In 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby repurposed his name and powers for Johnny Storm, a member of the Fantastic Four who is a mutate[a] instead of an android.

Unlike Captain America and Namor, the Human Torch has had a small presence in post-1950s comics and is closely associated with the Golden Age.

Following his debut in the hit Marvel Comics #1,[2] the Human Torch proved popular enough that he soon became one of the first superheroes to headline a solo title.

Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman—who by the early 1950s had transitioned the company to its next iteration, as Atlas Comics—attempted to revive superheroes with the anthology comic Young Men #24–28 (Dec. 1953 – June 1954), starring the Human Torch (art by Syd Shores and Dick Ayers, variously, with covers and initially some panels featuring the Torch redrawn by Burgos for style consistency), along with the Sub-Mariner and Captain America.

[3] The Human Torch was an android created by Professor Phineas Horton in his lab in Brooklyn, New York for "scientific" purposes.

The Torch then inadvertently caused parts of New York City to burn and, after dealing with a mobster who wanted to gain advantage of his abilities for fire insurance (and accidentally causing the mobster's death in an explosion), he eventually learned to control his flame, rebelled against his creator, and vowed to help humanity.

In his solo title's debut issue, he acquired a young partner, Thomas "Toro" Raymond, the mutant son of two nuclear scientists whose exposure to radiation gave him the ability to control fire.

Both the Torch and the Sub-Mariner joined with Captain America and his partner Bucky as the core of the superhero team the Invaders, fighting Nazis during World War II (in retcon stories that premiered in 1970s comics).

Later writers explained how fearing he would become a danger to those around him, the Torch flew back out into the desert and went nova, using up his energy reserve and effectively deactivating himself.

[12] In a storyline in the Avengers that dealt with the secret background of its android member, the Vision revealed that the Torch's body had been found by a renegade robot named Ultron 5, and modified to become the Vision, his mind wiped of past memories and his powers altered with the coerced help of the Human Torch's original creator, Phineas Horton.

The seed of this idea was planted by artist Neal Adams and worked out in detail in The Avengers #133–135 (May–June 1975) by writer Steve Englehart.

[16] When Oracle, Inc., was closed down and Heroes for Hire disbanded, Hammond was soon asked to head Citizen V's V-Battalion upon the retirement of Roger Aubrey, the Destroyer.

While on leave from the V-Battalion as field leader of the New Invaders, he became attached to Tara, a female android based on him, whom he came to regard as a daughter of sorts.

[17] Tara was revealed to have been created by the Red Skull; overrides on her developing personality allowed the Invaders' enemies, the Axis Mundi, to use her as a weapon against the team.

They were subsequently stolen by professor Zhang Chin, who used the Torch's chemistry to create a virus weapon that caused infected persons to immolate.

Captain America (Barnes) and the Sub-Mariner stopped the attack, and were able to pressure the U.S. Government into burying the Torch with full military honors.

's Life Model Decoys against the organization in the belief that they are sentient machines that have been enslaved by the agency, but it is revealed that he has been deceived by Ultron, who had infiltrated the Helicarrier.

[22] Some time after his destruction, the pieces of his body are gathered and reassembled in a secret UN lab, until stolen by a squad of mercenaries led by Batroc the Leaper, at the behest of the Chinese science-villain Professor Pandemic.

[30] The Torch is later offered membership in the Secret Avengers by Captain America after Hawkeye takes over as the team's leader.

[31] During his first mission with the group, the Secret Avengers travel to the Core, a subterranean city inhabited by an advanced race of robots called Descendants.

He then leads an army of robots during a raid on New York City, with the goal of forcibly assimilating the human race through the use of nanotechnology.

[36] The Torch eventually realizes that he had been brainwashed, and destroys the Orb of Necromancy, the mystical artifact that granted life to the descendants.

[37] A number of months after his resignation from the Avengers, Hammond is shown living in a small town called Blaketon, now working as a mechanic.

[42] During the final confrontation with the forces of Counter-Earth – unleashed by the mysterious Quiet Man as part of his plan against the Fantastic Four – Sleepwalker revealed that Hammond had a soul despite his artificial origin.

[44][45][46][47][48][49] After the Mad Thinker's modification and reactivation of the Torch, writers began to portray him as clearly mechanical, containing circuits, relays, and motors, much like a traditional robot.

This variable presentation of his anatomy remains an unresolved issue, whether an overlooked continuity error or explained within the fictional context of the stories.

After his creation by Phineas Horton, many others have examined and experimented on the Torch's body, including the Mad Thinker, Zhang Chin, Henry Pym, and unspecified scientists working for the United Nations.

It is unclear if any of these entities have made additions to the Torch's original body design that could explain the appearance of his mechanical components.

This version was stored in a Damage Control facility before Iron Lad, Doom, and Captain America reactivate him amidst an attack by H.A.N.D.

[67][68] The android Human Torch, renamed the "Synthetic Man", makes a cameo appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger as part of the 1943 Stark Expo.