65 Years Later, DC Gives A Classic Justice League Hero A Completely New Origin

Published Oct 18, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows. Sign in to your ScreenRant account A Justice League hero gets an improved origin story that links his first adventures as a superhero to a dark mystery of the DC universe. Several of the most powerful Justice League heroes often find themselves overshadowed by the team's most famous heroes. While the attention inevitably gravitates toward icons like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Martian Manhunter, secondary members may be just as mighty, but don't participate in nearly as many important missions. Despite their contributions to the Justice League and the superhero community, their achievements rarely dominate the front pages of world media. One of the DC heroes who could easily earn a permanent spot in the Justice League is Billy Batson, who transforms into the Captain a.k.a. Shazam to wield the combined strength, speed, and invulnerability of Superman himself, plus the ability to summon lightning strikes. Even stronger is Firestorm, who's capable of rearranging the molecular structure of any object in existence and expelling raging fire from his body, as well as Captain Atom, who's strong enough to overpower Superman and Wonder Woman all by himself. Other Justice League members like Metamorpho and Red Tornado aren't as physically powerful, but they can be extremely useful in a wide variety of specific missions. Considering the incredible number of heroes the Justice League has welcomed into its ranks, many of them can only shine the way they deserve in alternate timelines. Ray Palmer Becomes Absolute Atom To Investigate A Dark Unknown Force Absolute Flash #20; Written By Jeff Lemire; Art By Haining & Adriano Lucas After Ray Palmer's official Absolute Universe debut saving Wally West from Hunter Zolomon in Absolute Flash #19, the Atom details his origin story in Absolute Flash #20. Palmer recalls his lifelong investigation of the subatomic world and his successful attempts to become "smaller and smaller." Thanks to his time at STAR Labs, Ray Palmer managed to see beyond the limits of human perception and meet a "dark and impenetrable" particle that caused his equipment to explore. This experience led Ray Palmer to create his Atom gear and harness the power of the subatomic world for combat and traversal. In mainstream DC Comics lore, Ray Palmer instead begins his journey discovering a fragment of a collapsed white dwarf star that fell to Earth, which he uses to fashion a compression lens capable of reducing any object on a molecular level. When Palmer creates a matrix belt to stabilize the molecular instability that causes test objects to explode, he becomes able to shrink himself down to subatomic dimensions while retaining his strength. With little else about the subatomic world to explore, the Atom divides his time between academic research and cosmic navigation, plus his tenure in the Justice League of America. The Absolute Universe Can Make The Atom A Much Bigger Hero Absolute Atom May Become A Key Player In The Absolute Universe In the main DC timeline, the Atom's travels through the subatomic world usually feel isolated from the cosmic mechanics of the wider universe. The "dark and impenetrable" particles that Absolute Flash's Ray Palmer discovers in his new origin story might be intertwined with the mysterious Still Point that gives Wally West his powers and the Omega energy that makes up the entire Absolute Universe. If Wally West and Ray Palmer discover the intricacies of these forces, the Atom could become one of the most important heroes in this timeline. If the particles Ray Palmer found constitute the subatomic glue that binds the Absolute Universe together, Ray Palmer's research might place him on a direct collision course with Darkseid. So far, the Absolute Universe's Justice League line-up only seems to feature Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Jo Mullein a.k.a. Green Lantern, and the Flash in the five-part Absolute Justice miniseries. However, the team may quickly expand to add other key heroes like Steel, Hawkman, John Stewart, and the Atom. Would you like to see the Atom have a bigger role in the DC Universe? Absolute Flash #20 is available October 21 from DC Comics Justice League Publisher(s) DC Penciler Jim Cheung, Jorge Jiménez, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, Kevin Maguire, Howard Porter, Doug Mahnke, Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Jason Fabok Writers Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Brian Michael Bendis, Gardner Fox, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Geoff Johns Penciler(s) Jim Cheung, Jorge Jimenez, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, Kevin Maguire, Howard Porter, Doug Mahnke, Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Jason Fabok Writer Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Brian Michael Bendis, Gardner Fox, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Geoff Johns Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and other heroes unite as the Justice League, Earth's first line of defense against threats no single champion can defeat alone. Across decades of DC stories, the team's roster repeatedly changes as its members confront alien warlords, ancient demons, powerful sorcerers, and Darkseid.