Ray Palmer

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Ray Palmer as the Atom from Brightest Day: Atom v1 #1.

Ray Palmer is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.

Contents

Biography

Origin

Ray Palmer becomes the Atom in Showcase v1 #34.

Raymond Palmer

He had a brother named Daniel Palmer with the two never getting along though he admired him. His life changed when Danny did which left a hole in Ray's life. (Giant-Size Atom v1 #1)

As a young boy, during his science fair presentations his father was unable to attend but his uncle Dave was present where he said he was proud of Ray. (Adventure Comics v1 #517) Unknown to Ray, his uncle David Palmer had joined a covert CIA program known as Project: Colony created at the height of the Cold War. This consisted of a group of America's brightest minds and scientists to develop defensive as well as military power for the United States. Their achievements helped aid their country for over the next thirty years with David joining the next generation of recruits of the Colony. However, in time, the Colony became corrupt and sought to impose its own view on the world. David Palmer refused to participate in their plans and instead had to go on the run to hide from them. (Adventure Comics v1 #519)

He came to be a graduate student and a fellowship research physicist at Ivy University. Around this time, he came to meet Jean Loring who had studied law where the two became romantically involved with one another. He came to conduct research into the theoretical ability to compress matter into a small space. Around 3 months ago, he came to witness a meteor fall to the surface near his location. Investigating the crash site, he came to find white dwarf staff matter which he took with him for study for his own research. He came to fashion the white dwarf star matter into a reduction lense that allowed him to compress an objects size. Thus, at the Ivy University campus, he conducted numerous experiments at his nuclear physics laboratory where he was able to shrink objects. A problem emerged though as when shrunk an object was shrunk they experienced an instability within the compressed atoms causing them to explode as a result. (Showcase v1 #34)

Jean Loring was trying to clear Henry Chalmers, who claimed he saw Dryads and plants robbing a bank, but was charged with the robbery himself. Atom knew that once Jean was a successful lawyer she'd marry his civilian identity, so he helped her on the case. the real culprit was Jason Woodrue, who had a mastery of plants and kept the flower-spirit queen Maya as his prisoner. Atom freed Maya while Woodrue used his plant army to march on Washington, and planned on taking over the U.S.A. With Maya's help Atom defeated Woodrue and sent him to prison. (Atom v1 #1) Atom put out a fire in the Ivy Town farm-belt when, as Ray he met Mr. Odd, who thought he was responsible. Odd described how probability went out the window because of his lucky silver dollar. He proved his point when Ray honked his car-horn, causing a jewelry store window to shatter. As Atom he caught the thugs robbing the store. Crook Bart Tranter overheard Odd talking to Ray, and when Odd emptied his pockets and handed over his silver dollar to Ray, Bart knocked out Ray. Atom confronted Bart, kept from being washed down a sink by the crook, and defeated him. Atom noticed a fragment of the white dwarf star he discovered months ago in Odd's possession. He realized it was the white dwarf fragment's contact with the silver dollar that shattered probability laws. As he examined the fragment with spectroscope probability went wild again, as it became anti-gravitic and shot into space, ending the threat. Palmer investigated robbers who were imprisoned and then vanished from prison. This lead to Carl Ballard, who'd been released from prison, and was using Kulan Dar's Europium to give his stooges the ability to teleport out of jail. He knocked out Atom, fed him Europoium, which also made people vulnerable to hypnotic suggestion, and commanded Atom to teleport to Africa every time he saw Ballard until Thursday. After pursuing Ballard, and twice being teleported to Africa, Atom teleported to China, where it was Thursday. No longer vulnerable to the hypnotic suggestion, Atom captured Ballard and his gang. (Atom v1 #2)

Ray presented Jean with a watch, and was about to propose to her when it broke. He brought it to watchmaker David Clinton, and Ray was impressed with his collection of timepieces and mentioned the atomic clock at Ivy U. Clinton was the super-thief Chronos, and broke into Ivy U to steal the clock. Ray changed to Atom, but Chronos defeated him, and believing his presence at the university was not a coincidence he deduced Ray's secret identity. After another battle with Atom he trapped the hero in a watch and placed it on his wrist, eager to have the hero watch him commit robberies before he exposed his secret identity. Atom shrank down further, changed into Ray Palmer, and knocked out Chronos. Chronos figured his assumption about Atom's identity were wrong when he saw Atom, who'd slipped back into his watch. Retired professor Alpheus V. Hyatt showed his former student Ray his time-pool, a small opening in spacetime that he put a magnet on a line into in order to retrieve objects from the past. As Atom he jumped into the time-pool to explore the past, and landed in an Arabian bazaar in the year 850. The thief Abdul stole the legendary Lamp of Sinbad from Sinbad's grandson Hassan, and Atom was inside the lamp. Abdul brought the lamp to the location of Sinbad's treasure, and commanded the genie that supposedly resided in the lamp to unearth it. When nothing happened he threw away the lamp. Hassan recovered it, and Atom emerged, introducing himself as the genie "Al Atom" and helped Hassan get the treasure that was rightfully his, and later helped capture Abdul. Atom returned to the present with a gold dinar from Aladdin's treasure trove for Hyatt. Atom speculated that "Al Atom's" lamp became known as Aladdin's lamp over time. (Atom v1 #3)

Justice League

Amos Fortune came to use the Atom as part of a plot to destroy the Justice League of America. Using a de-memorizor, he came to pit the Atom against the Justice League only for him to lend aid to the heroes to defeat Fortune and his minions. In aftermath, the League came to vote to make the Atom a member of the superhero team. (Justice League of America v1 #14) Later on, untouchable stone giant aliens stole military weapons and tried to eradicate Brasilia, Tokyo and Central City, but were foiled by Atom and the Justice League. Green Lantern probed their minds and brought the League to their world, an Earth separated from ours because it existed one minute into the future. The Aliens set off a cobalt bomb at the same time our Earth tested a nuclear bomb, weakening the barrier between world. The Alien's cities were going to merge with the three Earth cities they tried to destroy, because two objects occupying the same time and space would be disastrous. They could not move their own cities because the cities were rigged to explode if tampered with, a failsafe against invasion. Green Lantern used his ring to completely separate the Alien's Earth from ours, preventing catastrophe. (Justice League of America v1 #15)

Ray Ralmer gave a commencement speech at Happy Harbor high school. Later he saw honorary Justice League member Snapper Carr wish for a runabout boat, and it appeared. Across Happy Harbor wishes were coming true, and Snapper investigated, with Atom tagging along unbeknownst to Carr. Mrs. Adrian James wished her junk jewelry was real, and when her wish was granted two crooks stole her necklace. Snapper confronted them, and when he threw wild punches Atom, still at microscopic size, knocked out the bad guys, because he wanted Snapper to have a chance to be a hero. They located atom-world traveler Entron Kol, whose ship was damaged and was using telepathy and his moleculizor to grant wishes so someone would find him. Hobos stole Kol's ship, but Snapper, again with help from Atom, defeated them and helped Kol return to his atom-world. Snapper couldn't wait to tell the JLA, and Atom was happy for him, but didn't want him to get a swelled head, so he decided to tell the real story to his teammates. Jean Loring took the case of Tom Parks, who confessed to a robbery even though witnesses saw him give a speech at a locksmith convention at the same time. She asked Atom for help on the case, and he learned Elkinsm, the convention photog, was using a mesmerizing camera to have others commit crimes while he took their place during the robberies. Atom avoided the mesmerizing camera, first by shutting his eyes, and then by shrinking to a size at which he couldn't properly hear Elkin's hypnotic commands. (Atom v1 #4)

Ray's adventurer friend Ted Ralson invited him to view a crystal from ancient Atlantis that he'd uncovered. A beam shot out of the crystal and turned Ralston to crystal, so Ray changed to Atom and entered the diamond at microscopic size. He found Utolia, a microscopic universe, and met Moorn Jor and Karl Jat. They had used a search beam to contact life outside Utolia, but the side effect was turning whatever it touched to crystal. Jor wanted to use the beam to conquer Earth, so Atom defeated him by removing the solar helmet that kept him strong. Two crooks tried to steal the diamond, so Atom returned to six inches of height and delt with them. He went one more round with Jat, and Jor undid the search beam's effects and promised to destroy it. Ray convinced Ralston to put the diamond away for safekeeping. Ray and Jean were invited for a weekend at the lakeside residence of Don Morgan, a client of Jean's. His house was by the fabled 3000-Moons Lake, which was supposedly haunted by the ghost of Indian medicine man Tall Trees. Around the town there was evidence of the ghost wrecking havoc, but Ray changed to Atom and discovered it was a ruse by Fred Harris, who posed as the Specter to pull off robberies. Atom uncovered the charade and captured Harris. (Atom v1 #5)

Teen Titan

In an effort to reverse his condition, he snuck into the laboratory of Dr. Emil Hamilton who Superman was consulting about repairing a Mother Box. Hamilton succeeded in instilling it with power allowing him to open a Boom Tube to New Genesis to consult with Metron. Palmer sensed an opportunity to use the New Gods assistance in returning him back to an adult. As such, in a shrunken state he hitched a ride on Superman's cape without notifying him. At New Genesis, Superman intended to check on the condition of his foe Brainiac who was being held at New Genesis. However, the hidden presence of the Atom triggered the alarm system forcing him to reveal himself. Ray Palmer asked Metron's help to use his Mobius Chair to reverse the chronal effect from Extant during the Zero Hour to turn him from a 17 year teenager back to an adult. Metron refused as he stated tampering with time was too dangerous though Palmer refused to heed his warning and shrunk into a Mobius Chair under construction. As the New God technology was half complete, it did not travel in time but instead sent Metron's entire laboratory into a random course through hyperspace. It was only the efforts of Metron, Lightray, Superman and Atom that managed to avert their own destruction where they managed to get the chair to send the laboratory back to New Genesis. In the aftermath, Ray apologized for his actions and lamented being a teenager though Superman urged him to embrace it as a second chance at life whereupon he was returned to Earth through a Boom Tube. (Superman v2 #95)

He then decided to continue teaching and retire from being a superhero after noting its impact on his personal life with him politely refusing the call to join the new Justice League. (JLA v1 #27)

After Jean Loring was put into Arkham, Ray decided to leave reality and went subatomic into the Nanoverse that he named the Palmerverse. (Countdown v1 #42) He had done this to escape the trauma and pain he experienced due to Jean's actions. During his travels, he came upon a mystic that revealed to him the existence of the Multiverse along with 52 alternate versions of Earth. Palmer then decided to travel through them in the hope of finding one where he would find peace. One of these worlds was Earth-51 which as a planet where the heroes finally defeated the forces of evil and attained true peace. The Justice League had disbanded and the heroes assumed civilian lives where they were happy. On Earth-51, he came to see that world's Ray Palmer who was seemingly on the cusp of discovering the existence of the Multiverse but an accident resulted in his death. Ray thus saw his counterparts death and curiosity led to him checking his work where he decided to stay on Earth-51 and assume his counterparts place. He reasoned that this was an opportunity to find happiness and he found that the Jean Loring of Earth-51 to be like her old self and he struck a relationship with her. He had thus seemingly found a perfect world though he was still plagued by the nightmares from his Earth which haunted him at night. Thus, he came to seek psychological help where he attended sessions at the Arkham Institute for Emotional Disorders. This was until one day when he was visited by one of the Monitors alongside Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner and the Jason Todd of his Earth where they sought Ray's aid. (Countdown v1 #18)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Raymond Palmer

When a mysterious killer began targeting Superman's friends, it was discovered the smart bullets he was using were actually the miniaturized Kandorians launched from the Bottle City of Kandor. After learning of this development, both Batman and Superman took the deceased Kandorian to Dr. Ray Palmer at the miniature Ant Farm. Palmer was instrumental in tracking the location of the missing Bottle City of Kandor on Earth where it was in Iceland following the defeat of Brainiac. (Batman/Superman v1 #18)

With Aron Aut, they together made their way to the Ignition Point only to discover that his comrade had developed machines designed to accelerate the collapse of the Microverse. Palmer discovered that Aut was part of the Null that were an apocalyptic cult in the Microverse looking to provide a mercy killing by ending all life in the universe. After being captured, Ray managed to free himself and damaged Aut's bio-belt stranding him elsewhere in the Microverse. (Justice League of America v5 #16)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Atom in a shrunken state in Countdown to Final Crisis v1 #18.

It was said that from a young age he had a sharp and intelligent mind that was recognized by his uncle Dave. (Adventure Comics v1 #519)

He said that he had never had much love for super heroics as fighting was always involved in such activities. (JLA v1 #96) Despite that, Manitou Raven would recognise Palmer as being a warrior. (JLA v1 #88)

On Hawkman, Ray believed that the reason for their friendship despite being s different from one another was because Carter reminded Palmer of his brother Danny. From there, the pair grew to hold a deeper friendship with one another. (Giant-Size Atom v1 #1)

When he got turned into a 17 year old teenager, he began to suffer from gaps in his memory and struggled to remember his past adventures. As a result, for a time he fixated on reversing the process and return himself into an adult. (Superman v2 #95)

At Ivy University, he came to be involved with Jean Loring who he claimed was the love of his life. However, he felt inadequate when compared to her as she become a successful lawyer after graduating quickly and was establishing her career. Ray had wanted to marry her but thought she would only accept him if he proved himself by making a scientific discovery. (Showcase v1 #34)

Powers and abilities

Within the pockets of the belt, he kept a large number of tools that were in a shrunken state and could be enlarged for his use with equipment such as blasters being present. (Adventure Comics v1 #517)

The White-Dwarf Matter that allowed him to achieve his shrinking capabilities was kept safely in the grave of his brother Daniel Palmer. It could be accessed only by shrinking into the grave where an insectile robot named Asimov served as the guardian. When approaching Asimov, a password was required in order to access the White-Dwarf Matter meteor in the machines chest with the authorization code being Fire Truck. After taking it back, he discharged the robot of its duty but kept him within his belt for easy access. (Giant-Size Atom v1 #1) Another device he used was a nanocamera that was a tiny floating camera mechanism almost invisible to the naked eye that allowed him to document his discoveries. (Justice League of America v5 #16)

Ray found out that by shrinking beyond the subatomic scale he could slip beneath reality at the quantum level to traverse around the multiverse at will. (Countdown to Final Crisis v1 #18)

Early in his Justice League membership, they came to teach Ray how to fight in close-quarter combat. (Identity Crisis v1 #3) At some point, he came to develop a proficiency in the martial art of judo. (The Atom and Hawkman v1 #43)

He also developed a shrinkship that ran on white dwarfstar material and used a universal drive in order to travel to the Microverse. (Justice League of America v5 #12)

At the school, he requested an extension for him to conduct his work but the institution could not afford to make the changes. This led to Palmer created a micro-lab by using a method of shrinking of non-organic materials that prevented from exploding in the process which he used to create some storage space. (JLA v1 #27) His uncle David Palmer was responsible for creating the miniature sphere called the Ant Farm. It was originally described as being a microscopic panic room for the human race. This impenetrable metal sphere was an artificial mini-planet that could be terraformed to develop an inhabitable ecosystem that could be accessed through shrinking or teleportation tech. (Adventure Comics v1 #519)

Ray was known to shrink to a subatomic level where he entered into a microscopic reality that was known as the Nanoverse though he called it the Palmerverse. (Countdown v1 #42) Within the centre of the Microverse, he created a laboratory he called the Nucleus from where he could watch out from any threat to that universe which could spiral into a danger to all space-time. (Hawkman v5 #5)

Notes

  • The Atom Ray Palmer was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane where he made his first appearance in Showcase v1 #34 (October 1961).

Alternate Versions

  • In JLA/Avengers v1 (2003), an alternate version of Ray Palmer as the Atom appeared in the crossover between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Ray appears first as taking the place of Wally West during the Justice League's mission to the Marvel Universe when he realizes that there is no Speed Force in the other reality. The Justice League arrives and battles a group of monsters while searching for the Ultimate Nullifier, but Ray stays behind after a brief confrontation with the Avengers, where he sees them meeting with Metron who gives a story different from the one given to the League by The Grandmaster. Intrigued at this turn of events, Ray jumped on Metron's chair, which took him to the Grandmaster's base. When Batman and Captain America arrive, having tracked Metron with the aid of equipment provided by the Fantastic Four, he shows them that while the Grandmaster is trying to stop Krona, his team in his game is the League, rather than his own universe's Avengers. When the Grandmaster merges the universes to stop Krona, Ray disappears until the two teams join up to go after Krona himself. Ray participates in the battle and ends up disappearing after Krona's defeat.
  • In Countdown: Arena v1 #2 (February 2008), an alternate reality version of Ray Palmer was a scientist shown to had become the Atom but an unknown incident gave him the ability to become a light-based energy being at will where he started to call himself the Ray. This version was abducted by Monarch where he fought a Nazi version of the Ray and Apollo. The former was killed by Monarch when he attempted to escape and the latter was left temporarily mad where he attacked Ray Palmer who resorted to shrinking to knocking him out.

In other media

Television

  • In The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, Ray Palmer appeared as the Atom in the animated series in the episodes devoted to him where he was voiced by actor Pat Harrington, Jr. He was described as a nuclear physicist who was an esteemed professor that also operated as the shrinking hero known as the Atom.
  • In Justice League Unlimited, the Ray Palmer Atom appeared in the DC Animated Universe where he was voiced by actor John C. McGinley. He first appeared in the episode "The Return" where he was called to assist the Justice League when AMAZO had returned to Earth.
  • In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Ray Palmer appeared as the Atom in the episode "Sword of the Atom!" where he was voiced by actor Peter Scolari. He was shown as being the original Atom and Ryan Choi's mentor but he would decide to retire and leave for the Amazon. Once there, he encountered the Morlaidhans and became romantically involved with Princess Laethwyn whilst gaining the enmity of her xenophobic Chancellor Deraegis. After disappearing, Aquaman would forcibly enlist the aid of Ryan Choi to track him down into the Amazon where they would help him defeat Deraegis. However, Palmer would decide to remain in the Amazon and stay as Laethwyn's lover.
  • In Young Justice, the character made an appearance where he was voiced by actor Jason Marsden. He was first mentioned in "Agendas" where he was considered for membership into the Justice League and he was later admitted into the group in the episode "Usual Suspects". The episode "Auld Acuintance" sowed him as one of the many Justice League members infected by StarroTech by Vandal Savage but was later cured by Miss Martian. In "Happy New Year", Bumblebee was mentioned as being on a lab assignment with Dr. Palmer leading to her postponing her date with Mal Duncan. Afterwards, in the episode "True Colors", both Palmer and Bumblebee were shown shrunken inside Jamie Reyes body where they were performing micro-surgery to remove the Reach Scarab on hi only for them to be fought off by defensive antibodies within the Blue Beetle forcing them to abandon the procedure.
  • In the Arroverse, Ray Palmer was introduced into the shared continuity setting.
    • In Arrow, the character would make an appearance in the third season where he was played by actor Brandon Routh. Some of his backstory was shown in the episode "The Climb" where he was shown having a girlfriend named Anna who was killed by Deathstroke's Mirakuru enhanced soldiers that devastated Starling City with him being helpless in stopping her death. In the episode "Draw Back Your Bow", at a press conference he unveiled changing Queen Consolidated as Palmer Technologies. In "The Climb", he showed his feelings for Felicity and unveiled his A.T.O.M. suit which he intended to use to fight injustice and asked her to aid him in his crusade.
    • In The Flash, Ray Palmer made guest appearances in the live-action series where he was portrayed by actor Brandon Routh.
    • In Legends of Tomorrow, Ray Palmer was a main cast member of the live-action series where he was once again portrayed by actor Brandon Routh.

Films

  • In Justice League: The New Frontier, Ray Palmer would make a appearance where he was voiced by Corey Burton. He would provide his flawed dwarf-star shrinking technology to the various heroes which was used to help destroy the living island known as the Centre.
  • In Justice League: Gods and Monsters, the character made an appearance in an alternate reality setting where he as voiced by actor Dee Bradley Baker.

Video games

Appearances

  • Showcase v1: (1961)
  • Atom v1:
  • JLA v1:
  • Countdown v1:
  • Superman:
  • Hawkman v5:

External Links

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