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Allen Adam is the atomic superhero Captain Atom.

Origin

A trained, dedicated soldier Allen Adam, physics prodigy at age eight, was working on an experimental rocket and he was accidentally launched into space. As he entered the upper atmosphere, the rocket exploded and Allen was atomized. However, he gained atomic abilities and was able to reform his body when he returned to the ground. Also, his hair would turn white when he transformed. He outfitted a red and yellow costume for himself and he became Captain Atom.

Adventuring Career

In the months that follow, Captain Atom protected America against alien invasions and a variety of supervillains, until he was forced to extend himself to the limit to shut down a nuclear reactor gone wild. He then found that the encounter had left him powerless. He was then captured by the renegade scientist who had tampered with the reactor, and was unmasked on nationwide television.

Adam eventually regained his powers and escaped his captor. However, his radiation levels were becoming more and more unstable, which Adam allowed himself to be coated in an experimental new liquid metal, a formula that was absorbed under his skin and was absolutely radiation-proof. Triggered by a power surge in his body, the metal covering would become visible, revealing Adam's new costume, while containing his excessive radiation.[1]

In his later adventures, Captain Atom often worked with superheroine Nightshade.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Adam and his fellow heroes helped fight the Anti-Monitor and his minions during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.[2] Following the Crisis, Adam helped Superman and Firestorm on a mission before the effects of the Crisis took their toll, rewriting his history into a new version of events.[3] By some cosmic irony, most of the details of Captain Atom's Pre-Crisis origin and career were preserved into the timeline of New Earth as a false background and cover story for the Post-Crisis Captain Atom's activities.

This history is continued with appropriate Post-Crisis revisions at Nathaniel Adam (New Earth)
In the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Pre-Crisis Multiverse was collapsed into a single merged reality and Earth-Four ceased its separate existence. Substantial elements (people, places, events, etc.) of Earth-Four's reality were folded into the history of New Earth, but significant details about the original history were often changed or excised accordingly. This was the status quo of the DC Universe until Convergence retroactively prevented the Multiversal collapse.


Powers

Abilities

Weaknesses


Allen Adam..

The name confusion in two frames.

  • Captain Atom's pre-Crisis origin would be modified and used as the government's "official origin" of the post-Crisis Captain Atom as a cover-up.
  • For a brief time in 1983, before the rights to Charlton Comics characters were purchased by DC, AC Comics was able to license the characters, and in Americomics Special #1, a superhero team called the Sentinels of Justice debuted, with Captain Atom being one of the members. This version of the team would never be seen again after DC's purchase of Charlton's characters.

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