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Jonathan Storm, the
second of two children born to a physician and his wife, grew up
comfortably on Long Island. Despite the fact his mother died in a car
crash when he was nine, Storm developed an interest in automobiles at
an early age. Storm passed much of his leisure time in the company of
automobile mechanics and enthusiasts, and learned to totally overhaul a
car's transmission before he was fifteen years old. For his sixteenth
birthday, his father bought him his first "hot rod."
Storm went to California to visit his sister, Susan, who had moved
there hoping to become an actress and there become engaged to marry
aeronautical engineer Reed Richards. Richards was working on a starship
of his own design that would make possible travel to other solar
systems through hyperspace. When the United States government
threatened to cut off its partial funding for the project, Richards
decided to make an immediate test flight. He himself would ride in the
starship, with his friend Benjamin Grimm acting as pilot. Susan and
Johnny Storm insisted on going along as well. Sneaking onto the launch
site and into the starship, the four launched themselves into space.
The starship encountered unexpected intense radiation, which proved to
be too much for the ship's shielding to block out. (It has been
theorized that this was the result of a reduction in the extent of
Earth's magnetosphere brought on by a solar flare.) As a result, the
four people in the ship were exposed to intense cosmic ray bombardment.
Aborting the test flight, the four returned to Earth.
Upon landing, Johnny Storm discovered that the cosmic rays had
mutagenically altered his entire body, enabling him to create fiery
plasma all about his body without harm to himself. Storm called himself
the Human Torch, the same name used by the android hero of the 1940's.
Storm agreed to join Richards' proposed team of champions, the
Fantastic Four.
For a time Johnny Storm tried to live quietly on Long Island with his
sister, trying to finish high school while hoping that no one in the
community would realize that he was the Human Torch, a fact that proved
impossible to conceal from the townspeople. After graduation, Johnny
moved into the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters in New
York City.
After many years, Johnny began dating and then married the blind
sculptress Alicia Masters, former girlfriend of teammate the Thing, who
was then on a sabbatical from the team. This caused some tension
between him and the Thing when he returned to the team, and later Storm
suspected the Thing of inviting Crystal to join the Fantastic Four to
test his marital fidelity as a way of seeking revenge or splitting his
wife. Crystal soon left the team, however, and the Thing began a
relationship with their other associate, the second Ms. Marvel.
Later, Alicia Masters was revealed to be a spy from the alien race of
shape-changing Skrulls. Lyja, the Skrull, had fallen in love with Storm
and married him. The revelation of Lyja led the team to infiltrate the
Skrull homeworld to rescue the real Alicia, who was still in love with
the Thing, and the Skrulls captured Lyja. Although Lyja managed to
escape, her relationship with Storm was damaged, turning Storm from a
hotheaded brash adult to a solemn and brooding one. Lyja returned to
Earth to attempt a reconciliation and reveal that she was pregnant, a
fact which began to turn Storm around, although he never fully
recovered his love for what he thought was Alicia. Lyja's "child" ended
up being a Skrull bio-weapon, which the Four quickly defeated.
Eventually, Storm began to date again, and has since moved on in
romantic terms.
Afterwards, Storm was involved alongside the Four and other heroes
against the menace known as Onslaught. Although he appeared to
sacrifice himself to stop the creature, he was actually shunted to
another dimension and later restored to this reality.
More recently, Storm encountered the heroine Namorita, and the two had
a brief but well-publicized romance. He has also tried his hand at
becoming a movie star.
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