In this review of The Fury of Firestorm #3, the Justice League struggles with Firestorm while Professor Stein struggles with his guilt and sanity.
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #3
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and Main Cover: RAFAEL DE LATORRE
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, TODD NAUCK, and STEPHEN GREEN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 6/10/26
This review contains spoilers
As The Fury of Firestorm #3 begins, several members of the Justice League showed up at the end of The Fury of Firestorm #2 to stop the Nuclear Man’s rampage. As this new entry begins, he’s able to take them out in short order. Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, and Batman are all stopped with barely a finger raised by Firestorm.
Lorraine travels to Jason Rusch’s apartment in the hopes that the former other half of Firestorm will be able to help. Unfortunately, he isn’t willing to because he’s going to be a dad, but he thinks he may know where Professor Stein is hiding.
Lorraine follows Jason’s advice and heads to an old cabin in the Adirondacks where she’s attacked by a crazed Stein, but she’s quickly able to bring him to his senses. It’s revealed that the Firestorm matrix has consumed Ronnie and become sentient. There’s no human compassion to guide it now.
This is a major problem for the city of Pittsburgh because we see Firestorm heading there as The Fury of Firestorm #3 closes.
Analysis
Jeff Lemire makes it pretty clear in The Fury of Firestorm #3 that this version of Firestorm is not going to be defeated by external means. The only Justice Leaguer to even lay a hand on him was Martian Manhunter, but that didn’t last long because the Nuclear Man set him on fire. You might say, “Well, Supergirl is Kryptonian. She should be able to take him on, right?” Nope. Firestorm creates kryptonite dust from thin air. Without a human consciousness to control the matrix, this character is ridiculously overpowered, but I like it because it sets up a bigger struggle later on.
I’m not sure which way Lemire is going to take this, though. Is Stein going to somehow try to join the matrix to get it under control? Is Jason going to have a change of heart? Is Ronnie going to come back somehow? There are a number of ways this could go, which is great for the story and the anticipation of the next issue.
The exploration of Stein’s backstory is interesting. He believes his lies are the root of this problem. We get to see him set the bomb in the lab in order to sacrifice Ronnie and himself to create Firestorm. We’re informed Ronnie was furious over this when he found out and that’s what led to him wanting to be Firestorm alone. I’m hoping we get more on Ronnie’s current state soon in order to find out if this is indeed the cause of this dark Firestorm.
There’s no big splash pages or spreads in The Fury of Firestorm #3, but the artwork from Rafael de Latorre and colors by Marcelo Maiolo are as solid as usual. I really enjoyed the opening battle with Firestorm taking on the Justice League. The title page was the best part of that, as the heroes are scattered on the ground, defeated, with Firestorm in the middle.
Final Thoughts
The Fury of Firestorm #3 reveals how truly powerful this dark Nuclear Man really is. He’s not going to be beaten by outside forces, so it looks like we’re heading for an internal battle. Have fun, comic lovers!
