Johnny Storm is a character who first hit the panels of Marvel comics back in Fantastic
Four issue 1 in 1961, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Repurposed from a character who had existed back in the Golden Age when Marvel was still
Timely comics, Johnny Storm was one of the members of the publisher’s first major superhero
team, gaining his powers after the spacecraft the quartet was on was bombarded by cosmic
rays.
Now able to engulf his body entirely in flames, fly and absorb fires, the character has become
one of the most recognizable Marvel heroes, even if you’re not a big fan of the Fantastic
Four.
But today, rather than looking further into Storm’s 616 version, we’re taking a look
at his alternate timeline counterparts, with our list of the top 10 alternate versions
of the human torch.
Let’s get
to it!
10 1602 The 1602 earth, technically known as Earth
311, is a timeline that takes place in, you guessed it, the year 1602, over in Europe
at that time.
Our beloved heroes and villains are all of that era, and mutants exist, but they’re
called Witchbreed, and hunted because of their differences.
Storm was once a hot headed young man who had to leave London after a duel, and ended
up joining up with Richard Reed on his explorations alongside his sister, who was fleeing a man
she did not love.
On these adventures, he gained his powers when aboard Richard’s ship, the Fantastick,
which encountered a wave of energy from the Sargasso Sea which turned his body into an
element like fire.
This gives him the same abilities as his 616 self.
They end up getting captured by Otto von Doom, and he’s thrown under a waterfall as an
attempt to calm his powers, but they manage to escape and join up with Sir Nicholas Fury.
9 Ruins The Ruins Johnny Storm is a very depressing
one, as is the fate of pretty much every other hero or villain in the Ruins timeline.
So, for context, Ruins, which came out in 1995, follows a character named Philip Sheldon,
a reporter who believed his world was warped by some unknown force.
He seeks out answers by travelling the country, interviewing those with super powers, most
of which suffer from medical or other horrible circumstances due to the very abilities that
make them special.
Just google the Hulk from Ruins and you’ll see what we mean about it being pretty darn
depressing.
Anywho, Johnny Storm’s storm has the character still taking part in the space flight that
would cause the Fantastic Four to gain their powers.
Except it didn’t work out the same way the 616 timeline did.
Johnny’s body was found near the crash site, with his body having caught fire on a cellular
level, burning from the bones outward.
All we see is a pretty depressing corpse.
Yep.
You’re welcome.
8 Fox Films How could we do a list on the alternate versions
of the Human Torch and NOT include the oh so hilariously bad Fox Fantastic Four films?
For the sake of this number, we’re looking specifically at the first iteration, where
the Human torch is played by none other than the MCU’s Captain America himself, Chris
Evans.
This cinematic version of Johnny Storm is initially all about getting girls and making
money, but eventually goes on to learn to rise up to his new responsibilities after
Victor Von Doom aka Doctor Doom almost kills the entire team.
Evans would portray this version of Storm in two films, this first in 2005 and the second
in 2007, the Rise of the Silver Surfer, which has become notorious for how terrible of a
film it was.
7 Jonathan Strum (Earth 33) From Earth 33, Jonathan Strum is a different
kind of hero.
For starters, this timeline takes place in the 1950s and 60s, and the Fantastic Four
are powerless.
He first appears in Fantastic Four, unstable molecules issue 1 from 2003, a story that
places the members of the quartet in a ‘realistic’ narrative rather than one that involves super
powers.
In the 60s, he, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and his sister Susan Strum would become national
heroes and government agents thanks to the space program.
And, to get super meta with you, the heroes on this Earth inspired comic book superheroes,
with Strum being the inspiration for Johnny Storm, the comic book human torch in his world.
He also has a crush on a comic book character called Vapor Girl, a hero who could turn herself
into mist.
6 MC2 (Earth 982) The MC2 aka Earth 982, is an alternate timeline
in which the Age of Heroes (which is initially marked by the first appearance of the Fantastic
Four in the 616 universe), occurs 15 years earlier than it did in the main continuity
of the comics.
The result is that many of the OG heroes who first emerged have retired or stepped down,
with a new generation of heroes taking their place.
On Earth 982, Johnny Storm had tagged along on Reed Richards’ ship, the one that crashed,
leading to them getting their powers.
Originally very hot headed and rash, this Johnny would eventually grow up in a major
way, going from feeling as if he wasn’t taken seriously on the team since he was the
youngest, to eventually leading the team after the other members retired for the most part,
with the team now called the Fantastic Five.
Experienced and mature, he’s also married to Lyja, who acts as the new Ms Fantastic.
5 Shame Itself (Earth 11201) Almost every superhero in the Marvel universe
has at least one alternate version that’s a comedic take on their character.
Shame Itself is one of the many comedic series that Marvel has produced over the years, an
amusing take on the Fear Itself crossover story event from 2011.
There’s actually two versions that appear in Shame Itself of the human torch, and the
one we’re looking at today goes by the name of the Hunan Torch.
Despite having the same powers and undergoing the same accident as his 616 self did, this
version of Johnny Storm has decided to use a different method of fighting crime; he uses
his powers to fling spicy Chinese food at his foes, Doctor Doom and Galactus included.
I have many questions.
How spicy is spicy?
What levels of spice does it take to knock out Doctor Doom, let alone Galactus?
Does he just target villains who don’t do well with spice?
Do they have specific dietary restrictions we aren’t privy to?
Is that even ethical?
What if one of them has a severe allergy?
Does he acquire the Chinese food himself?
Like, at a restaurant?
Or does he make it himself?
Has he found a way of materializing it himself via his powers?
Otherwise, we’re looking at a pretty costly method of fighting crime.
Just saying.
4 Too Many Human Torches (What if vol 2 issue 11)
What If volume 2 issue 11 features multiple different kinds of versions of the Fantastic
Four, featuring four different stories in which each of the characters gained the powers
of the team’s other members.
We’ll only be focusing on one story at this number though; What if the Fantastic Four
all had the same power as the human torch?
In this hypothetical story, the quartet’s tale begins with their rocket crashing, and
Johnny bursting into flames, unharmed.
All four of the team members experience that exact same thing, and all the powers that
only Johnny normally has.
When attempting to defeat the villain Miracle Man, the team end up accidentally killing
a civilian child when they set a building on fire (assuming it had been abandoned).
The tragedy is taken to court and the judge determines it wasn’t the team’s fault,
but they end up disassembling due to the traumatic memories.
They all end up going down different career paths, with only Ben continuing to be a superhero,
taking the name of the Human Torch.
Meanwhile, as for Johnny, he ends up becoming a race car driver.
3 Human Lantern The amalgam universe is the combination of
DC Comics and Marvel comics, a universe in which all of their heroes have been amalgamated
into their own unique cross over individuals.
In this universe, the human torch has been amalgamated with DC’s Green Lantern creating
the Human Lantern.
First appearing in Super Solider Man of War vol 1 issue 1 from 1997, Human Lantern can
use pryokinesis, similar to his Marvel counterpart, and assumedly can do the things that the golden
age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, can do, although we never see him fully in action to make that
assumption.
It’s also assumed that the green lantern he’s amalgamated with is Alan Scott based
on his uniform.
His entire body is engulfed by a mystic flame, something that he’s always looking to put
to good use in a plethora of ways, like baking cakes (actually).
As a part of the All Star Winners Squadron, he’s always doing things like baking his
teammates treats, even though sometimes they don’t have much of an interest in snack
attacking.
Baking isn’t all he does though- During World War 2, Human Lantern was known as the
beacon of justice.
2 Earth A (Earth 721) The Jonathan Storm of Earth 721 is a really
interesting departure from the regular version of the character.
His story diverts when he never takes the space flight up with the rest of the Fantastic
Four, and therefore never gets his human torch powers, with Reed Richards gaining the flame
powers along with his stretching ones.
Johnny instead ends up signing up to fight in the Vietnam War, and is wounded in battle.
He’s found by this Earth’s Arkon, who erases his memories and restructures his mind
so he can serve as the guardian of the nexus between earths 616, 721 and the Fifth Dimension,
and he takes on the new name of Gaard.
Creative.
Gaard basically looked like a glorified superpowered hockey player, and even engaged with the Thing
in a hockey style shoot out, causing the nexus to be destroyed, and Gaard to skate off into
its void.
The void does something unexpected though; it turns him into Vangaard, and gives him
the ability to destroy realities.
He gives himself a new purpose, which is to travel to different realities and destroy
the ones he believes are redundant.
Eventually, he encounters the 616 Human Torch, gets a change of heart, and decides he’ll
end his tirade, rather helping timelines find closure rather than destroying them altogether.
He can also manipulate energy and reality, so that’s pretty darn impressive, too.
1 Human Torch (Android) Back in the day, long before Johnny Storm
became the human torch, there was another Marvel character who operated under that mantle;
an android known as Jim Hammond, who first appeared in Marvel’s predecessor, Timely
Comics.
He fought alongside the likes of Captain America and Namor back in the Golden Age, working
with them to take down axis enemies at the height of World War 2.
But he would fall into obscurity in the 50s, much like many other heroes, and eventually
by 1096, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would repurpose his name and his powers for Johnny Storm.
So what was his deal?
Hammond was an android created by a professor named Phineas T Horton in Brooklyn New York,
and when he was unveiled at a press conference, thanks to being exposed to oxygen, he burst
into flames.
Despite being a sentient robot, many thought he was a threat to the public’s safety,
and he was sealed in concrete.
But thanks to a crack in that concrete, he broke free, eventually learnt to control his
flames (after accidentally setting some parts of New York City on fire first).
The character would eventually return to the comics and the modern day Marvel continuity
when the Mad Thinker reactivated him to fight against the Fantastic Four.
He refused to kill the heroes, and eventually went on to join the West Coast Avengers (or
rather, the Avengers West Coast, when Marvel changed the title so it’d be grouped together
with other Avengers titles in stores.
The more you know!)
These days, he’s joined up with the reformed Invaders team.
There we have it friends!
What other alternate versions of the Human Torch can you think of?
Should we do a part two of this list?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know!
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