Human Torch (android)
The Human Torch, also known as Jim Hammond, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer and artist Carl Burgos, he first appeared in Marvel Comics #1, published by Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics.
The "Human" Torch was an android created by scientist Phineas Horton, under the tutelage of Victor Timely. 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 and adopted a secret identity as a police officer for the New York City Police Department.
The Human Torch was one of Timely Comics' three signature characters, along with Captain America and Namor. Like many superheroes, the Human Torch fell into obscurity by the 1950s. In 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby repurposed his name and powers for Johnny Storm, a member of the Fantastic Four who is a mutate instead of an android. Unlike Captain America and Namor, the Human Torch has had only a small presence in post-1950s comics and is closely associated with the Golden Age.
Publication history
Following his debut in the hit Marvel Comics #1, the Human Torch proved popular enough that he soon became one of the first superheroes to headline a solo title. Through the 1940s, the Torch starred or was featured in Marvel Mystery Comics, The Human Torch, and Captain America Comics #19, 21–67, 69, 76–77, as well as appearing in several issues of All Select Comics, All Winners Comics, and Young Allies Comics.Seeing a natural "fire and water" theme, Timely was responsible for comic books' first major crossover, with a two-issue battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner that spanned Marvel Mystery Comics #8–9—telling the same story from the two characters' different perspectives.
Marvel Mystery Comics ended its run with #92, and The Human Torch with #35, as superheroes in general had faded in popularity. Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman—who by the early 1950s had transitioned the company to its next iteration, as Atlas Comics—attempted to revive superheroes with the anthology comic Young Men #24–28, starring the Human Torch, along with the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. The solo title The Human Torch returned for issues #36–38 before again being canceled. The Torch also appeared in stories in the briefly revived Captain America Comics and Sub-Mariner Comics, and in the anthology Men's Adventures #28.
The original Human Torch debuted in present-day Marvel Comics continuity in Fantastic Four Annual #4.
Human Torch appeared as a regular character in the 2010–2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #23 through its final issue #37.
Starting in 2014, the Human Torch began appearing as a main character in the Marvel NOW! relaunch of The Invaders.
Fictional character biography
Early life
The Human Torch was an android created by Professor Phineas Horton in his lab in Brooklyn, New York for "scientific" purposes. At a press-conference unveiling, however, Horton's creation burst into flames when exposed to oxygen. The android showed human-like sentience, personality, and awareness, but the spectators feared that he posed a safety threat. Public outcry led to the Torch being sealed in concrete, though he escaped due to a crack that let oxygen seep in. The Torch then inadvertently set parts of New York City on fire and, after dealing with a mobster who wanted to gain advantage of his abilities for fire insurance, he eventually learned to control his flame, rebelled against his creator, and vowed to help humanity.The Torch later first encountered and battled Namor the Sub-Mariner.
He would join other heroes as war broke out in Europe, and later in the Pacific, to fight the Axis powers. In his solo title's debut issue, he acquired a young partner, Thomas "Toro" Raymond, the mutant son of two nuclear scientists whose exposure to radiation gave him the ability to control fire. The Human Torch also joined the New York City 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.
Both the Torch and the Sub-Mariner joined with Captain America and his partner Bucky as the core of the superhero team the Invaders, fighting Nazis during World War II. With the Invaders, he was soon brainwashed by the Red Skull and battled the Liberty Legion. He later gave a blood transfusion to Jacqueline Falsworth, giving her superhuman powers to become Spitfire.
The Torch, the Sub-Mariner, Captain America, and Bucky banded together with the Whizzer, and Miss America in post-war America in a subsequent super-team, the All-Winners Squad. In Marvel continuity, the Human Torch was responsible for the death of Adolf Hitler. When the Russians were invading Berlin, the Torch and Toro broke into Hitler's bunker just as he was about to commit suicide, to offer him the chance to surrender himself to the Americans rather than the Russians. Hitler lunged for a red switch, presumed by the Torch to be a bomb. In return, the Human Torch blasted fire at Hitler, burning him alive.
Sometime afterward, the Torch was 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.
To keep Toro a young boy, the writers retconned the character slightly, claiming the Torch met him after World War II rather than at the beginning of the war. 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.
Reactivation and joining Avengers West Coast
In modern-day continuity, the Mad Thinker reactivated the Torch to have him battle the Fantastic Four, deactivating him when the Torch refused to kill the heroes. In a storyline in the Avengers that dealt with the secret background of its android member, the Vision 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? #4, 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. In these stories, it was determined that the Vision had been made by Ultron out of the Torch's spare parts, which explained their physical similarities. 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 became the Chief of Security for Oracle, Inc., and would appear later as the 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 declared that his internal mechanisms were identical to the Vision's despite the differences in their appearance and powers. During the time-travel adventure Avengers Forever, 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. According to this explanation, 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. 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 overload to kill the Invaders, the Torch channeled her heat 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.
The Torch's remains were recovered by the United Nations and sequestered for research. They were subsequently stolen by professor Zhang Chin, who used the Torch's chemistry to create a virus weapon that caused infected persons to immolate. Captain America and the Sub-Mariner stopped the attack, and were able to pressure the U.S. Government into burying the Torch with full military honors.
The superhuman training camp created in the aftermath of the Civil War is named Camp Hammond, in the Torch's honor. A statue of Hammond on the grounds bears the inscription "JIM HAMMOND, THE FIRST OF THE MARVELS: He showed us that heroes can be made". When the camp was shut down by Norman Osborn, an angry mob tore down the statue.