Carl Ballard (Earth-One)

Carl Ballard
Mainstream Universe‎, 1950s-1986
Gallery
Real Name	Carl Ballard
Base Of Operations	Ivy Town
Status
Alignment	Bad
Identity	Public Identity
Occupation	Criminal
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Brown
Origin
Universe	Earth-One
Creators	Gardner Fox · Gil Kane
First Appearance	Showcase #34 (October, 1961)
Last Appearance	The Atom #2 (September, 1962)

Hear me, Atom! Listen closely! I order you to teleport yourself to Africa as soon as you see me - and to remain under this compulsion until noon of this coming Thursday.

— Carl Ballard

Carl Ballard was the first crook arrested by the Atom, and he came back for revenge.

History

Once released, the petty criminal found the unconscious Kulan Dar and learned the secret of teleportation. He now possessed the Dominator Ray, and the secret of Europium.

The Dominator Ray gave Carl Ballard control of Kulan's will, and he sparingly fed Kulan only enough Europium to make brief teleports for cash and jewelry that Carl pocketed, with the promise of one day helping Kulan return home. Ballard continued to string Kulan along, until the Atom heard of the scheme and came out swinging from Ballard's telephone receiver.

Before being subdued, Ballard commanded Kulan Dar to destroy the Atom, but that didn't happen and Ballard returned to jail.

A year later, and Carl Ballard was again paroled from jail; having had time to think about Kulan Dar's technology. Carl had lunch with his new henchmen, and demonstrated to them that he could teleport them out of jail if they are arrested, in exchange for a share of their spoils. Ballard refused to tell them how he did it, but the Atom figured it out.

The henchmen were actually fed Europium and given a post-hypnotic suggestion that made them return to Ballard's house ten seconds after lights out. The Atom interrupted their scam, but Carl knocked him out and fed him Europium, which sent him to Africa every time Atom saw Carl. But Carl's wording bore a flaw, the Atom returned earlier than expected, and Ballard went back to jail; this time to stay. Ballard himself can't teleport from prison -- he's allergic to Europium.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Thievery

Weaknesses

• Allergy: Ballard is allergic to Europium and therefore can't use its teleporting effects.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Europium
• Dominator

Notes

• This version of Carl Ballard, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
  

Trivia

• Carl Ballard's allergy to Europium is not unusual. Real world europium reacts violently in water or dilute hydrochloric acid and the pure element would cause his henchmen to vomit flaming hydrogen gas, if they were lucky.

Related

• 4 Appearances of Carl Ballard (Earth-One)
• 1 Images featuring Carl Ballard (Earth-One)
• 1 Quotations by or about Carl Ballard (Earth-One)
• Character Gallery: Carl Ballard (Earth-One)

Footnotes

Atom Villain(s) This character is or was primarily an enemy of one or more of the heroes called the Atom. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Atom Villains category."