The Atom is a name shared by five superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by writer Bill O'Connor and artist Ben Flinton and first appeared in All-American Publications' All-American Comics #19 (October 1940). The second Atom was the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer, who first appeared in 1961. The third Atom, Adam Cray, was a minor character present in Suicide Squad stories. The fourth Atom, Ryan Choi, debuted in a new Atom series in August 2006. Another Atom from the 853rd Century first appeared as part of Justice Legion Alpha in August 1999.
The Atom has been the star of multiple solo series, and four of the five have appeared as members of various superhero teams, such as the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Justice Legion Alpha.
Fictional character biographies
Al Pratt Albert "Al" Pratt is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first character to use the name Atom. He initially had no superpowers and was originally a diminutive college student and later a physicist, usually depicted as a "tough-guy" character. Pratt is also the father of Damage and godfather of Atom Smasher.
Initially a proverbial 98-pound weakling, bullied at school and unable to impress the girl of his dreams, Mary James, Pratt was trained to fighting condition by ex-boxer Joe Morgan. Pratt soon became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, appearing in the team's various stories during their original Golden Age appearances. He later became a founding and active member of the All-Star Squadron. During World War II, Pratt served as a tank driver for the United States Army.
In 1948, the Atom gained super strength as a result of the latent effects of his 1942 battle with the reluctant supervillain Cyclotron (after whose costume Pratt redesigned his own). It was later revealed that he had taken partial custodianship of Cyclotron's daughter, Terri.
Pratt died in the charge against Extant during the events of Zero Hour. In 1994, it was revealed that Pratt had a son named Grant Emerson. Pratt was unaware of this - he had been told that there were complications with childbirth and that the child had not survived, but Pratt's wife was suffocated by the villain Vandal Savage, who kidnapped Grant and genetically altered him into a superhuman. Grant later became the superhero Damage.
Ray Palmer
The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of Comic Books in Showcase #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Raymond Palmer, Ph.D. After finding a mass of white dwarf star matter that had fallen to Earth, Palmer fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body. After the events of Identity Crisis, Palmer shrank himself to microscopic size and disappeared. The search for Palmer was a major part of the series Countdown to Final Crisis.
Paul Hoben Prior to Ray Palmer's trip to the Amazon Jungle, he learned that his wife Jean Loring has had an affair with her colleague, Paul Hoben. Palmer and Loring got a divorce. Later, Palmer offers his blessing to the couple when they marry, and he offers Hoben his size-changing belt so that Hoben can protect Ivy Town after Palmer returns to the Morlaidhans. Adam Cray would later steal this belt; Hoben never uses the costume or name of the Atom.
Adam Cray
Adam Cray, son of the murdered Senator Joseph Cray, first appeared as the Atom in the pages of Suicide Squad #44 by John Ostrander (August 1990). Cray is initially believed to be Ray Palmer in disguise by members of the team. Cray was recruited by Palmer (who faked his own death) to apprehend the Micro Squad, a group of villains who had been reduced in size. Palmer intended to use Cray to uncover a shadowy government cabal which was using Palmer to discover the secret identities of other costumed heroes (Palmer's own identity no longer being secret). While Palmer infiltrated the Micro Squad, Cray would attract the attention of the Cabal as the new Atom so that no one would notice Palmer assuming the identity of a fallen Micro Squad member.
Adam Cray remains with the Suicide Squad briefly, serving as a secret weapon whose existence is unknown to others of the Squad. Cray is later killed by Blacksnake, a Micro Squad member who believes him to be Palmer.
During the events of Blackest Night, Cray is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps alongside several other fallen Suicide Squad members.Suicide Squad #67 (January 2010) Cray is destroyed by the Manhunter's self-destruct mechanism, unleashing an explosion of Green Lantern energy that eradicates the Black Lanterns.Secret Six vol. 3 #18 (February 2010)
In DC Rebirth, Adam Cray is the son of Senator Cray and Ryan Choi's roommate at Ivy University. Senator Cray also attended Ivy and expected Adam to attend Ivy as well.Justice League of America: The Atom Rebirth #1
Ryan Choi
Ryan Choi, as described by DC solicitations, is "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". This new Atom is based on a redesign by Grant Morrison. He debuted in the Brave New World one-shot, a preview of projects, and then appeared in the series The All-New Atom, written by Gail Simone. He is later murdered by Deathstroke and his Titans. In the storyline Convergence, Choi was revealed to have survived in microscopic form.
Rhonda Piñeda
The New 52 introduced a new, female Atom, Rhonda Piñeda, a Hispanic American college student from Ivy Town.Justice League vol. 2 #18 She is revealed to be working as a reluctant spy for Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor, gathering intel on the new Justice League recruits.Justice League vol. 2 #20 (July 2013) At the conclusion of the "Trinity War" storyline, she is revealed to in fact be betraying both teams; she hails from the alternate universe of Earth-3, where she is a member of the Crime Syndicate operating under the name Atomica,Justice League vol. 2 #23 an acquaintance of Johnny Quick.
Atom One Million An unnamed scientist in the 853rd century performed experiments in superstring theory that creates a singularity and whose radiation alters his physical make-up. When the singularity threatened to expand and destroy his universe, he enters it in an attempt to save the universe but instead finds himself on an interdimensional bridge to another universe as his own is wiped out. This Atom's powers differ from his predecessors in that he does not shrink himself, but breaks up into several smaller duplicates of himself divided amongst his mass. At atomic size, these duplicates can mimic elements such as gold and oxygen.DC One Million 80-Page Giant #1000000
Enemies Golden Age enemies Black Dragon Society - A Japanese saboteur organization.All-Star Comics #41 Blackie - All-American Comics #26 Cootie Gang - A gang who stole a solvant that can dissolve metal from a science lab.All-American Comics #33 Dude Henwick - A gangster who led his gang in robbing an ice cream parlor.All-American Comics #58 Emperor of America - All-American Comics #21 Lefty Lou Albano - All-American Comics #22 Perry Poodle - A baseball player who invents a machine that would enable him to cheat at baseball even when two criminals take advantage of him. Atom exposed to Perry what the two criminals were doing behind his back and defeated them. Some of the money Perry made was split between the donation to the Policeman's Ball and to Perry and his impoverished mother.All-American Comics #51 Rattlesnake Pete - Raymond Macum - A science fraud.All-American Comics #52 Scrime - All-American Comics #30 Stroehm - A gangster who framed Mr. Baker for arson in order to get to the copper deposit on his property.All-American Comics #27 Tusk - John Brandt is a criminal with tusks on his lower jaw.All-American Comics #40
Modern enemies Bug-Eyed Bandit - A scientist who controls robotic insects.Atom #26 Calculator - A criminal genius. Chronos - A time-traveling villain.Atom #3 Dean Mayland - The dean at Ivy University who dislikes Atom.All-New Atom #1 Deraegis - A Katarthan chancellor.Sword of the Atom #2 Doctor Light - A light-themed villain who is usually an enemy of the Teen Titans.Atom #8 Dwarfstar - A size-shifting supervillain.All-New Atom #2 Floronic Man - A plant-controlling botanist.Atom #1 Giganta - A size-shifting supervillain who is usually an enemy of Wonder Woman.All-New Atom #3 Lady Chronos - A Chinese woman who came across Chronos' research.All-New Atom #9 Strobe - A criminal who stole an experimental suit that grants him energy projection and photokinesis.Power of the Atom #3 Thinker - A telepathic supervillain. He once fought both Atoms during one of his illegal activities.Atom #29 Waiting - A microscopic race who have their cities on the back of dogs. Weapons Master - A supervillain from the year 11,960 who is an expert at mechanical engineering.All-New Atom #16
Foes of lesser renown Bat-Knights - A group of six-inch high warriors from the tribe of Elvana who ride on bats. They were manipulated by a crook named Eddie Gordon until he was defeated by Atom.Atom #22 Big Gang - A gang who uses big gimmicks and target big items in their heists.Atom #34 Big Head - The mastermind and leader of the Big Gang. Big Ben - The Big Gang's timing specialist. Big Bertha - The Big Gang's strongest member. Big Cheese - A member of the Big Gang who uses specially-made cheeses with different properties. Big Deal - A magician and card trick specialist who is the latest member of the Big Gang. Big Shot - The Big Gang's marksman. Big Wig - The Big Gang's master of disguise who utilizes different wigs. Billy Knolles - A toymaker who poses as a handyman to map out rich people's houses for his heists.Atom #23 Black Phantom - A costumed criminal who leaves a thumbprint as his calling card.Atom #18 Blacksnake - A CIA agent.Power of the Atom #14 Cannoneer - A human cannonball who turned to a life of crime and fought Atom and Batman.The Brave and the Bold #77 Carl Ballard - A criminal who took advantage of the alien Kulan Dar.Atom #2 Druid - The ruler of the sub-atomic world of Catamoore which is governed by magic.Atom #19 Eddie Gordon - A criminal who manipulated the Bat-Knights into doing his bidding until he was defeated by Atom. Elkins - A man whose camera hypnotizes people into doing his bidding.Atom #4 Gestalt - A group of elite scientific thinkers.Power of the Atom #10 Humbug - An artificial being created by the thoughts of the members of Gestalt. M'nagalah - A shapeless alien form who was an old enemy of Swamp Thing. Man in the Ion Mask - William Jameson is a man who uses an ionic ray in which anyone in the vicinity of him would be temporarily paralyzed so that he can rob them.Atom #25 Oscar D. Dollar - A gentleman who blames himself for his Silver Dollar causing trouble. Atom discovered that the Silver Dollar in question was made from a chunk of White Dwarf Star Matter. Panther - A black panther-themed villain and leader of the Panther Gang.Atom #27 Smarts - A collector and master planner.Atom #35 Sting - An old friend of Blacksnake who controls robotic bees.Power of the Atom #17 Swan Maiden - Dorothy Briggs is a swan-themed villain who used special effects and a slight disguise to pull off a trick where an actual swan robbed a bank. Her ruse was exposed by Atom who secretly recorded her confession.Atom #10