Ronnie Raymond


 * This article is about one of the two characters whose fusion make up Firestorm.
 * For other characters, see Firestorm (disambiguation).

"Cait, I have to try."

- Ronnie, before his last moments, to Caitlin

Ronald "Ronnie" Raymond (died May 19, 2015) was a former structural engineer for the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator prior to its catastrophic accident. He was also the husband of Caitlin Snow, and was one half of the transmuted and conjoint meta-human Firestorm.

Early life
Ronnie worked at S.T.A.R. Labs as the lead structural engineer of the particle accelerator. While working on the project in 2011, he became romantically involved with Caitlin Snow and in 2013 they got engaged.

The accident at S.T.A.R. Labs
On December 11, 2013, Ronnie attended the S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator's activation with his fiancée. The two talked about their honeymoon prior the particle accelerator being turned on by Dr. Harrison Wells. When Cisco Ramon joked about how it was going to be anticlimactic, Ronnie commented they would be in big trouble otherwise. Just as the scientists of S.T.A.R. Labs started their celebrations, the gravity was temporarily removed, and they heard a loud bang. Discovering a chain reaction caused by an anomaly in the core chamber, Ronnie, despite Caitlin's objections, and Cisco went down to the core to shut the particle accelerator down manually. Before going into the core chamber by himself, Ronnie told Cisco to shut down the blast door if he was not back in two minutes. Cisco protested, saying he would not be able to reopen it, but was convinced after Ronnie pointed out everyone in the building would die if the blast was not contained. Inside, he adjusted the system so the explosion would go upward instead of outward, but was unable to make it back to the door until the two minute deadline. Finding the blast door closed, he explained what he had done to Cisco over the radio, causing Cisco to leave to reset the particle parameters to compensate. Caitlin, who had arrived at the core shortly before, begged Ronnie to find a way to get out, but he told her the door would have to stay closed to protect her. When the core exploded, he was presumed dead and his body vaporized.

Living on the streets
Unbeknownst to his friends and family, the explosion merged Ronnie with Professor Martin Stein, via his F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project, and they became a meta-human. The merging vaporized Professor Stein's body, leaving nothing but a shadow mark, and reassembled Ronnie's body but it was Stein's mind who was dominant rather than Ronnie's. Out of concern, Stein also wouldn't let either one of them see their respective significant others, though Ronnie was able to obtain control for certain moments. The resulting mind meld caused Stein to refer to them collectively as "Firestorm", His abilities were witnessed by various people, and Firestorm was referred to as "the burning man" on Iris West's blog. Around ten months after the S.T.A.R. Labs accident, Firestorm was accosted under the freeway by two muggers who taunted the shivering Firestorm by asking him if he was cold. Getting up, Firestorm demonstrated his abilities by sprouting flames from his hands and head to scare off the muggers.

A few days before Christmas, Firestorm followed Caitlin to the Central City Mall garage. He approached her as she was getting into her car, and ran away when she noticed him. However, Caitlin was able to catch up to him. Unwilling to face her, he covered his hands and head in flames to scare her off and escaped the garage. Later, Caitlin found Firestorm with Cisco's help by following the ionized particles Firestorm emitted. When Caitlin tried to talk to him, he denied he was Ronnie Raymond and warned her to get away but Caitlin insisted they needed to take him to S.T.A.R. Labs to remind him of who he is. Firestorm simply whispered their collective name and distracted Caitlin and Cisco with flames, and scaring the two scientists. That night, Firestorm arrived at the S.T.A.R. Labs just as the Flash was fighting the Reverse-Flash, and saved the former by shooting flames at the yellow speedster. When the Reverse-Flash escaped, Firestorm warned Caitlin not to look for him before flying off.

Separating the two
Firestorm approached Quentin Quale, a scientist and old friend of Professor Stein's, looking for help. He accidentally lost control of his powers and burned Quale, leaving him in critical condition. Upon hearing this news, Team Flash decided to find and contain Firestorm. They interviewed Martin's wife, Clarissa, who told them that a disoriented Ronnie had come to her house a month after the particle accelerator accident, claiming to be her husband. She stated that she felt like she was being watched. Wells and Caitlin then staked out Clarissa's house, waiting for Firestorm to appear again. When he did, he was confronted by the Flash, whom he easily defeated by flying him way up into the air and dropping him. When Firestorm was about to strike down Barry, he saw Caitlin and fled. However, Barry had planted a tracking device on Firestorm and was able to find him again. With Clarissa's help, Team Flash convinced Firestorm to go with them for treatment. Wells and Caitlin stabilized Firestorm's mind with a drug cocktail used for dissociative personality disorder. At this point, Stein's personality was dominant, with Ronnie's dormant, although Stein did have knowledge of Ronnie's memories and some of his feelings, including his love for Caitlin. When Wells discovered that Firestorm's body was destabilizing and would soon disintegrate in a massive nuclear explosion, Firestorm decided to isolate himself at a location far away from Central City to avoid harming anyone.He had planned on committing suicide by shooting himself. Barry and Caitlin arrived just in time with a quantum splicer, which they hoped would harmlessly separate Ronnie and Stein while preventing the explosion. Caitlin activated the splicer, but a huge blast of energy, resembling a nuclear explosion, was released from Firestorm's body, engulfing the area.

Accepting Firestorm
The explosion, despite destroying everything nearby, separated the two and Ronnie was finally truly with his fiancée again. The two were brought back to S.T.A.R. Labs where Ronnie was reunited with Cisco and Dr. Wells, sorry to see him now confined to a wheelchair, and was given a fresh batch of clothes. Caitlin did some more tests on Ronnie as they also made out, much to Cisco's chagrin, and when Stein talked to Ronnie he expressed his displeasure of being merged for so long. Ronnie and Caitlin had drinks at CC Jitters and caught up with Caitlin's adventures with Barry and Team Flash in the past year. However Ronnie proposed moving away but Caitlin was hesitant as she had formed new responsibilities; but Ronnie, though understanding, wanted away from the building that separated them for a year. Before they could discuss the matter more, General Wade Eiling's men attacked the bar to retrieve Ronnie but Flash came to his rescue, despite being pinned down with a special device from Eiling, Ronnie punched Eiling to distract him while he and Flash escaped in Caitlin's van. At the lab Stein told them that he felt everything Ronnie felt and after a brain test Caitlin confirmed their minds were still very much linked. To hide Ronnie, Barry let him stay at his house where Joe West, previously told of Ronnie's demise, was surprised to see him. Iris also walked in and Caitlin made the excuse that Ronnie was her cousin "Sam". However, Iris thought "Sam" looked familiar, though she cannot recall where she's seen him at this point from his Firestorm appearances from her blogging days. Later, Stein was captured and Caitlin ran tests to see if Ronnie could find Stein and after carving the word "where" on his arm. Stein gave him to follow to a military facility. Cisco gave Ronnie the quantum splicer as a means to keep them separated as Ronnie left with Flash to save Stein but when they came under fire, they were forced to merge but on Wells' advice rather than fight it they embraced it. Firestorm this time was Ronnie's body but both his and Stein's mind and they fought Eiling's men before confronting Eiling himself but he used an ion grenade to stun Firestorm and tried to execute him but Flash knocked him out saving Firestorm as they returned to S.T.A.R. Labs. While there Firestorm described the new process of merging and successfully de-merged back into Ronnie and Stein but because of the danger Eiling posed to both men decided they need to leave Central City. After Ronnie talked to everyone in Team Flash and kissed Caitlin goodbye, as Martin said goodbye to Clarissa, the two merged once more as Firestorm said "we love you" to Caitlin and Clarissa and flew off. Later when Barry realized he was too slow for the Reverse-Flash he called Firestorm and Oliver Queen / The Arrow to help him in his upcoming fight against him. When Wells arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs to use the particle accelerator the Flash confronted him and Firestorm and Arrow soon joined him, but Wells was unimpressed and fought all 3 of them. When Flash was down Firestorm distracted Reverse-Flash so Arrow could shoot him with a special arrow to disable his speed, but Reverse-Flash used his tornado powers to send Firestorm blocks away. Flash quickly recovered him and stopped him falling to his death and resumed the fight shooting a massive ball of fire at Reverse-Flash atop S.T.A.R. Labs when Flash lead him up there, causing him to fall on a car where Arrow finally finished him off with an arrow and made him pass out. Having defeated him Firestorm and Arrow parted ways with Flash.

After Eobard's defeat, Ronnie reminded Caitlin that he proposed prior to the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion and asked if she still would like to accept it. Later, Ronnie married Caitlin just outside S.T.A.R. Labs with Martin Stein being their rabbi. Shortly after, Ronnie and the team said their farewell to Barry as he left to save his mother. After Barry returned without saving his mother, Ronnie and Caitlin rushed to cut off the internal generators to shut the wormhole down. After Eddie Thawne killed himself to wipe Eobard out of existence, the team rushed out of S.T.A.R. Labs as a singularity formed.

Death
After Barry stabilized the singularity, Ronnie and Martin merged so they could separate in the eye of the singularity. Ronnie told Caitlin he had to try, despite the danger. Ronnie and Martin merged and flew toward the singularity to aid Barry. As the singularity began to collapse in on itself, the two separated and Ronnie was lost in the process, leaving Caitlin and Team Flash to mourn his death.

Legacy
After Ronnie's and Eddie's deaths, Ronnie's wife Caitlin got a job at Mercury Labs because she blamed herself for her husband's death and working at S.T.A.R. Labs made her think of him every day.

Barry also blamed himself for what happened to Ronnie and Eddie, deciding to work alone for the next six months to prevent any more of his friends paying for his actions. He once experienced a mid-day vision where Ronnie as Firestorm helped him take down Captain Cold and Heatwave, and he, Eddie and the rest of Team Flash praised Barry for his actions. Barry almost refused to go to the "Flash Day" rally as the Flash since they wanted to see the man who saved Central City, which was Ronnie and not him.

Martin's health began deteriorating due to the Firestorm Matrix growing unstable without a partner. In order to save Martin's life, Team Flash found a suitable partner to create a new Firestorm; Jefferson Jackson. Jax succeeded Ronnie as Firestorm. However, Martin constantly criticized Jax's mistakes whenever he threw himself into danger, as he is very protective of Jax and doesn't want him to suffer the same fate Ronnie did.

While in the Speed Force, Barry saw a manifestation Ronnie and Caitlin with Caitlin holding a baby girl, representing what could have been for the couple. Ronnie talked to Barry about the sacrifices he made while saving Central City, to which Barry claimed he wanted to sacrifice himself for Wally, who was trapped in the Speed Force. Ronnie denied Barry and told him to leave while he still could. Barry refused and the Black Flash appeared, attacking him for entering the Speed Force. Ronnie again warned Barry to leave, adding that in order to save Wally, Barry must free himself.

Martin's grandson was named in honor of Ronnie.

Martin ends up joining Ronnie in death when he is fatally wounded during the war with Earth-X. At Martin's funeral, Caitlin requests that he tell Ronnie she misses him.

Personality
Ronnie is a cheerful, carefree, protective and jolly individual. He will always look out for those he holds dear. Ronnie is also fun-loving, quick-witted and intelligent as he was the structural engineer for the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, but used to joke he was "just a high priced plumber". Ronnie and his fiancée Caitlin, both loves each other very much and they complimented each other, Ronnie brought out Caitlin's compassionate, vivacious side and Ronnie showed complete selflessness in entering the particle accelerator and venting the particle accelerator explosion so to save Caitlin and his friends' lives when the pipeline exploded.

When merged with Martin Stein as Firestorm, Ronnie's being was kept dormant with Martin's personality in control, though he came to be in control sporadically and was always drawn to S.T.A.R. Labs and Caitlin, showing he never forgot about his fiancée. When they were separated, Ronnie and Martin were initially on bad terms due to Martin being in control of his body. Ronnie was overjoyed at being reunited with Caitlin and settled back in with his old life. Initially, Ronnie wanted he and Caitlin to leave for a new life somewhere else.

However, when faced with the threat of Wade Eiling targeting Firestorm and seeing how his old friends and the world had changed, Ronnie adapted quickly. He displayed quick-thinking in using his link to Martin's mind to locate him when the latter was taken by Eiling and accepting the Firestorm Matrix with Martin, the two became friends in using their powers to help Barry fight off Eiling. He was also not afraid to use all of his power in combat, which he used to fight and kill attacking soldiers. Ronnie showed his ever selflessness in leaving Central City to protect his friends from Eiling, having said goodbye to Caitlin, but remained in love with her.

Powers

 * Firestorm Matrix connection/Meta-human physiology: After Ronnie was struck by the energy of the particle accelerator explosion, this altered his DNA and supercharged his cells, augmenting his physiology into well-beyond peak human condition. When Ronnie and Martin Stein merge, the two create the nuclear-powered composite being, Firestorm.
 * Flight: Ronnie can propel himself in the air via his flames and fly at great speeds.
 * Psychic link: Ronnie can hear Martin's disembodied voice while the two of them are merged into Firestorm. Even when they are separated, their link allows them limited communication of sensations or emotions.
 * Pyrokinesis: Due to the nuclear nature of the transmutation of the two bodies, Firestorm is able to produce nuclear energy in the form of fire from parts of his body. The energy can be used as burning or concussive fiery blasts. He could even cause explosions by colliding with targets, which allowed him as Firestorm, to blow up several vehicles when fighting Wade Eiling's men.

Abilities

 * Genius-level intellect/Expert engineer: Ronnie was a very intelligent individual and an expert in engineering, as evidenced by the fact that he was the lead structural engineer on the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator.
 * Bilingual: Ronnie was capable of fluently speaking English and French.

Weaknesses

 * Ionized radiation: The Firestorm Matrix can be destabilized by bombarding its cellular structure with ionized radiation, temporarily disabling Firestorm's powers. Though it will not permanently separate Ronnie and Stein, it can cancel Firestorm's powers for a short time.

The Flash
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Season 1

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Season 3

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Trivia

 * Ronnie's body generates at least 430 cpm of radiation. That amount is enough to cause cancer in humans who are exposed over long periods.
 * Given that Ronnie's Earth Two counterpart could be near Killer Frost for said amount of time, it's likely that Post-Flashpoint Caitlin could as well since both are meta-humans.
 * Ronnie loved pizza so much that Martin Stein still craves it even after they've been separated.
 * He likes the show Orange Is the New Black.
 * Apparently, Firestorm doesn't exist on Supergirl's Earth, implying that if Ronnie even has a doppelgänger on that Earth, he never became Firestorm.
 * If Ronnie didn't die from getting pulled into the singularity, he most likely died from not having a stable other-half for his Firestorm powers, as seen with Martin Stein before Team Flash found Jefferson Jackson (though Ronnie likely served the same purpose as Jax did; solely the stabilizer). If he was solely the stabilizer, as Jax was, then he very well could have survived. However, his fate remains unknown at this time.

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Ronnie Raymond became one half of the nuclear superhero Firestorm when he was combined with Dr. Martin Stein after an explosion at a nuclear facility. Similar to how the Flash tapped in to the Speed Force for his powers, Firestorm uses the Firestorm Matrix to transmute elements.
 * Ronnie used to joke that he and Caitlin were like "fire and ice". This is a reference to their respective DC counterpart characters and future mantles, Firestorm and Killer Frost.