Thom Kallor
Thom Kallor is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Thom Kallor was a male extraterrestrial from the planet Xanthu and native to a point in the far future. He was once an ordinary being when once he was travelling through space in his ship that passed through the trail of a comet. The encounter led to him gaining powers from the exposure to the comet's energy which manifested when his ship crashed on the return to his homeworld. Despite the crash, Kallor emerged unharmed which was witnessed by his family as he demonstrated superhuman powers. His father put him through a series of tests that showed the range of powers he gained including superstrength, invulnerability, flight, heat-vision and similar such traits. Thom's parents decided to put his new wondrous abilities towards good use and created a costume for him to operate as the superhero called Starboy. During this time, he travelled to the 30th century Earth where he came to join the ranks of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Around this time, a pair of Xanthu criminals attempted to escape capture with one journeying back in time to the 20th century with Starboy in pursuit. This led to Starboy encountering the young Superboy early in his career where together they helped apprehend the criminal. Superman then accompanied Starboy to his future to help in capturing the remaining criminal who was hiding in the underground copper tunnels on Xanthu. During this time, Lana Lang had blackmailed Starboy in order to pretend to be smitten with her in an effort to make Superboy jealous though the Boy of Steel uncovered her plans. (Adventure Comics v1 #282)
Kallor sat among the active membership of the Legion of Super-Heroes during an official assembly inside their 30th-century clubhouse. He observed alongside his peers as a lead-masked superhero named Urthlo applied for team membership by executing a series of impressive physical feats, easily winning a majority vote to secure induction. The celebratory mood collapsed when the newcomer suddenly exposed himself as a hostile robotic weapon built by a 20th-century Lex Luthor to enact a revenge scheme against Superboy. Thom stood on active standby with the remaining Legionnaires as the rogue machine unleashed a surprise barrage of Kryptonite-vision to completely incapacitate Superboy and Mon-El. Although he did not engage in direct physical combat during the chaotic sabotage, Thom united with the core roster to safely secure the facility after the machine overloaded its internal systems, ultimately voting to formally grant Mon-El his permanent roster spot before returning him to the safety of the Phantom Zone. (Adventure Comics v1 #300) Star Boy gathered with the senior ranks of the Legion of Super-Heroes to host the team's official annual recruitment drive at their Metropolis headquarters. He sat on the selection panel alongside Triplicate Girl and Cosmic Boy, observing a diverse crowd of futuristic applicants presenting their unique abilities for potential squad induction. When an eccentric, wealthy teenager named Lester Spiffany attempted to buy his way into the ranks, and a candidate named Storm Boy utilized an unapproved mechanical device to simulate weather powers, Thom participated in the collective administrative vote to soundly reject the fraudulent applicants. To boost the morale of the remaining hopefuls during the tense testing session, Thom stood by as Bouncing Boy took the assembly stage to share an inspiring retelling of his own historical origin story, reinforcing the club's strict baseline policy of prioritizing raw merit and natural superhero traits over hollow gimmicks. (Adventure Comics v1 #301)
Lightning Lord formed a new Legion of Super-Villains, with each of them swearing a blood oath to kill at least one Legionnaire. Lightning Lord swore on his oath to kill his brother Lightning Lad, which he said had been his destiny since he was born. Dream Girl had a prophetic vision about one of the Legion dying in the near future, and went on a retreat to the gambling planet of Ventura with Star Boy to take her mind off a grim future. Micro Lad robbed a casino’s bank in the name of the Imskian liberation movement, and when the Legionnaires confronted him, he shrank out of sight. They called in Shrinking Violet, who was eager to deal with the man who’d caused her so much pain in the past. She beat him to a pulp, further infuriated when he attempted to take her hostage again, but a dimensional portal opened up and whisked Micro Lad to safety. (Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #1)
Dawnstar, Wildfire, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy, Timber Wolf, Phantom Girl, Shadow Lass and White Witch set course for Orando, but were being followed by Terrus and Zymyr. Zymyr opened a spacewarp that warped in most of the Legion of Super-Villains to ambush the Legionnaires. On Earth Cosmic Boy agreed to keep watch on the planet while Element Lad assembled the rest of thew Legion to fly a ship to Orando. Cosmic Boy was worried about Element Lad devoting all their resources to Orando, but trusted his judgment. He was thankful when Night Girl sent a video message offering the help of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Projecta and Karate Kid were chained in a cell next to Light Lass, and Lightning Lord visited her to again plead with her to join him, saying she’d join his Legion in a passage to a new world where they would rule. She made it clear she’d rather die, and he called her a traitor to her own blood, grabbing her and shocking her before walking off disgusted, saying he no longer had a sister. Dream Girl woke in her crashed ship on Orando, finding Star Boy and Shrinking Violet still unconscious. She recognized Projecta’s castle from her vision where a Legionnaire was die, and she was ambushed by Hunter and Silver Slasher. Dawnstar and her teammates were in danger of being overwhelmed by the Legion of Super-Villains until element Lad and his reinforcements arrived. Nemesis Kid, Cosmic King, Neutrax and Ron-Karr placed the polymer screen around Orando, and hooked it up to their stolen powerspheres. They planned to warp Orando away to another world where there was no Legion of super-Heroes. Nemesis Kid had always been drawn to the powerful, and couldn’t wait to arrive in a new world where he had supreme power, planning on declaring himself the emperor of a universe. Zymyr was prepared to warp the planet, but Nemesis Kid wanted to give his Legion a little more time battling the Legion of Super-Heroes to see if they could kill any of them before they left. The Legionnaires were winning, so Nemesis Kid gave the order to warp away the Legion of Super-Villains, inadvertently taking some of the Legionnaires with them, and warped Orando to a space between dimensions. (Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #3)
Starman
Thom Kallor was born of Xanthuan descent on a deep space white dwarf observatory where the environment gifted him the ability to increase gravity. The first time his powers were triggered he caused the laboratory to crash down on a distant planet with himself and his parents barely surviving. Afterwards, he went from one doctor to another with countless tests being done on him to determine the nature of his abilities. It was only much later that he came to be diagnosed with mental issues and began to receive medical treatment that kept him sane. (Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog v1 #1)
For months, he began to operate as the new Starman and operated as a superhero in Opal City. Due to his mental trauma, he could not remember his past and suffered from a form of schizophrenia with him regularly returning to the Sunshine Sanitarium. During this time, he requested the help of the Justice Society of America where he came to join the superhero team. (Justice Society of America v3 #1) Arriving at the JSA headquarters, he spent much of his time wandering their base in a state of disorientation, often speaking in riddles that the other heroes struggled to decode. He spent his time observing the team's newer recruits, particularly Cyclone, and exhibited continued disorientation as he attempted to reconcile his fragmented memories of the future with the 21st-century present. A pivotal moment occurred when he encountered a complex mathematical theory concerning parallel dimensions that Mister Terrific had been developing on a whiteboard where Thom effortlessly completed the equations. (Justice Society of America v3 #2) He next joined them in helping stop a mysterious villain that was targeting the descendants of the Golden Age superheroes. While the JSA scrambled to protect legacy heroes, Thom remained at headquarters and provided a moment of levity and confusion when he was discovered in the kitchen by Ma Hunkel. Rather than focusing on the looming threat, he was fixated on the upcoming menu at the Sunshine Sanitarium, excitedly declaring that 'Wednesday is Sloppy Joe Day'. (Justice Society of America v3 #3) He accompanied the team to a cemetery where the Fourth Reich’s assassin, Shadow Thief, was launching an ambush. During the skirmish, Thom showcased his raw power by manipulating gravity to pin his enemies to the ground, though his combat style was erratic and dictated by the 'voices' he claimed to hear. He grew increasingly distressed by the presence of the Shadow Thief, reacting with intense agitation as he perceived the villain's shadow-based powers as a personal, existential threat. Throughout the battle, he continued to speak in non-sequiturs, at one point stopping to explain to a confused Damage that the stars on his suit were 'shrieking' because they were being watched. Despite the victory against the immediate threat, Thom's instability became a point of concern for his allies. (Justice Society of America v3 #4)
The Sinestro Corps War raged on Earth, and while Starman and an army of superheroes battled the Corps the Anti-Monitor prepared to unleash an anti-matter wave to destroy Earth. With Earth’s destruction, the entire 52 would fall, and he would once again rule all that was. The Green Lantern Corps ruptured the heart of Anti-Monitor’s Warworld, the Sinestro Corps central power battery, and created a shield around Warworld and the Monitor. The ensuing blast nearly destroyed the Anti-Monitor, and he was finished off by Superman-Prime, who betrayed him for having destroyed his home, Earth-Prime. Green Lantern Hal Jordan defeated Sinestro in personal combat, and the Sinestro Corps, lacking any leadership, fled Earth. The heroes rejoiced and began rebuilding the damage the Sinestro Corps did. (Green Lantern v4 #25)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Star Boy was typically depicted as a tall young man with brown hair and a kind, earnest face. His classic costume was a purple bodysuit with white gloves, boots, and a starfield pattern across his chest and shoulders, visually representing his cosmic power source. Originally, he came to be known by the identity of Starboy. (Adventure Comics v1 #282) Whilst in the past, he took the identity of Starman that was a legacy title held by numerous superheroes on Earth. (Justice Society of America v3 #1)
Thom Kallor was portrayed as loyal, idealistic, and somewhat understated compared to flashier Legionnaires. He showed a strong sense of justice and duty but carried lingering guilt and insecurity from his expulsion. His long-term romance with Dream Girl revealed his affectionate and romantic nature, often showing devotion and gentleness toward her. At the same time, Thom’s experiences with the trial and his temporary exile left him more contemplative than many of his peers, giving him a quiet resilience that stood out in the team. (Adventure Comics v1 #342)
He suffered from schizophrenia whereby he was afflicted with paranoid delusions and a disconnect from reality with there being no cure for this condition though 30th century medication allowed him to be normal. (Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog v1 #1)
At one point, he had a girlfriend on his homeworld of Xanthu who was a girl with short blonde hair named Zynthia. (Adventure Comics v1 #282)
Powers and abilities
As an inhabitant of the 31st century, he was taught superstring dark matter theory in third grade that was highly advanced science for the 21st century. (Justice Society of America v3 #2)
Star Boy could increase the mass of any object or person he touched, effectively making them thousands of times heavier without increasing size. This allowed him to immobilize enemies, pin down machinery, sink structures into the ground, or render weapons useless. Though initially introduced with additional Superman-like powers, later stories clarified that his core ability was mass manipulation. In some continuities, his powers expanded to include limited stasis fields or gravity control, linking him to cosmic or temporal forces. His abilities made him indispensable in large-scale battles, though his reliance on touch sometimes required him to fight strategically alongside more offensive teammates. (Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes v1 #197)
He can also reverse this effect and make objects extremely light making them float away, unrestricted by gravity. (Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #1)
Kallor's ability to increase gravity and manifest miniature black holes allowed him to not only travel through time but also other parallel worlds. (Justice Society of America v3 #20)
His uniform was constructed from technology that worked on the same fundamental forces of space/time manipulation that was designed by three different versions of Brainiac 5. It operated as a map of the Multiverse and thus as a guide for his ability to travel to parallel worlds in the new cosmos. (Justice Society of America v3 #20) This was done so through the creation of black holes that formed stargates to other parallel Earths making it function as a kind of wearable Cosmic Treadmill. (Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog v1 #1)
On Xanthu, he once operated from a laboratory that was donated to him by the people of his world when he operated as a superhero. Within it, there was various examples of the planet's super-science such as the super-loom that could weave costumes for people. (Adventure Comics v1 #282)
Notes
- The Starboy Thom Kallor was created by Otto Binder and George Papp where he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics v1 #282 (March, 1961).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
Films
- In Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, Thomas Kallor as Starboy appeared in the setting of the 2019 animated film where he was voiced by actor Elyes Gabel. He was a gravity-manipulating hero who suffered from a near crippling form of mental illness which was treated by medication in the 31st century. At some point, he came to be a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes where he participated in numerous adventures alongside his team mates. One of these saw him aiding in fighting the Fatal Five where they captured the Emerald Empress as well as Validus who were imprisoned in the past on Oa. This saw their compatriots steal a Time Sphere to travel back into the past to free their comrades where in desperation Starboy attempted to stop them. He was transported into the modern age where he crashed on Earth's surface with his medication being destroyed thus causing a flare-up of his mental condition. This combined with his out-of-control powers resulted in him being apprehended by Batman who took him to Arkham Asylum. However, he escapes after seeing the Fatal Five on the news, which triggers some of his memories. He later encounters the Justice League and Jessica Cruz and befriends the latter before sacrificing himself to stop Emerald Empress from destroying the sun.
Appearances
- Adventure Comics v1: (1961)
- Legion of Super-Heroes:
- Justice Society of America v3:
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog v1:
External Links
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