Author's note: This battle and all others I post here are transfers from my DeviantArt page where I already have them written up. I am formatting them according to wiki guidelines to share them here as well.
Pre-Fight Prelude[]
Molecules: Groups of atoms bonded together to make up everything that is. In fiction, they act as one hell of a power source to control and much can be done with them-especially in the hands of these two atom-bending heroes:
Like Samantha Eve Wilkins AKA Atom Eve from Invincible.
And Ronnie Raymond AKA Firestorm, the Nuclear Man from DC Comics.
Atom Eve[]
Bio[]
Name: Samantha Eve Wilkins
Alias: Atom Eve
Height: 5’8
Weight: 125 lbs.
First appearance: “Invincible” issue no. 2 (February 2003)
At first glance, Samantha “Eve” Wilkins seems on the surface to be your typical popular girl in high school. But in reality, Eve’s life has been anything but ordinary. Born to Elias Brandyworth and an unnamed mother, Eve’s powers would emit out of control, often manifesting pink energy through her mother’s eyes. While Eve’s mother died as a result of the complications from Eve’s powers, Eve herself survived. A man named Steven Erickson attempted to go to the hospital to retrieve the infant Eve to use as a weapon, but Brandyworth faked Eve’s death by switching her out with the miscarried fetus of another couple named Betsy and Adam Wilkins, thus foiling Erickson’s attempt to complete his mission and Eve was adopted by the Wilkins couple.
Throughout her childhood, Eve would see her father Brandyworth, always watching her from a distance. Her first word was CH2OH (hydroxomethyl). As a toddler, she demonstrated highly advanced knowledge of science when helping a babysitter with his homework. This incredible intellect resulted in Eve being admitted to a school for young scholars, but she got kicked out due to not meeting their standards. One day after an argument with her adoptive father, Betsy Wilkins delivered a piece of chicken for dinner to Eve’s disgust. Eve discovered her transmutation powers for the first time when she transformed her piece of chicken into a burger.
Eve soon practiced her powers on various objects such as a baseball bat, clothes, and more. Designing a costume and taking on the alias Atom Eve, she made her crimefighting debut when stopping an animal thief. It was after this when Eve notices and meets her real father, Brandyworth. Eve’s father reveals that she has her powers because of him, with Brandyworth revealing that Eve was going to be a weapon for the US government. However, Brandyworth began to fall in love with Eve’s mother and this convinced him to not allow Eve to be used as a weapon.
Brandyworth tries warning Eve not to use her powers in public out of fear of attracting the government’s attention, but she flies off without having paid attention to her father’s warning. Years later, Eve would don a mask and clash with the supervillain known as Killcannon. Brandyworth appears again to repeat the same warning he tried to give Eve before, but she brushed it off by pointing to her use of a mask. Brandyworth wishes Eve a happy birthday before she goes off to a crime scene. At this crime scene, Eve arrives to see 4 children holding a group of people hostage.
After Eve touched down, one of the four attempts to touch Eve, only for his hand to be removed. The four have the advantage as the battle continues. Eve manages to briefly escape until Phase 2 catches her. The four continue their attack as she gets away, revealing they’re holding Brandyworth hostage. The battle continues and Eve reveals that her powers don’t work on living matter.
Brandyworth reveals that this was a handicap by design: Eve would be omnipotent if her powers worked on living matter and thus mental blocks were installed. The four attackers disintegrated and Steven Erickson arrives to take Eve and Brandyworth into custody. Eve tried asking Erickson to let Brandyworth go, but the former intended to kill the latter. After a brief struggle, Erickson kills Brandyworth and also reveals that Eve’s real mother is alive shortly before shooting her. Enraged, the emotional stress causes Eve to override her mental blocks and she uses her increased power to erase the memories of Steven Erickson and his assistant Rodgers. Sad for the fate of her real parents and arguing with her upset adoptive ones after she went home, Eve rushes to her room and uses her power to change the picture of her adoptive family to show her real parents instead out of grief for the two.
For high school, Eve would attend Reginald Vel Johnson High School. During a second battle against Killcannon, Eve meets Rex Sloan AKA Rex Splode for the first time. The duo take down Killcannon together and Rex asks Eve for advice on his mission. Inviting Rex to stay the night with her and going to bed with him, Eve woke up the next morning and learned that Rex headed to the Pentagon. Rex returned to Eve’s room, revealing he killed his government handler/cruel adoptive father Radcliffe and destroyed the house he lived in.
Eve comforted Rex, but panicked out of fear the government would try to salvage what was left. Arriving on the scene, they noticed that none other than Steven Erickson was salvaging the scene. Atom Eve and Rex Splode commenced a battle with the government officials, Eve drawing their fire while Rex tried to destroy the building, succeeding in doing so by charging a pipe to explode. Erickson attempts to recruit Rex to work for him, but Rex refuses and retorted that he only needed Eve. The two escape to Art Rosenbaum’s shop.
After a comment Rex makes, Eve mentions that Erickson killed her real father before she storms off. The two make up and head to Eve’s house, where she makes Rex food. Rex soon leaves afterwards and Eve finds out that Rex intended to kill his biological parents for selling him to Radcliffe. By the time Eve arrived, Rex decided against going through with his plan and they both walk away. After this, the two team up to stop a Lizard League operation.
Later on, Atom Eve and Rex Splode have joined the Teen Team, a group of younger superheroes led by Robot. During a battle against the pair of supervillains known as the Mauler Twins, the Teen Team first met Mark Grayson AKA Invincible. The next day at school, Mark Grayson approached Eve and revealed his secret identity to her. Eve would go on a mission with Rex afterwards to investigate an incident in which students at her high school were being turned into human bombs, later being informed by Robot of the discovery her physics teacher David Hiles is responsible. Hiles attempts to kill Mark and Eve by turning himself into a living bomb, but Mark flies him to Antarctica to stop him. Following this, she learns Robot was planning to try out for the new Guardians of the Globe. But later that same night, Eve discovered that Rex cheated on her with their teammate Dupli-Kate. Flying to Mark’s house to tell him what happened, she lets him comfort her until the two are interrupted by Mark’s mother. Eve soon quits the Teen Team as well.
At this time, Eve either operated on her own solo missions or teamed up with Invincible. She would also fly in to see Rex and Dupli-Kate, knowing their history. After Mark and Eve stop a Lizard League operation, Robot approaches her and asks if she wants to join the new Guardians of the Globe, but Eve flies off upset. Around nighttime that same day, Eve went to see Mark-only to find him spending time with Amber Bennett, who also went to their school-before flying away in disappointment. Sometime later, Eve witnessed Mark's battle with his father Omni Man. Planning to see Mark after the brutal beatdown, she finds Mark's best friend William Clockwell doing the same thing, and learning that William is also aware of Mark's identity.
Going to Robot to see if he can find Mark's location, he agrees and she learns Mark will soon be in action. Atom Eve and Invincible assist the Guardians against an invading force of the Flaxans, an alien race from another dimension where time moves faster. The Flaxans retreat upon discovering to their shock that they age faster on Earth. The next day, William reveals to Mark that he and Eve are dating. Eve and Invincible assist the Guardians again in stopping the second Flaxan invasion attempt before the aliens retreat again, and the invasion causes Eve, William, Mark and Amber's high school graduation to be pushed back. William asks Eve to take him flying, much to her annoyance. Mark would later assist Eve in clearing debris from the invasion. Mark arrives late to the graduation ceremony and Eve soon breaks up with William.
Showing up to Mark's room much to his surprise, Eve tells him that she decided to quit being a superhero, explaining when Mark asked why that her powers could be used for more than crime-fighting. Eve hugs Mark before leaving to head to Africa, after trying to tell Mark her feelings for him but then hesitating at the last second. Arriving in Africa, Eve would use her powers to help the local villagers through means such as turning barren farmland into fertile fields. But Eve's retirement from the superhero life did not last long, as she would return to help the Guardians fight off an invading threat named Omnipotus. The group attempt to stop him until Black Samson arrives, having regained his powers after falling into a coma. Eve later gave Mark her location in Africa, hoping to see him. Mark soon arrives, with Amber in tow, and tells her stories about meeting his father Nolan again after their battle, battling the Viltrumites and meeting his half-brother Oliver, to Eve's surprise. Mark and Eve stop a stampede of animals and stop for a meal with Amber before Mark has to leave after he received a threatening phone call from Angstrom Levy.
Heading back to the United States bringing Amber with her, she and Eve arrive to find Mark's house destroyed due to Mark's battle with Levy. Relieved to see Mark alive, the two embrace and-much to the surprise of both-kiss. Mark and Eve are soon called by GDA director Cecil Stedman to assist in defending Earth from an invasion of the parasitic aliens known as the Sequids. The two joined with Black Samson, Robot, Monster Girl, and Immortal for this mission. The group eventually succeeds with assistance from the Martians before the Guardians had to leave. Eve went to see Rex after he had a near-death experience from an encounter with the Lizard League, learning from him that Mark and Amber were no longer together.
Heading to Mark's dorm to ask where she and him stood in their relationship, Eve reveals her feelings to Mark, with the latter revealing that he was aware of how she felt due to meeting an alternate older version of Eve who told him the same thing. When she asks how Mark feels about her, Mark says he is unsure, prompting Eve to leave to Africa again before Mark could explain further. Mark later attempts to go see Eve until the two are called by Cecil to stop the supervillain Doctor Seismic, during which Eve and Mark were knocked out and captured by the villain. The two were saved by Darkwing II (the former sidekick to the original) and the Reanimen. Following the battle, Mark revealed he knew about Cecil covering up the incidents in Midnight City (during which Darkwing II began killing anyone who committed a crime) and wanted to get answers. After this, Mark reveals to Eve that he thought of her when Cecil found his weakness. She grabs Mark's hand and kisees him again, officially beginning their relationship.
Eve soon moved back in with her mother, continued helping the former Guardians members that left the team, and went on a date with Mark before he had to go to the future. When he returned to the present, Mark took Eve on several more dates around the world before the two finally consummated their relationship for the first time. Oliver soon arrived at Mark's house the next morning before Mark received a call from Amber (who had been physically abused by her new boyfriend) and had to leave, later revealing the details to Eve when he got back. Eve later visited a prison and used the place to establish a private security firm and naming it Invincible Inc. after Mark, making it a new business the two would run. The intent of Invincible Inc. was to provide a way for people to contact Invincible directly for help, and Mark's first job given to him by Eve for the firm was stopping a Pentagon scientist named Powerplex, who sought vengeance against him, successfully taking down and apprehending the vilain.
Mark and Eve would receive their first direct call for Invincible Inc., learning that alternate versions of Invincible from other realities are leveling cities around the planet. Eve attempts to stop one of the alternate Marks and succeeds. She and Mark regroup and assist the superhero team Cyberforce in taking down another one. They succeed in killing the alternate Mark, but Eve gets injured during the battle, after which Mark takes her to the hospital.
Two days later after recovering, Eve wakes up from her coma to see Mark fighting a figure who the news outlets believe to be Nolan returned to Earth. However, this wasn't Omni Man, it was Conquest, the second strongest of all Viltrumites, second in strength and power only to Grand Regent Thragg. Worried that Mark may be killed during the battle, Eve releases her medication tubes, accidentally revealing in the process to her parents that Mark is Invincible. Asking Cecil to send her to Mark's location, Eve soon arrives. Mark asks Eve not to interfere in the fight, only for Conquest to break his leg. Eve attempts to restrain Conquest in a bubble, but this fails. Conquest pummels and impales Eve, nearly killing her. Mark catches Eve and sets her down before continuing his fight with Conquest. During this, Eve's near-death experience overrides her mental blocks and she recovers from her wounds. Standing back up, naked and emanating greater power, Eve unleashes a powerful blast which hits Conquest and causes him to lose a great deal of muscle and skin tissue before passing out. Conquest attempts to kill Eve again, but she wakes up later to find out that Mark was alive and killed Conquest after she lost consciousness. The two were retrieved by the Guardians and Mark is taken to the hospital to heal from his injuries. Before the two could have an intimate moment in Mark's hospital room, the two are interrupted by the arrival of Mark's mother Debbie, who tells Mark to stop being a superhero after his brutal fight with Conquest. Mark and Eve would attend Rex's funeral afterwards, following his death during the Invincible War before the two left.
Following some rebuilding of the cities that got leveled in the Invincible War, a family dinner with Eve and her mother gone wrong and coming to an agreement to the Stronghold Prison warden for Invincible Inc. to provide its services for free, Eve notices her powers acting up. Once she and Mark arrived to her room, Eve soon locks herself in her bathroom and learns-surprise surprise-her powers are acting up because she is pregnant with Mark's child. Noticing that Eve is acting different, Mark asks if she is okay, with Eve claiming everything is fine. Mark and Eve soon head to stop an attack against a nuclear power plant by an alien called Universa at the request of Cecil. Following this, Eve would meet with William and tell him about her pregnancy, saying that while she always wanted kids, she wasn't ready for one at such a young age.
Eve would go to see Mark and planned to tell him about her pregnancy, but the two were interrupted by the arrival of Nolan and Allen the Alien, who both asked for Mark's help in the Viltrumite War. Following a decision to send Oliver to settle a shopping mall invasion instead of Mark and embracing him once more before his departure, Eve continued running Invincible Inc. with the assistance of fellow superhero Bulletproof. Mark returned 10 months later after fighting the Viltrumites, revealing that her powers were back and that she feared Mark had died. Eve was still afraid to tell Mark about her pregnancy.
After the Viltrumite War ended, Mark was running jobs for Invincible Inc. while Eve went to speak with Mark's mother. Following this and getting upset after an evening dinner with Immortal, Dupli-Kate and their two children, Mark notices she's upset and asks what's wrong. Eve soon reveals after enough persistence from Mark that she had aborted their baby. Mark apologizes for leaving her alone for the length of time he was gone and the two embrace before Eve moves into the Grayson household. When the two arrive, they find out that Nolan and Debbie are back together and the two were planning to move to Talescria (the base of the Coalition of Planets). Mark tells Eve after about how Dinosaurus destroyed Las Vegas, and Eve stayed to comfort Mark to help him cope. Following a welcoming party for Robot and Monster Girl, Mark talks to Eve and prefaces their conversation asking if she still loves him before revealing that he made a decision that would seem bad at first but would turn out to be beneficial in the long run. Cecil arrives not long after and revealed Mark released Dinosaurus from captivity. Eve was upset by this, citing that she would have helped Mark with his plan had he told her about it beforehand.
After Mark is infected by the Scourge Virus and visits him in quarantine with the Guardians, Eve fears Mark might not make it. She is comforted by Bulletproof until Grand Regent Thragg asks the two to leave. Bulletproof once again provided assistance to Invincible Inc. while Mark was being healed, but Eve reminded him that people "paid for Invincible". Bulletproof dons Mark's costume for a job and attempts to sleep with Eve, but she rejects him. Asking Cecil to take her to see Mark and agreeing to fly the rest of the way, Eve quickly encounters Thragg and gets ready to fight him, only for the Viltrumite emperor to simply laugh at her and directing her to where Dinosaurus was located. Eve asks for assistance from Allen the Alian, Bulletproof and Oliver before confronting Dinosaurus. While attempting to stop Allen from hurting their opponent, Mark gets his radius and humerus bones broken in the fight and subsequently had to get surgery. Mark is worried that he could potentially never be Invincible again. The two say goodbye to Allen and Oliver, the latter of whom apologizes for infecting Mark before they leave. Eve soon assists the Guardians in another battle against the Flaxans in London shortly after Monster Girl defeats their leader. Following another night with Mark, he soon regains his powers.
Getting upset and causing a wreckage after seeing the apparent death of Invincible on TV, Mark soon returns and reveals that it was a clone who died instead of him. Calling Eve to talk in private, Mark reveals he is working for Cecil again. He realizes he decided to be smarter about his decision and Eve reveals to Mark that she is pregnant again. Mark agrees to support Eve in every decision she makes, and Eve says she intends to keep the child this time before asking Mark to keep the pregnancy a secret. Following some cleanup work in various leveled cities and a subsequent attack by Robot until Cecil interceded, Mark asks Cecil to recommend a privately contracted doctor to check on the condition of the baby to Eve's hesitation, but she allows it anyway. The doctor tells Eve to stop using her powers during the pregnancy due to their nature.
Mark soon tells Eve that Nolan will soon be inaugurated as the new emperor of Viltrum following the reveal of him being Argall's heir, after which Mark tried to propose to Eve. She beat him to the proposal, creating a ring, and the two get engaged. Afterwards, Eve notices that using her powers is hurting their child. She calls the doctor who examined her afterwards and said the baby was fine, but the doctor now knew for sure that any attempt by Eve to use her powers risked killing the child, telling Eve to stop using her powers altogether for the duration of the pregnancy. Eve went to go break the news of her engagement with Mark to William and his boyfriend Rick. Returning home, Eve found Angstrom Levy waiting for her at the house.
Levy attempts to suffocate Eve until Mark arrived, only for him to get teleported by Levy to another dimension. Initially curious as to why she wasn't using her powers, Levy used his dimensional knowledge from his alternate reality counterparts to learn that Eve was pregnant and the risk it posed. Eve and Levy get into an argument, with Eve stating she won't focus on revenge anymore and continue life as normal once Mark returned and also tells Levy he can use his powers for better things than revenge. After hearing Eve's story, Levy has a change of heart and brings Mark back before surrendering.
Following a couple arguments about the Angstrom Levy incident and telling Mark to get Robot to stop working on the dimensional portal he is developing to find the guy’s location and accidentally revealing her pregnancy to Nolan and Debbie before Nolan could do so, Robot tells Mark he can find a way to Levy’s hiding place. Eve argues with Mark again, telling him not to abandon their baby. Mark counters by saying he has to eliminate Levy so that he no longer poses a threat to them anymore before slapping Mark (to no effect) and storming off. Six months later, Mark returns to the house to find Eve knitting, during which she revealed that Robot told her Mark was dead. This caused Eve to stop eating, nearly killing the child in her belly. Mark tries to tell Eve she was right about Levy, but Eve stops him by saying she believes raising the child with Mark is the best option. Mark tries to make Eve leave for her safety, but she doesn’t listen and then breaks up with Mark, much to his sorrow. Mark leaves and asks Eve to go somewhere safe.
While Mark was away, Robot sent a drone to Eve’s house. Mark returns and reveals that Robot killed Cecil and asks Eve to leave for her and the child’s safety. During the battle between Mark and Robot, the latter emits a sonic wave as Eve tries to escape, only for Robot to dismember Eve’s right leg. Mark and Eve escape in time to get aboard the Viltrumite warship, despite Eve putting the baby in danger by using her powers to do so. Once on the ship, Eve gave birth to her and Mark’s daughter and received a prosthetic replacement for her missing right leg.
Mark brings their daughter to the surgery room after Eve gets her new leg, attempting to apologize for what happened before. Leaving to see his father and coming back later, Mark comes to see how Eve is doing. She sends him off to fight against Robot again, but Mark returns after the battle and reveals to Eve that he lost to the drone. Following Eve’s recovery from the surgery, they hear about Robot’s accomplishments on Earth from William and Rick and on the next day attend the funerals of Black Samson, Kid Thor, Knockout and Cecil Stedman-all of whom were killed by Robot. Eve and Mark begin to discuss picking a name for their daughter. Mark promises to be more responsible now that he’s a father and he won’t let Robot rule the Earth. Then he suggests to Eve that they move their family to Talescria. After saying their goodbyes to their friends and family members on Earth, the two soon leave, deciding on the name Terra for their child on the way.
Arriving on Talescria, Eve and Mark are greeted by Allen and Oliver. After living on Talescria for weeks, Allen asks Mark to aid the Coalition against Thragg after Allen becomes worried that Battle Beast, who had gone on to fight Thragg, wouldn’t succeed in his mission (which he of course didn’t) and the capture of Space Racer.
Five years later after Mark wakes up from his coma, Talescria is attacked by Thragg and his many now-adolescent Thraxan/Viltrumite hybrid children, with Thragg ordering his daughter Ursaal to attack a major target on the planet. Ursaal and her brother Onaan soon both go after Mark. When Thragg attempts to hold Terra hostage and subsequently kills Oliver when he tried intervening to rescue Terra, Mark does the same with Onaan before attacking Thragg directly. The fight ends with Thragg ripping Mark in half before escaping and leaving the latter and Eve for dead.
Following the battle, Eve used her powers to not only restore Mark’s body to normal, but also made him slightly stronger in the process. This increase to Mark’s strength by Eve made all the difference as it made him strong enough to battle Thragg for the final time and subsequently kill the Viltrumite emperor. After Thragg’s defeat and Nolan’s subsequent death, Mark became the new ruler of the Viltrumites. At the same time, Eve learns that she is also immortal due to her powers and she lives happily ever after with Mark.
Powers and abilities[]
Atom Eve is able to sense and manipulate matter and energy at the subatomic level by sheer willpower. Organic and inorganic matter alike can be changed into anything Eve desires. Due to this, Eve can effectively alter reality on a whim. This allows her to change her environment to suit her needs, create/destroy objects, and more. Eve suits up into her costume via altering whatever clothes she’s wearing into it. With her powers, Eve is also capable of the following:
-Flight
-Force field creation
-Telekinesis
-Energy blasts- Can affect matter with concussive and/or explosive force.
-Energy construct creation- Can form her energy into various weapons.
-Elemental control- Can use her subatomic abilities to summon and control the elemental forces of nature.
-Immortality- Eve’s powers cause her to regenerate from fatal injuries due to the trauma helping her temporarily overcome her mental blocks that prevent her from affecting organic matter. Whenever Eve dies of old age, she immediately resurrects and de-ages to her physical prime.
In spite of Atom Eve’s incredible power, it does not come without some problems:
-Rapid caloric depletion- A downside to Atom Eve’s powers is that she absorbs any unused atoms into her body, which must later be expelled from her system as waste. For an example of what this means, Eve claims that on days when she uses her powers a lot, she ended up having to go to the bathroom 6 or 7 times on such days. During her pregnancy with Terra, Eve used her powers to make a ring when she proposed to Mark and accelerated her digestive process. However, using her powers too much during her pregnancy ran the risk of potentially killing Terra.
-Mental blocks- In order to keep her from unleashing her full powers, the government installed mental blocks to Eve’s brain. The blocks can be overridden through extreme emotional trauma, such as when Conquest and Ursaal had seemingly killed her. The blocks were also overridden when Steven Erickson killed Eve’s parents, and she subsequently used her powers to erase his memories. Once the override happens, Eve is able to use her powers to affect organic matter. Against Conquest, she was able to unleash an energy blast powerful enough to do serious damage to him. Bear in mind that Conquest is the second strongest Viltrumite next to Thragg, which means Conquest is the second strongest character in the Invincible franchise as a whole. Being able to pull off that much damage against someone of Conquest’s level speaks volumes about what Eve is truly capable of.
Firestorm[]
Bio[]
Name: Ronald Rockwell
Alias: Ronnie Raymond; Firestorm
Height: 6’2 (as Firestorm); 6’1 (as Ronnie Raymond)
Weight: 202 lbs (as Firestorm); 179 lbs (as Ronnie Raymond)
First appearance: “Firestorm” issue no. 1 (March 1978)
NOTE: All biography details below on Ronnie Raymond are from the pre-52 continuity (from Ronnie's first appearance in 1978-2011).
Firestorm is a name that belonged to several people over the years, but let’s go back to the original fusion of two minds: Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. Ronnie Raymond was a student at Bradley High School while Martin Stein was a professor at Vandermeer University.
Born Ronald Rockwell, his surname was changed to Raymond following the death of his mother due to a gangster bombing the Rockwell family’s car. Ronnie Raymond was the new kid at his high school, becoming a football and basketball player and just wanting to fit in. Like any high school guy, Ronnie tried to work at impressing his crush, in this case a girl named Doreen Day. One day he succeeded in actually getting Doreen’s attention, only to earn a rival in the form of a geek student named Cliff Carmichael, who was jealous of Ronnie’s popularity. Cliff succeeded in making Ronnie look like an idiot in front of Doreen, but Ronnie refused to give up and sought to redeem himself.
To this end, Ronnie joined a local anti-nuclear activist group led by a man named Eddie Earheart (who it should be noted unsurprisingly used the group as a cover for his own criminal activities). When the protests orchestrated by this group became violent, Ronnie tried to stop them. The group wanted to blow up an experimental nuclear power facility that was designed by Martin Stein. However, Stein’s own assistant Danton Black (who would go on to become Firestorm’s nemesis known as Multiplex) rigged the plant to explode due to Stein firing Black when the latter tried to claim he created the facility and that Stein stole all the credit from him. The anti-nuclear activist group arrived, they knocked Martin Stein unconscious and tied him up with Ronnie Raymond before leaving both of them to die. Eddie Earheart informed Ronnie that he would pin the blame for the facility’s destruction on Ronnie’s head before leaving. The explosion breached the facility’s nuclear reactor and caused the atomic blast.
Instead of killing them, the explosion fused Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein into a single being. Due to being the only one conscious during the blast, Ronnie was the one in primary control of the fused body, with Martin acting as a secondary voice in the back of his mind. Realizing the explosion gave him extraordinary abilities, Ronnie discovered he now had flaming hair, could shoot fusion blasts from his hands, phase through solid objects, rearrange atomic matter, and more. Ronnie and Martin adopted the name Firestorm and set out to become a hero.
However, Firestorm splitting back into Ronnie and Martin did not come without some problems. After every split, Martin Stein could never remember his time as Firestorm, nor did he himself have the ability to trigger the fusion with Ronnie (which means every time they fuse, Ronnie was the one who started the process). When his time as Firestorm was up, Stein often found himself in strange places or situations with no memory of how he got there. Stein turned to alcohol and was bent on self-destruction which, needless to say, affected Ronnie as well due to their psychic bond. Whenever Martin Stein got drunk, it caused the Firestorm persona to appear to be inebriated when summoned.
Ronnie eventually revealed the truth about Firestorm to Martin, causing the latter to slowly begin to remember his double life as Firestorm. The two soon became great friends, but both of them had to be careful as now either of them could trigger the Firestorm fusion. It wasn’t until Ronnie showed Martin photos of the merger that the latter was able to remember anything about their time as Firestorm. But this got easier with time for Martin Stein to remember his and Ronnie’s shared adventures as Firestorm.
Ronnie, meanwhile, was trying to balance life as a student and a superhero. As Firestorm, he found himself battling a strange rogues gallery of villains all while trying to hide his dual identity. Firestorm became a well-known hero and often served as a member of several incarnations of the Justice League as its youngest member. Following his high school graduation, Ronnie became worried he and Martin Stein would be unable to continue as Firestorm due to being too far apart because of the fact that Stein was set to take a teaching job at the University of Pittsburgh. But Ronnie later realized he could attend that college in the future and decided to do so, which guaranteed him a way to maintain a connection to Martin and become Firestorm when needed. Firestorm began to mature as a hero after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, forming a brief rivalry with the new nuclear hero Captain Atom before the two ultimately reconciled.
Things took a turn for the worse a few years later when it was revealed Martin Stein was diagnosed with cancer. Realizing that Stein’s death would result in the death of Ronnie and thus the end of Firestorm as well, the fused hero wanted to leave a legacy behind before passing on. Firestorm tried to get the nuclear powers of the world to give up their arsenals. This blatant opposition to American and then-Soviet Russian leadership led to both countries attempting to bring Firestorm down. To this end, Russia sent out their own nuclear man, an experimental soldier named Mikhail Arkadin AKA Phozar, to kill Firestorm. The battle that followed resulted in a massive nuclear explosion, which created a new form of Firestorm.
This new Firestorm was a fusion of the physical forms of Ronnie and Mikhail, while the mind in control was the amnesiac one of Martin Stein. Not knowing who and what he was or anything about the world he was in, the new Firestorm was now a dangerous force in the world. Fortunately, this fusion didn’t last long.
Firestorm was later revealed to be a being known as a Fire Elemental. At this point, he was a fusion of Ronnie, Mikhail and Svarozhich (a Soviet clone of the previous fusion, but with a new mind). Martin Stein was no longer part of the fusion, but he continued to play a role. After events of meeting with several elemental gods from different cultures, Stein got a surprising revelation: He was meant to be the next Fire Elemental himself and would have been if Ronnie Raymond had not also been there by circumstance. Ronnie and Mikhail returned to their old lives, while Stein as Firestorm alone ended up exiled to deep space for a little while, only returning to Earth on rare occasions.
Some time later, Ronnie would be undergoing treatment for leukemia, at which point he regained his powers following a chemotherapy session. Restoring Ronnie's health took the combined efforts of a Justice League incarnation led by Captain Atom and the elemental Firestorm who had just returned. After this, Ronnie was later drafted by Batman into a "replacement" Justice League which would come together in the event anything happened to the original team. When the latter returned, Ronnie stayed on as a reserve member.
Later on during the "Identity Crisis" storyline, Ronnie would soon meet his death against the villain known as Shadow Thief. During their fight, Ronnie was impaled by the magic sword used by Shining Knight, which was able to pierce through Firestorm's nuclear containment field. This resulted in Firestorm's body exploding and his essence transferring into the body of Jason Rusch, who became the new host of the Firestorm Matrix.
During the Blackest Night, Ronnie Raymond was one of the many fallen heroes and villains resurrected as Black Lanterns and wielders of black power rings. The brainwashed Ronnie confronts his successor Jason Rusch, absorbing him into his own version of the Firestorm Matrix. He makes use of Jason's abilities to kill Jason's girlfriend by transmuting her into table salt and rip out her heart, subsequently using Jason's anger to obtain enough emotional energy for the Black Lanterns to draw upon. During a battle against the Justice League, Jason briefly takes control of their shared body and gets the League to escape before Ronnie reasserts dominance and absorbs Jason's willpower. The undead Firestorm mimics Ronnie's original personality. Later, Ronnie and the other Black Lanterns are restored to life during the final battle against Black Lantern leader Nekron. Ronnie and Jason separated from the Firestorm fusion, the former confused and asking where Martin Stein was. While Jason was upset over Ronnie killing the former's girlfriend, Ronnie had no memory of doing so.
Following the funeral for Jason Rusch's girlfriend, Ronnie, Martin Stein and Ray Palmer (the Atom) discuss Ronnie's return and his lack of ability to remember anything that happened since Shadow Thief killed him. While Stein and Palmer work on reversing Ronnie's legal status being listed as deceased, Ronnie tries to apologize to Jason for what he did. Jason refuses to accept the apology, calling Ronnie out for making him an accomplice in the girl's death and pointing out that Jason predictably did not remember her name. In response, Jason punches Ronnie in the face and the two merge into Firestorm, beginning to argue inside the matrix until Atom forcibly separates the two.
The forced separation from the Firestorm Matrix causes a huge explosion which results in everything in Stein's lab getting transmuted into table salt. While Ronnie recovered in the hospital, Stein visited and told him it would be dangerous to transform into Firestorm again. Following Ronnie's exit from the hospital and subsquently being threatened by Jason Rusch's father to stay away from Jason, it turns out that Ronnie lied about himself not remembering killing Jason's girlfriend as a Black Lantern.
After several incidents of being taunted in his mind by what he thinks is the voice of Jason's dead girlfriend and another incident when Ronnie ends up getting fused to Jason while the two rescue some construction workers as Firestorm that led to unexpected transmutation problems, both Ronnie and Jason hear the mysterious voice that sounds like Jason's girlfriend taunting them again. While Ronnie accepts responsibility of his role in killing her, it soon becomes clear that something else lurked inside the Firestorm Matrix.
Ronnie and Jason visit Stein to get some answers of what was happening to them. Stein reveals that the third party inside the Firestorm Matrix is none other than the Black Lantern Firestorm. The White Lantern Entity tells Ronnie and Jason to learn from each other in order to team up and defeat their black power ring-enhanced counterpart before he could destroy the Entity. Running a test, Martin Stein reveals the true origin of the Firestorm Matrix: In Stein's original experiment, he believes he captured the spark that resulted in the Big Bang, the explosion which created the universe, meaning that the Firestorm Matrix could potentially act as a trigger for a new Big Bang. This would become an ever more likely problem as long as there was emotional imbalance between Ronnie and Jason.
Following Stein's explanation, the Black Lantern Firestorm forcibly separated himself from the matrix, referring to himself with the moniker of Deathstorm. Once he was out in the world, Deathstorm revealed his evil plan to create enough emotional instability between Jason and Ronnie, thus triggering another Big Bang and destroying all life in the universe. Deathstorm absorbs the mind of Martin Stein (to use his knowledge of Ronnie to his advantage) as well as Jason Rusch's father (to use as leverage and emotionally torture Jason) before flying out and leading Ronnie and Jason to chase him.
The chase ends when Firestorm and Deathstorm stop above Silver City, New Mexico, at the resting place of the Central Power White Lantern Battery. Deathstorm fails to lift the Battery until he infects it with Black Lantern energy and is then able to lift it with ease. Deathstorm initially threatens to the destroy the Battery until a voice beckons him not to. The voice commands Deathstorm to bring them the Battery as well as an army, at which point Deathstorm brings back nearly a dozen Black Lantern versions of various heroes and villains before the group escapes.
Firestorm reached out to the Justice League to help, leading the team to have Ronnie and Jason be placed into a containment unit to stabilize the energies of the Firestorm Matrix. This doesn't last, however, as Ronnie and Jason soon get into an argument and ignite the spark within their power source. Initially believing they destroyed their universe, the two soon discover they were teleported to the Anti-Matter Universe. The White Lantern Entity contacts Firestorm and tells him that the hero has to protect him until Deadman can find the White Lantern Entity a replacement. Deathstorm and the Black Lanterns are revealed to have delivered the White Lantern Battery to the Anti-Monitor, who sought to harvest its energy to grow stronger.
Firestorm retrieves the White Lantern and attempts to fight the Anti-Monitor, but quickly loses due to the latter being out of Firestorm's league. Deathstorm releases Martin Stein from the matrix as a way to taunt Ronnie and Jason before attempting to turn the two into table salt as the ultimate troll. However, Stein takes the brunt of the attack, sacrificing himself for Ronnie and Jason, who finally decide to put aside their differences for once and avenge Stein. The White Lantern Entity declares that Ronnie has accomplished his mission and unleashes a burst of white energy which returns the Entity to life, sends Jason's father back to Earth, obliterates Deathstorm and the Black Lanterns, and teleports Ronnie and Jason to a forest outside Star City. Following their trip home, Ronnie tries to demand the Entity resurrect Martin Stein, but is refused. Deadman soon arrives to collect the White Lantern Battery.
Later on, a being known as the Dark Avatar emerged when Firestorm was part of the Elementals. Ronnie is transformed by the Entity into the element of fire and tasked with protecting the Star City forest from the Dark Avatar, who as it turns out was the Black Lantern version of Swamp Thing. The Elementals then fused with Alec Holland to enable him to be transformed by the Entity into the new Swamp Thing and face the Dark Avatar. Once the Dark Avatar was beaten, Swamp Thing restored Firestorm to normal. After this was over, Ronnie and Jason had to determine a way to contain the Firestom Matrix from the explosion in less than 90 days.
Powers and abilities[]
Firestorm derives his powers from the circular device strapped on his chest, the Firestorm Matrix. The Firestorm Matrix transforms the hosts connected to it from their normal human forms into a nuclear-powered fused being. Due to this, he is capable of the following:
-Density control- Has complete control over molecules and as such, he can change the density of solids, liquids and gases to be as light as hydrogen or as heavy as helium.
-Eidetic memory- More commonly known as photographic memory, or in Firestorm’s case, “Matrix Memory Recall”, anyone tied to the Firestorm Matrix can access the memories of each and every being who ever fused with it. New users automatically learn surface information.
-Energy absorption- Individuals fused with the Firestorm Matrix are able to absorb massive amounts of energy and do so with many different types of energy. Elements and energies most commonly associated with life and the human body are absorbed by users, but solar energy also works as an “emergency battery” so to speak in case of an emergency where Firestorm needs a quick recharge.
-Energy projection- Firestorm can project massive amounts of different kinds of energy. Naturally occurring energy for Firestorm is the kind he discharges with his “Nuclear Blasts”, but he can project any number of energy types as well in a similar fashion.
-Enhanced vision- Referred to as “Quark Vision”, the nuclear nature of Firestorm’s powers allows him to see on multiple visual spectrums (X-Ray, microscopic, thermal, to name a few).
-Flight- One of the most self-explanatory powers out there. At top speed, Firestorm has shown himself flying at 600 mph, though he can theoretically go faster than this.
-Molecular reconstruction- The ability which all of Firestorm’s powers stem from. Firestorm’s “nuclear/atomic nature” derives from nuclear physics mixed with the user’s own psychic energies and physical properties. Users accessing Firestorm and the Matrix are referred to as its “elements” as they individually make up the latter to create the former. Firestorm can break down and reapply subatomic particles and break up/rearrange the atomic structure of elements. To pull this off, the Firestorm Matrix host must know the exact elemental makeup of the object or human. Most versions of Firestorm cannot affect living tissue, but it is possible in spite of being very unstable.
-Phasing- Firestorm is capable of phasing through solid objects. Despite being able to alter the density of objects, Firestorm is only able to use phasing on himself and affect his own living tissue to pass through solid objects.
-Psychic link- Often represented by a disembodied head that only the person acting as the physical host of the Firestorm Matrix can see and hear, this is how all individuals fused with the Matrix communicate with each other. In Ronnie Raymond’s case, he acts as the physical host while Martin Stein acts as the secondary voice guiding Ronnie by providing advice and strategy.
-Regeneration- Though a largely untested power and very much a reactionary ability due to shapeshifting and his molecular reconstruction, Firestorm is capable of repairing damaged or replacing lost parts of his physical body.
-Self-sustenance- Firestorm can survive in outer space unaided, never need to eat to sustain life and never need an element to be broken down and processed by his body. While users of the Firestorm Matrix may naturally feel these needs like anyone else, they’re not actually technically necessary for him. Firestorm can draw upon an unlimited amount of energy to fuel himself, which gives him unlimited endurance.
-Superhuman durability- Firestorm has an increased amount of physical resistance and durability. He is capable of shrugging off bullets, stab wounds, as well as the physical damage from constantly exploding. Firestorm is also capable of withstanding nuclear blasts and resting in the corona of a sun. Firestorm was able to take a hit from Blue Devil (a character who is capable of going toe to toe with Eclipso, a being who is basically the Angel of Vengeance and God’s wrath manifest) with ease and take multiple hits from Captain Atom.
-Superhuman strength- Firestorm possesses an increased amount of physical strength and muscle mass. Some hosts of the Firestorm Matrix are capable of tapping into this energy to transform into a larger hulking form, though this is potentially destructive to the host if this ability isn’t used sparingly. With his base level strength, Firestorm has lifted a massive block of ice and has shown himself to be capable of hurting Captain Atom.
Battle[]
Location: S.T.A.R. Labs, New York City
Atom Eve flew towards the research facility that Cecil told her to head to. The GDA caught wind of a potentially dangerous project being conducted with the help of a scientist named Martin Stein. Using her pink-colored energy powers, she transmuted a wall on the upper floors to dissipate. Flying in, she got Stein's attention. "Professor Stein, I'm going to need you to come with me," Eve said.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked another, younger man who just entered the room from a door off to Eve's right. "I don't know who you are, but I suggest you stay out of this," Eve replied to him. "Ronald, what do you say we show this young lady how we work?" Stein asked. The younger man jumped towards and landed next to Stein. Once the two got close together, a flash of bright light emanated. When the light was gone, Eve was now looking at a single being where Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond once stood. "You've got transmutation, too? Let's see what you've got!" Firestorm exclaimed.
FIGHT!
As Firestorm began floating into the air, Eve fired an energy beam towards him. Firestorm held out his hand to slow her beam down, change it into a yellow-colored beam and dissipate it. Firestorm began transmuting Eve's costume into a steel, full-body coccoon, which soon fell to the ground. After a few seconds, Eve transmuted herself back to normal and attacked again with a pair of twin energy beams. Firestorm dodged and retaliated with a nuclear blast which sent Eve flying backwards.
Recovering mid-flight, Eve generated dozens of energy spears before launching them towards Firestorm. The latter knocked a few of the energy constructs aside and absorbed the energy from the rest as they hit him, adding to his own power. Firestorm then flew even faster, amping up his speed to the point where Eve quickly lost track of him. Firestorm was soon behind Eve, delivering a powerful punch which knocked Eve to the ground below. Before Eve could stand back up, Firestorm fired a stronger nuclear blast which knocked her through the concrete and began pushing her further and further beneath the ground. Following this, Firestorm transmuted the dirt into water, trying to drown Eve underneath it.
The sudden flow of water coming from above surprised Eve, but she quickly formed a pink energy bubble to shield herself from it. While surrounded by the energy shield, Eve flew back up while expanding the hole above her as Firestorm tried to seal it. When the two flew back into the air, Eve dodged another nuclear blast before firing an energy shot of her own towards the Firestorm Matrix on her opponent’s chest. However, Firestorm made himself intangible and Eve’s attack simply passed through him. In response, Firestorm flew towards Eve again, either dodging or absorbing any blasts she launched at him.
When Firestorm got to Eve, he punched through her chest with a phasing hand. Eve’s eyes soon shut as she fell to the ground. As Firestorm began to fly back to the lab, he soon got hit in the back by a pink energy blast. Turning around, he saw Eve standing back up, angry and emanating a powerful pink aura. “I’ve had enough of this and of you!” Eve exclaimed before unleashing a stronger energy burst than anything she used so far. As Firestorm held out his hands to absorb the incoming attack, he felt Eve trying to transmute him, realizing she could now affect organic matter.
Using the combined willpower of both Ronnie and Martin Stein, Firestorm held back Eve’s transmutation attempt as she eventually collapsed from the exhaustion of using her latest attack. Firestorm absorbed the last of it and flew towards the tired Atom Eve. Picking her up, Firestorm brought her to the upper atmosphere and unleashed a massive nuclear blast which was fueled by the amount of combined energy he had absorbed from her attacks throughout the battle. The powerful nuclear explosion was too much for Atom Eve, causing her to completely disintegrate.
KO!
Post-Battle Analysis[]
Now that battle was a blast to write! Both combatants are capable of incredible things with their molecular powers, but it became clear to me when researching these two that Firestorm had several advantages.
First, while Atom Eve is a smart fighter in her own right given how she has demonstrated high intellect from a young age, Ronnie Raymond has the aid of the genius of Martin Stein backing him up from within the Firestorm Matrix. In terms of feats of transmutation, Firestorm can not only easily pull off any of the same ones Atom Eve has done, but outclass her in power. Firestorm has experience fighting against individuals who have similar powers to his own, as demonstrated by his battles against Captain Atom, the Soviet Firestorm Mikhail Arkadin, and the Black Lantern ring-powered doppelgänger Deathstorm (who had all the abilities of a Lantern ring in addition to the powers granted by the Firestorm Matrix). This is contrast to Atom Eve, who has never canonically fought anyone with powers like her own before.
Atom Eve’s mental blocks prevent her from affecting organic matter, but when she overrides them, she’s capable of a greater deal of capabilities. By far, Eve’s most impressive feat with her powers without the mental blocks holding her back was the damage she dealt when she aided Invincible against the Viltrumite warrior known as Conquest. As I stated in my analysis of Atom Eve, Conquest is the second strongest Viltrumite of all (making him the second strongest character in Invincible) surpassed only by his master Thragg. Eve was able to destroy a great deal of Conquest’s muscle tissue and skin with her strongest known energy blast before he knocked her unconscious in the battle. With that being said, Firestorm is capable of taking hits from similarly-powered individuals as the ones mentioned above, as well as being able to contend with real heavy hitters such as Superman, Anti-Monitor, and others who outclass Conquest in strength.
Lastly, Firestorm has Atom Eve beat out in terms of endurance by a long shot. During this fight, Eve’s amped up energy blast left her exhausted and vulnerable. This was a problem in this battle for her because in the Invincible comics, it’s canon that Atom Eve has to take in a lot of caloric energy to sustain herself especially on days where she is forced to use her powers a lot. By contrast, Firestorm doesn’t have this limitation and can go for a long time without having to eat or drink to keep his energy up.
The winner is Firestorm.