 Firestorm made its first appearance in Firestorm the Nuclear Man number one in March of 1978, created by Jerry Conway and Al Milgram. The original version of Firestorm was that of a high school student Ronnie Raymond and Nobel Prize winning physicist Martin Stein. You see, the two were caught in a nuclear explosion which fused the two together. At the time of the fusion, Professor Stein was unconscious, which meant that Ronnie would actually be the one in control of Firestorm, with Stein simply being a disembodied voice speaking mentoring him. At first, Stein was left unaware of his part in the Firestorm Matrix when the two were separated. Due to his being unconscious during the initial fusion, each time after that Stein experienced blackouts with no memory of what occurred. However, Ronnie was eventually able to convince him that they were two halves of the superhero Firestorm. Initially, Firestorm became the defender of New York City. In 1986, Firestorm demanded that the United States and the Soviet Union destroy all of their nuclear weapons. Because of this, Firestorm had to hold his own against the Justice League at the time, as well as most of his enemies, and then face a Soviet nuclear superhero known as Pozar in the Nevada desert. In an attempt to stop both nuclear men, the United States dropped an atom bomb on the two, which resulted in the fusion of the two. This time, Mikhail Arkaden and Ronnie Raymond were disembodied minds with the amnesiac mind of Martin Stein controlling the superhero. In 1989, Martin Stein was taken out of the composite of Firestorm and replaced by a Soviet clone of the previous Firestorm, known as Svarshits. It would be this version of Firestorm that would become known as a fire elemental. The idea of Firestorm being a fire elemental would become a part of the brightest day story arc from 2010 to 2011. Eventually, Martin Stein discovered that he was destined to be the true fire elemental. Ronnie and Arkaden returned to their lives as Martin Stein became Firestorm by himself and was exiled into deep space while saving the Earth. During Martin Stein's time as Firestorm alone, Ronnie Raymond underwent treatment for leukemia and regained his original powers as Firestorm after receiving chemotherapy. The combined power of Captain Adam, the Justice League, and the elemental Firestorm restored Ronnie's health. During the events of Identity Crisis in 2004, Ronnie was killed during a battle with the villain Shadow Thief. Shadow Thief had stolen Shining Knight's sword and used it to impale Ronnie, rupturing his containment field which resulted in Firestorm's body exploding. The Firestorm Matrix then funneled into the body of Jason Roush who could then become Firestorm by making eye contact or touching any other person nearby. Eventually, Jason was able to become Firestorm by himself and later still fused with Martin Stein. Jason was a 17 year old native Detroit resident who lived with an abusive father who had lost his hand in an industrial accident. Jason merged with his best friend Mick Wong to become Firestorm during Infinite Crisis when he was recruited by Donna Troy. During Infinite Crisis, Martin Stein as the elemental Firestorm sensed that Jason had become severely injured while battling as Firestorm. Stein then merged with Jason creating a new body for the hero. Martin was able to save Jason but couldn't save Mick during these events. During the events of One Year Later, Martin Stein had vanished and Jason had been merging with longtime Firestorm ally Firehawk. It was discovered that Stein had been kidnapped by a former teaching assistant of his but was eventually saved by Firestorm. Later, Darkseid ripped Stein from the Firestorm Matrix and vanished without a trace. In the events of Blackest Night, Ronnie Raymond was resurrected by a Black Powering and became the Black Lantern who would later be known as Deathstorm. It's during this time that Deathstorm absorbed Jason into his version of the Firestorm Matrix and used Jason's unique Firestorm abilities to kill Jason's girlfriend, Johanna, by transforming her into table salt while ripping her heart out. During the final battle with Necron, the White Lantern restored Ronnie to life alongside Jason. After this, Ronnie was left confused wondering where Professor Stein was with Jason enraged over Ronnie killing Johanna while he was Deathstorm. However, Ronnie was left with no memory of his time as a Black Lantern. During Johanna's wake, Jason became even more enraged by Ronnie's lack of memory during his time as Deathstorm that Jason punched him, causing the two to merge into Firestorm. It's later revealed after they split that Ronnie did remember his time as Deathstorm, but had instead tried to suppress the memories. It's after this that Professor Stein discovered that Deathstorm still exists within the Firestorm Matrix somehow. After running a test, Professor Stein revealed the origin of the Firestorm Matrix. Stein believed that during the initial experiment he was able to capture the spark that preceded the Big Bang that created our universe, thereby making the Matrix a trigger for a new Big Bang. If the boys were to continue to experience emotional imbalance, they would have increased likelihood of triggering a new Big Bang. After explaining this to the boys, the voice inside them speaks again, declaring that it is not the Matrix. A pair of black hands reached out from inside Firestorm. Forcibly separating Jason and Ronnie, Black Lantern Firestorm stood between them, separate from both Ronnie and Jason, calling itself Deathstorm. Deathstorm revealed its plan to Stein, stating it intends to create enough emotional imbalance between Ronnie and Jason that the Matrix will trigger another Big Bang, thereby destroying all life in the universe. In order to help accomplish this goal, Deathstorm absorbed Stein's mind in order to use his knowledge of Ronnie against him. Deathstorm then took Professor Stein out of his Matrix to taunt the two. The entity attempted to turn Ronnie to salt, but the Professor took the brunt of the attack. Angered, Ronnie decided to truly work together with Jason to avenge the Professor. The White Lantern entity then declared that Ronnie has accomplished his mission, returning life to him in a burst of white energy that obliterated the Black Lanterns, returning Jason's father to his home and deposits Firestorm in the Star City Forest. Ronnie angrily attempted to make the entity resurrect the Professor, but is refused. After the events of Flashpoint, the new 52 reality altered Firestorm's history. It's revealed that Ronnie is now a high school senior and captain of the football team. During a terrorist attack on their school, classmate Jason Roosh produced a vial given to him by Professor Stein, which contained the God Particle, one of Stein's creations. The God Particle transformed both Jason and Ronnie into two separate Firestorms, and the two teens briefly battled each other before accidentally merging into the hulking creature known as the Fury. Sharing the identity of Firestorm, with Ronnie being the brawn and Jason being the brains, Firestorm is considered for recruitment into the Justice League, along with several other heroes, and plays a large part in the events leading up to the Trinity War. In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Firestorm became the subject of controversy, where there were claims that he was created by the government. The powers the Firestorm Matrix gives to its hosts are that of density control, idetic memory, energy absorption, energy projection, enhanced vision, flight, molecular reconstruction, phasing, psychic links, regeneration, self-sustenance, superhuman durability, superhuman strength, and transformation. Now it's time for a little bit of trivia. Ronnie Raymond's birth name is Ronald Rockwell. His surname was changed to Raymond when his father and he were placed in the Witness Protection Program shortly after Ronnie's mother was killed. Firestorm has a halo of flame encircling the crown of his head. However, this flame was not composed of true plasma and was actually just an illusory hologram generated by Ronnie Raymond's subconscious. As such, the halo did not possess the characteristics akin to ordinary fire. It did not generate heat or cause harm to those who came in to contact with it. The solidarity of the flame altered from time to time. In some instances, the flame would extinguish itself if Firestorm were rendered unconscious or submerged in water. On other occasions, it would continue to flicker. All future incarnations of Firestorm possessed some variant of the flame halo. The Firestorm Elemental had a flaming crown that trailed halfway down his back while the modern Firestorm had a holographic projection similar to that used by Ronnie Raymond. In DC Comics countdown arena, it was revealed that a version of Firestorm existed on Earth 37 calling itself Quantum Storm. This version was made up of Ronnie Raymond and Nathaniel Adam, the main Earth's Captain Adam. The Earth 3 counterpart of Firestorm in the crime syndicate is that of Deathstorm, which was created when Martin Stein would merge with a corpse through experimentation. Firestorm was a part of the main roster of the Justice League during ABC's Super Friends, the legendary superpower show, and the superpowers team Galactic Guardians. It was revealed that Firestorm was going to be used as the focus of the Justice League Unlimited episode, the greatest story never told, but was replaced by Booster Gold. The Jason Roosh Ronnie Raymond version of Firestorm appeared in Batman the Brave and the Bold with the roles reversed. Firestorm was a major part of the Flash TV series in Season 1 being made of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. In the Season 2 premiere, it's revealed that Ronnie had died in the Season 1 finale, but Martin Stein lived. After this, Martin began having problems with the Firestorm Matrix and needed to merge with someone else who was compatible in order to survive. After going through a number of possible hosts, Jefferson Jackson eventually merged with Stein to become Firestorm, and the two went off to join DC's Legends of Tomorrow until Stein's death in the Crisis on Earth X crossover. And just in case you were wondering, there is a bizarro version of Firestorm who was destroyed by the Godship, which was a bizarro world's name for an insect-like satellite sized world eater. Bizarro Firestorm had bizarro physiology, which means his skin was modeled in gray with a misshapen body and modeled after the regular version of Firestorm with similar powers. There you have it guys, a brief summarized version of the history and origins of one of my favorite superheroes, Firestorm the Nuclear Man. But that's really only the reader's digest version as Firestorm has a long storied history. So to learn more about the hero, I recommend that you check out comics like Firestorm the Nuclear Man, The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man, and Firestorm. Don't be confused as these are all four completely different titles and volumes for the same character. Until next time geeks, I'm Shannon for Comic NTV, the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. If you enjoyed that video, make sure you hit the subscribe button right there so you can stay up to date on all things geek culture. Also, make sure you check out one of these two playlists on the side for more videos just like the one you just watched. I'm Shannon for Comic NTV, the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. Take care geeks.