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Human Torch
The Original Human Torch and Toro
Gender	Male
Publisher	Timely Comics, Marvel Comics
Origin	New York
First Appearance	Marvel Comics #1 (1940)
Creator(s)	Carl Burgos
Alter ego	Jim Hammond
Aliases
Abilities	Painlessly light himself afire at will, shoot fireballs, flight. The Golden Age Torch can control flame from afar.
Affiliations	All-Winner’s Squad, Invaders.

The Human Torch is a fictional comic book super-hero character owned by Marvel Comics. There have been two comic book characters called The Human Torch.

The Golden Age Human Torch

The first was the Original Human Torch, who was published by Timely Comics (which, in the 1960s, would become Marvel Comics) during the Golden Age of Comics. He was a “synthetic man” created by Dr. Phineas T. Horton. At first the Torch could not control his power, and would burst into flame whenever he had contact with air. When he did gain control of his flame, he found that he could control all fire, fly through the sky when ignited, and shoot fireballs. Not wanting to be exploited by his creator, the Human Torch (by the end of his first story) went out on his own. He took the name Jim Hammond, which he keeps to this day. He went on to fight Bill Everett’s Sub-Mariner in truly titanic battles (the fire versus water theme was very appealing), but later would fight along side him and Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, and other Timely Comics heroes against the Nazis as part of the All-Winners Squad and the Invaders. He also adopted a young mutant with powers similar to his, named Toro, who became his teen sidekick.

After an exciting career lasting throughout the 1940s, culminating with the Human Torch invading Hitler's infamous bunker at the end of the war, and burning Hitler alive. The Human Torch is finally defeated by the Crime Syndicate in 1949. He was rendered cromatose and buried beneath the Nevada desert. In 1953, was revived for a while by an atomic test. Reuniting with Toro, he was active again over the next two years. When the atomic blast that revived him made his flame flare out of control, he tried to burn his flame out for fear of hurting others. He ended up cromatose again under the desert.

The Torch was later revived by the West Coast Avengers team, whom he joined for a short time. He lost his powers saving the british heroine Spitfire, and took a more background role in superheroics. His old buddy Namor the Sub-Mariner made him CEO for his company Oracle. For a while he administered the business of Luke Cage and Iron Fist as operations manager in their business Heroes for Hire. There he regained a very limited use of his power before resigning. He works again with V-Battalion and joins a short-lived team called the New Invaders. He eventually sacrifices his life to prevent the Red Skull's plan from destroying the New Invaders.

The Silver Age Human Torch

Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
Gender	Male
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Origin	Glenville, Long Island, New York
First Appearance	Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Creator(s)	Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Alter ego	Johnny Storm
Aliases
Abilities	Can painlessly light himself afire at will, shoot fireballs, flight. Johnny can initiate a “nova blast” that would prevent him from using his power for a few minutes while he recovered.
Affiliations	Fantastic Four.

The second Human Torch is Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four, the group who played a large part in the Silver Age of Comics at Marvel Comics, and continues to be a major player in the Marvel Universe to this day. Johnny got his powers, along with his fellow team mates, when exposed to cosmic rays during an experimental space flight.

Johnny grew up in suburban Long Island with his physician father and his mother, as well as his older sister Sue. When he was nine his mother died in a car accident. despite this, Johnny sustained a deep interest in cars, and spent most of his leisure time in the company of auto mechanics, becoming an accomplished amateur mechanic himself by the time he was fifteen, and owned his first "hot rod" when he was sixteen, a birthday gift from his father.

When visiting his sister in California, he met her fiance Reed Richards. Reed was an aeronautical engineer, working on a project to launch the first rocket into space that would exceed the speed of light. Reed was frustrated since the project managers deemed him "too valuable" to risk in an experimental flight, despite the fact that he had designed and supervised the building of the ship himself. He, his sister Susan Storm, pilot Ben Grimm and Reed took an unauthorized test flight in the ship. Something went wrong, and the small crew was exposed to seemingly lethal amounts of cosmic radiation, forcing them to crash land, and giving all four of them incredible powers. Johnny gained the same abilities (more or less) as the original Human Torch from the 1940s. Reed convinced the four of them to become a team of adventurers known as the Fantastic Four.

Johnny is the youngest member (and unofficial brat) of the group, and distinguished himself early with his love of fast cards and pretty women. A mere high school student when he first received his powers, he has had many ill-fated romances. He has tried his hand at being an actor, a mechanic, a race car driver, and briefly a circus performer. Due to one crisis or another, has never been able to complete college. His brother-in-law Reed Richards and his sister Sue Storm (Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl), acting as surrogate parents, have tried their best to teach him responsibility over the years, but Johnny’s character remains a work in progress.