Martin Stein is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is commonly associated with, and sometimes is, the superhero Firestorm. Stein was originally portrayed as one half of Firestorm alongside Ronnie Raymond, acting as a mentor to Ronnie, and has also acted as Firestorm on his own. Stein has made several appearances in DC-related media. He is portrayed by Victor Garber in the Arrowverse and voiced by Stephen Tobolowsky in Justice League Action.
Publication history Martin Stein first appeared in Firestorm the Nuclear Man #1 (March 1978), and was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom. Stein was originally portrayed as one half of Firestorm alongside Ronnie Raymond, acting as a mentor to Ronnie. In the 1980s and 1990s, Stein acted as the sole Firestorm after learning that he was always intended to be Earth's Fire Elemental. In the 2006 series Infinite Crisis, Stein returned to Earth and began working with Jason Rusch, the second Firestorm. In the 2019 series Doomsday Clock, Firestorm's origin underwent a retcon, revealing that Martin Stein is the head of the Department of Metahuman Affairs and orchestrated the incident that transformed him and Ronnie Raymond into Firestorm in an effort to study and weaponize metahumans.
Fictional character biography Nobel Prize-winning physicist Martin Stein was caught in an accident that allowed him to fuse into Firestorm the "Nuclear Man" with student Ronnie Raymond. Due to Stein being unconscious during the accident, Ronnie was prominently in command of the Firestorm form with Stein a voice of reason inside his mind, able to offer Ronnie advice on how to use their powers without having any control over Firestorm. Banter between the two was a hallmark of their adventures. Stein was initially completely unaware of their dual identity, leaving him concerned about his unusual disappearances and blackouts, but Ronnie was eventually able to convince him of the truth, allowing them to bond as separate individuals rather than as parts of a whole. After the accident, Firestorm took to defending New York City from such threats as Multiplex and Killer Frost. The 1982 series began with the teenaged Raymond adjusting to this role and later delved into the issue of the nuclear arms race. The Fury of Firestorm slowly developed the lives of Raymond and Stein, as Raymond struggled with high school and moved towards graduation, and Stein found a life outside the lab after learning about his bond with Raymond. The series also tried to create a sense of fun, something that Gerry Conway felt was missing during his years writing Spider-Man; the banter between Raymond and Stein contributed to this. Upon graduation from high school, Raymond entered college in Pittsburgh, where Stein had been hired as a professor. Afterward, together they searched for a cure for their bond. When Conway left the series in 1986, John Ostrander (with artist Joe Brozowski) began writing the Firestorm stories. His first major story arc pitted Firestorm against the world as the hero, acting on a suggestion from a terminally ill Martin Stein, demanded that the United States and the Soviet Union destroy all of their nuclear weapons. After confrontations with the Justice League and most of his enemies, Firestorm faces the Russian nuclear superhero Pozhar in the Nevada desert, where an atomic bomb was dropped on them. A new Firestorm is created, composed of Raymond and Pozhar and controlled by the disembodied amnesiac mind of Stein. The Firestorm with Arkadin proved to be a transitional phase, as in 1989 Ostrander fundamentally changed the character of Firestorm by revealing that Firestorm was a "Fire Elemental". By the series' 100th issue, Stein learned that he was destined to be the true Fire Elemental and would have been were it not for Raymond also being there by circumstance. Raymond and Arkadin were returned to their old lives, and Stein as Firestorm was accidentally exiled to deep space in the process of saving Earth. He thereafter spent many years traveling through space as a wanderer, rarely returning to Earth. The 2006 miniseries Infinite Crisis revealed that Stein was alive in space as the "Elemental Firestorm", had sensed the presence of Jason Rusch within the Firestorm matrix, but was unaware of Ronnie's death during Identity Crisis. When Jason, as Firestorm, is gravely wounded in the line of duty, Stein links with Jason in a variation of the merge, promising Jason a new Firestorm form to return into battle. Accepting Martin's proposal, Jason asks Stein to become the permanent second member of the Firestorm matrix. Sensing that his "errors" were the result of his youth and lack of experience, Jason sought the experience and maturity of Stein. Stein refused at first, but later accepted Jason's request, thus ensuring both a new Firestorm form and the reconstruction of human bodies for both Jason and Stein. Rusch and Stein meet Shilo Norman, who informs them that the Firestorm matrix contains one-quarter of the Life Equation. Darkseid fears that the Life Equation might challenge him and the Anti-Life Equation. Stein is separated from the matrix, then vanishes. Jason, with Gehenna as a "hidden partner" in their fusion, begins searching for the missing Stein. As the storyline jumps ahead one year (and the series is retitled as Firestorm the Nuclear Man from issue #23 on), it is revealed that Stein had been kidnapped and tortured by Adrian Burroughs, his former teaching assistant. Flanked by the D.O.L.L.I.s, cyborg soldiers with limited cognitive ability, Burroughs questions Stein about the secrets of the universe. Jason, Firehawk, and Gehenna free the captured Stein and heal him.
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