Phineas Horton

Phineas T. Horton
Interior artwork from Marvels 1 (Jan., 1994). Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Comics #1 (Oct 1939)
Created by	Carl Burgos
In-story information
Notable aliases	Phineas Thomas Horton, Thomas Raye

Professor Phineas Thomas Horton is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Timely Comics, predecessor company of Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as the creator of the original Human Torch and stepfather of Frankie Raye.

Phineas T. Horton first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), and was created by Carl Burgos.

The character subsequently appears in The Avengers #134-135 (April-May 1975), and Avengers: Forever #8 (July 1999).

Phineas T. Horton received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3.

A talented and promising young student in the early days of bio-engineering, Phineas Horton visited the small, quiet town of Timely in northern Illinois where he met the brilliant town mayor Victor Timely. Timely admired Horton's potential and helped foster his studies with frequent long talks, which eventually led Horton to the ability to create a lifelike synthetic android in 1940. Horton first revealed his android creation's existence to the world at a press conference in New York City; it was dubbed The Human Torch by the press because of its habit of bursting into flames the moment it was exposed to air. The reactionary press dubbed the android a menace and Horton felt pressured into burying the Torch in cement until he could devise a way to control the Torch's flames. However, the Torch was able to escape; Horton was ostracized from the scientific community, and the government impounded his equipment. The Torch learned to control his powers and cut his ties with his creator.

Horton moved to Boston and created another android named Adam II, who rebelled against his creator. The Torch and his partner Toro came to visit professor Horton, but Adam captured them as well. The Patriot freed Adam's captives, and the All-Winners Squad defeated Adam (at the cost of the second Captain America's life), leading to Adam's destruction in an automobile accident.