Martin Stein (Earth-1: Pre-Crisis)

"You have your whole life ahead of you. But now it's time for you to let me go. I'm not ready for you to go! I'm not either, but if you think about it... compared to the cosmos, one's life is but a blink of an eye. [...] Thank you, Jefferson, for the adventure of a lifetime. I hope your life is long and full of love, just as mine has been."

- Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson

Professor Martin Stein was a physicist who created the Firestorm Matrix which merged him with Ronnie Raymond as the nuclear being, Firestorm, stylized as the Burning Man by the press. After Raymond's death during the Singularity, Stein lacked a stabilizer of his powers and Team Flash recruited Jefferson "Jax" Jackson and Henry Hewitt. After the latter gone rogue, Stein merged with Jackson and became the new Firestorm until the former's death during the Earth-X Invasion.

Former Powers

 * Firestorm Matrix Connection: When the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, Stein's body was supercharged with Dark Matter. Due to the presence of the Firestorm Matrix, Stein was merged with Ronnie Raymond and formed the nuclear-powered composite known as Firestorm. As Firestorm, Stein was able to provide scientific assistance to Raymond, guiding him to wield his nuclear abilities. After Raymond's death in the Singularity, Stein began merging with Jefferson Jackson to prevent the destruction of his own unstable body. The connection to the matrix was eventually severed when Stein voluntarily took the Firestorm Matrix Cure, freeing Jackson from serving as his life support and ultimately passed away.
 * Energy Absorption: As Firestorm, Stein was not only capable of generating nuclear energy, but absorbing surrounding energy as well. This was shown when the joint effort of Stein and Jackson successfully absorbed the nuclear energy released in an atomic bomb, reducing the damage of the reaction to only affect an island. Additionally, while isolated, Stein still possessed the ability to absorb surrounding energy, though at the cost of his health and instability, meaning it required a separate individual to evenly distribute the negative impacts over their bodies.
 * Flight: By heating the air surrounding their body, Firestorm was able to levitate in the air for an extended period of time and at an exceptional speed.
 * Matter Transmutation: With extreme concentration and dedication, Firestorm had the ability to transmute one substance to another, including a rifle to dust, and an enormous bomb into water.
 * Nucleokinesis: The creation of Firestorm is based on nuclear reactions, with the matrix virtually being a nuclear reactor. This allowed Stein and his partners to manipulate nuclear energy and release powerful blasts of energy from their body.
 * Nuclear Pyrokinesis: When merged, Stein can generate powerful and concussive blasts of high temperature flames, which were nuclear in nature. The flames were capable of sending strong Metahumans across great distances and even hot enough to melt solid objects.
 * Psychic Connection: As a result of the merging of two individuals, both halves of Firestorm could psychically communicate with each other when one, and could also share impulses of thoughts when separated.

Abilities

 * Genius-level Intellect: Stein possessed an exceptional intellect, with him skipping directly from 10th grade to college and having at least three PhDs in his 20s.
 * Advanced Mathematics: Even under extreme stress, Stein was nearly able to calculate the entry angle of the Waverider.
 * Physics: Stein was an exceptional scientist, with his name being well-known across different fields of science, specifically in the field of quantum physics. Stein also published countless papers and received a series of awards, even being the leader of the pioneering project FIRESTORM.
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: Stein, despite his age, was shown to be a skilled combatant, having been able to defeat a group of Time Pirates with ease.
 * Multilingualism: Stein was fluent in English, Hebrew and German.
 * Singing: Stein was an exceptional singing, having done so to disguise himself as Max Lorenz and to distract NASA operators.

Weaknesses

 * Kinemortophobia: Stein was extremely terrified of Zombies and was not even able to say the term.

Former Weaknesses

 * Ionized Radiation: The Firestorm Matrix can be destabilized with ionized radiation, which hindered Firestorm's abilities.
 * Separation: When separated from his partner for an extended period of time, Stein's body would build up radiation until it ultimately kills him. This required periodical merges with his partners in order for a stabilization of his body.

Former Equipment

 * Firestorm Matrix: The Firestorm Matrix was wielded by Stein during the particle accelerator explosion.
 * Power Cane: When Stein did not receive the periodical merging with his partner, he was required to walk with an advanced waking cane, which was modified from Eobard Thawne's Speed Battery in his wheelchair.
 * Firestorm Matrix Cure: Stein, Jackson, Cisco Ramon and Harry Wells worked extensively on the cure to separate Stein and Jackson from the Firestorm Matrix. Despite the original intention to allow Jackson to keep the abilities was discarded, the cure was effective, and separated them from the matrix, resulting in Stein's death of his own injuries.