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The Human Torch is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. There are two different characters with this name. The best way to differentiate them is that the face on the original Torch is featureless when enveloped in flame while the face is usually visible on the newer one.
Original Human Torch
The original Human Torch was an android who could fly and, due to an error in his design, could envelop himself in flame. After appearing in a wide variety of comics during the 1940s, the Human Torch fell victim to a general slump in the superhero market and disappeared for most of the 1950s. When the market revived, Marvel Comics introduced a new Human Torch (see below), and the original, outside of the 1970s series, The Invaders and a 1980s run in Avengers West Coast, was not seen again apart from an occasional guest appearance.
More on The Original Human Torch
Fantastic Four's Human Torch
The more well-known Human Torch is Jonathan Lowell Spencer "Johnny" Storm who is a member of the Fantastic Four.
As a result of the cosmic ray exposure during the space flight he took with his sister, Susan, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, he gained the most spectacular set of powers. Namely, he can harmlessly envelop himself in flame at will which allows him to fly, shoot flame offensively and absorb heat energy.
As the youngest member, he has proved the most impetuous and was given to many of the concerns of teenagers. This includes a playfully antagonistic relationship with Ben Grimm (the Thing). This hit a low point when Johnny fell in love with Ben's old flame, Alicia Masters and married her, only to learn that she was a Skrull imposter named Lyja.
In Neil Gaiman's 1602, his power is associated with the classical element of fire.
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