They say two heads are better than one, but Firestorm proves that sometimes it’s a bit more complicated than that. Firestorm was born when a nuclear accident fused high school student Ronnie Raymond with Professor Martin Stein, turning them into the nuclear-powered hero. When fused as Firestorm, Ronnie is generally in control, with Professor Stein acting a bit like his Jiminy Cricket (with varying degrees of success). While there have been other duos in the Firestorm Matrix at times, the Raymond/Stein combination is the one most remembered.
Jeff Lemire and Rafael De Latorre are chronicling the next chapter of Firestorm’s life with this week’s The Fury of Firestorm #1, which means now is a great time to get to know the character better. His nuclear powers may not be a surprise to you, nor the fact that there are two different people inside his head…but did you know that he was inspired in part by high school bullies? Or that his stepmom would later become one of the most important characters in the Arrowverse? And do you know what those flames coming out of his head are really about?
Read on to discover six things that you probably didn’t know about the Nuclear Man…
Firestorm May Be a Hero…But He Was Inspired by High School Bullies
One of the most interesting things about Firestorm is that he’s actually two different people fused within the Firestorm Matrix to make one hero. There’s Martin Stein, an older college professor, and Ronnie Raymond, a teenage jock. And when it came to Ronnie…well, he wasn’t inspired by the most heroic of teenagers.
When Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom created Firestorm for 1978’s Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #1, they wanted to flip the usual teen superhero trope on its head. Most stories about teen superheroes present the protagonist as a nerd or social outcast, and they’re usually tormented by a dimwitted popular jock. Although Ronnie Raymond isn’t a bully, Conway looked to high school bullies for inspiration and said that he wanted to use the character to explore another angle of the teen superhero genre.
Firestorm Undresses His Villains (and Puts Them in Bunny Costumes)
You may have read that header and assumed I was taking some moment out of context, but I assure you this is real. Firestorm has the power to rearrange molecules, and over the years he’s been creative with that power. In 1982’s The Fury of Firestorm #7, Plastique threatened to detonate a bomb on her costume, so Firestorm used his powers to dissolve her costume, leaving the villain nude.
“Ronald, that was cruel. Brilliant, but cruel,” Professor Stein tells Ronnie.
This type of behavior wouldn’t fly today, which is why Ronnie replaced Skull Crusher’s uniform with a bunny costume in 2012’s The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #14. It’s one of the things that makes Firestorm unique. Seriously, imagine Batman randomly undressing Bane or placing Killer Croc in a bunny suit.
Arrowverse Fans Might Recognize Firestorm’s Stepmom
Before Felicity Smoak was Oliver Queen’s TV wife, she was Firestorm’s stepmother. However, to say that Felicity and her future stepson got off on the wrong foot is an understatement. When Firestorm first met Felicity in 1984’s The Fury of Firestorm #23, she was running a computer software company and Firestorm had accidentally ruined a shipment of her equipment when he stopped a train crash. Felicity filed a lawsuit against the young hero and things only got more complicated from there.
Felicity ran into Firestorm again in 1984’s The Fury of Firestorm #29, and Ronnie mischievously used his powers to turn her clothes into soap suds.
(FIRESTORM, STOP USING YOUR POWERS TO UNDRESS PEOPLE!)
Felicity soon began dating Ronnie’s father Ed, which meant that Firestorm was being sued by his father’s girlfriend. However, Felicity’s feelings on Firestorm cooled over time, and she decided to drop the lawsuit. By then, she had figured out that Ronnie and Firestorm were one and the same (with a dash of Martin Stein in there). Felicity married Ed Raymond in 1986’s The Fury of Firestorm #50, officially making her Firestorm’s stepmom. If only all lawsuits ended this way.
Firestorm Was the Youngest Hero to Join the Justice League
In 1980’s Justice League of America #179, Superman nominates Firestorm for membership in the Justice League of America and the nuclear hero proudly accepts. It’s an amazing honor for a hero who was just starting out like Firestorm, but it was also momentous because at the time he was the youngest hero to ever join the League.
Ronnie Raymond was still a high school student when he accepted the invitation, making him far younger than the League’s other members. However, the other Leaguers had no way of knowing this at the time, and maybe the fact that Martin Stein was also part of the Firestorm Matrix evened things out. Firestorm’s record as the youngest League member has since been broken by other heroes like Damian Wayne, but the Nuclear Man can still hold his head high and say he was the first teen to serve on the team.
His Real Name Isn’t Ronnie Raymond
It’s common knowledge that Firestorm is the fusion of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein, but what if I told you that Ronnie Raymond wasn’t even his real name? In 1983’s The Fury of Firestorm Annual #1, we learn that Ronnie was born as Ronnie Rockwell, but changed his name to Raymond after his father was placed in the witness protection program to escape a mobster.
The criminal had already killed Ronnie’s mother in retaliation for Ronnie’s father Ed testifying against him. Seeking to keep his son safe, Ed accepted the government’s offer to change their names and start a new life across the country. Ronnie was a toddler at the time and today has no real memory of his life as Ronnie Rockwell. He wouldn’t learn of his true family history until he was almost an adult.
That Flame on the Top of His Head Might Be an Illusion
One of the coolest things about Firestorm’s design is the flame coming out of his head. However, the flame isn’t as hot as you think. While early sources such as Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #8 would state that the flames were real, it was later revealed that they were a holographic illusion created from Ronnie’s subconscious. Of course, this is one of those things that over time has changed from creator to creator, which makes sense because Firestorm has the ability to make real flames. Perhaps they were originally an illusion but evolved into real flames as Ronnie/Martin learned how to use their powers.
I guess being a Nuclear Man is harder than we thought, but Firestorm somehow makes it work. But will the combined brainpower of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein be enough to face the challenges ahead in Fury of Firestorm? Check out the new series to find out…
The Fury of Firestorm #1 by Jeff Lemire, Rafael De Latorre and Marcelo Maiolo is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
