Atom – Ray Palmer

Atom….The Mighty Mite… The Tiny Titan… The World’s Smallest Hero

Ray Palmer is one of the foremost physicists on the planet.  An inquisitive mind the good scientist that he is was lucky enough to find some incredibly dense matter that he called Dwarf Star material.  Experimenting with this substance Ray discovered that the dwarf star material could cause matter to shrink, unfortunately that matter then became unstable and would explode.  Ray struggled to find a useful application for this dwarf star material when he was leading an expedition to explore some caves in his capacity as a Professor of Ivy Town.

As fate often has it in these stories the students and Ray were cut off from each other in a sudden cave in.  Ray had his experimental white dwarf material with him and decided he would use the material on himself in order to escape and go for help.  Luckily Ray never exploded and he eventually fashioned a belt to hold the material which controlled what his size is and what type of mass he is carrying.

After this, Ray embarked upon many adventures and eventually joined the Justice League as its second non-charter member.  Ray also developed a very close friendship with Hawkman who would join the Justice League not longer after.  Ray enjoyed a long time in the JLA even though he may have felt someone inferior to the power houses of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern on occasion.

Eventually Ray married his long time girlfriend/fiancee Jean Loring however Jean was not so fond of Ray’s other career and their marriage suffered many ups and downs until they ultimately divorced.  Jean was a lawyer and as such made out like a bandit, but Ray really didn’t care anymore about finances, he really never did.  He cared mostly about scientific pursuits and when he could be available to help others in need as The Atom.

First Appearance

Created By:  Gardner Fox & Gil Kane

Powers

Ray is a normal human being and has no extraordinary super powers.

Vulnerabilities

Ray is a normal human being and is subject to all the harm that could befall you or I.

Skills

Genius – Ray is best known for being one of the world’s foremost physicists.  His theories and quick thinking have helped advance science leaps and bounds not to mention serve as the League’s man science thinking member over the years.  While physics is his main field Ray has an advanced knowledge of biology, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics, aeronautics, engineering, and anatomy.

Equipment

Costume – Ray’s costume shrinks and expands as necessary when he adjusts the controls on his suit.

Mass Controllers – Located in the palms of his costume, The Atom, can press these controllers to increase or reduce his mass so that at his typical height of six inches the Atom still packs the punch of a 180 lb man and can carry a disproportionate load.

Size Changing Belt - Located around his waist, the buckle of this belt contains the controls that allow Ray to shrink or grow as needed.  Ray started by shrinking only to six inches but he has been able to shrink so small that he has pierced dimensional barriers and visited the microverse and even other universes.

Sword – When Ray divorced Jean Loring, he joined a race of tiny alien beings and became quite adept at using a sword.  While not a weapons master, he is competent and can hold his own in combat using one unless pitted against a master of edged weapons.

Various Tools – Ray sometimes carries with him and has access to an array of diagnostic equipment and environmental suits that he can use for specific situations that he prepares for ahead of time.  He rarely will have anything like this on his person if he has not planned for such an expedition.