Thomas Raymond (Earth-616)

Fred Raymond, a young man in the employ of Professor Phineas T. Horton, the man who would later create the original Human Torch, was an expert on flame proofing who was conducting experiments with asbestos. Longtime exposure to asbestos ruined Raymond's health, and he left Horton's employ. Soon afterwards Raymond married Nora Jones, a scientist who was herself seriously ill from overexposure to radium in her experiments. They honeymooned in Mexico, and nine months later their son Thomas was born. They nicknamed him "Toro," the Spanish word for bull, as a private joke, in memory of the bullfights they had seen on their honeymoon. As Thomas grew into boyhood, his parents realized that they would probably die from their illnesses before he became an adult. However, they discovered that Thomas was immune to fire, and Nora theorized that he was a mutant.

One day the Raymond's home was invaded by a costumed criminal named the Asbestos Lady and her gang. The Asbestos Lady utilized fire in her crimes, protecting herself with asbestos, and intended to force Raymond to develop new means by which she could use asbestos for crime. The Human Torch, who had been watching the Raymonds' home, suspecting that the Asbestos Lady would contact such a noted authority on asbestos, broke in and captured the gang. The Asbestos Lady, however, escaped.

The Human Torch learned about Thomas' immunity to fire from his parents, and decided to keep watch over the Raymonds, both to protect them from the Asbestos Lady and to monitor Thomas' development. Soon afterwards, Fred Raymond learned that his wife had only a few more weeks to live. He kept the news from her and instead hurriedly arranged a vacation trip for the family, which would be Nora's last. They embarked on the trip by train, but the Asbestos Lady, obsessed with making up for her failure to capture Raymond, had a huge tree trunk placed on the tracks. The train hit the trunk and was derailed and wrecked. Fred and Nora Raymond died when the train burst into flames, but Thomas escaped. A married team of circus fire-eaters, Tom and Ellie Alexander, were driving by and saw Thomas rushing into the flames unharmed to try to find his parents. Moved by both sympathy for the orphan's plight and by the realization that he would prove a boon to their act, the Alexanders decided to take him under their wing.

Weeks later news reports began to spread about the amazing boy fire-eater and his immunity to flame. The Human Torch and the Asbestos Lady simultaneously realized who Toro was, and each set out to find him. The Human Torch captured the Asbestos Lady and her gang, and then headed for the circus where Toro was performing. As the Torch approached Toro, his presence caused Toro to burst into flame like the Torch himself, but while remaining unharmed. The Torch realized that Toro had the same powers that he himself did. The Torch became Toro's legal guardian, and trained Toro in the use of his powers. The original Human Torch and Toro became a crimefighting team.

When the United States entered World War II, the Human Torch and Toro became founding members of the Invaders. Toro remained with the Invaders for the length of the war, except when he was serving with the Kid Commandos. Toro was present when the original Human Torch killed Adolf Hitler. After the war, Toro and the Torch continued to fight crime as members of the All-Winners Squad.

In 1949 criminals paralyzed the Human Torch and Toro with a spray of "solution X-R" which they had obtained from the Soviet Union. The criminals left Toro behind, believing him to be no real threat without his mentor, and buried the Torch in the Nevada desert. Toro retired from crimefighting upon recovering. In December 1953, an atomic bomb test released the Torch, who resumed his partnership with Toro for two more years. But the Torch discovered that the radiation he had absorbed from the bomb blast was causing him to malfunction. He bid farewell to Toro and flew to the desert, where he emitted a burst of energy and became deactivated. Toro eventually realized that the Torch had "died," and so Toro retired from crimefighting, married, and led a normal life in relative obscurity.

Years later, the Mad Thinker found and reactivated the Human Torch and forced him to attack the Fantastic Four. The Torch was deactivated again, supposedly permanently, in the course of the battle. Funeral services were announced for the Human Torch, and Thomas Raymond decided to attend. The Mad Thinker confronted Raymond outside the cemetery and drugged him. When Toro awoke, the drug had given him partial amnesia, and the Thinker convinced him that he was the Human Torch. Moreover, the Thinker had fastened a collar around Toro's neck through which he could induce enough pain to force Toro to act as his servant. However, in a battle between Toro and the Sub-Mariner, the collar was damaged so that it could not hurt him, and Toro joined forces with the Sub-Mariner against the Thinker. During ensuing events, Toro's full memory returned. Enraged at the Thinker for enslaving and brainwashing him, Toro attacked the Thinker, who was escaping in a skycraft. Toro entered the ship's rocket tubes and used his own power to propel it towards the Thinker's pacific island laboratory, where the ship crashed and exploded. The Thinker escaped through a teleportation device, but Toro was killed in the crash.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Fire Generation & Control: Toro was a mutant who possessed the mental ability to control ambient heat energy and the physical ability to envelop his entire body or portions of his body with fiery plasma without harm to himself. (Plasma is a super-heated state of matter such as exists in the atmosphere of stars).

Ordinarily, when aflame, Toro was enveloped by a low intensity flame of low level plasma (reddish, approximately 780° Fahrenheit) which ranged from 1 to 5 inches from his body. He could, however, generate heat and flame of temperatures ranging up to 2500° Fahrenheit.

Toro could create shapes composed of fire. These flame-objects would only retain their shapes as long as he concentrated upon them. The objects would burn for only about three minutes unless Toro continued to infuse them with energy. Like his mentor, the original Human Torch, Toro could telekinetically control not only flame objects that he created but also flames he did not create.

Toro's plasma had a high hydrogen content and was surrounded by an exuded cloud of mono-atomic hydrogen atoms. This hot cloud provided sufficient buoyancy for him to float. By forming a jet from his feet, directed behind him, while he was in his flaming state, he could fly at speeds up to 150 miles per hour.

Toro could absorb flames into himself without harm within certain undefined limits.

Toro's flame was supported by the presence of oxygen and thus was extinguished in low air pressure or a vacuum. Toro's flame could be extinguished by smothering materials such as water, sand, fire-fighting foam, and heat-resistant blankets, unless his flame was at such intensity that it immediately vaporized such materials on contact. If hit with small amounts of water up to about 5 gallons, Toro could turn it to steam with relatively little effort. More water than that would extinguish his flame at its normal level, and he would have to wait until he could evaporate the residual moisture before re-ignition.

Toro's light output was mostly in the infrared and far infrared regions of the spectrum and was invisible to the unaided eye. Therefore, Toro, when aflame, was dimmer than one would expect of so powerful an energy source.

Resistance to Fire & Heat: Toro was unaffected by heat and flames, including his own, even when part of him was aflame and the rest was not. His flesh could not be scalded or burned by any heat source whose level was below that of his maximum output of heat.

Abilities

None known.

Strength level

Toro possessed the normal human strength of a boy/man of his age, height, and build who engaged in moderate regular exercise.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

No trivia.

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Links and References

Human Torch Comics #2 - First Appearance
Sub-Mariner #14 - Died battling the Mad Thinker!

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