Flashback Friday:The Power of The Atom

DC hero Ray Palmer/The Atom, debuted 60 years ago in Showcase #34 (October 1961). The Atom was created by co-editor and co-plotter Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and penciler Gil Kane. He has been a part of the Justice League, Teen Titans, Indigo Tribe, and S.H.A.D.E. and partnered with Hawkman, Green Arrow, the Flash, and Rip Hunter.

The Atom’s powers are rooted in the ability to change his size from normal to the subatomic level. But, when he shrinks down to that size he still retains his strength. The power came from using the remnants of a white-dwarf star that was made into a belt buckle that he wears on his costume. At first he had to use the belt to manipulate his abilities, then he could do it with hand movements, and later through his brainwaves.

He is one of the few DC heroes who can control his body on the molecular level, along with the Flash and Plastic Man. The Atom can reduce his mass so that he can glide through the air and increase his mass to punch through solid objects like concrete. He can make his costume disappear and reappear by shifting its atoms between dimensions.

The Atom has been able to use his shrinking power to travel in incredible ways. He can ride through phone lines by dialing the number of where he wants to go then travel through the handset and he can shrink small enough to travel on photon signals in fiber optic cables. One time he shrunk down and went into Superman’s bloodstream and rearranged his molecules to create Kryptonite.