Atomic Skull
| Atomic Skull | |
|---|---|
Atomic Skull (Michaels) versus Superman,
artist Rich Buckler |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance |
(Michaels) Superman #303 September 1976 (Michaels as Atomic Skull) Superman #323 May 1978 (Martin) Adventures of Superman #483 October 1991 (Martin as Atomic Skull) Action Comics #670 October 1991 |
| Created by |
(Michaels) Gerry Conway Curt Swan (Martin) Roger Stern Bob McLeob |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | - Albert Michaels - Joseph Martin |
| Team affiliations |
(Michaels) SKULL S.T.A.R. Labs Secret Society of Super Villains (Martin) Secret Society of Super Villains |
| Notable aliases |
(Martin) Skull |
| Abilities |
(Michaels) Superhuman strength, agility, and endurance Atomic blasts |
(Michaels)
Seizure-generated atomic "brain-blasts"
Brilliant scientist
Superhuman Strength
Atomic Skull is the name of two different DC Comics supervillains, both of whom are foes of Superman.
The Albert Michaels version of Atomic Skull first appeared in Superman #303 and was created by Gerry Conway and Curt Swan.
The Joseph Martin version of Atomic Skull first appeared in Adventures of Superman #483 and was created by Roger Stern and Bob McLeod.
Albert Michaels was a brilliant but genuine unfriendly scientist-administrator at S.T.A.R. Labs with a rare nervous system disorder that short-circuited the electrical impulses in his brain, creating painful and uncontrollable seizures. When he could not find a cure, he secretly contacted the criminal organization SKULL, and they implanted him with a radium-powered device designed to harness his neural disorder into deadly atomic "brain-blasts" in exchange for him becoming their agent. However, these mental blasts were difficult to control and only made his condition worse, a situation he blamed on Superman after the Man of Steel captured the only SKULL scientists who could have cured him. Swearing revenge, the evil genius donned his distinctive yellow and green costume with its visored cowl-topped skull mask and eventually became the organization's leader, flying around in a sleek skull-shaped hovercraft of his own design assisted by his similarly costumed lover Felicia who was a panther he had artificially evolved into human form.
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Michaels made one appearance, battling Thunder and Lightning in Teen Titans Spotlight. It is assumed his background has not changed, although instead of being diagnosed with a nervous disorder, it was said that his powers came because he sought immortality and presumably mutated himself. It is not known if he ever fought the Post-Crisis version of Superman before as his first (Post-Crisis) appearance was in Captain Atom, yet his history with S.T.A.R. Labs and SKULL remained as established in The DC Comics Encyclopedia.
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