Much to his shock, he does not explode but instead instantly and safely returns to normal size when he reenters the lens' beam, which he attributes to a unique energy inside his body. After getting trapped in a cave with his girlfriend Jean Loring and a group of students, Ray uses the lens to shrink himself to create an escape route knowing full well he will die in the process of regaining normal size.

Ray Palmer was a physicist who found a meteor made of ' white dwarf star matter' that he fashioned into a lens capable of shrinking and expanding objects although the latter process would cause said objects to explode. He first appeared in 'Showcase' #34 (September, 1961), created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.

The second Atom was introduced during the The Silver Age of Comic Books and had nothing in common with the first other than the name. He became the father of the superhero Damage and the godfather of the superhero Nuklon.

The character went into hiatus in 1953, but was revived in 1963 along with other Justice Society members. He got a second series of his own in the back pages of 'Flash Comics', lasting from issues #80 to #104 (February, 1947-February, 1949). He was a founding member of the Justice Society, appearing in most of its adventures between 1940 and to 1951. (It was later retconned that exposure to radiation gave him super strength.) His series continued appearing in 'All-American Comics' until its 72nd issue (April, 1946). ( Because he was small but powerful, get it?) He had no actual superpowers, but was instead a Badass Normal. Pratt was a short guy who got a boost in confidence after being trained in boxing, so he became the masked hero The Atom. He first appeared in 'All-American Comics' #19 (October, 1940), created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Conner. Or an actual atom.)Īctually, there have been three superheroes named The Atom. (Should not be confused with Captain Atom. The Atom is a DC Comics superhero character, best known for being 'the tiny one in the Justice League.' (Because of his shrinking powers- he's usually 6 inches tall.) He had his own series for most of the Silver Age, though hasn't been much of a headliner since then.

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