faced off against a Russian nuclear man named Pozhar in the Nevada desert, where they had an atomic bomb dropped on them. When the smoke cleared, a new Firestorm was created who was made up of Raymond and the Russian, Mikhail Arkadin (the Russian superhero Pozhar), but controlled by the disembodied amnesiac mind of Prof. Stein.

The Raymond/Arkadin Firestom proved to be a transitional phase, as in 1989, it was revealed that Firestorm was a "Fire Elemental". Firestorm now became something of an environmental crusader, formed from Raymond, Arkadin, and a Soviet clone of the previous Firestorm, but with a new mind. Prof. Stein, no longer part of the composite at all, continued to play a role, but the focus was on this radically different character. It was during this phase that Firestorm met and befriended Shango and the Orishas, the elemental gods of Africa. He also met their chief deity and Shango's older brother Obatala, Lord of the White Cloth. This was also the situation in which the Shadowstorm entity first appeared.

Stein soon learned that he was destined to be the true fire elemental and would have been were it not for Ronnie Raymond also being there by circumstance. Raymond and Arkadin were returned to their old lives, and Stein, now Firestorm, was accidentally exiled to deep space in the process of saving the Earth. He thereafter spent many years traveling through space as a wanderer, returning to earth on only two occasions: the War of the Gods, and again in Extreme Justice, where Stein cured Raymond of his leukemia and allowed Raymond to retain the original Firestorm persona on his own. After this Ronnie continued to be Firestorm on his own in Earth, but lacking the wise advices of Stein.

Gallery: Ronnie Raymond & Martin Stein[]

Gallery: Ronnie Raymond & Jason Rusch[]

Deathstorm[]

Alternate versions[]

see Firestorm (disambiguation)