Human Torch (Golden Age)

The Human Torch is a Marvel Comics-owned superhero. Created by writer-artist Carl Burgos, he first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), published by Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics.

The "Human" Torch was actually an android created by a scientist. He possessed the ability to surround himself with fire and control flames. In his earliest appearances, he was portrayed as a science fiction monstrosity, but quickly became a hero.

Along with Captain America and the Sub-Mariner, the Torch’s off-and-on foe, he was one of Timely Comics' three signature characters. Like many superheroes, he fell into obscurity by the 1950s and Marvel recycled his name and powers into a new, unrelated Human Torch, a member of the Fantastic Four, in 1961. Unlike Captain America and the Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch has had only a small presence in the post-1950s Marvel comic books and is closely associated with the Golden Age.

Character biography

Early life

Not to be confused with the later Human Torch (Johnny Storm, a member of the Fantastic Four), this Human Torch was an android created by Professor Phineas T. Horton for scientific purposes. At a press-conference unveiling, however, Horton's creation burst into flames when exposed to oxygen, and, with human-like sentience, personality, and awareness, rebelled against his creator. Public outcry led to the Torch's being sealed in concrete, though he escaped due to a crack that let oxygen seep in. While the Torch then inadverently caused parts of New York City to burn, he eventually learned to control his flame and vowed to help humanity.

The Human Torch was part of the first major crossover in comic book history, a two-issue battle between the Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner that appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #8-9.

He would join other heroes as war broke out in Europe, and later in the Pacific, to fight the Axis powers. Continuing to be featured in Marvel Mystery, the Torch was also quickly spun-off into his own title, Human Torch Comics (no cover date, but premiering Fall 1940 with issue #2, having taken over the numbering of the unsuccessful Red Raven #1). In his first issue, he acquired a young partner, Thomas "Toro" Raymond. Toro was the mutant son of two nuclear scientists whose exposure to radiation gave him the ability to control fire. The Human Torch also joined the police force as part of his "human cover" under the name James "Jim" Hammond. He would later drop the human name and serve the police force outright as the Human Torch, fighting villains and his off-and-on foe, the Sub-Mariner.

1950s revival

After appearing in a wide variety of comics during the 1940s, the Human Torch fell victim to a general slump in the superhero market and disappeared for most of the 1950s. He was revived during a short-lived attempt by Atlas Comics, Marvel's 1950s predecessor, beginning with Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953), which also brought back Captain America and the Sub-Mariner.

Here, it was revealed that the Torch had been placed in deactivation sleep in the Mojave Desert; an atomic bomb test awoke him. Learning that Toro had been captured by the Soviets and brainwashed, the Torch rescued his old partner and learned that the nuclear bomb's radiation had made his powers both much stronger and more unstable.

In order to keep Toro a young boy, the writers retconned (altered the history of) the character slightly, claiming the Torch met Toro after World War II rather than at the beginning. The revival lasted five issues. Later writers explained how fearing he would become a danger to those around him, the Torch flew back out into the desert and went nova, using up his energy reserve and effectively deactivating himself.

The Torch's stories during this brief revival were mostly drawn by Dick Ayers, though initially some panels featuring the Torch were redrawn by Burgos for style consistency.

Present-day continuity

The Torch was found by the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four Annual #4 (1966), having been reactivated by the Mad Thinker and then deactivated at his command when the Torch refused to kill the heroes. A storyline in The Avengers, dealing with the secret background of its android member the Vision, gradually revealed that the Torch's body had been found by a renegade robot named Ultron 5 and modified to become The Vision, his mind wiped of past memories and his powers altered with the coerced help of the Human Torch's original creator, Phineas Horton. The seed of this idea was planted by artist Neal Adams and worked out in detail in The Avengers #133-135 by writer Steve Englehart.

A later story by Roy Thomas in What If? Vol. 1, #4 (Aug. 1977), planted the suggestion that the Vision was actually made from a second android created by Horton, named Adam II. This freed up the Human Torch for a possible revival. This was followed up by John Byrne, who had the Scarlet Witch revive the Torch in Avengers West Coast, seeking answers about her husband, the Vision, and to help Ann Raymond, wife of Tom "Toro" Raymond. The Torch served the Avengers for many issues before losing his powers to save the former superheroine Spitfire in the 1990s series Namor. His powers gone, the Torch settled down with Ann Raymond.

He would appear later as CEO of Oracle, Inc., a company run by Namor. There he ran the mercenary team Heroes for Hire, and his mysterious connection to the Vision was furthered when Ant-Man (Scott Lang) discovered that his internal mechanisms were not merely similar, but identical to the Vision's. During a time-travel adventure, the Avengers subsequently discovered Immortus, the custodian of Limbo, had used a device called the Forever Crystal to diverge the Torch's personal timeline while keeping the two outcomes concurrent. Hence, the Human Torch is the Vision, but also continues to exist as himself.

When Oracle Inc. was closed down and Heroes for Hire disbanded, Hammond was soon asked to head Citizen V's V-Battalion upon the retirement of Roger Aubrey, the Destroyer. While on leave from the V-Battalion as field leader of the New Invaders, he became attached to Tara, a female android based on him, whom he came to regard as a daughter of sorts. He also renewed acquaintances with Spitfire, to the dismay of her beau, Union Jack (Joey Chapman). Tara was revealed to have been created by the Red Skull; overrides on her developing personality allowed the Invaders' enemies, the Axis Mundi, to use her as a weapon against the team. As Tara heated toward to overload to kill the Invaders, the Torch channeled her heat in order to prevent her meltdown. With his own systems then overloading, he flew high into the atmosphere, away from where he could cause harm, and detonated.

Physiology

The android Human Torch's anatomy has been used in these and other ways:

A "blood" transfusion gave Spitfire her powers, and a second transfusion decades later saved her life and restored her youth.
While travelling inside The Human Torch in miniturized form, Scott Lang temporarily gained a version of the Torch's powers after coming in contact with one of the cells that powers the Torch (an homage to a similar incident in which Henry Pym entered the Vision's body and was temporarily rendered intangible).
The Pyronanos, a type of nanomachine-based robots, were created using cells secretly extracted from Jim Hammond.

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