Fictional character biographies
Al Pratt
The original Atom, Al Pratt, first appeared in All-American Comics #19 (October 1940). He initially had no superpowers; instead, he was a diminutive college student and later a physicist who was depicted as a tough guy, a symbol of all the short kids who could still make a difference. Pratt was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, later gaining limited super-strength and an energy-charged 'atomic punch'. Pratt is also the father of Damage and godfather of Atom Smasher.
Initially a proverbial 98-pound weakling, bullied at school and unable to impress the girl of his dreams, Mary James, Pratt was trained to fighting condition by ex-boxer Joe Morgan. Pratt soon became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, appearing in the team's various stories during their original Golden Age appearances. He later became a founding and active member of the All-Star Squadron. During World War II, Pratt served as a tank driver for the United States Army.
In 1948, the Atom gained super strength as a result of the latent effects of his 1942 battle with the reluctant supervillain Cyclotron (after whose costume Pratt redesigned his own). It was later revealed that he had taken partial custodianship of Cyclotron's daughter, Terri.
Pratt died in the charge against Extant during the events of Zero Hour. In 1994, it was revealed that Pratt had a son named Grant Emerson. Pratt was unaware of this - he had been told that there were complications with childbirth and that the child had not survived, but Pratt's wife was suffocated by the villain Vandal Savage, who kidnapped Grant and genetically altered him into a superhuman. Grant later became the superhero Damage.
In the afterlife, Pratt befriends the recently deceased Starman, David Knight. In dreams, David brings his brother, Jack Knight, to a banquet in limbo attended by Atom and several other deceased heroes.
In the Blackest Night crossover, Pratt was reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps, to attack the Justice Society and his sons Damage and Atom Smasher.
Ray Palmer
The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of Comic Books in Showcase #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Raymond Palmer, Ph.D. After finding a mass of white dwarf star matter that had fallen to Earth, Palmer fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body. After the events of Identity Crisis, Palmer shrank himself to microscopic size and disappeared. The search for Palmer was a major part of the series Countdown to Final Crisis.
Paul Hoben
Prior to Ray Palmer's trip to the Amazon Jungle, he learned that his wife Jean Loring has had an affair with her colleague, Paul Hoben. Palmer and Loring got a divorce. Later, Palmer offers his blessing to the couple when they marry, and he offers Hoben his size-changing belt so that Hoben can protect Ivy Town after Palmer returns to the Morlaidhans. Adam Cray would later steal this belt; Hoben never uses the costume or name of the Atom.
Adam Cray
Adam Cray, son of the murdered Senator Joseph Cray, first appeared as the Atom in the pages of Suicide Squad #44 by John Ostrander (August 1990). Cray is initially believed to be Ray Palmer in disguise by members of the team. Cray was recruited by Palmer (who faked his own death) to apprehend the Micro Squad, a group of villains who had been reduced in size. Palmer intended to use Cray to uncover a shadowy government cabal which was using Palmer to discover the secret identities of other costumed heroes (Palmer's own identity no longer being secret). While Palmer infiltrated the Micro Squad, Cray would attract the attention of the Cabal as the new Atom so that no one would notice Palmer assuming the identity of a fallen Micro Squad member.
Adam Cray remains with the Suicide Squad briefly, serving as a secret weapon whose existence is unknown to others of the Squad. Cray is later killed by Blacksnake, a Micro Squad member who believes him to be Palmer.
During the events of Blackest Night, Cray is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps alongside several other fallen Suicide Squad members. Cray is destroyed by the Manhunter's self-destruct mechanism, unleashing an explosion of Green Lantern energy that eradicates the Black Lanterns.
In DC Rebirth, Adam Cray is the son of Senator Cray and Ryan Choi's roommate at Ivy University. Senator Cray also attended Ivy and expected Adam to attend Ivy as well.
Ryan Choi
Ryan Choi, as described by DC solicitations, is "a young hotshot professor who's filling the extra spot on Ivy University's teaching staff. .. and who inadvertently ends up filling the old Atom's super-heroic shoes". This new Atom is based on a redesign by Grant Morrison. He debuted in the Brave New World one-shot, a preview of projects, and then appeared in the series The All-New Atom, written by Gail Simone. He is later murdered by Deathstroke and his Titans. In the storyline Convergence, Choi was revealed to have survived in microscopic form.
Rhonda Piñeda
The New 52 introduced a new, female Atom, Rhonda Piñeda, a Hispanic American college student from Ivy Town. She is revealed to be working as a reluctant spy for Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor, gathering intel on the new Justice League recruits. At the conclusion of the "Trinity War" storyline, she is revealed to in fact be betraying both teams; she hails from the alternate universe of Earth-3, where she is a member of the Crime Syndicate operating under the name Atomica, an acquaintance of Johnny Quick.
Atom One Million
An unnamed scientist in the 853rd century performed experiments in superstring theory that creates a singularity and whose radiation alters his physical make-up. When the singularity threatened to expand and destroy his universe, he enters it in an attempt to save the universe but instead finds himself on an interdimensional bridge to another universe as his own is wiped out. This Atom's powers differ from his predecessors in that he does not shrink himself, but breaks up into several smaller duplicates of himself divided amongst his mass. At atomic size, these duplicates can mimic elements such as gold and oxygen.
