Pitch a Direction: Firestorm

[Incognito]

I have seen a lot of 'Pitch a Direction' threads from various forums, and it inspires me to make a 'Direction' Pitch for an obscure character in the DCU, who have not been used much.

From my viewpoint, Firestorm to me is an underutilized character who should be used more, he has the firepower (pun not intended) to rival top-tier heroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman, and he can manipulate/transmute matter which makes him one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe.

What are your directions for the nuclear-powered hero?

[Timothy Hunter]

Oh jeez. To be brutally honest I'm not incredibly familiar with Firestorm. However if there was a gun to my head stating that I HAD to write a new Firestorm series I would probably have a new character in the role, and continue the geopolitical tone of the John Ostrander and New 52 series.

[sifighter]

Honestly I think it would be interesting if they did a Firestorm series where his powers suddenly transmuted into matter from other dimensions or planets. Because honestly how cool would it be if Firestorm just decided that he knew enough about earth matter, so why not go off and learn how to transmute into things he's never seen before on some distant alien world or maybe even magic. I mean what if he was to transmute matter on Gemworld or when fighting alongside the Justice League Dark or Odyssey. Don't focus solely on earth matter because if he can learn to make Kryptonite in some instances who knows what else he could do. He's been in science, now lets throw him out of his element into science fiction or fantasy.

[Timothy Hunter]

Honestly I think it would be interesting if they did a Firestorm series where his powers suddenly transmuted into matter from other dimensions or planets. Because honestly how cool would it be if Firestorm just decided that he knew enough about earth matter, so why not go off and learn how to transmute into things he's never seen before on some distant alien world or maybe even magic. I mean what if he was to transmute matter on Gemworld or when fighting alongside the Justice League Dark or Odyssey. Don't focus solely on earth matter because if he can learn to make Kryptonite in some instances who knows what else he could do. He's been in science, now lets throw him out of his element into science fiction or fantasy.

Holy crap. By merely reading this post I now understand the entire appeal of the character.

I would do this with the creative team of Warren Ellis & Babs Tar.

[Ascended]

Well, explaining everything I'd do would result in a pretty long post so I'll just keep it short. I put a ton of thought into this a year or two ago when I made the same thread.

We're going to "Miles Morales" the hell out of Firestorm. Forget the Nuclear Man, we're going to dig deeper and explore some cutting edge science with the Quantum Man. The Firestorm Matrix would play a big role; its a unifying, fundamental force in the universe responsible for molecular bonding; that's a huge thing to explore and be responsible for. Calabi-Yao manifolds, gravimetric waves, FTL theory......there's so much cool stuff happening in science these days, and Firestorm would ride that wave. What the Speed Force is for Flash, the Firestorm Matrix should be for Firestorm and its a realm worth exploring. Especially the cities inside it. Oh yeah, those would be weird as hell.

I'd play up the importance of Martin Stein in the science community, making him the head Director of STAR Labs and the go-to nuclear physicist on earth. I'd take Ronnie and Jason both out of it and introduce a 14 year old character to be the other half of 'Storm (playing up the generation gap with Martin); one vaguely based on Jax from the CW shows. Basically combining the best elements of Ronnie and Jason into one character while creating someone unique. Hopefully that would be enough to bring the divided fanbase together, and neither Jason nor Ronnie would get abused or killed off. They'd both be alive, out of the hero game and happily living their lives, both likely looking at marrying their longterm love interests. I'd use them as occasional supporting cast members, just for the respect, yknow? But I dont think nostalgia would serve Firestorm very well, nor would bringing the Ronnie v Jason fan wars back to the fore. Jax, as a "unbiased third party" might be what everyone needs to move forward. (yeah, I have my doubts about that too).

Lorraine would be a hotshot young senator, torn between her friendship with Stein and her desire to see the Matrix in the government's hands as well as her fear of a child possessing that much raw power with so little oversight. Some shades of Marvel's SHRA there, but without the character assassinations.

Half the time, Martin uses Firestorm to explore the Matrix and perform science experiments. Jax finds it boring as hell. The other half of the time, Jax uses Firestorm to fight crime and be a superhero, which Martin finds terrifying and a waste of their potential.

[Midnight_v]

Well, explaining everything I'd do would result in a pretty long post so I'll just keep it short. I put a ton of thought into this a year or two ago when I made the same thread.

We're going to "Miles Morales" the hell out of Firestorm. Forget the Nuclear Man, we're going to dig deeper and explore some cutting edge science with the Quantum Man. The Firestorm Matrix would play a big role; its a unifying, fundamental force in the universe responsible for molecular bonding; that's a huge thing to explore and be responsible for. Calabi-Yao manifolds, gravimetric waves, FTL theory......there's so much cool stuff happening in science these days, and Firestorm would ride that wave. What the Speed Force is for Flash, the Firestorm Matrix should be for Firestorm and its a realm worth exploring. Especially the cities inside it. Oh yeah, those would be weird as hell.

I'd play up the importance of Martin Stein in the science community, making him the head Director of STAR Labs and the go-to nuclear physicist on earth. I'd take Ronnie and Jason both out of it and introduce a 14 year old character to be the other half of 'Storm (playing up the generation gap with Martin); one vaguely based on Jax from the CW shows. Basically combining the best elements of Ronnie and Jason into one character while creating someone unique. Hopefully that would be enough to bring the divided fanbase together, and neither Jason nor Ronnie would get abused or killed off. They'd both be alive, out of the hero game and happily living their lives, both likely looking at marrying their longterm love interests. I'd use them as occasional supporting cast members, just for the respect, yknow? But I dont think nostalgia would serve Firestorm very well, nor would bringing the Ronnie v Jason fan wars back to the fore. Jax, as a "unbiased third party" might be what everyone needs to move forward. (yeah, I have my doubts about that too).

Lorraine would be a hotshot young senator, torn between her friendship with Stein and her desire to see the Matrix in the government's hands as well as her fear of a child possessing that much raw power with so little oversight. Some shades of Marvel's SHRA there, but without the character assassinations.

Half the time, Martin uses Firestorm to explore the Matrix and perform science experiments. Jax finds it boring as hell. The other half of the time, Jax uses Firestorm to fight crime and be a superhero, which Martin finds terrifying and a waste of their potential.

Huh, I'm reminded of when we were talking about a NON-Teen titans, team.
Firestorm/Beetle/Stargirl "Trinity" awhile ago.


I'm having a problem with Firestorm recently, and its... really doomsday clock and really ethan van scrivers last run in general, where the matrix is just a weapon, and put us into a cold war.
Something other countries can recreate and have their own nuclear men.

Looking at comics having a single similar villain being essentially Sabertooth, or Venom, or Abomination is okay however:
1: Having a BUNCH of people showing up with the same powers dilutes the character to me, and based on some of the reaction to things like the 7 or more green laterns on earth (even though admittedly different)
I think lots of people feel similarly.
2: Sometimes the duality of Superman/Lex Lutor and Batman/Joker... is what serves a character best.

It strikes me that the best showing for firestorm for years was in "Injustice" I haven't like him that much since the superfriends as a kid and thats where I fell in love with the character.

One of the great failings of the Firestorm books and why it never catches on is the desperation of almost every writer who approaches him to treat him like he's Peter Parker.
There is a small part of me looking back that can't shake the feeling that every writer that touches this character secretly wants to be writing Spider man be it mile morales or the aforementioned parker.

I watched marvels Richard Ryder fall into this trap for years, and years. . . you know what got him out of it? That had people clamoring for more?
"Annihilation" when the idea got across that he was not "Kid" Nova from the new warriors and he wasn't always going to be a college softmore sleeping on someones couch. He was an insanely powerful hero
attatched to a larger than life duty.
...
The "Everyman" story where he's going to school and having dating problems are just... Do something else. MAYBE, Let us establish it that when superman falls/Dies/Retires? Its FIRESTORM who fights imperiex or whatever comes next.
Its FIRESTORM sitting at that table tommrorow, not superson or billy batson, and that his concerns are WAY bigger because of what the JLA leaves unfinished. He needs a huge arc, that isn't deconstruction of the genre. He needs kids to look at him
they look at those over the top manga heroes but the boat keeps getting missed somehow, in the rush to milk the teen titans. Sorry if that doesnt' answer the op, but I wanted to talk to you because firestorm has problems that go beyond a simple
"pitch". Not the least of which... whats happening in doomsday clock right now.

[sifighter]

Holy crap. By merely reading this post I now understand the entire appeal of the character.

I would do this with the creative team of Warren Ellis & Babs Tar.

I’d probably also be good with Sam Humphries, Peter Tomasi, or Steve Orlando

[silly]

I like the idea of Stein being a part of STAR Labs.

And maybe connect the Firestorm matrix with the Totality somehow?