#and also having the ability to destroy any living thing/bio mass with as little as a glance in it's direction. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kamiko1234 · 1 year ago

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Avatar fantasy AU....

....where instead of being huge blue aliens, the Na'vi are just rly tall elves with blue markings. And the RDA instead of an organization is acctualy just a medival empire and global superpower.

The Na'vi, like in canon, are very connected to nature and Eywa. Instead of being a global consciousness she's an actual deity in this however, who grants the Na'vi following her a special affinity for magic.

Humans on the other hand live largely disconnected from Eywa, and only very few of them even have any acess to any magic. And even then it's just one spell, the ability to cast it and the spell itself being hereditary.

Now usually Na'vi and humans don't really interact, even if they live on the same planet in this AU. Humans tend to keep to their own cities , settlements and kingdoms while Na'vi stay in wild nature and special places where Ewya is especially strong - called Pandora.

For hundreds of years it was a live-and-let-live situation and mindset between Na'vi and humans. Unfortunately, as always, the RDA had to fuck it it up.

Starting about 3 generations ago the then emperor of the RDA Empire decided to start a war of aggression against the Na'vi. The reason being a mix of wanting to gain acsess to multible precious resources that laid on or beneath the ground the Na'vi lived on. The other reason was that the then king feared the Na'vi's connection to Ewya, viewing them and their ability to use magic as an danger to his empire's rule.

While slow at first due to the radical resistance of the Na'vi, the RDA Empire made steady process in the years. Killing thousands of the (comparatively) already small Na'vi population. Not least due to the fact their royal bloodline was one of the few human bloodlines who passed down a spell among themselves.

The spell being the ability to destroy anything biological - a perfect fit to fight the Na'vi.

The current emperor, Quaritch, distinguishes himself with an exceptional level of cruelty and brutality in the war that was started by his own grandfather.

Enter : Kiri.

In this AU Jake and Grace were born as Na'vi, with Grace still mysteriously becoming pregnant but dying at childbirth.

Growing up Kiri had a relatively normal childhood despite the ongoing war. She was raised alongside her siblings in the inner lands of Pandora where the human war machine hadn't reached yet.

All in all, their childhood was pretty similar to canon. With the exception that anything human was completely missing from it.

As it is, however, such happiness doesn't last forever. Because soon enough the RDA and Quaritch reach even the inner lands of Pandora. And with them, Kiri and her family.

With them, the human armies bring unbelievable destruction during another surprise attack. Kiri and Neteyam got separated from Tuk and other Na'vi fleeing from the destruction while Jake and Neytiri took to defend against the humans.

And as if that wasn't bad enough already, Neteyam got hit with crossfire and proceeded to die in his sisters arms (sorry my guy, but your death is a canon event).

This leaves Kiri alone, separated from her family and people with no idea if they are even alive, in the center of an attack on her people with the explicit goal to kill or atleast displace them.

To say the situation is grim is underestimating it, yet through some miracle of Ewya Kiri manages to survive and flee - albeit being forced to flee into RDA territory.

She manages to disguise herself as human - hiding and changing anything that could identify her as Na'vi with her magic. She makes up a backstory of her being a child from a small village on the outer borderlands and takes traveling.

Her goal is to attempt to find her family. While there are still parts of Pandora untouched by the RDA Empire, there is no way Kiri could reach them right now. All means of traveling to them are heavily monitored on the orders of Quaritch - not to mention the fact that the war still hasn't stopped, the borders to Pandora are quite literal warzones.

Kiri reasons that she was forced to escape to RDA territory, so maybe atleast some of her family did too ? And even if she doesn't find any of her family there, she can still attempt to gather information and somehow cross back into Pandora.

Multiple shenanigans and hijinks later, Kiri ends up in the RDA capital city. Desperately in need of funds and a place to stay, she does what may be the most dangerous thing she has ever done yet. She enters into the royal palace by working as a maid.

The palace was always in need of help, afterall. The pay was one of the best Kiri could get, considering how she had only little skill useful for any human. Not to mention that the job came with a roof over her head inform of a small chamber in the servant's quarters.

She was anything but thrilled, of course. To serve at the home of the man had destroyed her life and caused the death of her brother - but there simply wasn't another option. Kiri comforted herself with the fact that Quaritch was rarely ever at his palace, instead being away leading his armies. There was no reason to fear anyone discovering her disguise either.

Still, this was anything but nice. Kiri still wasn't used to wearing human clothing. Everything was unfamiliar. The other servants were unfriendly- clearly annoyed by the fact that they had explained so much to her.

But the worst would probably be the disconnect from Ewya.

Back home it was easy to connect to Ewya through the nature around here. But now ? The human territories already were much less soaked with the presence of Ewya. The capital city itself only added more to the absence with the lack of nature around.

The plan is to work at the palace for a few months. Enough to gather the funds necessary for her to continue her search. After that Kiri could leave and never return back to this place.

The royal garden made things a bit more bearable though. It was ironic. Another maid had told Kiri once that the royal gardens were a great source of pride for the imperial family. With plants, trees and animals carefully cultivated and cared for, the garden was known as the most beautiful one in the entier Empire. And Kiri had to agree.

Because even though this garden was so distinctively human and human made, it was the closest thing to nature she had- the closest thing to Ewya.

And to think that it was owned by Quaritch himself, who was known as "the demon" among her people and whose family that the explicit power to destroy anything nature.

Technically only the imperial family and their guests and the few servants tending to the garden were allowed inside it. Kiri, as a simple maid, had no place being there.

She didn't really care though.

Not when this place was one of the few ones where she could atleast attempt to feel Ewya again, and to come to rest and be somewhat calm again.

Kiri took her precautions of course- she went at night or late evenings only, using her climbing abilities to scale trees and walls to avoid using the conventional entryways. She made sure no one was around before even entering the gardens.

She was sure no one would discover her.

Then someone discovered her.

It was night like any other. There really was no reason to expect anything like that- Kiri had entered like always. Looked around like always, and had made sure she was atleast somewhat well hidden behind a tree before she closed her eyes to concentrate on the trees and plants around.

To say she was surprised when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice asking what she was doing and who she was.

Upon opening her eyes, Kiri was met with one very confused looking human male teenager of around 16 years old.

She wasn't sure what to answer the other, she knew she wasn't supposed to be there. Should he report her- she'd be thrown out in the best case.

The other meanwhile continued to ask if she had come out there too to watch the stars. Not wanting to admit her actual reason she quickly agrees with it.

In response the boy then tells her that they can watch the stars together, yet again Kiri agrees. She figures that he probably won't report her. It's night, so she couldn't really make out any of his features. But she's pretty sure he has long hair, which is pretty unusal for a human male from what she's seen.

Either way, the boy proceeds to sit down next to her. Saying that this is the first time he has had any company, and questions wether she does this often or not.

And while Kiri doesn't come here to watch the stars like the mystery boy next to her, she does come out here almost everyday. She answers the question like that.

What follows is a..... weirdly nice conversation ? Which is kind of weird considering how it was the middle of the night, in a place Kiri wasn't even allowed to be with a human teenage boy whose name she didn't know and face she didn't see.

The boy talked about the stars, and Kiri talked about liking the plants. She mentioned being a maid and when he asked for her name again she even answered it.

Someth told her that she could trust the other one.

When she wanted to ask for the name of her unkown companion, foreign voices sounded suddenly. Other humans, guards, probably.

Panicking about being found, Kiri quickly took took off when her companion told her to. She had half a mind to ask him to come with her, surely being found in the royal gardens would get him punished too ! But before she could he was already halfway across the other side, walking towards the other humans and telling them that "everything is okay", and that he's "comming to them."

A bit confused as to why the teen was walking towards the other humans Kiri continued to take off and managed to escape without being recognized or caught, or atleast she thinks she did.

She starts to doubt this when, come next morning, she get's an offical summon from no other than Miles Soccoro-Quaritch II. Crown prince of the RDA Empire, only son and heir to his father, the only other person in the entier world to share the demonic power to destroy any form of life with a simple spell - a single look (that was the only thing that his father needed, atleast).

Kiri thought she'd die then and there. Walking the halls to meet the prince with a guard escorting her on either side felt like walking to her execution. She hoped this was because she was infact recognized yesterday night, and that the prince would simply punish her and throw her out of the palace for it-

-should he have discovered her, discovered her Na'vi origin...... she'd get to meet the demon's spell herself. That she was sure off.

Kiri had never met the prince herself. The other maids said that only the best of the best got to serve the royal family, the servants often of low nobility themselves. A lowly peasant maid like Kiri wouldn't even enter anywhere close to any space the prince was in.

Still, this was the son of the man who had attacked her home- who had Neteyam's blood on his hands. A child raised to take his fathers place- one should assume it would act similat to it's elder.

She was lead through the halls, entering the inner palace and living quaters of the royal family. Easily recognizable by the decorations growing more and more lavish.

Finally, Kiri stood before a large door. And then another male voice told them to come in- did it belong to the prince ? -Kiri expected to be faced with a younger version of the demon Quaritch himself.

Instead she stood across a human teenage boy roughly 16 years old. With long blode hair falling behind his shoulder, choclate brown eyes and a smile that was- kind ?

Kind.

The prince looked kind.

Kiri, in all the imagery and dread crossing her mind on the way here, she had never imagined the prince to look kind.

There were two other men with the prince, too. Older ones. Adults. Their clothes spoke of them as nobles- they didn't wear any servants uniform. But their outfits were by far not as royal looking as that of the prince- clad in what looked to her in a white uniform with green accents. A matching cape drapped halfway over one of his shoulders.

The girl hadn't even notice how she starred until the prince snapped her out of it by asking, "You are Kiri, right ?"

And then he added, "I believe we met last night."

Hearing his voice, suddenly it all clicked for Kiri. And her heart freaking sank.

That was the unkown boy from the royal garden. Kiri had watched the stars and talked with the litteral crown prince of the RDA Empire.

She's getting kicked for sure- well, atleast her disguise wasn't revealed.

"I'm Miles, by the way. But you can call me Spider, too. That's my nickname." The prince filled the silence again. And Kiri takes a good second to even register the information. And then, before she could even stopped herself a confused "huh ?" sounded from her lips.

Turns out that the crown prince of the RDA Empire is a genuinly nice and good guy. The two other adults next to him, introducing themselves as Norm and Max thankfully help explain some things.

Kiri had met the crown prince already, even if she didn't know it. He decided, on a whim, to go star gazing as he did occasionaly when he couldn't sleep. And that's when he met Kiri. Norm and Max had gone searching for him after guards noticed that he wasn't in bed. They were the foreign voices interrupting before Spider could give Kiri his name-

-oh yes, and by the way, the prince would prefer it very much if he could simply be called Spider. No formal adress or titels or anything. And he wouldn't punish her for entering the royal gardens either.

Kiri's head was swimming with all these reveals. The two men introduced themselves as Spider's mentors for academics, and the men incharge of managing the prince's staff.

Glorified butlers, Spider jokingly called them. (When Norm shot him a look, he laughed dirty. And Kiri suddenly remembered how Lo'ak would laugh dirty when he teased her back when-)

Spider also says that he would like to get to know Kiri better- become friends with her.

And suddenly the world stops, and the girl doesn't know what to answer. Spider seemed like a good kid, nothing like his father at all. Deffinetly not some noble snob, and he obviously treated other people with respect even if they were below him technically. As proven with the fact that he was willing to make friends with a lowly peasant maid, simply because he liked her personality.

He had an adventurous side to him, proven by his mentors at some point lamenting the fact that it apperantly wasn't the first time he had escaped to the gardens at night when he met Kiri.

He was funny, cracking jokes like he wanted. Kiri almost forgot that technically, he was the crown prince of an entier empire. The son of the man who had destroyed her home and seperated her family, and technically her enemy.

He talked to her like they were two teens going on a hunt together. Kiri barely has any experience with human nobility, but generally they always talked down to her and what they called the "lowly peasantry" Yet Spider never did that, even if he was at the top of the hierachy- second to only his father.

Kiri felt tempted to relax around him. Spider was probably one of the kindest humans she had ever met-

-but who knew how he'd react should he find out about the truth ? He was acting under the assumption that she was human afterall, Kiri found it hard to believe that Spider hadn't learned to hate her people like his father did.

Still, what choice did she have ? This was the crown prince afterall, she couldn't refuse him. She ends up sitting down, at some point. Spider in his part seemingly fully attempting to just hold conversation with her- getting to know eachother, he called it.

He asked about her past, to which Kiri hastly relayed her by now well praticed story.

"I come from a small village on the outer borderlands. We didn't have much, but wer were happy. I'm here to work and save money to take back home."

Upon hearing this, Spider immideatly offers Kiri to become his personal maid. The salary would be higher, and the work surely not as taxing. He admires her for her "dedication to her family", and wants to help.

Kiri is suprised at the offer, but takes it nonetheless. Even if she got even closer to the proverbial lion than she already was- the salary was a strong argument. Shortening the time she is forced to spend here significantly.

And something told her that Spider wasn't too bad, either.

#wow this got longer than expected #borderline chapter outline omfg #might turn this into a fic lmao #sry for any mistakes btw #english isn't my first langauge #and it's like 2am for me rn #so imma straighten any possible mistakes out tomorrow #spider soccoro #atwow spider #avatar spider #kiri te suli kìreysì'ite #quaritch atwow #fantasy au #Avatar #atwow #atwow fantasy AU #crown prince Spider #Spider is a sweetheart despite his dad being even more of a genocidal maniac than in canon #and also having the ability to destroy any living thing/bio mass with as little as a glance in it's direction.

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cosmicmoved · 6 years ago

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KARAM LORE !! 🍃

I’ve said before that he was a spirit and not in the sense of being a ghost so I’m going to use this post to explain what I’m going for in a little more detail. I can’t really think of a better word to describe what I’m going for but it’s more in the sense that he’s a spirit in the sense that he’s this magical entity that’s very much OF the planet. Spirit is used in this context in lots of different folklore across the world so I think it makes sense for me to describe him this way! However, a lot of the lore (I guess you’d call it) I’ve written for Karam is sort of made up and inspired by different things so I can’t really just name something he’s supposed to be like and get on with it. This post should, if nothing else, clear up what Karam is and what’s he capable of! ALSO! SIDE NOTE! Karam actually has a fraternal twin from whom he has been separated for like 250 years or whatever and I’d be very willing to let somebody else write that character if the concepts here seem interesting ;; (i think i said ‘brother’ in his bio but that’s really not a must!! tbh karam is officially nonbinary bc i personally do noooot see why a spirit would conform to human social norms like that -- on that note, karam uses masc pronouns and stuff but pls never call him a man, he doesn’t like that)

This point seems pretty important since I know I have mutuals with muses who fit the description but Karam can see ghosts. And he can tell that they’re ghosts. He’s very familiar with this concept and it doesn’t bother him or upset him. Honestly, death is kind of foreign to him as an immortal being and, since he has no reason to fear it, he doesn’t. I’ll go into more detail as to why this is important later on in this post but he does have that ability! As I’ve said before, Karam can generally tell what people are, at least to some degree. If he meets someone who’s something he doesn’t understand for whatever reason, he will at least know that they ARE something he’s never seen before. He’d know they were different from every other being they’d met. This is NOOOOOOT godmoddy, I promise! Karam doesn’t know everything!! But he needs to understand the basic of nature of things because that’s what he was put on the Earth to do, pretty much. If he didn’t know that a human was different from, say, a witch or another humanoid spirit like himself, that would make his ‘job’ very difficult. This does mean he will always know when a seemingly human muse is not human but, since he’s not human himself, he likely won’t use this information for anything, besides making the decision to be nicer to that muse than he might to a random human ASDFGHGFD........

A guardian spirit is nothing like a guardian angel, that much I feel I should get out of the way immediately. He does noooooot give a shit about people! He doesn’t do anything on command either. This title, as that’s really all it is, refers exclusively to the role he took on while living in his forest home (which, as stated in his backstory, was cut down to make way for modern housing). He was the guardian of that patch of land. When he was a child, after his mother left him behind, he wandered until he found a forest that was unclaimed and, like him, fending for itself. Karam assumes his twin’s fate was the same as his own, although they were abandoned in different places (his twin was left first and then Karam, as he was the smaller of the two twins and his mother wanted to be more careful with where she put him). Karam’s job was essentially to keep the forest healthy and protected from destruction and malevolent spirits/entities. Obviously, he didn’t manage to keep it protected because destructive human technology has pretty much outgrown him and mass deforestation is far too much for one spirit to ward off. This is a source of deep guilt for Karam and, in some ways, he feels like a failure for letting the forest come to harm but he blames mankind as much as he does himself. His anger is kind of directed at both but the anger he feels towards himself is much quieter. I don’t know which one’s actually worse but his hatred for humans (in power) is a lot more easier for him to voice.

Besides just keep the forest as a whole safe from harm, his role included watching over individual beings who lived within the forests; other smaller spirits like tree spirits and animals! If an animal died and their ghost needed guidance, Karam would be the one to aid them and help them find rest. He’s not very good at doing this with humans as their feelings are a lot more complex and while animals usually just need someone to calm them down and dissuade their fear, humans often have more complicated issues like lingering wishes and resentment. Human ghosts weren’t common in his forest but they weren’t unheard of and, despite his general distrust, Karam did try to help them as best they could --- especially in cases where it was the ghost of a child or something. As much as Karam dislikes humans, he would never blame a child for anything or mistreat them in any way. He’s not the best at talking to children because of...the way he is lmao...but he’d never be cruel to them and strongly believes they should be looked after in the same way as any other creature that needs protection. Animals tend to naturally trust him! Humans don’t because they’re more complex and often more detached from that sort of thing but animals don’t see him as predatory/a threat.

His abilities are largely those that help him as a guardian figure. He is a fighter, first and foremost and this means his natural abilities include the following; great stealth, physical grace and enhanced sensory abilities. These senses, in particular, are sharp enough to sense disturbances even in loud rooms, to hear a twig snap in vast quiet. He is the kind of fighter who uses this speed and agility to his advantage to the point of relying upon it, adopting a rather gymnastic fighting style. He’s also a very talented swordsman but he’s found this is kind of a weird skill to hang onto in modern times. He is also capable of using some elemental magic, namely manipulation of light and water -- this is partly because he feels some kind of natural affinity to the moon but these are also useful life-giving abilities. He can’t heal people but many lifeforms can be nursed back to health with these sorts of powers. These magics aren’t especially strong and he tends not to favour these abilities for he isn’t a particularly gifted mage and these abilities are more defensive than offensive. But he can fuck up your lightbulbs if you piss him off, I guess???? His offensive abilities are all much more physical. Karam is also pretty hard to injure unless you’re very powerful, on account of his accelerated healing. Most injuries don’t hold him back for too long and he’s also harder to harm in the first place than most humans. Obviously, if you cut off a limb, he can’t grow it back or anything like that. He can’t heal injuries that aren’t...healable.

He has pretty normal weaknesses in that you can harm him any way you harm someone else. It just takes more work. He’s immortal, in that he won’t die of natural causes, but he’s absolutely not invincible or invulnerable. He CAN be killed. It’s just not easy to do. Karam is also NOT the strongest spirit out there. He’s stronger than a lot of spirits because he has to be, he EXISTS to protect weaker spirits, but there are stronger spirits out there and even within his type of spirit. Karam is powerful and probably more powerful than he needed to be for his small forest -- a lot of larger forests might have a stronger spirit protecting them -- but he stayed in his forest until it was destroyed out of loyalty. The spirit who had protected it before him had left to find something better and, being a child, Karam had found it just challenging enough to suit him. Although he outgrew it in terms of his own power, his love for it kept him there. Another notable weakness of Karam is also one of his strengths --- his enhanced senses, while they help him in many, many ways, also make navigating the noisy human world quite stressful, especially now that he’s taken to living in the city. A lot of places are too loud and bright and crowded for Karam and he doesn’t always cope with it too well, leading to a preference for walking about at night.

#« 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐘 (ᴋᴀʀᴀᴍ) » / 「 headcanon. 」#oh cool this was just meant to be a quick explanation sort of post but it's 1 #*1.5k words so uhh.....pls read it ):#apologies if this makes like NO SENSE LMAO !! i'm really bad at talking abt lore and things like that #i'm sure there are things i've forgotten to talk about !#i'll talk abt his forest in more detail later....#but maybe this will explain what he IS better than before !#this was kind of a weird concept to try and convert into smth that works for indie rp #since he's based on two older ocs kind of mashed together but (((: i love my stupid nature spirit friend #i might revise some things in the future idk...the stuff abt the moon was pulled from one of those older characters so maybe i'll think abt #that one some more but most of this is basically !! what u need to know !!

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thedcdunce · 6 years ago

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The Atom

“Size isn't matter.” - The Atom

Real Name: Raymond “Ray” Palmer

Gender: Male

Height: 6′ 0″

Weight: 180 lbs (82 kg)

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Auburn

Powers:

Microscopic Stability

Abilities:

Judo

Physics

Swordsmanship

Weaknesses:

Missing Hand

Equipment:

Bio-Belt

Katarthan's Sword

Indigo Tribe Staff

Universe:

Earth-One

New Earth

Base of Operations:

Ivy Town, Connecticut

Morlaidh, Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

Citizenship: American

Parents:

David Palmer; father

Susan Palmer; mother

Marital Status:

Divorced (Jean Loring; wife)

Widowed (Laethwen; wife)

Occupation:

Professor

Scientist

Adventurer

Education: PhD Ivy University

First Appearance: Showcase #34 (October, 1961)

Last Appearance: Titans Vol 2 #38 (October, 2011)

Powers

Microscopic Stability: For some reason, Ray's physiology allows him to not explode when he is miniaturized unlike other living things which explode after a short time of being miniaturized.

Abilities

Judo: Ray Palmer often finds himself in situation where physical violence become necessary. As such, he has developed a proficiency in the martial art judo.

Physics: Dr. Palmer has a Ph.D. in physics and was a full professor at Ivy University.

Swordsmanship: The Atom used a long sword as a weapon while living among the Katarthans, gaining considerable skill in its use.

Weaknesses

Missing Hand: He allowed Baracuda to cut off his left hand to save Ryan Choi from the miniverse.

Equipment

Bio-Belt: Originally, Ray's size/weight controls were located in his belt buckle. However, he later moved them to his gloves for greater accessibility and swifter transitions, and in the costume he wore after his days in New Morlaidh, had an encepholpathic grid in his mask that allowed him to do it mentally.

Size Alteration: Able to shrink his body to varying degrees, achieved by storing most of his mass in a pocket dimension. As the Atom, Ray can assume any size from his normal six-foot stature down to sub-microscopic, although he generally deems a height of six inches as most functional.

Mass Alteration: Able to instantly alter his molecular density to whatever degree he desires. Ray can also assume any weight at any height—up to his full 180 pounds.

Flight: He is able to glide on air currents and stiff breezes. A favorite travel method Ray had, was to call some location on the telephone; when the intended phone answered, he could shrink down enough to literally travel through the phone lines in seconds to emerge out of the answering phone.

Superhuman Strength: By shifting all his mass into his fists he can punch with incredible force.

Dimensional Travel: 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.

Katarthan's Sword: The Atom used a long sword as a weapon while living among the Katarthans, gaining considerable skill in its use.

Indigo Tribe Staff

Personality

Ray Palmer is a hard-working, dedicated man. In fact, "dedicated" is hardly the word for it; "driven" is a little closer to the truth. Once Ray starts working on a problem or puzzle, there is absolutely no stopping him. This single-minded pursuit of his goals is more than a little responsible for Ray's shattered marriage, though it has occasionally come in handy to Ray the crime fighter. In spite of his obsessiveness, Ray is a level-headed hero and a likeable human being.

History

Ray Palmer is the Atom, the Mighty Mite, a superhero with the ability to shrink to incredible sizes while retaining his full mass, making him a formidable combatant. He was a member of the original Justice League of America, where he gained a great deal of respect from his peers. Aside from his crime-fighting career, he is also one of the world's top scientific minds, given his background as a brilliant physicist. He is capable of shrinking to subatomic sizes, and explores the universe on a frontier unknown to any other man.

Origins

Ray Palmer grew up in Ivy Town, Connecticut where he studied physics at Ivy University, under renowned scientists such as Alpheus P. Hyatt. He began dating law student Jean Loring, eventually becoming exclusive. Both graduating and working in their professions, Ray would frequently ask Jean to marry him, but she would always decline, wanting to establish herself as a lawyer before getting married and settling down.

While a physics graduate student, Ray Palmer discovered a tiny fragment of white dwarf star material that had fallen to Earth. Investigating matter compression, Ray theorized that if he were to grind a lens from this fragment and focus ultraviolet light through it, he could shrink anything struck by the light down to a fraction of its original size. Ray rushed off to his laboratory, tried the experiment, and found that it worked exactly as he had imagined but the objects he shrunk became unstable and exploded moments later.

A couple of days later, a disillusioned Ray and some friends became trapped in a cave-in while out spelunking. Ray was forced to risk instability and use the shrinking lens on himself in order to escape the cave and save the lives of his friends. For some reason, however, Ray didn't explode and returned to his normal height. In fact, the shrinking lens worked on his body much better than he had expected, and he developed a set of control devices that gave him limited control over his weight as well as his size. Ray later hypothesized that some unknown "x-factor" in his genetic makeup prevented his atoms from becoming unstable, though many scientists now believe that Ray's ability to shrink was actually made possible by the "Metagene", which is the source of many superhumans' powers.

Early Career

Keeping his discoveries a secret, even from his Jean, Ray created the identity of the Atom and began a career of crime fighting in Ivy Town. In his first recorded adventure, the Atom stopped the crook Carl Ballard from exploiting the tiny alien Kulan Dar, to commit his crimes. Foiling this plot, the Atom became a trusted hero in Ivy Town, and established a great working relationship with the local police. Next, the Atom defended the wealthy Doctor Gordon Heath from a plot against him orchestrated by his caretaker Bates.

The Atom's heroics made him an ally of the CIA, who sent him overseas to rescue Professor Anton Kraft from foreign spies. Returning home, he stopped crooked newspaper reporter Greg Phillips from stealing valuable chess pieces. The Atom met his first super-villain when battling Jason Woodrue, an exile from the Floral Dimension, who attempted to take over the Earth with specially bred plants. The Atom defeated Woodrue with the help of Maya Queen of the Dryads that live in the Floral Dimension. Atom next stopped jewel thief Bart Tranter with the help of the self proclaimed Mr. Odd and recaptures Carl Ballard when he masters Kulan Dar's teleportation abilities.

The Atom would next be used in a bizarre plot by Amos Fortune and other villains to destroy the Justice League of America, using a de-memorizor ray to pit the Atom against the League. With the aid of the Atom, the team of heroes would defeat Fortune and his minions and elect the Atom as a member of their group. Next, the Atom would have his first clash with Chronos, a criminal obsessed with time.

Reconnecting with Professor Hyatt, Ray would learn of Hyatt's experiments with the Time Pool, a device of Hyatt's creation allowing him to "fish" for items out of a tiny portal that can bring items through time. As the Atom, Ray would travel back time to ancient Middle East where he would help a young boy named Hassan best a group of thieves and bring back a golden Dinar for Hyatt's study. When simultaneous nuclear explosions on Earth-One and a parallel world causes the two to merge, the Atom helps the JLA prevent the inhabitants of that world from destroying three major cities on Earth to prevent the cataclysm and work together to revolve the problem.

When visiting Happy Harbor, Rhode Island to give a lecture as Ray Palmer, the Atom comes to the rescue of Entron Kol a visitor from a sub-atomic world who is trapped on Earth and uses a wish fulfillment device to try to draw help to his plight. Returning to Ivy Town, the Atom foils an attempt by a crooked photographer named Elkins from framing Tom Parks for crimes he did not commit. Ray would next attend a JLA meeting were the team would ponder how to get out of a dangerous scenario posed by one of their fans.

When Ray's colleague, the world-traveling Ted Ralston is turned into diamond by a strange stone he brought back from one of his expeditions, Ray would travel into the microscopic world inside the gem where he would clash with the Atlantean tyrant Karl Jat. Next he would foil jewel thief Fred Harris' plot to rob a lake side community using local folklore to hoax the people into thinking the thefts were perpetuated by a ghost. The Atom would next be targeted with the rest of the JLA by the Tornado Tyrant. In another adventure with the Justice League, Ray would aid the League in liberating the people of the micro-world of Starzl, whose three android defenders had turned evil.

Back in Ivy Town, Atom would foil a plot by stage manager Howard Crane from framing former astronaut Peter Venner for crimes he did not commit and in a Time Pool adventure travels back to 18th century London to foil Dick Turpin from stealing the king's gold. The Atom and the rest of the JLA would next be forced into exile from the planet Earth due to the manipulations of Dr. Density, however the JLA would foil this plot, ending their exile. When preventing an invasion of Earth from the Thalens, the Atom would team up with extraterrestrial lawman Hawkman and his partner Hawkgirl, forming a long lasting partnership between the trio.

On another Justice League case, the Atom and his fellow JLA members would clash with Spaceman X. Later the Atom would be present with the JLA in their first team up with the Justice Society of America, their counterparts from Earth-Two, against the Crime Champions, a group of villains from both universes. While on the home front, Ray would battle an escaped Dr. Light, stop Alfred Trask an art gallery employee working the masterpieces his employer has on display, would battle an evil doppelganger created of himself created out of a lab experiment gone awry and thwart an attempted kidnapping of the king of France during a Time Pool adventure to the year 1609. His next meeting with the JLA would be less eventful with the group relating their battle against Queen Bee while Ray would tell them of his encounter against Dr. Light.

Working with the CIA once again, the Atom would go to Vienna to collect the plans for a new anti-gravity metal, however exposes it as a communist plot to destroy America, and back home foils Doro Briggs' theft scheme involving hoaxing people into believing that she can transform into a swan. The Atom aids his fellow Justice League colleagues in once more defeating and capturing their old foe Kanjar Ro and Kraad the Conqueror, tyrant ruler of a sidereal dimension.

Back home, Ray would attend a Ivy University ten-year reunion, where he would foil Jack Archer's attempt to use hypnosis to steal a priceless Buddha statue, followed by a cruise with Jean Loring where he would stymie invaders from Randath. Next Atom and a number of his fellow JLA members would be rapidly aged by Despero, but later restored to normal following Despero's defeat at the hands of his fellow JLA members who were unaffected.

On the home front, Ray would find his powers being used for crime when he is temporarily the prisoner of a crook who uses his body as a power source for a ray gun and later uses the Time Pool to travel to Baltimore circa 1849 where he helps Edgar Alan Poe solve a mystery involving stolen gold coins. Atom would next aid the Flash in stopping an invasion of Earth by Attila-5. Later the Atom and his friends in the Justice League would be manipulated by the ultra-galactic "I", an evil being who's very existence was threatened by the JLA's continued success.

In Ivy Town, Ray would clash once more with Chronos and clear the good name of his civilian identity when he is accused of a crime he did not commit. Back with the Justice League, the Atom is present when Green Lantern relates a solo adventure to the group and would be among the super-powered members of the League to go on "strike" following a UN sanction preventing them from using their powers, all a plot orchestrated by the evil Headmaster Mind. Still with the League, he would be present when a video created by Superman's father Jor-El, regarding the other planets he considered sending his son prior to Krypton's destruction.

Resuming his activities in Ivy Town, Ray would battle his own costume when it briefly gained sentience and aid Doc Magnus in rebuilding the Metal Men and stop the evil Uranium. When visiting his old classmate Ed Thayer, Atom would get caught up in an attempt by foreign spies trying to steal Thayer's Illusion-Maker device and foil the teleporting Hyper-Thief's robberies. Atom is also present when the Justice League invites his ally Hawkman into the group and in attendance of Aquaman's marriage to Mera.

Next, while on vacation the Ray becomes the temporary pawn of criminal inventor Andrew Frost, battles Brain Storm with the JLA, crushes the Hooded Hijackers, and uses the Time Pool to travel to the 19th Century, where he comes to the rescue of writer Jules Verne. Atom would become an unwilling pawn of the Endless One, and is forced to fight some of his fellow JLA members and when restored to normal becomes a victim in one of Dr. Destiny's plots to get revenge against the JLA.

The Atom would have to combat side-effects of his Time Pool adventures when battling the evil Phantom Mask, and spend a brief time thinking he was a flea in a flea circus when spies attempt to replace Ray Palmer with one of their own agents. He would next aid Zatanna search for her missing father on a micro-world ruled by the Druid. Later, joins with the Justice League in once more battling Brain Storm. Going solo, Atom prevents crooks from benefiting from his "stool-pigeon" computer and with the aid of Maya and the Dryads posing as Leprechauns, convince Arthur Ennis to fill a witness report with the police following a robbery. During his next team up with Hawkman, and Hawkgirl against Matter Master, the trio of heroes would trust their secret identities to each other. Atom and his fellow JLA members would team up with the JSA against the evil Johnny Thunder of Earth-One who has manipulated the Thunderbolt into creating Earth-A and the Lawless League, criminal versions of the Justice League.

The CIA once more hires the Atom to stop a group of Russian spies who are attempting to manipulate Jean Loring's father in an attempt to get at the Atom, and on another Time Pool to 18th century London where the Atom prevents one of Professor Hyatt's ancestors from being thrown in debtors' prison. Atom would also aid his fellow JLA members in preventing global disaster and conflict inadvertently created by Andrew Helm's Corti-Conscience machine. Acting solo, he stops a common thug named Eddie Gordon from enslaving the Bat-Knights of the Elvaran people. Atom next helps Batman, Robin, and Elongated Man capture "Numbers" Garvey and his gang.

The Atom also aids the Justice League in defeating the Key during his attack. Returning to Ivy Town, the Atom makes up a story about alien invaders to make the return of a radion-ball sound like a more exciting adventure and foils a robbery plot orchestrated by groundskeeper Billy Knowels. Atom's powers are briefly pilfered by Professor Ivo in a plot against the Flash, when the Flash relates the story to his fellow JLA members including the Atom, they are unaware as they are not using their powers at the time. Next Atom would join the Justice League and Metamorpho in battling the Unimaginable.

After liberating the Floral Dimension and Earth from destruction at the hands of Jason Woodrue, the Atom would join the JLA in curing Batman, Green Lantern, and Flash from a plague infected upon them by the Unimaginable. Atom would return to Ivy Town, to foil a series of robberies orchestrated by Bill Jameson, the so-called "Man in the Ion-Mask". Working with the CIA once more, the Atom would travel to Russia to foil Boris Kalumchuk's plot to poison America with irradiated gold. Ray would next join the Justice League of America in their battle against the Shaggy Man.

Engagement to Jean Loring

Back in Ivy Town, the Atom would earn a new villain in the Bug-Eyed Bandit. During this adventure Jean accepts proposal for marriage for fear that Ray would eventually become too absorbed in his work to ask her anymore. When both Earth-One and Earth-Two are threatened by the Anti-Matter Man, the Atom would be one of the Justice League and Justice Society members gathered to combat the threat.

Going solo in Ivy Town once more, the Atom would crush the Panther Gang and going on another Time Pool journey to 18th century France where he foils an assassination attempt against Benjamin Franklin. Returning to the JLA, the Atom would aid them in stopping the Lord of Time from manipulating Vietnam war hero Sgt. Eddie Brent. Returning home, Atom would clash with once more against his old foe Chronos. Later, when the entire population of Ivy Town suddenly shrinks, Ray learns that a chunk of white dwarf star landing in the city water supply is the cause, and cures the people with no ill side effects. Ray would next work together with his Earth-Two counterpart in foiling a plot by the Thinker to rob Earth-One and escape to Earth-Two. At a JLA meeting, Atom, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Batman and Elongated Man would all learn that of Zatanna's success in freeing her father with the help of magical proxies that she created of the heroes following her respective encounters with each of them.

Ray would return to Ivy Town where he would stumble upon and foil another plot by Eddie Gordon to manipulate the Elvarian Bat-Kights. He is also present when the JLA must face the evil Mastermind, who has turned many of the League members weapons against them. Atom would team-up with Hawkman once more to search for the missing Johnny Burns, a reformed crook, to reunite him with his sick mother. During the encounter, they battle Toyboy, Johnny's evil half brought to life when Mrs. Burns is briefly endowed with mental powers following a scientific accident. Rejoining the JLA, Atom would foil the Royal Flush Gang's attempt to destroy the League.

When paralyzed in a lab accident, Ray manages to get Jean to activate his size-control devices causing him to shrink to microscopic size, freeing him of the paralysis. Before returning to Earth, he would save the sub-atomic people of Palonds from the evil Honds. The Atom would also be present to cheer on a UN-sponsored charity race between Superman and the Flash. He would later team-up with Aquaman against the plankton creature called Galg the Destroyer. After a rematch against the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the Atom would team-up with the Elongated Man against Chronos. After battling the Big Gang, witnessing another race between Superman and the Flash, foiling "Smarts" and his gang, Atom has another Time Pool adventure to London to prevent Colonel Tom Blood from stealing the crown jewels from the Tower of London.

The Atom is one of the members of the Justice League enslaved by Queen Bee, until they are saved by Batgirl. In another revenge plot against the Justice League, Dr. Destiny briefly switches the League's bodies with some of their greatest foes. For a time, Atom would be forced to trade bodies with Jason Woodrue, until Dr. Destiny's ultimate defeat. When twin transmitter towers on Earth-One and Earth-Two cause people to rapidly age either forward or backward, Earth-Two's Atom would have to briefly battle a young and hot-headed Ray Palmer before destroying the towers and returning everyone back to normal. Atom would next work with Batman in foiling the Cannoneer from robbing the Brotherhood Express. The Atom would also be involved in a Justice League case where the group would get embroiled in a gang war between the Pyrotekniks and the Bulleteers in a complex scheme hatched by mobster Leo Locke.

The Atom would soon gain an unusual ally in his next adventure, Major Mynah, a mynah bird that he meets foiling a group of Viet Cong soldiers from raiding a Cambodian temple while on an archeological dig in the region. With the bird injured in the battle, Atom takes the helpful creature to Hawkman who replaces the bird's broken wings with mechanical ones. Major Mynah becomes Ray's pet, following him in both his civilian and costumed identities. After helping the Atom capture crooks, Major Mynah's involvement almost tips Jean off to Ray's secret identity and so he comes up with a method of disguising Mynah for future adventures. The Atom would return to the Justice League and foil the Key's plot of using Superman to destroy the JLA and later battle Dr. Anomaly. Ray and Major Mynah would next go into action to stop an invasion from the alien Physalians from feeding on the humans they have captured. The Atom is one of the JLA members seemingly killed by T.O. Morrow, he is restored to life following Morrow's defeat at the hands of the JSA, their new ally Red Tornado and surviving members of the JLA.

Justice League Mainstay

As time would go on, Ray would eventually get involved in less frequent solo adventures, often teaming up with either Hawkman or getting involved in many of the Justice League's cases.

Ray joins Carter and Sheira Hall on vacation in Mexico City and battles Telka and his followers. With the Justice League, the Atom battles the laughable Generalissimo Demmy Gog of Offalia, in a pathetic attempt to conquer the world. The Atom next is hired by the FBI to break up a spy ring. He succeeds thanks to the intervention of Major Mynah. This would mark the Atom's last use of Major Mynah. The bird's ultimate fate is unknown. Atom also finds himself involved in a revenge plot enacted by criminal Jason Madden, who attempts to kill his former accomplice Chuck Wheeler. Atom aids the Justice League in clearing Green Arrow's name in a murder frame-up plotted by Headmaster Mind and the Tattooed Man. Ray is involved in a Justice League investigation of the new costumed vigilante known as the Creeper.

While attending a science convention with Carter Hall, Ray and Carter are attacked by a man resembling Carter. This gets them embroiled in a battle against the Shiva, Hindu goddess of destruction, who with her army of Nether-Men is attempting to win back worship of humanity. Through the efforts of the Atom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl the plot is thwarted. The Atom would join his fellow Justice League colleagues in traveling to Mars and aiding their comrade Martian Manhunter against the evil Commander Blanx, a battle ends in J'onn J'onzz's resignation from the team. Ray next goes into action as the Atom to foil a plot by rival university professor Horace McByrd to discredit Ray among his peers. Ray next joins the JLA and Hawkgirl in saving Hawkman who has been turned into salt by a group of demons, fighting off their minions a biker gang known as the Gruesome Ghouls in the process. When Professor Heinrich Von Rilk is almost assaulted by Ivy University students for destroying an electron-microscope, Ray learns that Von Rilk did it to prevent an invasion from a microscopic world. Investigating the claims as the Atom, Ray confirms Heinrich's story, and stops the invasion by defeating its vanguard, a creature known as Ag. Atom would be among the members of the Justice League and Justice Society who would ban together to save both universes from the threat of Aquarius, a living star creature bent on revenge for being exiled by his superiors.

When Jean Loring is kidnapped by the people of Jimberen, a microscopic world who believe that she is the descendant of their ruler, Atom and Hawkman team-up to rescue her. However, due to the radiation the people of Jimberen expose Jean to, she is driven insane from the ordeal. With technology on Hawkman and Hawkgirl's homeworld of Thanagar making it possible to cure Jean, Atom would entrust her to the care of Hawkgirl.

Focusing on Justice League business, Atom would be one of the members who would accidentally have an evil duplicate of himself created out of his ego, which would battle new Justice League member Black Canary. When an influential man named John Dough would attempt to turn the United States government against the JLA, manipulating Snapper Carr into betraying the group, the Atom would be involved in the conflict, which would reveal Dough to be none other than the Joker. Atom and the Justice League would soon setup shop in a new base, an orbital satellite above the Earth.

During this time, Atom and the other members of the JLA would team up with the Vigilante against the Doomsters, aliens who threatened to pollute the Earth.

Ray would ultimately learn that Hawkgirl's quest to restore Jean's sanity on Thanagar was met with trouble when both women's souls were stolen by Norch Lor, a scientist from Thanagar who's misguided intention to save the universe from the coming "end of all things" was attempting to collect the souls of all living beings in a Ghenna Box. With the help of Tomar-Re of the Green Lantern Corps, Ray and the Justice League would restore Hawkgirl and Jean's souls to their bodies, Jean however would still remain insane. Atom and Hawkman would travel together en route to Thanagar to try and get Jean the help she needs, and along the way run into the threat that Norch Lor was attempting to protect them from: The insane Jest-Master, who leaves all those in his path completely mad. With the help of the Justice League, Atom and Hawkman would defeat the Jest-Master. In the aftermath of the battle, Jean's constant exposure to Jest-Master's insanity rays would restore her sanity to normal. Returning to Earth, the Atom would once more join the Justice League and the Justice Society in preventing another threat to both Earth-One and Earth-Two. This time coming from a being called Creator2, whom by utilizing Red Tornado's connection to both realities, would attempt to merge the two universes together, threatening to destroy both. Atom and his colleagues would foil this plot, however the Spectre would seemingly perish in the process.

Sword of the Atom

Ray and Jean's marriage would become strained over time as Jean's law practice and Ray's devotion to both science and super-heroics would take time over their romance. Soon, Jean would begin an affair with her fellow lawyer Paul Hoben, which Ray would stumble upon one night. Realizing their marriage was on the rocks, Ray would decide to investigate White Dwarf star radiations he detected out of South America and decide to investigate it without Jean. Taking a flight with some drug runners, he would learn too much about an illegal cocaine field and prompting the pilots to attempt to kill Ray. However, the pilot would be shot and Ray would jump ship and shrink down to Atom size. Ray would be struck by lightning trapping him at a height of six inches. The plane would crash, and because one of the men aboard stole one of Ray's rings, the world would presume him dead and Jean would go on with her life and pursue her relationship with Paul. Ray meanwhile would find himself captured by aliens known as the Katarthans—small aliens whose ancestors were left on Earth centuries ago and live in a world of high technology and barbarism. With a revolt immanent, Ray would be captured along with members of a resistance led by Taren.

Forced into gladiator battles, Ray would learn the Katarthans' language and befriend Taren and learn that he hoped to overthrow their leader Caellich and marry princess Laethwen. The two men would become unknowing pawns of Deraegis who would seek to cause the people to revolt against Caellich so that he could rule. To this end, he would blind Taren, causing the people to protest. Taren, Atom, and Laethwen would escape the arena and flee into the jungles where they would reunite with the rebels. Knowing his end is near, Taren would turn over leadership of the rebels to Atom, and perish while the group fled an army of carnivorous ants. Atom and Laethwen would soon fall in love with each other. Atom would lead the warriors on to Moralaidh to launch a revolution. In the final battle, both Caellich and Deraegis would be slain, but not before Deraegis would activate an old star drive powered by a white dwarf star fragment. Attempting to save his newly adopted people, Ray would dive into the plant to try and stop the reactor from exploding. However the white star radiation would cause him to grow as it irradiated him and smash his way through. Growing to near human height, Ray would frighten the people away before the reactor exploded. Restored to his normal height and in a delirium caused by radiation exposure, Ray would pass out and be found by rescuers. Waking up in the hospital, Ray would come to realize that he no longer had an interest in returning to his old life and have moved on from Jean. Having learned that Jean had come to South America looking for him he would decide to finalize their divorce and try to find Laethwen again.

Returning to Ivy Town to settle his affairs, Ray would realize that there wold be no way to rekindle his romance with Jean. In repairing his size change belt, Ray would find that the process of shrinking would cause him great pain due to his absorption of massive amounts of white dwarf radiation and would fear that constantly changing his size could eventually kill him. Finalizing his divorce from Jean, Ray would put his money on an expedition back into South America, taking along with him writer Norman Brawler to chronicle the experience. The two men would run afoul of drug dealers and Ray would shrink down to Atom, giving up his normal height seemingly for the last time to help destroy the drug operation. Finding the Moralaidh tribe and being reunited with Laethwen, Ray would leave Norman to find his own way back. Norman would publish the tale in a book called The Atom's Farewell, which would become a best seller.

Ray would lead Laethwen's people in building a new New Moralaidh and rebuilding the alien societies lost technology, he and Laethwen would become wed as well. However, his past life could not stay away, as when Jean would marry Paul Hoben and when the newly weds would clear out Ray's lab she would accidentally shrink herself. In order to restore her to her normal height, Paul would have Norman Brawler lead him and Jean to find Ray. However, along the way, Jean would be captured by minions of rebel leader Torgul who had captured many of the Moralaidhian women including Laethwen. Ray would lead a mission to rescue the captured women, which would end in Torgul's death, and the freedom of his people. With Jean restored to her normal height, Ray and Laethwen would wish them farewell, Ray leaving Paul with his old size changing belt.

Ray would remain New Moralaidh's champion but would come at times to aid his old allies in the Justice League of America.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

When the evil Anti-Monitor attempted to destroy the entire multiverse, his opposing force the Monitor would sacrifice his life to shunt the five surviving realities into limbo, however they were slowly merging together causing chaos on all worlds and threatening their destruction in the process. Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three and the Harbinger would gather heroes and villains from all realities in an attempt to rally their support in saving what was left of the multiverse. Atom would be among their numbers and would agree to aid in the effort.

Ray would be called in to examine the Red Tornado, who is recaptured by the heroes following a lengthy captivity under the Anti-Monitor who converted the android into an engine of destruction. However, despite the best efforts of the Atom and T.O. Morrow, the Red Tornado would self destruct, causing massive damage to the JLA Satellite, and apparently destroying the Red Tornado.

Later on in the Crisis, when a united group of super-villains from each surviving reality would attempt to conquer each earth, Atom would be among a group of super-heroes dispatched to Earth-S to attempt to quell the uprising in that reality. Although the heroes there were made prisoner, the Atom would be part of a counter attack of heroes that were uncaptured, and would succeed in freeing Billy Batson allowing the boy to change into Captain Marvel and turn the tides of battle.

Changes Caused by Crisis on Infinite Earths

Following the defeat of the Anti-Monitor, the surviving parallel worlds were combined to create a new universe. While, much of the Atom's Pre-Crisis history remains the same, many of his past adventures may have been altered or erased from existence entirely. In particular, Atom's encounters with Hawkman may be different given the extensive changes of Hawkman's origins. The Thanagarian Katar Hol is replaced in Post-Crisis history with Earth native Carter Hall the Hawkman formerly from Earth-Two.

In addition, due to the massive changes in the histories of his fellow JLA colleagues Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the Atom's history may have been altered by proxy and many of his adventures alongside these heroes no longer be part of history.

In addition, many of the adventures that the Atom had with the Justice League of America that involved traveling to other universes, particularly their encounters with the Justice Society of America on Earth-Two, likely no longer exist, or if they do, in a vastly different manner such that the multiversal threat was simply a threat to a single unified universe.

Lastly, the Atom's encounters with his Earth-Two counterpart may no longer be part of history, or if they are, they have been altered in such a way to accommodate the notion that these adventures only happened in a single universe as opposed to having occurred on Earth-One and Earth-Two.

Power of the Atom

The Katarthans and their village were soon wiped out by a horrible fire and the Atom returned to Ivy Town, only to find that one of his friends had written a book exposing Ray's secret identity in his absence. After battling various foes, such as Strobe, Humbug, and Swarm, Ray learned that a US Government agency had engineered the destruction of the Katarthans, in order to induce his return to the States. He avenged the Katarthans by permanently reducing the agents responsible for the massacre to six inches in height. Ray returned to Ivy Town just long enough to bid his friends farewell, and then briefly went into hiding.

Suicide Squad

The shrunken agents, now calling themselves the Micro Squad, vowed revenge on Ray. Ginsburg, one of their number, made an attempt on Ray's life, but died in the attempt. Ray approached Amanda Waller, who convinced him to fake his own death and secretly join the espionage unit known as the Suicide Squad. As a part of this mission, Ray went undercover and Adam Cray served in the Suicide Squad as the new Atom. Adam was killed by Blacksnake and Ray resumed the role of the Atom. Later still, he joined the then-current Justice League on a semi-active basis.

Teen Titans

Al Pratt, the original Atom, died during a battle against Extant in Zero Hour. During this event, Ray was also hit with a blast of chrono-energy that de-aged him into a youth again. He would go on to become a member of the Teen Titans.

Identity Crisis

In time, Ray and Jean were able to be friends again. In the divorce she had received half of his patents. As a gesture of friendship, Jean decided to sign them back to him. Little did he know that this was but one of many facets to Jean's deadly scheme to win Ray back. Since their divorce, Jean had somehow become seriously deranged and believed that the only way to be reunited with Ray was to force the issue. Incredibly, she devised an elaborate plan to endanger Sue Dibny, wife of Elongated Man Ralph Dibny. Jean was privy to the fact that every year on her birthday, Ralph would be absent solving a custom-tailored mystery devised by Sue. She bypassed the Dibnys' security by shrinking down and traveling via the phone lines into their home. She then entered Sue's body and obstructed the blood flow to her brain. To cover up this evidence, Jean scorched Sue's body.

Jean knew that this event would send all the heroes scrambling to protect their loved ones and—hopefully—drive Ray back into her arms. Jean employed two other schemes to cover her tracks. First, she faked an attempt on her life, then she hired Captain Boomerang to kill Robin's father Jack Drake. She supplied Drake with a gun to defend himself, hoping that Boomerang would be killed and that everyone would believe he was Sue's killer as well. Eventually, Dr. Mid-Nite's autopsy of Sue's body revealed the truth, and the Atom himself elicited a confession from Jean after she inadvertently spilled the beans when asking about a letter sent to Jack along with the gun. Ray managed to put two and two together because Batman had taken the letter away from the crime scene even before the police arrived, so only he and the Leaguers were supposed to know of its existence. She was promptly admitted to Arkham Asylum. With Jean's incarceration, Ray was overwhelmed with despair, and shrank continuously until he vanished completely into a microscopic or subatomic world.

Ray's legacy would continue on with Ryan Choi utilizing a version of his costume and shrinking device to become the current Atom for a short time.

Countdown

During the missing year following the events known as the second Crisis, Palmer's technology is employed by Supernova to shrink and grow in size in order to enter and exit the bottle city of Kandor.

Ray took refuge the Nanoverse, and met a young mystic who told him about the new reformed existence of the Multiverse. He traveled through different realities and find himself in Earth-51, where its heroes eradicate supercrime and create a utopian Earth. There he witness his Earth-51 counterpart's death and took his role in this reality including marrying this world's Jean Loring.

While there he study much about his Earth-51 counterpart and discover he never became the Atom and acted as a scientist consultant to the Earth-51 Justice League. Also this Ray gifted with the ability to be immune to all kinds of diseases and viruses. Furthermore, the Earth-51 Palmer worked on preventing the deadly Morticoccus Virus, and knowing that in every reality of the Multiverse there is deadly chance that the virus would appear decided to travel the Multiverse and inoculate each inhabitants with his immune system. Realizing the importance of his counterpart's work, Ray carry on Earth-51 Ray's work and travel to different worlds inoculating each denizen of every Earth with a resistance to the Morticoccus Virus.

Unknowable to Ray the Monitors and the Challengers from Beyond were scouring the reformed Multiverse for him as they believe that he maybe the one to prevent a cataclysm known as the Great Disaster. Eventually the Challengers discover him and learns his history on Earth-51. Shortly afterward Bob reveals his intention in killing Ray. With the Challengers' help, Ray escapes but witness the death of his Earth-51 friends and his alternate wife.

Despite what the Challengers were told by the Monitors, Ray reveals to them that it was the Ray Palmer of Earth-51 who was meant to stop the Great Disaster.

After joining the Challengers, teaming up with Jimmy Olsen, Forager, Harley Quinn, Holly Robinson, Mary Marvel, and Firestorm on Apokolips, Ray discovers that Karate Kid was infected with the Morticoccus Virus. Following the damages to the planet by the Pied Piper and Brother Eye, Ray secretly eavesdropped on Monitor Solomon and Darkseid, learning that Darkseid wanted to remake reality and Solomon wanted the Great Disaster to happen. Alerted by this, Ray returned to the others and was pressured into curing Karate Kid.

Ray and the others were then teleported back to the reconstructed Earth-51 and seek advance medical attention from Project Cadmus; however, once they were at Cadmus Karate Kid was already dead.

Ray helped the scientists at Cadmus in finding a cure to the Morticoccus Virus after the virus was released to the world. Despite everything he has done, the Great Disaster prevailed forcing Ray and his friends to return back to their Earth.

After returning to their world, Jimmy Olsen is kidnapped by Mary Marvel, who has been corrupted by Darkseid. Ray hitches a ride from within Jimmy. When Darkseid takes control of Jimmy's powers, Ray locates and shuts down the control sphere inside Jimmy's brain, but is then swarmed by Apokoliptian antibodies. While escaping this onslaught, Ray discovers the "battery" containing the New God spirit energies. Ray removes it from Jimmy's head and shatters it, releasing the energies.

Ray later joins Donna, Kyle, and Forager in their new mission as border guards to the Multiverse, realizing that there is nothing left for him on New Earth anymore. However, Palmer returns to New Earth one more time, upon realizing that his old nemesis Chronos had taken his identity to mislead a young pretender to his identity, Ryan Choi. After helping his successor to once again save Ivy Town, he returns to the Multiverse with a new sense of fulfillment, leaving his town in the hands of a new, capable hero.

During the Final Crisis, Ray returns to New Earth and works with Choi again to aid in the efforts to evacuate the last free humans.

Blackest Night

During the events of the Blackest Night, Ray asks Hawkman to visit his wife Jean Loring's grave to be honored as a fallen member of the community, but Hawkman refuses due to her murdering Sue Dibny. Ray later called Hawkman again, over the phone. Atom is then invited to visit Carter in order to discuss his heartache over his wife which the deceased Carter planned on killing him.

Arriving at Carter's house, he was attacked by the Black Lantern Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and only escaped by miniaturizing himself and hiding in Carter's Black Lantern Ring. Ray did a thorough exploration of the ring, discovering that it was nothing like Hal Jordan's power ring, instead made of dark matter with micro-wormholes sending energy to an unknown source. Jumping out, he helped Hal and Barry Allen fight off the Black Lantern Justice Leaguers, with his compassion attracting the Black Lantern Dibnys. Ralph mocked Ray for still being love with Jean after she killed Sue, but the two Dibny Lanterns were destroyed by the Indigo Tribe, the wielders of the indigo light of compassion, then teleporting the three living Leaguers to the Hall of Justice, where they met up with Firestorm Jason Rusch and Mera. After Indigo-1, leader of the Indigo Tribe, explained that the Black Lanterns were expressions of darkness which considered the living to be invaders, Barry and Hal pointed out that Ralph and Sue had no reaction to each others' attack, leading Ray to conclude that the Black rings were some sort of organic computer that rebooted the body without restoring their essences. Before they could plan a proper counter-attack, the Black Lantern League arrived and attacked, and the Indigo Tribe teleported Hal away, leaving Ray, Barry, and Mera without a means to effectively fight the Black Lanterns. Ray had almost been turned into a Black Lantern by a reanimated Batman but ultimately been protected by an unknown force. Ganthet inducts him into the Indigo Tribe as a deputy for his strong compassion.

Indigo-1 claims that she can teleport the armies of each Lantern Corps onto Earth, if given time to meditate. So, the responsibility falls to Ray to protect her while she does so. Before she enters her trance, she reveals to Ray that the indigo staff and his overwhelming compassion allows him to mimic the other powers of the Lantern Corps; she demonstrates this by temporarily becoming a Red Lantern and vomiting corrosive blood all over an attacking company of Black Lanterns. She then enters her trance, while Ray fights off Black Lanterns Hawkman and Hawkgirl by temporarily becoming an Orange Lantern, loudly proclaiming "I want my friends back!" He then summons two orange energy duplicates of Khufu and Chay-Ara to help him fight off his and Indigo-1's attackers. He is briefly successful. But then Jean shows up to torment him, and she leaps into Indigo-1's ring. Ray follows her. He ends up reliving Sue Dibny's death, and is then attacked by various Black Lantern Morlaidhans, the miniscule race he befriended during his time in the Amazon jungle years before. He fights them off and--summoning the powers of a Green Lantern--destroys Jean. Indigo-1 manages to summon the various armies and thanks Ray for his help. He tells her to keep his involvement in the deployment of the troops a secret, and asks that she help him find a way to legitimately resurrect Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

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