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Background
Johnny Storm, as stated above, is what you might call "hot tempered." He has
plenty of background to justify that temperment. His mother died in a car
accident while Johnnty was a child and his father fell into alcoholism.
Franklin Storm, his father, was eventually killed by thugs. The young man was
raised primarily by his older sister, Sue Storm. They were close in age, but
miles apart in personality. While Johnny was impulsive, Sue was careful and
compassionate.
They were normal human beings, until they joined Sue's boyfriend, Reed
Richards and his friend, Ben Grimm, on a test flight into outer space. While
in space, the craft was hit by cosmic radiation. After they returned to earth,
each of the flight members found that they had new abilities. Johnny's gift
was the ability to fly, burst into flame and control fires that were burning
around him. The four astronauts called themselves the Fantastic Four.
They became world known adventurers and tried to use thier abilities to help
mankind. They became the enemies of many people, most noteably Victor von
Doom, aka Doctor Doom. Doom had been the college room mate of Reed Richards,
and he blamed Reed for the failure of a device he had created while at
college. He made it his life's work that the world would know that he was
superior to Richards.
The Torch and Spider-Man have a long history together. They have squabbled and
bickered as often as they have helped each other. They are about the same age
but have very different personalities. They stopped fighting each other long
enough to apprehend the Beetle early in thier careers, and Johnny
accidentally inspired Peter to never give up after he was beaten by Doctor
Octopus. Spidey returned the favor by rescuing Johnny from the Sandman
after he was kidnapped. They survived fighting each other, after they were
tricked into doing so by Mysterio and the Wizard. The Torch has aided
Spider-Man several times against Venom, as fire is one of the symbiotes
few weaknesses.
Spidey and Torch are what you might call super hero siblings. They like each
other, but would never admit it. After Norman Osborn framed Spider-Man for
attackinghim and put out a reward for his capture, New York was flooded with
vigilantes trying to take him down. (Absorbing Man, Titania, Black
Tarantula and Punisher amoung them.) Torch was one of the few to speak
up for Spider-Man, warning the Hornet to leave Spidey alone. Little did he
know that Peter had been using the Hornet identity to fight crime without
becoming a target in the process.
Thanks To:
Some of the above information is extracted from the various
versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent
Marvel Encyclopaedias.
The assistance of the
Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
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