Real name: Johnny Storm
First appearance: Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Affiliation: Founding member of the Fantastic Four
Powers: Surrounding himself with flame, projecting fire and flying.
Review coverage: Through Fantastic Four #43, Strange Tales #134 and his guest appearance in X-Men #13.

A hero who wants to do things himself

Johnny Storm brings plenty of enthusiasm to being the Human Torch. He also wants the chance to prove himself away from the rest of the Fantastic Four. That is clear from Strange Tales #101, the beginning of his own feature: Ben offers help, Johnny turns him down, and going it alone nearly costs him.

Those stories give Johnny a separate corner of the world, although the fit with Fantastic Four is not always comfortable. My early reviews question the attempt to give him a secret identity when the team book is happy to let people know who he is. It is worth acknowledging that inconsistency rather than inventing an explanation for it.

By Strange Tales #134, Johnny is sharing the adventure with Ben. The Watcher sends them into the past to oppose Kang, closing the Torch-and-Thing feature with a time-travel outing. Their partnership deserves a place alongside their familiar arguments.

A personal life that does not stay separate

Doris Evans gives us another view of Johnny. In Amazing Spider-Man #21, he leaves their date to investigate the Beetle, and Doris tries to get him to go without using his flame powers. Jealousy then draws Peter Parker into the trouble. Johnny may have good reason to worry about a villain, but that does not make dating him straightforward.

The Storm family’s troubles are more serious. His father Franklin’s return and death in Fantastic Four #31–32 belong in Johnny’s history as well as Sue’s. His life is not all showing off, rivalries and interrupted dates.

Cleverness, mistakes and helping other heroes

Fantastic Four #43 reveals that Johnny only pretended to fall under the Wizard’s control. The same ending lets him make a less certain decision when Medusa escapes: the review treats his response as a mixture of humanity and teenage impulse, not proof that he has suddenly grown up.

His contribution in X-Men #13 is more straightforward. Johnny helps the X-Men remove the Juggernaut’s helmet so Professor X can stop him. It gives the Torch a useful role outside his own team without making him the sole winner of someone else’s battle. At this point, his best moments show resourcefulness and cooperation, while leaving plenty of room for the impulsive teenager we have been reading all along.