Marvel's First Ever Hero Just Handed Down One of the Most Hardcore Deaths in Franchise History

Warning: contains potential spoilers for The Ultimates #10!

Marvel’s first ever hero just handed down one of the most hardcore kills in the company’s history. Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Human Torch, holds a special place in Marvel history: he was their first costumed hero. Debuting at the dawn of comic’s Golden Age, the Human Torch fought Nazis in World War II, and in a first look at The Ultimates #10, he kills the biggest of them all.

Deniz Camp, writer for The Ultimates, shared the first page of issue ten, which will be drawn by Juan Frigeri, on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, prefacing it by simply saying: “the first page of The Ultimates #10.” The six-panel page, told from the Human Torch’s perspective, shows him literally burning Adolf Hitler alive. The story of the Torch killing Hitler is being told to someone off panel, who believes the traditional story: that Hitler killed himself. Camp offered no further insight into how the Human Torch killing Hitler relates to the team’s present day struggle.

Jim Hammond, Marvel's Original Human Torch, Explained

Jim Hammond Is an Underrated Golden Age Hero

Debuting in 1939’s Marvel Comics #1, the original Human Torch helped inaugurate the Marvel Universe. An android whose skin could turn to flames, the original Human Torch fought alongside Captain America and the Sub-Mariner during World War II. This was standard practice at Timely, the predecessor to Marvel Comics: their heroes often tangled with Nazis and other Axis-themed menaces, rather than costumed villains. Indeed, many of Marvel’s Golden Age covers feature one of the three destroyed Axis ships and gear. Seeing these covers no doubt gave comfort to scared and anxious children.

As the Human Torch debuted in the first-ever Marvel comic, he has the honor of being considered Marvel’s first hero, but despite this status, he still flies under many fans’ radars. He vanished after World War II and was briefly revived during the 1950s before slipping into obscurity. Some fans believed he became the template for fellow android hero the Vision, but this proved to be false. The Golden Age Torch finally returned in the 1980s, making sporadic appearances since, usually alongside his friends Captain America and Namor.

Now, in Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe, the Human Torch was not only present at Hitler’s death–he caused it. Historians agree Hitler killed himself in a bunker as the Allies marched on Berlin. Rumors and conspiracy theories around Hitler’s death have swirled around the fringes for years, with some saying he survived and fled to South America. Marvel throws all of these scenarios out the door, revealing that the Human Torch burnt Hitler to a crisp. Hitler screamed as the Torch seared him alive, leaving nothing but a flaming skeleton.

Jim Hammond Is Going to Take on the Axis Powers

Who Else Will the Original Human Torch Kill?

This kill ranks as one of the most hardcore in Marvel Comics history, and is a subtle callback to the past. The Golden Age covers, showing the Human Torch and his sidekick Toro fighting Nazis, were cathartic to a generation of children, scared and confused over the war going on overseas. Their fathers and brothers were locked in combat with the same villains the Human Torch was fighting month in and month out. It gave kids a healthy outlet for the very real fears they were feeling.

And the Golden Age Human Torch’s hardcore kill could at last put the character on the map. He already has a vaunted position at Marvel as their first hero, but if he was really the one to take Hitler off the table, then it elevates him even more. Hitler was a vile person, with tactics and beliefs straight out of comic books and science fiction. Hitler killed millions during the Holocaust, but Marvel’s first hero took the despot out in seconds, showing no one escaped justice.

Source: Deniz Camp

The Ultimates #10 is on sale March 5 from Marvel Comics!