Jason Rusch

Latest revision as of 06:15, 27 August 2024

Jason Rusch on the left in Fury of Firestorm v1 #14.

Jason Rusch is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Jason Rusch in Firestorm v3 #23.

Jason Rusch

One day, his mother received a call telling the family that Alvin Rusch had an accident at the plant. This resulted in him losing his left arm and he was in the hospital with Jason along with his mother by his side. This was until he discharged and returned to his home where after a while his father began to take out his anger and frustrations on his family. The fights resulted in Jason's mother leaving the family and her leaving her son with Alvin Rusch. As a result, Jason stayed with his father whose anger led to him taking out his frustration on his own son at times. (Firestorm v3 #3)

Whilst driving, he was exposed to a field of energy where he briefly lost consciousness and upon awakening he quickly drove away as he was late to work. (Firestorm v3 #1)

Trapped in his mind, Stevie's body was being consumed by Rusch's mental form within the Firestorm Matrix. Unable to separate, Jason panicked as Stevie faced death and looked for a way to survive. After seeing his memories, he began to highlight the fact that Jason was always beaten down by others and that this no longer needed to be the case as he had powers now. It was then that Rusch finally felt in control and this allowed him to break the psychological barrier allowing him to separate. However, Stevie's body was left a mangled biological mass with him being dead as his remains fell in the sewer. A regretful Jason vowed to make sure that this would not happen again and returned home. (Firestorm v3 #3) Jason got a job at Ho-Ho Charlie’s Chicken Shack as their Rush Hour Chicken mascot, and although he found it demeaning it paid decently. He almost got the nerve to talk to as girl at work he liked when his father came storming in the restaurant saying he’d been waiting to pick him up for ten minutes, and Jason was wasting his time flirting. That night Jason needed to let off some steam, so he bonded with Preston, a homeless man in the park, and became Firestorm. He flew around, enjoying himself, when he met Green Lantern John Stewart and Martian Manhunter. They knew he wasn’t the Firestorm they’d teamed with, and grilled him on how he got his powers. He was in awe, and his answers were forthright, so they recommended he get checked up at S.T.A.R. Labs, and gave him a communicator to contact the JLA in an emergency. Preston told him he was amazing, and had the power to change the world. Preston told him not to squander the gift he’d been given. Firestorm came across a car accident, and met Casey Krinsky, who’d caused the accident to attract his attention. She was a met human obsessed with the old Firestorm, and she had the power to absorb and duplicate energy. She tried to absorb his energy as a way of connecting with him, but his powers overloaded her, and as he flew around trying to shake her, after turning to stone she fell into a lake. Firestorm was once again terrified at his own power, and the next day he found he had several telephone messages from Mick, but couldn’t bring himself to talk to his best friend. He heard news reports that Casey was still alive, and investigated, bonding with police officer Nicole Garcia to form Firestorm. She was none too pleased, but he assured her it was for the greater good. He ran into Casey, whose powers had gone out of control because of whatever he did to her, and she was in a homicidal mood. Firestorm realized he was starting to see atomic structures, and thought he might have more control over his powers, but when they battled he created an explosion that nearly killed her. He used the JLA communicator, and Superman and Flash responded, taking Casey to S.T.A.R. Labs for treatment. Superman told Firestorm to fly with him for a bit. Superman said he considered the old Firestorm a friend, and a magnificent hero, and that weather or not he’d been picked at random or chosen to be Firestorm, the new hero had a lot to live up to. Firestorm checked in on Casey at S.T.A.R. Labs, but didn’t disclose that he’d affected her powers. Garcia told him he was no hero, and he was getting addicted to his powers. He blew her off, and told her not to worry about it, because she’d forget about being Firestorm after they split. (Firestorm v3 #5)

Jason later had a dream that revealed the circumstances of the original Firestorm’s death. It showed that the hero been stabbed by the Shadow Thief, and his energy was about to detonate, so he flew into the sky to keep anyone from getting hurt before he exploded. Jason woke in a sweat, and his father started screaming at him to clean the gutters, threatening him with violence if he back-talked, and Jason meekly accepted. Mick dropped by from college to find out why he hadn’t been returning his calls. Jason was reluctant to talk to his oldest friend, but eventually decided to show him what he was up to by forming Firestorm with Mick, who was awestruck. Firestorm wanted to show off, so he dropped by the filming of an adult movie, and demonstrated how easily he could get two strippers to fawn over him. Next he settled an old score with Officer Trey Thurber, despite Mick begging him not to. Years ago Thurber caught Jason and Mick in the park after a robber, and despite not having any reason to suspect them he’d beaten them with his nightstick. Firestorm recounted the incident to Thurber without revealing his identity, and told the police officer he was done being a cop, and would retire or face Firestorm’s wrath. Firestorm proceeded to burn up his house. Firestorm asked Mick what he wanted to do, and he asked to visit the JLA Watchtower on the moon. After some snooping around he was met by Batman and Martian Manhunter. They’d been watching him use his powers for showboating and petty revenge, and warned him that he’d better start living up to his namesake. They’d hoped part of their colleague Firestorm’s mind was in the new Firestorm-Matrix, but after investigating Jason they knew their friend was completely gone. Manhunter put a psychic tracer on him so the JLA could continue to monitor him. Mick wanted to team with Jason on a regular basis, but Jason and Mick separated, and Mick forgot the adventure. Jason told him he’d gotten drunk, and told him to sleep it of at his house. (Firestorm v2 #6)

Whilst investigating the disappearance of Martin Stein, Firestorm received a tip about a sighting of the professor though Gehenna believed it to be a trap. She was proven right when they stumbled on Killer Frost who battled the superhero though she was ultimately defeated when Firestorm turned the ground around her into anti-freeze. However, he was then ambushed by the Injustice League Unlimited where Lex Luthor, Joker and Cheetah attacked him. In the fight, Joker sprayed specially treated venom on Firestorm causing him to laugh uncontrollably whereupon he was set upon by Cheetah who brutally slashed him leaving him badly injured. He was left behind as the villains departed with Firestorm taken to St. Vincent Hospital where the staff respected his secret identity by not unmasking him and helping in his recovery from the paralysis of the venom. Batman and Red Arrow arrived where they learnt of the attack as well as concluded the supervillains were working together in eliminating superheroes. (Justice League of America Wedding Special v2 #1) He recovered and decided to help the Justice League who had been captured by the supervillains at their headquarters with Firestorm arriving in time to transmute Lex Luthor's Kryptonite knife into a harmless spoon whilst creating a lockpick for the captive Batman. This allowed the pair to free their comrades where they helped defeat the Injustice League. Afterwards, Batman offered Firestorm membership into the Justice League of America as he felt that the hero needed supervision due to his great power. (Justice League of America v2 #15)

Jason and Gehenna later came to visit the grave of Ronnie Raymond where they were accompanied by Professor Stein. (Blackest Night v1 #1)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

At some point, he came to meet Martin Stein who shared with him his top-secret research project that was the creation of the Firestorm Protocols. Rusch was kept one of the bottles for safekeeping and to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. (Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1 #1)

He later arranged for an interview with Walton Mills High Schools star quarterback Ronnie Raymond where the two had an argument over black football players at the school. (Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

After bonding with the Firestorm Matrix, he came to operate as the new Firestorm. (Firestorm v3 #3)

All his life, he felt knocked down by others beginning with his father and ending with bullies. This changed though when he was convinced to take control after he became Firestorm. (Firestorm v3 #3)

His father had been a foreman at the auto plant until it closed and an accident later led to the family struggling. (Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1 #1) The result of the accident prevented him from working where he was known to take his anger out on his son at times. This could see him regretting his actions and apologising to Jason afterwards. Despite this, Jason said that he wanted to help his father and in fact wanted to go to college so that he could better support him. His father though initially believed that his son wanted to leave the home to get away from him. (Firestorm v3 #1) He was known to get angry when people spoke about his father. (Firestorm v3 #3)

One of his close friends was Tonya Lu where the two worked for the school newspaper. (Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1 #1)

Powers and abilities

After becoming Firestorm, he gained superhuman abilities to control energy and matter where he gained the power of flight, fire energy blasts and transmute objects from one state to another. (Firestorm v3 #2)

The Firestorm Matrix required to people to bond to it with Rusch often bonding with other people to transform into his superpowered state. Jason himself was the prime 'driver' whilst the other party remained in his mind whilst the two were Firestorm. Upon changing back to normal, the two separated where the other party had no memory of the entire time they were Firestorm. (Firestorm v3 #2) When bonded, his memories and those of the other person in the Matrix came to be shared partially with one another. Initially, he struggled in separating with his co-host with this being a psychological barrier that threatened to consume the mental presence of the other person. This was until Rusch came to feel in control and get a better handle of his abilities. (Firestorm v3 #3)

One incarnation of him was empowered by the Firestorm Protocols that were an invention of Martin Stein. In this time, he and Ronnie Raymond both came to be separate Firestorm's who had the ability to fuse into a more powerful entity called Fury. (Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1 #1)

Notes

• Jason Rusch was created by Dan Jolley where he made his first appearance Firestorm v3 #1 (July, 2004).

Alternate Versions

• In The New 52: Futures End v1 #1 (2014), an alternate future version of Jason Rusch appeared in the setting of Future's End. He was shown to had continued his partnership with Ronnie Raymond as the two maintained their joint role as Firestorm. In the years afterwards, Rusch was shown to had gotten a place at Columbia University where he worked in a laboratory there.

In other media

Television

• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Jason Rusch made an appearance in the episode "A Bat Divided!" where he was voiced by actor Tyler James Williams.
• In The Flash, Jason Rusch made an appearance in the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse in the episode "Revenge of the Rogues" where he was portrayed by actor Luc Roderique. He was shown as being a former student of Hudson University where he worked on the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project and co-wrote an 800-page paper with Professor Martin Stein. At some point, he sent his resume to both S.T.A.R. Labs and Mercury Labs where he was given a job at the latter. Caitlin Snow contacted him to learn more about the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project.

Film

• In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths film, the Jason Rusch Firestorm appeared in the animated film where he teleported onto the Justice League Watchtower to battle the Earth-3 Superwoman and her lieutenants.

Video games

• In DC Legends, the Jason Rusch Firestorm appeared in the iOS video game with the Bio revealing that he was a debt ridden student who had accidently bonded to Martin Stein in the Firestorm Matrix.
• In Injustice 2, the Jason Rusch Firestorm appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was paired with Martin Stein in the Firestorm Matrix with him being voiced by actor Ogie Banks.

Appearances

• Firestorm v3: (2004)
• Justice League of America v2:
• Blackest Night v1:
• Brightest Day v1:
• Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia ENtry

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