Valentina Vostok

"Have you ever merged with a woman before, Professor? I think you and I are gonna make a wonderful Firestorm."

- Valentina Vostok to Martin Stein

Valentina Vostok, also known as Soviet Firestorm, was a scientist from the Soviet Union and an enemy of Rip Hunter's team.

Working with Vandal Savage
Valentina began working with Vandal Savage sometime between 1975 and 1986. They began creating their very own version of Firestorm, having had 10 years to research his abilities before Rip Hunter reappeared. The project to create Firestorm was dubbed "Operation Svarog", in honor of an ancient Slavic god of fire.

In 1986, Rip and his team made their way to the Soviet Union to try and find out what Savage had been planing since their last encounter. After Ray Palmer failed to trick Valentina into making him the private investor for her research, she was seduced by Leonard Snart, which lead to Snart to taking the ID card she used to access her research facility. As the team infiltrated her facility, she interrupted them, revealing that she had been working alongside Savage the whole time and was fully aware of his intentions. She, along with additional forces, then kidnapped Martin Stein, Mick Rory and Ray Palmer.

The three were transported to a Russian gulag prison. Valentina repeatedly attempted to get Stein to divulge the secrets of Firestorm's creation, as her previous attempts at creating her own nuclear men had been unsuccessful; Stein, however, refused to comply, even though Valentina had him drugged and his teammates were physically tortured. After spotting a message carved into Stein's arm from Jefferson Jackson, she came to the correct conclusion that two people were necessary to create a stable matrix, and that Stein was one half of the Firestorm that Vandal Savage had battled eleven years earlier. Valentina forcibly merged with Stein, briefly becoming an unstable version of Firestorm. Rip Hunter and the rest of his team arrived to free their friends and Jackson was able to convince Stein to fight Valentina for control of Firestorm, eventually causing their union to collapse and for Stein to be ejected from the matrix. As Valentina had ignored Stein's pleas that she use a quantum splicer when they merged, her body was left completely unstable from all of the nuclear energy that she had absorbed. She subsequently exploded outside of the prison.

Powers

 * Firestorm Matrix: When Valentina merged with Professor Martin, the two create the nuclear-powered composite being Soviet Firestorm. The F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. Matrix is controlled by two individuals, or "halves"; when they achieve physical contact, the Matrix takes over their biology and merges them into a singular being. When the two halves of Firestorm merge, the Matrix has them take on the form of the individual that has the stronger body.
 * Nucleokinesis: Soviet Firestorm is virtually a living reactor, and as such, creates great amounts of nuclear energy via the innumerous atomic reactions constantly occurring in her body. That and her mental capacity to process both fission and fusion, allow her to harness the energy emitting from her either his own body or any near source of energy that's near.
 * Flight: Soviet Firestorm has so far seen to have at least two methods to achieve flight. The first and most common is when she uses fires nuclear blasts downward at a consistent rate, thereby defying generating enough force to defy gravity and allow for stable prolusion and gliding. This flight style is his preferred and most practiced choice. The second method is unclear, as she is shown to be able to fly at impressive speeds without the need of his blasts. How she achieved this skill or how she even does it is unclear.
 * Nuclear absorption: Soviet Firestorm has shown the ability to not only generate nuclear power, but also contain the energy coming from outside sources by absorbing its output.
 * Nuclear pyrokinesis: Due to the nuclear nature of the transmutation of the two bodies, Soviet Firestorm is able to produce nuclear energy in the form of fire from parts of her body. She can use her control over the energy to project it willingly in the form of concussive blasts. These "nuclear blasts" are often shown to be quite powerful and have shown to be able to knock unarmed humans out unconscious and are hot enough to burn through solid structures and even cause harm to meta-humans.
 * Psychic link: Valentina can hear Martin Stein's disembodied voice while the two of them were merged into Firestorm. Even when they are separated, their link allows them limited communication of sensations or emotions.

Abilities

 * Adept markswoman/Firearms: It can be assumed that Valentina has some skill with firearms, as she owns a gun.
 * Genius-level intellect: As a scientist of the Soviet Union, Valentina is highly intelligent.

Weaknesses

 * Arrogance: Valentina believed she was right, never listening when others said she was wrong. Such a primary example is her refusal to listen to Martin, who told her that with a Quantum splicer, she would be endangering herself and him; in the end, her arrogance cost Valentina her life as she blew up.
 * Prolonged separation: Due to now sharing Martin's genetic code, she cannot remain separate for a fixed period of time. Doing so will result in her vitals becoming unstable, and eventually killing her in the process.
 * Separation: When Valentina and Martin separated, her nuclear powers became even more unstable until she exploded.
 * Quantum splicer: Without the Quantum splicer, Valentina could not truly control her nuclear powers and exploded.

Trivia

 * In overview, Valentina ended up killing herself due to her arrogance and refusal to listen to Dr. Stein warning her against trying to become Firestorm.
 * Valentina is one of those individuals to become a meta-human without the use of a particle accelerator on either Earth One or Earth Two, with the others being Eliza Harmon, Jake Simmons (though the source of Simmons' powers remain unknown) and Jesse Quick. However, since the source of Jay Garrick's superpowers is unknown, he is a possible fifth exception, though he himself is from Earth Three, and the Flashpoint version of Edward Clariss would be the sixth. Additionally, it was revealed that Hath-Set/Vandal Savage, Chay-Ara, and Khufu received their powers of longevity and reincarnation/regeneration not from magic, but rather due to being mutated after exposure to a Thanagarian meteor, which was actually a piece of futuristic technology far more advanced than anything contemporary humanity had created on Earth. Should the three of them be classified as meta-humans, this could raise the total number of meta-humans who acquired their abilities outside a particle accelerator to nine. Regardless, Valentina remains a member of this rather exclusive group of individuals.
 * Valentina is the third person to successfully fuse with Martin Stein as part of the Firestorm Matrix. The first was Ronnie Raymond, and the second is Jefferson Jackson.

Behind the scenes

 * In DC comics, Valentina Vostok is a Soviet Air Force Lieutenant who later becomes the superhero known as Negative Woman. Her first appearance was in DC Showcase #94 (August 1977).