THE ORIGINAL HUMAN TORCH

 

HUMAN TORCH I

Real Name: The Human Torch

First Appearance: Marvel Comics (Vol. 1) #1, October 1939

Powers: The original Human Torch began his existence in 1939 in a laboratory by Dr. James Bradley (the mutant who later became known as Dr. Nemesis) and Professor Phineas T. Horton, one of the pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics. The culmination of their research was an android who mimicked virtually all of the functions of a human being, including independent thought, the capacity for creative intelligence, unlimited self-motivated activity, and human-like emotions, but was composed entirely of synthetic materials. The one flaw in the android's design concerned the photoelectric solar cells which covered every square inch of his body and served as his power source. The cells were too volatile and caused the epidermis of the android to burst into flame upon contact with air but without harming the android itself.

Against Dr. Bradley's advice, Dr. Horton revealed the Torch's existence to the public at a press conference in November of 1939, at which he demonstrated how the Torch would burst into flame if he introduced a small amount of oxygen into the transparent container in which he was confined. The news media proclaimed the Torch to be a potential menace, and so Horton buried the android in his supposedly airtight tube within cement until such time as he could find a way either to prevent the android from bursting into flame or learn how to control its flame. After being revived, the Torch learned to control his flame mentally and adopted both his super-hero identity and a human name, "Jim Hammond".

The original Human Torch possesses the mental ability to control ambient heat energy and the physical ability to envelop his entire body or portions of his body with fiery plasma without harm to himself. (Plasma is a super-heated stated of matter such as exists in the atmosphere of stars). Ordinarily, when aflame, the Human Torch is enveloped by a low intensity flame of low-level plasma (reddish, approximately 780° Fahrenheit), which ranges from 1 to 5 inches from his body. He can, however, generate much higher levels and flames about himself. The Torch refers to his highest, hottest levels of plasma that he can create as his "nova flame." The exact temperatures that his "nova flame" can attain are not known.

At an average rate of expenditure of energy, the Torch can stay aflame for about 16.8 hours. In his younger days, he could only maintain his flame for much briefer periods, and sometimes exhausted it while in combat. He cannot maintain his "nova flame" for as long a time as he can maintain his ordinary flame. At one point after World War II, the Torch was doused with a Soviet intelligence-manufactured chemical known as Solution X-R. The Torch's flame was doused, he was left paralyzed, and then buried the Torch beneath the Nevada desert. However, he was accidentally buried beneath an atomic testing site. In December of 1953, the blast of an atomic bomb dropped on the site freed the Torch, and the radiation reactivated the Torch and supercharged his powers, allowing him to escape. This also gave him a a certain control over radiation, as well as heat and flame, letting him produce atomic fire.

The Torch can release all of his body's stored energy in one intense, omni-directional "nova-burst," which can reach about 1,000,000° F, and which is similar to the heat-pulse of a nuclear warhead detonation, with an area of total devastation of about 900 feet in diameter. The Torch has claimed that he can destroy a small moon with his nova-burst. This violent discharge uses his entire reserve of energy (except for that which is necessary to keep him alive) at once, entirely exhausting his flame power. He generally requires at least 12 hours to recover entirely from such a feat. Sometime after his revival, though, the Torch's flame began to increase out of his control, and so he journeyed back out into the desert, releasing all his firepower at once and deactivating himself.

After eventually being revived in the present day, Jim Hammond lost his powers after giving a near-total transfusion of his artificial blood to Spitfire. He retained his immunity to heat and burning, but could not generate flame himself. The Torch's powers slowly returned over time. First, he was capable of generating a single fireball in the palm of his hand, then cause it to fly around at high speeds under his remote direction. Later, he had more fully developed pyrokinetic abilities. Only just before his death did he regain the power to fly and ignite his entire body in fiery plasma. After his return, the Human Torch maintained his standard abilities until an encounter with the Squadron Supreme cost him his flame. Instead, he continued to operate as the Human Reactor, able to generate and manipulate radiation but without his flame accompanying it.

The Human Torch can generate shapes composed of fire from any point on his body. He usually employs his hands to "sculpt" the flames. He can form fire into long streams, spheres, or even more complex shapes like letters in skywriting. These flames-objects will only remain their shapes as long as he concentrates upon them. The objects will only burn about 3 minutes before expiring unless the Torch continues to infuse them with energy. The temperature of these fiery projections is generally around 2,800° F (near the melting point of iron).

The Human Torch's plasma has a high hydrogen content and is surrounded by an exuded cloud of mono-atomic hydrogen atoms. This hot cloud provides enough positive buoyancy for him to float. With mental stimulation of his flame, he can provide enough lift to carry 180 pounds. By forming a jet from his feet, directed behind him, he can achieve speeds up to at least 140 miles per hour.

The Human Torch can mentally control the ambient heat energy within his immediate environment, even when he himself is not aflame. He can reduce objects' temperatures (if they are in a normal range for existing on Earth's surface) to about 30° F, raise them to several hundred degrees, or extinguish open flames. His radius of influence is about 80 feet. The heat energy he takes from the environment is absorbed into his own body. If he takes in a critical amount while he is not aflame, he will become aflame. There are unknown limits to the amount of flame he can absorb into his own body harmlessly while he is himself aflame.

The Human Torch's flame is supported by the presence of oxygen, and thus is extinguished in low air pressure or a vacuum. The Torch's flame can be extinguished by smothering materials, such as water, sand, fire-fighting foam, and heat-resistant blankets, unless his flame is at such an intensity that it immediately vaporizes such materials on contact. If hit with small amounts of water, up to about five gallons, the Torch can turn it to steam with relatively little effort. More water than that could extinguish his flame at its normal level, and he would have to wait until he could evaporate the residual moisture before re-ignition. The Torch's light output is mostly in the infrared and infrared region of the spectrum and is invisible to the unaided eye. Less than 10% of his total power output is in the visible portion of the spectrum. Thus, the Torch, when aflame, is dimmer than one would expect of so powerful an energy source.

The Human Torch is unaffected by heat and flames, including his own, even when part of him is aflame and the rest of him is not. His flesh cannot be scalded or burned by any heat source whose level is below that of his maximum output.