Atom (comics)

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A number of DC Comics superheroes have shared the name Atom.

Created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Connor, the original Atom first appeared in All-American Publications' All-American Comics #19 (Oct. 1940).

Never a headliner character, The various Atoms mostly appeared as a part of superhero teams, such as the Justice Society of America, the Justice League and the Suicide Squad.

Contents

1 Fictional character biographies

1.1 Golden Age Atom (Al Pratt)
1.2 Silver Age Atom (Ray Palmer)
1.3 Adam Cray
1.4 Ryan Choi

2 Other versions of the Atom
3 Atom in other media
4 External links

Fictional character biographies

The first Atom, Al Pratt, had no superpowers but was merely diminutive in size. The second and most popular Atom, Ray Palmer, who replaced the first in 1961, possessed the ability to shrink down to subatomic size.

Golden Age Atom (Al Pratt)

The original Atom, Al Pratt, first appeared in All-American Comics #19 (Oct. 1940). He initially had no superpowers; instead, he was a diminutive college student and later a physicist who was depicted as a tough guy, a symbol of all the short kids who could still make a difference. Pratt was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, later gaining limited superstrength.

Silver Age Atom (Ray Palmer)

The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of comic books in Showcase #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Ray Palmer (named for real-life science-fiction writer Raymond A. Palmer, who was himself quite short). Using a mass of white dwarf star matter, he fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from mechanisms in his belt with a back up device in his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers with his own body.

In the 2004-05 mini-series, Identity Crisis, it was revealed that Sue Dibny's killer (the wife of the Elongated Man) was none other than Jean Loring, the ex-wife of the Silver-Age Atom (Ray Palmer). Loring apparently stole some of 'Ray Palmer's shrinking technology and costume, in order to comit/carry out her evil-deed. 'Loring' claims she only committed this atrocity, in order to gain the comforting attention from 'Ray Palmer.' Following their separation and divorce she apparently still cared an awful lot for her ex-husband. During the conclusion of this series, Jean Loring was committed to a Mental Hospital. Some time later, taking advantage of her fragile mental state, she was offered the chance to become the all-new Eclipso (in the pages of 'Day of Vengeance'). Meanwhile, at the end of the series, it appears that Ray Palmer fell into a severe state of depression, and shrunk himself to microscopic size, and disappeared to unknown destination and length of time.

Adam Cray

Adam Cray on the cover to Suicide Squad #46.

A third Atom, Adam Cray (son of the murdered Senator Cray), would appear in the pages of Suicide Squad; At first Cray was widely believed to be Palmer in disguise (by both the fans and the characters). In actuality, Cray had been recruited by Ray Palmer himself, who faked his death in order to apprehend the Micro Force (a group of villains that had been shrunk down) as well as uncover information about a shadowy government Cabal, who were interested in Ray Palmer's knowledge of the other heroes' secret identities (his own identity no longer a secret).

While Ray would infiltrate the Micro Force, Adam Cray would gather the attention of the Cabal as the new Atom, so that no one would notice Ray assuming the identity of a fallen Micro Force member.

Adam Cray ran with the Squad only for a short while, serving as a secret weapon most of the time, and his existence was for a while even unknown to others of the Squad. At one point, Adam approached Deadshot about the fact that Deadshot had murdered his father, and Deadshot told him that Adam would get one free shot at him, and that was it. Nothing came of the conflict, as Adam was killed shortly after by one of the Micro Force, who believed him to be the real deal.

After the murder of Cray (a move Ray had not foreseen), Ray Palmer revealed himself and defeated the Micro Force and Adam's murderer. The ruse had now ended, and Ray explained himself to the Justice League, who had been searching for him, after hearing rumors of a new Atom.

Ryan Choi

DC Comics announced in 2006 that an ongong series, The All-New Atom, would begin in July 2006 written by Gail Simone. Editor Dan DiDio said "I would take that title very literally. For those people who are looking for Ray Palmer, we’re not going to be seeing him anytime soon". [link]

The new Atom is Ryan Choi, described by DC solitations as "a young hotshot professor who's filling the extra spot on Ivy University's teaching staff... and who inadvertently ends up filling the old Atom's super-heroic shoes". [link] This new Atom was based on a redesign by Grant Morrison.

Other versions of the Atom

Another version of the Atom has been featured in stories set eighty-three thousand years in the future, in the 853rd century, as seen in DC One Million. Portrayed as the sole survivor of a micro-world, he is taken in by Justice Legion Alpha, and has the ability to divide himself into multiple beings. The more he divides himself, the smaller he gets.

Frank Miller portrayed Ray Palmer as a major player in . He was taken prisoner by Lex Luthor and made to live in one of his own petri dishes for a period of months until his rescue by Catgirl. He was then instrumental in the liberation of Kandor.

Some other re-imaginings of the Atom include an appearance in League Of Justice, an Elseworlds story portraying the Justice League in a Lord Of The Rings-type story where the Atom was recast as a wizard/fortune teller called "Atomus The Palmer".

Another was an appearance in where Ray Palmer worked with a science consortium whose numbers at one point included Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

Yet another was a re-imagining of the Al Pratt Atom in as a post-WW2 intelligence agent with transparent atomic flesh and a visible skeleton.

Al Pratt as the Atom was one of the three heroes who chose to work at the side of Senator Thompson in The Golden Age. When Al discovers that Thompson is really the Ultra-Humanite, he joins the other heroes against him and Dyna-Man.

Atom in other media

The Atom in Justice League Unlimited

Ray Palmer appeared in his own episodes in the The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure

Besides making an appearance on one of the Super Friends shows, the Atom (Ray Palmer) appeared in Justice League Unlimited to help Lex Luthor defend himself against Amazo and disable an alien weapon known as the Dark Heart (in an episode written by Warren Ellis). Both of the devices utilized nanotechnology, a field in which he is an expert. He is voiced by John C. McGinley. In the second episode, Wonder Woman allows the Atom to ride in her bustier, one of the most well-remembered scenes from JLU.
In an early Justice League Unlimited episode, "Legends", the League team up with the Justice Guild Of America. JGA member Tom Turbine is a cross between [Golden Age Atom] and the [Golden Age Superman/Kal-L.]
The Atom also appeared in the 1997 live action made-for-TV movie pilot, Justice League of America. He was played by John Kassir

External links

[JLResource.com entry for the animated Atom]
[Index to the Atom's Earth-1 adventures]
[Article on the history/legacy of The Atom] from the Comics 101 article series by Scott Tipton.

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