A Biography of Firestorm

This is the bare-bones basics of Firestorm's story, with spoilers, up to issue #100, as well as Firestorm's stint in Extreme Justice and The Power Company, his appearance in identity Crisis, and a bit about the new Firestorm. This does not cover Firestorm's guest appearances elsewhere.  I last updated this bio on 10 August 2006.

Ed Raymond and his son Ronald moved back to New York after an absence of several years. Ronnie was the new kid in school and felt like an outsider. He wanted to make friends because he and his dad had moved around a lot and he'd never had a chance before. He met a girl named Doreen Day and wanted to impress her, especially after the class whiz-kid Cliff Carmichael continually shot him down and made him look bad. He joined a band of radicals protesting the Hudson Experimental Nuclear Power Plant so Doreen would think he was more than just a dumb jock.

The plant was designed by Nobel Prize winning physicist Martin Stein. It was to be the world's first fully-automated and fully-safe nuclear plant. On the day it was to be activated, Stein's former assistant, Danton Black, accused him of stealing the plant's design from him. Stein was ordered not to go online with the plant that night but to wait until Black had his day in court. Stein believed that this would lead to his plant never going online and all of his work being for naught. So he stayed on that night to bring it online against the injunction.

The group of radicals gladly took Ronnie on as a volunteer. Since he couldn't be connected to them, he made the perfect fall guy for their plan to blow up the plant that night. They slugged him and drug him inside where they planted the bomb. Stein, working late that night, discovered them and was also knocked unconscious. The radicals left them with the bomb next to the nuclear pile to be killed in the explosion.

Shortly before the bomb went off, Ronnie woke up and tried to drag Stein away. They didn't make it far before the bomb went off. They were fused into a single being that Ronnie named Firestorm. As Firestorm, they had power over matter transmutation and their own physiological structure. Ronnie had conscious control over their shared form and Stein could act as a kind of telepathic advisor. Ronnie immediately whipped up some clothes and they began their career as a superhero.

Firestorm was a very successful superhero in New York. He worked alone to begin with, but was later affiliated with the JLA. What he lacked in experience as a superhero, he made up for in enthusiasm and raw power. Ronnie played basketball in high school and went out with Doreen. Stein drifted, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, from job to job. Danton Black, also in the plant that night, became one of their main enemies, Multiplex, whose powers were over nuclear fission.

Henry Hewitt and Danton Black set out to recreate the explosion that created Firestorm, but ended up creating a slightly different explosion instead. This resulted in Lorraine Reilly, a senator's daughter, becoming Firehawk. Her powers were more focused toward nuclear fire and she did not have the transmuting ability of Firestorm. Hewitt also used the process, slightly altered, and became a villain named Tokamak. He was defeated by Firestorm and Firehawk teamed together. Other major recurring villains included Killer Frost, Typhoon, and the 2000 Committee. 

Firestorm took part in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and is one of the heroes who retained memory of the world before.

Firehawk pursued Firestorm romantically, therefore Lorraine and Doreen competed for Ronnie. Lorraine had an edge because she knew Ronnie's secret identity and Doreen did not. Ronnie was unable to make a decision between them. Ronnie graduated from high school and decided to attend Vandemeer University in Pittsburgh, where he played college football. Stein was hired on as a professor of physics. Doreen, Cliff and Lorraine also all moved to Vandemeer. Ed Raymond had meanwhile romantically pursued, and later married, a woman named Felicity, who at one time sued Firestorm for the destruction of her business. Felicity figured out Ronnie secret identity as Firestorm, but agreed to keep it secret and did not tell her husband.

The greatest strain in Ronnie's friendship with Stein came during the 'Legends' crisis. Ronnie forced Stein into the Firestorm merger against his will. Stein, who had trusted Ronnie implicitly, was devastated by this mental rape. Afterward Ronnie and Stein talked and made the agreement that only Stein would be allowed to initiate the merger unless a life was in danger.

It was because of the endangerment of life that Ronnie formed Firestorm while standing next to Doreen. (Cliff was suicidal and jumped from a building. He did this because he had cut the strap on the football helmet that had been worn by his cousin Hugo, who was paralyzed after breaking his neck. Cliff's real target was Ronnie.) This is how Doreen finally learned Ronnie's secret identity. She felt he didn't trust her and broke up with him.

Stein was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He kept this a secret from Ronnie for a period of time, unsure of how to tell him. The Parasite absorbed their energy and taunted Ronnie with Stein's secret. Firestorm, with assistance from Firehawk, later defeated the Parasite. Ronnie was devastated by Stein's impending death, but vowed to help him in whatever way possible. Stein wished to do something meaningful with their powers as Firestorm before his death, and his plan was to use their powers to convince governments to disarm nuclear weapons.

Firestorm transmuted an American warhead and a Soviet warhead and then threatened that if the governments did not sit down to talk disarmament, he would set off all their warheads. Firestorm was declared an enemy of the state and the US president set the Suicide Squad against him, including The Parasite. Firestorm, with help from Firehawk, fended them off. Some superheroes felt he was in the wrong, while others (such as Superman) sympathized with his cause. The Soviet government made an agreement with the US government and a Soviet meta-human code-named Pozhar was allowed to take a shot at Firestorm.

Pozhar had been a Russian nuclear technician named Mikhail Arkadin who was caught in the accident at Chernobyl. The meltdown activated his dormant meta-gene and transformed Mikhail into Pozhar. As Pozhar he had the ability to burn through virtually anything, cause earthquakes and geysers of lava to shoot from the ground, but his body was transformed and imbued with radiation. As Pozhar he had to wear a special containment suit. We are told that Pozhar means 'destructive fire' in Russian.

Pozhar and Firestorm fought in the desert in Nevada above a nuclear testing facility. Mikhail was being forced to fight because the Russian government held his family; he didn't want to fight Firestorm. Just after Firestorm had defeated Pozhar, Stein had a seizure and Firestorm lost his fusion, reverting back to Ron and Martin. Ron could not rouse Stein and thought he was dead.  However, their governments had betrayed both of them. The US military (with full cooperation from the Russians) launched a nuclear missile to finish them off. Pozhar linked hands with Ron and Martin in an attempt to give them enough strength to merge.

Firestorm survived the nuclear blast and emerged seemingly unscathed. The president promised to look into true disarmament talks if Firestorm would stand down. Firestorm did and split into two balls of light - Firestorm had changed. Mikhail and Ron were now the central merged components of Firestorm, who now had a mind of his own. Martin Stein appeared to have died in the desert of Nevada. Ron was devastated and angry over Martin's death and fell into a deep depression. It was later discovered that Stein was indeed still alive, and that the radiation of the nuclear blast had destroyed his brain tumor, but he had amnesia. When Ron and Mikhail merged, Stein would fall into a coma - it was his amnesiac mind that was serving as the template for Firestorm's new personality. After they found Stein alive, Ron became his physical therapist and keeper.

The new Firestorm had several adventures, including visiting Africa to attempt to remake soil to become fertile and alleviate starvation (creating a place called Eden), before being forced to confront a being called Svarozhich. The Russian government had attempted to clone Firestorm from cells they had obtained, but they had created a destructive, soulless entity. With the help of a Russian mystic called Rasputin, Ron and Mikhail were able to learn that Firestorm was actually created by Gaia, the great Earth spirit, as the fire elemental, a champion of the Earth. To defeat Svarozhich, which stole their power, Ron and Mikhail chose to fuse permanently as Firestorm. Because he was not present at the fusion, Martin Stein was now excluded from the Firestorm matrix.

Firestorm now had only his identity and personality as a fire elemental, with Ron and Mikhail trapped permanently inside. Firestorm started a quest to clean up pollution. He also returned to Eden, took part in the Janus Effect crossover, made contact with the Orishas, and fought a war with the other elementals. He considered pursuing Firehawk romantically as well. Stein, meanwhile, was both a study subject and worker at The Institute for Meta-Human Studies at Vandemeer. Firestorm also discovered that Stein was originally planned to be the human component of the Fire Elemental, rather than Ron or Mikhail.

In the final arc of Firestorm it was discovered that Brimstone, a construct made by Darkseid, was living in the Sun. Brimstone caused the Sun to fill with sunspots and was going to flare the Sun to a point where it would consume the Earth. Firestorm was the only one available who had defeated Brimstone and could survive a trip to the Sun. However, he could not leave the Earth, for he drew his power from it. Since Martin was the desired template, he formed a plan based on that information. Firestorm released Ron and Martin, retaining only the Svarozhich personality. He and Firehawk he launched Martin into space in an old NASA craft that was at IMHS. Svarozhich-Firestorm was destroyed in this process. Martin took a grenade with him and pulled the pin once in space. The resultant explosion provided enough fire to stimulate the formation of a new Firestorm, the true Fire Elemental as Gaia intended it, with Martin as the human component. The Firestorm matrix that Martin had inherited also restored all of his lost memory.

Firestorm fought Brimstone at the Sun and defeated him. However, Brimstone's demise caused a black hole to form on the surface of the Sun, and to close it Firestorm went through to the other side. He closed the black hole, but was now on the other side of the universe. Firestorm now chose to explore the universe as he made his way back to Earth.

Ron and Mikhail had meanwhile been returned to their families. Mikhail was reunited with his wife and two children, and Ron with Ed and Felicity. Thus ends Firestorm #100.

In Extreme Justice we learn that Ron has developed leukemia and is radiation resistant (no surprise there, so was Martin). Ron falls ill after his first round of treatment and becomes Firestorm again. Captain Atom's JLA team shows up to help Ron regain control of his powers. Apparently, his stint as Firestorm imprinted those powers on his meta-gene. Fire Elemental Firestorm also shows up briefly and asks Ron to join him but Ron refuses. Elemental Firestorm cures Ron's leukemia before leaving to explore the universe. Ron stays on Earth with the powers of classic Firestorm but without Stein to advise him. Ron accepts Atom's invitation to join up with their JLA. He later develops a drinking problem and goes into rehab.

Firestorm appears in several cameos before returning for a longer stint as a member of The Power Company. This was a bit of a different kind of gig for him, since Ron had never used his powers for money before, and had also always been the young, inexperienced guy on the team and he was the old hat on The Power Company's team. However, he didn't fit in with them, so he left The Power Company after only a short time.

Firestorm was seen in Identity Crisis in which Ron is killed and his powers passed to Jason Rusch.  He showed up again in the new Firestorm (3rd run) where it was revealed that he did not pass on after being killed in Identity Crisis, but instead has been in the back of Jason Rusch's head.  This was revealed after Jason merged with Lorraine Reilly.  Ron and Jason were both been shown to control Firestorm, but Ron seemed to be acting in the mentoring capacity much like Martin used to with him.  While those of us who love Ron might have hoped he would continue in this capacity, or even better have regained his abilities as Firestorm, DC has instead chosen to again seemingly kill him, with Ron leaving Jason and passing on to - well, whatever, we don't know.  However, Ron did leave his mark on Jason, causing his character to mature quite a bit.

In Infinity Crisis, we have the return of Martin Stein, who meets Jason in space and joins with him to form a new matrix.  One Year Later in Firestorm (3rd run) Martin has disappeared and Jason is now merged with Lorraine.  It comes to be revealed that Martin is being held by a villain known only as 'the student' who is working on extracting whatever information he can out of Martin about Firestorm for his unknown employer.  Jason and Lorraine, along with Jason's girlfriend Gehenna, rescue Martin, restoring Jason and Martin as the matrix components and freeing Lorraine.  Mikhail has also reappeared as Pozhar, only with much more control over his abilities.

What happens next remains to be seen...


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