Human Torch |
|
Portrayed by Justin Hartley |
Statistics |
Full Name |
Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm |
Age |
23 |
Height |
5'10" |
Build |
Slim Athletic |
Eyes |
Blue |
Hair |
Blond |
Factions |
Fantastic Four |
Occupation |
Adventurer |
Alignment |
Hero |
Claim to Fame
Flame On!
Reputation
As the Human Torch, Johnny has a fan following. As racer Johnny Storm, he also has a fan following. There is some overlap. Not to mention his social media channels. It's not a secret identity, after all, but if he puts on civilian clothes and sunglasses, Johnny can go relatively unnoticed some of the time.
Biography
A hand moves away from the camera and reveals a young, good looking blond man, like many, many others you find on YouVid — although this one, at least, isn't completely naked. Because it's not THAT kind of a video, thank you very much.
"So, I'm Johnny Storm, you may have heard of me. I have a list of questions from my subscribers, so let's get started."
He looks at an index card, reading out loud, "What was it like when you were growing up?"
He smiles a bit wistfully, blue eyes focusing past the camera.
"So, my father was Dr. Franklin Storm - you probably don't know about him, but he was a surgeon, and he invented some really amazing surgical devices that I have no idea what they do. My Mom, Mary Richards, well, she looked like the total trophy wife, but she invested all the money from what Dad made, and … well, basically, she's the reason we were really well off. But she died in a car wreck and that was bad and Dad fell apart the next year which was bad, so we went to live with my aunt who is awesome. The end."
He looks at the next card. "What got you interested in race driving?"
He leans back, stretching. A bit of fan-service, maybe, that's a pretty tight tee-shirt he's wearing.
"When I was in high school, I kinda got into trouble a lot. My counselor said I needed to do something to deal with my anger issues over Mom dying and then Dad going down the tubes. Which I will not talk about, so don't twurp to ask me about it. Anyway, I chose Race Driving. Auto shop was awesome. I built my first drag racer there. Yes, frodo@twurp, I do know that car racing is supposed to be my self-destructive tendencies trying to overcome my guilt at Mom dying by going out the same way she did. What. Ever. I like to go fast. Next question."
He leans forward again, and does a fancy card-flippy thing to bring up the third index card. "How did you get your powers?"
"Guys, I have TOLD you this one, but, what the ever, you must like how I tell it or something. OK, this is a longer story."
He leans back a little, hands behind his head.
"Sue got her inheritance when she turned 18, and put it to work right off. She had Mom's gift for investing and stuff — ok, skills, she studied hard. When I got mine, I gave her half of it to take care of for me. This is tradition, I've been doing it since we first went trick-or-treating; she gets half of my stuff so I'll still have it later. You should all have a sister as awesome as mine."
He stares into the distance again. "Anyway. I spent the half I had pretty fast, but it was an investment. My first two race cars, two racing bikes, and a jet boat. Things were a leeetle tight until I won and placed in a couple races, then it started getting better, a lot better. Money was good but more important, I was making my name. But then Sue called me with this invitation to ride in a space-ship."
Johnny points at the ceiling with his index finger, which bursts into flame. A little fiery rocket-ship launches out of the flame, somehow flying around without burning out. "A space ship. What can I say? Yes, of course. So it turns out the potential boyfriend is a brain trust of his own. Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor — how many PhDs does the guy have? A dozen? Overachiever. Anyway, Reed Richards." His voice rises with excitement, "Who had a freakin' AWESOME … wait, calm down. Breathe. OK. Who had an experimental spaceship and his idea of a date was to invite my sister to fly into space to observe some kind of space thing. So she invited me along since going into space alone with two guys she wasn't even related to? Not happening."
The little spaceship of flame starts orbiting Johnny's head, and a spinning oblong wispy flame launches from the still-flaming index finger, moving toward the ship.
"So anyway, Reed turns out to be a decent guy for a total nerd case, and his pilot Ben - the guy took himself too seriously for my tastes. But our little trip went weird. We got into orbit fine, and it was turning out to be a pretty awesome trip before the space thing blortched - that's a technical term - it blortched weird radiation all over us. Reed says the green rod-looking bolt things were an optical illusion and the cosmic rays weren't really visible. I say whatever they were it felt like having a sunburn through your whole body."
Little sparks - green sparks - spit from the whirling wisp of fire, and flash through the fire-rocket, and it turns green for a moment.
"So that was a date-killing moment, and besides the ship wasn't happy so Ben managed to kick on the retro-rockets and tried to pilot us to a safe landing." The flaming green rocket ship slams into Johnny's suddenly interposed palm, and crumples. He dissolves the fiery images.
"Of course, we all lived, and we each came out of it with a totally awesome power, except Ben who turned into a pet rock. OK, now I'll take real questions from my Twurple feed. Not from you, frodo."
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Character Details
Johnny has a bit of a temper, which is why he was nicknamed "Hothead" - but on top of that, he's known to selectively ignore any social nicety that doesn't suit his needs at the moment. Usually, that's 'do not flirt blatantly' but it can extend to other things - as long as it's not overtly breaking the law. He's self-confident to a fault, which often is translated as "brash". But he isn't stupid or unthinking; he knows it when he's stepping on someone's toes, metaphorically or physically. This also comes off as egotistical. Whatever.
He is perhaps too fond of practical jokes, especially on Ben Grimm, but he is careful not to go overboard. He figures Ben needs to be distracted from his moody, grumpy, mopey, and the other four dwarves, attitude.
He's also somewhat addicted to speed, thrills, and when his flirting pays off, recreational interpersonal interactions. But that's only when he isn't in a real relationship; if he's with someone, he's almost stupidly loyal. And assumes they are too.
Flame ON! |
Fire body — Johnny's body becomes a living plasma, though it remains almost a solid in configuration, and he has to be more solid to handle things and carry people around. In this form he emits heat and light similar to a bonfire of his size, by default. He can intensify or decrease the intensity of this effect between 'cool flame' like an alcohol burner, merely 437 F, or up to his 'nova flame' (briefly) at many millions of degrees. Normally, it's about 1600 degrees. However, his control of the thermal gradient is so precise that he can stand next to someone with his flame at up to 5000 degrees F and they won't feel anything more than slightly warmer if he doesn't want them to. This does require concentration to manage, and he has trained himself to be aware and keep control even in stress and chaos, but still he sometimes loses that concentration. Note that he can selectively enflame and reflesh parts of his body at will. While his body is nearly-solid, he can be shot, stabbed, etc. and while it will hurt and cause him temporary damage, on reforming to flesh, any damage would be healed. This isn't useful as a way to heal himself; if he starts out with an injury, flaming on and reverting do not make it go away. |
Fireproof |
It's not that hot — Johnny can absorb or deflect any heat or plasma based attack (including to some degree electrical attacks when their damage is high-energy or thermal) up to the maximum he can generate - which is in the millions of degrees. This does NOT require him to be flamed-on, but it's likely to cause him to burst into flame if he absorbs too much energy in the process. |
Fire Aura |
Fiery armor — Because he controls the distance at which his heat is "hot" to others, Johnny has a sort of 'shell' of thermal energy a few centimeters from his body. Used defensively, Johnny can make the shell so intensely hot that it will melt, vaporize, or burn away nearly any ordinary matter used to attack him — bullets, knives, mosquitoes — and can even disrupt and dissipate some coherent energy attacks, such as lasers. For instance, plasma blasts, being made of constrained plasma, are simply absorbed into his body. However, he's careful not to let this aura burn people or things that he doesn't want to burn. This requires him being flamed on. |
Fire Sculpting |
Thermokinesis and Pyrokinesis — Johnny can control and shape heat and flame especially, moving them into or away from things, though he can't use that effect to cool things down to the freezing point of water. He has, if he can concentrate on it, absolute control of the shape and temperature of flames around him for at least a mile. He needs to see them initially but once he has control he can sense them. He can also sense thermal gradients around his body within a few meters, which is how he avoids burning people and things behind him. This is most reliable when he's flamed on. This power allows him to extinguish fires by absorbing them into his body, but over a certain threshold will cause him to flame on if he hasn't already, and he may be forced to release the excess thermal energy in a high-powered blast. He can also control the amount of light he emits, from "candle" to "high intensity spotlight" levels. |
Fireballs and Other Flaming Weapons |
Bolts, lassos, handcuffs, whips, chains — Johnny can use his flame-shaping to create weaponry. He can throw bolts of flame, balls of fire that explode out with force, create fiery lassos, and so forth. When using this against criminals, restraints are of the 'not hot unless you pull on them' variety, while the bolts and fireballs may sting or even explode with force, but usually do not actually cause burns. However, he can and does melt rubber, asphalt, iron, crack concrete, and otherwise disable their vehicles, tools, and make their environment uncooperative. He can also make a fire 'burn smokey' and control the smoke to make a smokescreen if necessary. |
Flight |
Need for Speed Relieved — The best most awesome part of having the power to turn into fire is that Johnny can fly - his plasma body can be moved through the sky by pushing flame through his feet and legs like a rocket, and he can even float on the thermals. He can exceed the speed of sound very briefly (because the shockwave tends to put out his flame) but his normal cruising speed is between 70 and 150 MPH. He can, by turning off the flame on his arms, carry one or even two people, as long as he and they can hold on - he can't easily lift more than 250 pounds at once with his own strength, though he can push with much more force, approximately the same as the Rocket-Dyne F1 which is capable of 1,522,000 pounds-force (6.77 MN) - the Saturn V lifter used five of these. However, Johnny can only push that hard for a few minutes before he's exhausted. |
Nova |
Not the girlfriend — There's some disagreement about how realistic Johnny's "Nova" effect is, but he doesn't care. He can put all his energy into a single burst of extreme heat and energy. This burst is in the several hundred million degrees range, lasting one to two seconds. He usually falls unconscious or is stunned immediately after a full-body burst, but can localize it to a hand and hold it for tens of seconds before he has to stop. Using Nova effects burns through his energy very fast, and he's both exhausted and hungry for hours afterwards, usually unable to flame on until he's recovered. |
Combat |
Having been a troublemaker in school, Johnny did learn how to fight. He can still handle himself against one or two other guys, and is taking a no-named-system self-defense course so he doesn't have to rely on burnination alone. However, he's actually trained for the last two years to use his powers offensively and defensively in combat situations. His aim is good, his awareness of people around him in fights is good, and his restraint (not using lethal heat-constructs on people who would be melted or worse by them) is extremely good. |
Johnny is a Race Car Driver |
Having driven professionally for three years for a big-name sponsored Formula racing team, Johnny started his own racing team when he got his inheritance, with himself and a few other members driving and maintaining the vehicles. He also expanded into motorcycle and jet-boat racing, but sold the jet-boat and (depending on how busy the Fantastic Four find themselves) he is very likely to have another driver filling in for him. |
Acrobat |
Stunt flyer even — Johnny took a bit of gymnastics as a kid, and got back into it to improve his abilities as a flier. This translates as him being very aware of his body and his surroundings and able to adjust his balance and movement quickly and accurately. Even when he's not on fire he's decently agile. Which is good or he'd be constantly tripping over Ben's ginormous immense feet. |
Costume |
Fantastic Four costumes are made of a Reed creation called unstable molecules. The design makes the uniforms adapt to the unique power-set of each member. For instance, Johnny’s suit converts to a plasma-field that integrates with his body when the Torch flames on - and more importantly, it reverts to a suit when he flames off, so he isn't left completely naked. The costumes are extremely durable as well, which is a good thing because Johnny is hard on clothes. |
Technology |
Reed has created all sorts of technology for team use. The Fantasticar, Fantasti-Flares (Johnny doesn't use those), unstable molecules, yatta yatta. But now for the important part: Johnny has one of his race cars in the Baxter Building where he can use Reed's tools to make it go faster. |
Baxter Building |
There is no greater advantage in New York City than having a decently sized apartment in Manhattan, unless you count one that's rent free. |
Storm Front Racing |
Not so much an advantage in super-heroing, but definitely an advantage in keeping his name out front in racing, Johnny's got a small but effective team engaged in Formula racing and motorcycle racing. They make enough to sustain the team, and Johnny gets to keep his hand in racing. |
Trust Fund, Baby! |
When he gave his sister half of his inheritance to manage so he wouldn't waste it all with ill-considered things, Johnny ended up with some decent investments, and it's been growing fairly quickly. But he can't really touch this without Sue's permission, even as an adult, and that's intentional on his part. It's there for emergencies, or for when it gets big enough (hah!) that he can live comfortably as he likes, without working on keeping it going. |
Allies |
Besides his family, you know, the Fantastic Four? He's also gotten enough of a name that he can ask for help as an exchange of favors from other super-types. Of course there might be a brief mandatory misunderstanding-fight, but that's usually just a warm-up for the real fight when the vills show up. |
Impulse Control Issues |
Remember that 'temper' thing under Personality? Johnny can be quick to react, without necessarily looking at the situation, and this has been known to come back and bite him. Or other people. |
Fame Fame Fame |
The whole 'no secret identity' thing means it's sometimes difficult to hide. With an active disguise, Johnny can sometimes hide out, but he's a bit too egotistical to pull that off for very long, and as a result he tends to have no privacy way too often. This is, surprisingly, not so much of a problem with the ladies; he learned before he got powers to say up-front that he wasn't into anything permanent on a first or second date, and that Precautions Would Be Taken if the dates got to the Interesting stage. He is constantly taking his own selfies, and he gets any date to swear that she's over 18 on his video channel, just in case. Nevertheless, villains and other competition may still take advantage of his too-public life. |
Enemies List |
Along with the collective enemies from their adventures as the Fantastic Four, Johnny's "bad habit" of flying around the city looking for trouble when he's bored, results in his collecting his own personal enemies too. MOST of these are just ordinary, but there's a number of costumed, sometimes powered, generally doofus-powered bad guys who have it in for Johnny. |
Feed the Fire |
Johnny does not create fire from nothing. He does get much more energy out of it than seems reasonable, but he has to eat at least twice as much as an ordinary person. He normally does this by eating higher-fat foods, or Reed makes some kind of really gross "efficient-tasting" energy shake, but in general, he has to eat. If he doesn't, it gets harder to flame on. |
Fire Extinguishers |
Holding himself in the plasma state is actually kind of tricky. He's been extinguished by things as simple as fire extinguishers, and as complex as Halon gas traps, but basically, if someone has a trap or a trick prepared it's sometimes too easy to put his fire out. |
Relationships
Image |
Name |
Relation |
Codename |
Image |
Name |
Relation |
Codename |
|
Victor von Doom |
Big Jerk |
Doctor Doom |
|
H.E.R.B.I.E. |
Robot Butler |
H.E.R.B.I.E. |
|
Susan Storm |
Big Sister |
Invisible Woman |
|
America Chavez |
Just BFF's |
Miss America |
|
Reed Richards |
chose his own name |
Mister Fantastic |
|
Ben Grimm |
Pet Rock |
Thing |
Notes
Character Gallery
Logs
Barn Raising
December 23 2014: A strange psychic beacon calls several heroes together
(log: 20141223-barn-raising | tags: human_torch luke_cage midnighter rowan | posted: 13 Jan 2015 10:59)
A Slice Of Pie
November 30, 2014: America and Johnny have a calm moment at the Baxter Building
(log: 20141130-a-slice-of-pie | tags: ff human_torch miss-america | posted: 01 Dec 2014 00:02)
Day of the (Robotic) Tentacle
November 28 2014: HYDRA attacks the New York Port Authority building with… er… a machine. Thing.
(log: 20141128-day-of-the-robotic-tentacle | tags: human_torch hunter iceman miss-america | posted: 30 Nov 2014 11:56)
Doughnuts and Diner Food
October 31 2014: Four people meet on Sara Pezzini's beat to exchange news and catch up.
(log: 20141031-doughnuts-and-diner-food | tags: aspect human_torch partisan witchblade | posted: 01 Nov 2014 09:14)
The Brotherhood Of The Golden Pants
October 02, 2014: Enter, Booster Gold. Guest appearances by Johnny Storm and Vorpal
(log: 20141002-the-brotherhood-of-the-golden-pants | tags: booster_gold gotham human_torch vorpal | posted: 02 Oct 2014 14:59)
The Demon in Harlem
August 22 2014: Fenris interrupts yet another summoning, this time with help, and a complication.
(log: 20140822-the-demon-in-harlem | tags: corvinus fenris human_torch phobos | posted: 24 Aug 2014 07:50)
The Ghostly Ghoblin Strikes Again!
August 4, 2014: The Ghostly Ghoblin has a beef to pick with the manager. Will he get to say his piece? Continue and find out.
(log: 20140804-the-ghostly-ghoblin-strikes-again | tags: deadpool ghostly_ghoblin-npc human_torch new_warriors stargirl taskmaster tempest | posted: 04 Aug 2014 21:10)
Lunch At Merlini's
August 8, 2014: Vorpal needs food badly. Encounters Fire Elemental. Shoots the Food.
(log: 20140803-lunch-at-merlinis | tags: human_torch vorpal | posted: 04 Aug 2014 06:46)
Spider-Friends Vs. Big Wheel!
July 11, 2014: Spider-Man gets a little help from some old friends!
(log: 20140711-spider-friends-vs-big-wheel | tags: human_torch iceman spider-man | posted: 13 Jul 2014 22:28)
They Call This Shopping?
June 20th, 2014: Starfire is bearing gifts for Roy and Lian, while Johnny shops for ladies and sets his sights on poor Kara.
(log: 20140620-they-call-this-shopping | tags: arsenal human_torch starfire supergirl | posted: 09 Jul 2014 17:22)
He's Got To GO!
June 14, 2014: A big three-headed fire-breathing monster softens up New York for the menacing Mole Man!
(log: 20140614-he-s-got-to-go | tags: hawkeye human_torch maria_hill sentinel supergirl wonder_woman zatanna | posted: 15 Jun 2014 04:37)
At The Car Show
June 6th, 2014: A car show, an impossible dog, and the Human Torch runs across a very dog-friendly thief.
(log: 20140607-at-the-car-show | tags: gray human_torch | posted: 08 Jun 2014 00:16)
Gang Land (Red White and) Blues
May 23, 2014: Cap lives in a noisy neighborhood with gang boss fights. Some unusual NY Police, a guy from Checkmate, and even a random Human Torch show to help.
(log: 20140523-gang-land-blues | tags: arsenal captain_america human_torch paul_manning witchblade | posted: 31 May 2014 04:37)
Darkness Rising - Part 4
April 11, 2014: As New York shifts and warps around them, a handful of heroes find themselves in a broken reality that's right out of a steampunk horror story. What to do? TRIUMPH! Or, perhaps, die.
(log: 20140411-darkness-rising-part-4 | tags: darkness_rising domino evelyn hawkeye human_torch lunaire mimic superman witchblade wonder_woman | posted: 13 May 2014 03:24)
Darkness Rising - Part 3
April 11, 2014: As New York shifts and warps around them, a handful of heroes find themselves in a broken reality that's right out of a steampunk horror story.
(log: 20140411-darkness-rising-part-3 | tags: darkness_rising evelyn human_torch witchblade wonder_woman | posted: 13 May 2014 03:00)
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