Alternate versions of the Human Torch | |
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The Human Torch, as seen on the cover for Fantastic Four #542. Art by Adi Granov |
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Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961) |
Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
Characters | Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm (main continuity) Jonatha Storm (Marvel Mangaverse) |
The Human Torch is a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the Fantastic Four. There have been many alternate versions of him over the years.
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1602
In the Marvel 1602 universe, Jon Storm is a young hothead who has to leave London following a duel. Along with his sister, who is escaping a man she does not love, he joins Sir Richard Reed on his explorations, and is caught in the radiation of the Anomaly, turning him into a Human Torch. The Four continue their explorations until they are captured by Otto von Doom prior to the original 1602 miniseries.
At the start of the miniseries 1602: Fantastick Four, Jon has rejoined high society, and once more finds himself embroiled in a duel, this time with Lord Wingfoot, who is betrothed to the 1602 version of Doris Evans. When he is called upon to battle Otto von Doom, he kidnaps Doris and takes her with them, believing this is for her own good.
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Johnny never becomes the Human Torch. Instead, he is among Reed Richards' crew, along with Ben Grimm as pilot and Johnny's sister Susan. Reed Richards attempts to evacuate a full contingent of refugees in his own experimental tran-ship, but a mutant saboteur interferes with the launch. Johnny and Reed sacrifice themselves to save the others from the forces of Apocalypse.
Earth-98
In Earth-98 universe, Johnny married Crystal and has a daughter named Luna and a son named Ray. He is also the leader of the Fantastic Four. He first appeared in Fantastic Four / Fantastic 4 Annual (1998).
Earth-A
The Earth-A version of Johnny does not join Reed and Ben in their trip to space. He serves in the Vietnam conflict, where he is believed to have been killed. However, Johnny is found and saved by Arkon, who gives him superpowers and the new identity of Gaard.
Heroes Reborn
In the Heroes Reborn history of the Marvel Universe, created after a battle with Onslaught, Johnny is an owner of a popular casino and part financial backer of Reed Richards' plan to go into space. His handprint is one of two — the other being his sister's — needed for launch. His rivalry with Ben Grimm now extends into much more dangerous areas, such as a potentially deadly game of 'chicken' without thought to the life of the woman in his passenger seat.
After being attacked by agents of Doctor Doom, Johnny ends up going up into space on Reed's spacecraft prototype as he really had nowhere else to go. The entire launch base had been overtaken by enemy forces and it was miles to civilization. It is during the flight a cosmic anomaly imbues him and the others with their powers. After the crash of the prototype, Johnny would prove more reliable, recovering Reed Richards and rescuing his own sister.
House Of M
In the House of M: Iron Man limited series, Johnny Storm is a contestant on a reality game show called Sapien Death Match. He has no inherent superpowers, but wears a suit of powered armor that has a 'flame on' ability.[1]
Marvel Mangaverse
In the Marvel Mangaverse comics, the Human Torch is portrayed by two separate characters spanning two very different continuities. The first character is a member of the Megascale Metatalent Response Team Fantastic Four on Earth-2301a and the mirror opposite of Earth-616's Johnny Storm in terms of personality. The team uses power-packs to boost their talents to manifest at mecha-sized levels in order to combat Godzilla-sized monsters that seem to constantly attack Earth. In volume two of Mangaverse, which takes place on Earth-2301b, the character of Johnny Storm has been replaced with a young woman named Jonatha Storm, who is the half-sister of Sioux Storm. Jonatha is quite hotheaded; sometimes riding into battle singing "I am the Goddess of Hellfire." She denies being impulsive, saying she can only be described that way in comparison to her "neurotic" teammates. In New Mangaverse Jonatha is slightly redesigned to look a few years younger than she did in volume one of Mangaverse, and no longer wears her hair in multiple braids, instead sporting two pigtails on each side of her head. After witnessing the murder of the other Fantastic 4 members by supernatural assassins, she joins Spider-Man, Spider-Woman (Mary Jane Watson), Black Cat, Wolverine, and Iron Man, in hopes of getting revenge.
Marvel Zombies
In this alternate universe Reed Richards infects Johnny, Sue, and Ben with the zombie virus. The three turn Reed into a zombie and the four of them go on a rampage with the other zombies. Eventually Reed contacts the Ultimate Reed and gets him to come to the infected universe. Johnny travels with the three others to the Ultimate Universe. They attack the Fantastic Four there but are thwarted, and are locked up in a containment cell. Johnny eats live animals and loathes the Ultimate version of himself, remarking that he especially hates his hair. When they escape the four attack the Baxter Building. Ultimate Reed switches bodies with Ultimate Doom and takes on all four zombies. Johnny is last seen being torn apart by Reed in Doom's body as he destroys all four zombies.
MC2
In the MC2 alternate future Johnny leads the Fantastic Five. He is married to Lyja and they have a son Torus Storm (who calls himself "Super-Storm" when role-playing as a hero). Torus has inherited both his father's flame powers and his mother's stretching / shapeshifting powers.
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Johnny Storm is the youngest child of Franklin Storm, but is not as intelligent as his sister and father. He spent time at the Baxter Building, but his rebellious nature meant that he learned little from his time spent there. Although he is portrayed as being very vain, narcissistic, and displays some misogynistic tendencies, he is also shown to have a deep devotion to his friends and family. He is good friends with Spider-Man, and has a friendship/friendly rivalry with Bobby Drake due to each other's respective powers.
He is present at Reed Richards' test of the N-Zone Teleportation Device in the Nevada Desert. After a malfunction in the device, he wakes up in France in a hospital bed. He uncontrollably bursts into flames until he learns to control his powers by saying "Flame On" and "Flame Off.". When Mole Man's creatures attacks, Johnny finds out he can fly while on fire. It is explained by Reed that Johnny's combustion makes him lighter than air. Johnny body is covered with a microscopically thin film of transparent plates that make him impervious to flame. When he activates his powers, fat cells beneath his skin create clean nuclear fusion and jet out between the plates as plasma which then ignites on contact with air. Periodically, Johnny enters a hibernation where his old layer of skin peels off as ash while a new layer forms underneath. Unlike the mainstream Human Torch, Ultimate Johnny's power sometimes have detrimental effects on his health, specifically causing unhealthy levels of weight loss and exhaustion.
In issues #68 and 69 of Ultimate Spider-Man, Johnny meets Spider-Man when his sister says he has to finish high school. Johnny picks a school in Queens which happens to be Midtown High. He quickly meets and becomes friends with Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Liz Allen. At a bonfire, he catches fire and scares off Liz Allen. He arranges to meet Liz, but she does not show up.
Encouraged by Mary Jane, Spider-Man shows up instead and gives Johnny a heart-to-heart talk about great power and great responsibility. Together, they save people from a burning building when Johnny absorbs the flames. Spider-Man shows Johnny that they will not always be appreciated by the public.
In issue #98 of Ultimate Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four learn Spider-Man's identity, and Johnny recognizes Peter. In issue #101, Nick Fury and a regiment of Spider Slayers try to arrest Peter but are stopped by Johnny and the rest of the Fantastic Four.
In the "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" story arc (beginning with issue #118 and concluding in issue #120) Johnny returns to Midtown High wanting to spend time with real friends after becoming frustrated on a date with a popular pop-star who only came for publicity. After some prodding, Johnny arranges for a group consisting of himself, Peter, Mary Jane, Kitty Pryde, Kong, Bobby Drake and Liz Allen (Johnny's apparent romantic interest) to have a somewhat normal day at the beach. During the evening bonfire, mirror his last visit, Liz Allen bursts into flame, exposing herself as a mutant. At the end of the arc, Liz returns to the Xaiver Institute with Iceman.
In Issue #129 of Ultimate Spider-Man, Johnny attends another unsuccessful date with the same pop-star as before and after again becoming frustrated calls Peter Parker to give him an excuse to leave. Johnny laments that he doesn't know any nice girls and has no real way of meeting any, and wants Peter to set him up. After flying off, he encounters The Vulture mid-robbery. Johnny attempts to stop him, but is thwarted several times before being assisted by Spider-Woman (a female clone of Peter Parker who is still mentally Peter up to the point of her "birth" in the Clone Saga story arc, a fact not disclosed to Johnny). Johnny proceeds to follow her around asking her for details about who she is, going as far to flirt with her. The very embarrassed Spider-Woman swings off.
Throughout the first story arc of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man (the continuation of Ultimate Spider-Man), Johnny Storn appears at Peter Parker's door and passes out in his arms. When he wakes up he informs Aunt May that he does not wish to return to the Baxter Building. Aunt May decides to let him live with her, Peter and Gwen (later also adding Bobby Drake to the household as well). As to not raise suspicion and to not reveal Peters' secret identity, Aunt May comes up with the idea of coloring Johnny's hair black and changing his name to Johnny Parker, Peters cousin. She then enrolls him and Bobby at Midtown High along with Peter and Gwen. The school is then attacked by a Spider-Slayer, created by Mysterio, to hunt down Spider-Man. Johnny runs away from the school before "Flaming On", as to not reveal his new secret identity, then returns to aid Peter in the fight, only to discover that the Shroud has already taken care of it. Johnny decides to melt the remains of the Spider-Slayer anyway.
Johnny also makes an appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, in which he challenges Spider-Man to a series of races.
What If? Vol. II #11
In What If? vol. 2 #11 (March 1990), the origins of the Fantastic Four are retold, showing how the heroes lives would have changed if all four had gained the same powers as the individual members of the original Fantastic Four.
Pyros
When the experiment rocket piloted by Ben Grimm and carrying Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Johnny Storm crashes to Earth, the foursome are bombarded with radioactive cosmic rays. In this alternate history the cosmic rays give the four the powers of the Human Torch. They decide to use their powers for good, and become the superheroic team known as the Pyros. They battle such menaces as the Mole Man and the alien race Skrulls. While battling the mystic Miracle Man, he uses his abilities to bring to life a statue advertising a monster movie called "The Monster from Mars." The monster rampages through a rundown part of New York City, where the Pyros use their powers to the fullest, believing the area to be uninhabited. Unknown to them, when they set fire to the statue of the monster, the fire engulfs a local apartment building, killing young Angelica Parsons, who is inside. After the defeat of the Miracle Man, a police officer informs them of the fire at the apartment complex. The three male members of the Pyros absorb the fire into themselves, while Sue Storm flies inside the building, where she finds a fireman standing over the lifeless body of Angelica Parsons. When she returns, Judith Parsons, Angelica's mother, accuses the team of being murderers.
Following the death of Angelica Parsons, Sue Storm becomes a nun, while Reed Richards devotes all of his time to his scientific work. Johnny Storm uses his resistance to fire to make himself a celebrity on the racing circuit and Ben Grimm takes the name of the Human Torch as the Avengers' first recruit.
Team Elastics
In this alternate history, Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are bombarded with cosmic radiation and develop the ability to stretch and shape their bodies at will. While Reed decides to use his powers for the good of mankind as a superhero, Sue and Ben think their powers are ridiculously silly. Johnny Storm also believes superheroing is silly, and decides to use his powers to gain fame, fortune, and women.
Deciding not to become superheroes, Ben Grimm and Sue Storm discover their love for one another and settle down to raise a family, never using their stretching powers again. Reed Richards uses his powers, but only in the confines of his lab, as he devotes his life to science. Johnny Storm is the only one to go public, using his stretching powers to become a celebrity, under the name of Mister Fantastic.[2]
Monstros
The cosmic rays in this alternate history transform Ben Grimm, Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, and Sue Storm into monstrous creatures. Blaming Reed for their predicament, Ben begins to fight with Reed, until Johnny breaks up the fight, pointing out Sue's transformation. Sue has become a mindless, swamp-like creature (similar in appearance to the Man-Thing), unable to speak. Reacting quickly, Reed orders the others to grab Sue and demands that they return to his lab. On the way to the lab, a group of police officers stop them and ask for their identification, to which Reed replies by smashing their police squad car. Johnny tells Ben that their apartment is no longer a place for them. Reed then shows them his prototype long-range flying car, which he asks Ben to pilot. Ben agrees, but asks where they will fly to. Reed replies that they are going to the only place they can live safely, due to their appearances: Monster Isle.[2]
The Phantoms
In the final What If? story, Ben Grimm, Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, and Sue Storm gain one aspect of the invisibility power—Sue can turn herself invisible, Reed can project invisibility and turn others invisible, Ben can project invisible force-fields, while Johnny has the power to become intangible. Colonel Nick Fury offers them the chance to serve in his new C.I.A. unit, codenamed S.H.I.E.L.D. The foursome agree, and a special secret unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. is formed, with each member specializing in his or her civilian areas of expertise.
An unmarked helicopter attacks the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters under the U.N. building in New York by wrapping it in an electrified net, and demands that Reed Richards be brought to the attacker, alone and unharmed. Nick Fury explains to the Four that the criminal calls himself Doom. Reed surrenders himself to Doom, while the other members of the unit secretly attach themselves to the underside of Doom's helicopter. Unfortunately, they are discovered once Doom returns to his kingdom of Latveria with Richards. Doom causes a trapdoor to open beneath Reed. With Reed's concentration broken, the other three members of the special unit are revealed, as Reed can no longer keep them invisible. As Doom attacks Ben and Johnny, Sue secretly searches for Reed. Sue finds Reed in an airtight chamber and frees him. Doom manages to pull out a sonic accelerator, but Reed arrives and renders it invisible. Ben takes advantage of the distraction created by Reed and fires an invisible force barrier into Doom, knocking him unconscious. The foursome turned Doom over to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[3]
References
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