I recall (somewhat dimly) the Marvel comic books I had as a kid. I remember there was a hero with superpowers called The Human Torch. Was mostly drawn “on fire”. Was an adult. Had a sidekick younger torch-fellow (not always present), a guy named Toro. Occasionally they would sort of “team up” with other super-heros, including Namor the Sub-Mariner and, I think, Captain America, possibly Iron Man?
Then there was the Fantastic Four. One fourth of which was also a superhero dude called The Human Torch. Johnny. Seemed much younger than the other Human Torch. Was much more often drawn in a blue costome, only did the “burst into flames” thing to fly or burn things or hurl fireballs at evil enemies.
Was there every any backstory or explanation of the relationship (if any) between the adult Human Torch and Johnny the Human Torch who was in F4? Is one of these characters considered to be of a different “era”, in the same sense that the DC comic characters had a “Golden Age” set of heros who got put out to pasture and replaced with differently costumed and differently powered heros of the same name a bit later?
Am I mis-remembering something that would make this make more sense?
The original Human Torch (HT1) was an android. He wasn’t designed to burst into flames; it just sort of…happened. He did have a sidekick called Toro who had the same powers, but somewhat weaker. Originally HT1 more often fought with Sub-Mariner than teamed up with him. I don’t know if he and Captain America teamed up during their initial 1940s runs, but in the 70s thre was a comic book called The Invaders in which Cap and HT1 teamed up with some British heroes during WW2.
There is no relationship between the two Torches. They share the powers and the name but are not otherwise related (unless you count that HT2 used to date the daughter of the man who created HT2).
There’s some odd trademark goings on between the two characters:
Word Mark THE HUMAN TORCH
Goods and Services IC 016. US 038. G & S: PUBLICATIONS, PARTICULARLY COMIC STRIPS AND STORIES IN ILLUSTRATED FORM.
FIRST USE: 19390831.
FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19390831
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 72301438
Filing Date June 26, 1968
thru here
It looks like Marvel made a deal for the earlier (1939) torch’s name.
No, Marvel always owned the name. Marvel was originally called Timely, and Timely published the original HT stories; in fact, HT1 was on the cover of Marvel Comics#1.
And to touch on a point of the OP I forgot to, HT1 pre-dated Iron Man by about 20 years, so during HT1’s initial stories they didn’t team up. When HT1 was re-activated in the 80s, he did join the West Coast Avengers, of which Iron Man was a member.