Firestrom

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The original firestorm was distinguished by his integrated dual identity. Highschool student Ronnie Raymond and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Martin Stein were caught in a nuclear accident that allowed them to fuse into the "nuclear man" Firestorm. Due to Stein's being unconscious during the accident, Raymond was prominently in command of the Firestorm form with Stein a voice of reason inside his mind, able to offer Raymond advice on how to use their powers without actually having any control over their dual form. Banter between the two was a hallmark of their adventures. Stein was initially completely unaware of their dual identity, leaving him concerned about his unusual disappearances and blackouts, but Ronnie was eventually able to convince him of the truth, allowing them to bond as separate individuals rather than as parts of a whole.
After the accident, Firestorm took to defending New York City from such threats as Multiplex and Killer Frost. The 1982 series began with the teenaged Raymond adjusting to his newfound role and later delved into the issue of the nuclear arms race. The Fury of Firestorm slowly developed the lives of Raymond and Stein, as the teenager struggled with high school and moved towards graduation and the scientist found a life outside the lab after learning about his bond with Raymond. A second nuclear hero, Firehawk, was added as a love interest for Firestorm in 1984.
Ronnie Raymond was killed during the Identity Crisis mini-series. During a battle with the villain Shadow Thief, Raymond was impaled by the Shining Knight's sword, which the Shadow Thief had stolen. The magical sword ruptured the nuclear man's containment field, resulting in Firestorm's body exploding and his residual essence funneling into the body of Jason Rusch, the new host of the Firestorm Matrix. His name was featured posthumously on Rip Hunter's chalkboard in Booster Gold (vol. 2) #1 in the statement "Ronnie Raymond + X = Firestorm".
Jason was a seventeen-year-old living in Detroit, who wanted nothing more than to escape his home city. He lived with his father who had turned abusive after he lost his hand in an industrial accident. His mother left his father sometime after the accident, leaving the young Jason with his father. With the loss of a job he needed to fund college, Jason turned to a local thug for money, accepting a job as a courier. It was on that job that he encountered the Firestorm matrix, searching for a new host after Ronnie Raymond's death. In the aftermath, Jason struggled to cope with his new identity and powers - a struggle that led to the death of the man who'd hired him. Eventually, Jason managed to develop a degree of control over his powers.Shortly after Jason's eighteenth birthday, a few weeks after Raymond's dissipation, Jason was kidnapped by the new Secret Society of Super Villains for use as a power source in a hidden complex. Freed when the new Secret Six launched a raid on the complex, Jason discovered two important things: he had a fellow prisoner, a mysterious girl named Gehenna, and his imprisonment by the Society had significantly depowered him.
Together, Jason and Gehenna escaped the complex. Gehenna disappeared in the aftermath, but telepathically promised Firestorm that she'd see him again.
Firestorm has the ability to rearrange the atomic and subatomic structure of matter, rearranging the very particles of matter & energy to create objects of different atomic characteristics of equal mass. He can not only change and transmute the atomic composition of an object (e.g., transmuting lead into gold of equal mass) but he can also change its shape. He initially could not, however, affect organic matter without painful, even lethal, feedback. As Jason Rusch became Firestorm however, that weakness had all but dissipated.
With old and new variations the organic limitation does not extend to his person as he can change himself at will, allowing him to regenerate lost and damaged tissue, boost his immune system, shapeshift, increase his physical capabilities and survive indefinitely without food, water and air. Much like a Green Lantern's limitations, Firestorm can only create items whose workings are understood by the "driver" of the Firestorm matrix. Unlike a Green Lantern's creations, Firestorm's alterations are permanent unless he reverses them.
Following Raymond's resurrection during Brightest Day, Firestorm gained the ability to switch "drivers" between Ronnie and Jason at will; before that only the active driver was in control, with the dormant consciousness only able to advise the other on what action to take rather than do anything themselves.
Firestorm has also demonstrated the ability to fly at fantastic (but unmeasured) speeds, to render himself intangible and thereby pass through solid objects harmlessly, to generate destructive and concussive blasts of fusion energy from his hands, to absorb radiation harmlessly, and superhuman levels of strength and resistance to injury. During the New 52 the powers of the Firestorm matrix remain the same but now not only can it be shared through multiple users at a time, but through the processes of nuclear fusion with another matrix wielder they can fuse into larger and stronger yet more unstable atomic entities with greatly amplified powers as apposed to the sum total of its individual parts. The entity formed between Ronnie and Jason when using the Matrix in tandem create a nuclear being called The Fury when they pool their resources.

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