(Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #2) - Atom joined Green Lantern and the other heroes on Oa, where they battled Oblivion, who revealed that he was a creation of Green Lantern’s subconscious. Oblivion created an unstable quasar, then retreated to Earth with Green Lantern in pursuit. The quasar threatened to collapse the universe, so Atom came up with a plan to use Zeta radiation provided by Adam Strange and manipulated by Firestorm to teleport the quasar’s ergosphere into it’s dark matter core, causing the quasar to implode. Atom and the other heroes returned to Earth, and found that Green Lantern had defeated Oblivion by reabsorbing him into his own subconscious.

(JLA #57, 58) - Atom explored the subatomic world and learned that the White Martians introduced viral subatomic particles into the atmosphere that inhibited oxidation and prevented combustion, eliminating their weakness to fire. The JLA battled the Martians at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, and tricked them into sending the team into the Phantom Zone, where they were able to come up with a plan todefeat the Martians without being found out by the Martian’s telepathy. Atom had accompanied the JLA to the Fortress; hidden at microscopic size, and freed the JLA sothey could follow through on their plan and defeat the villains.

(Superman II #173) - President Luthor, the Atom and Doc Magnus devised a plan to crack Imperiex Prime's armor and channel the energies back to the galaxies he stole them from using a Boom Tube provided by Darkseid. Superman, Strange Visitor and the Blackhawks were responsible for delivering a payload of 30 hydrogen bombs to drop on Imperiex Prime. Strange Visitor absorbed Superman's energy and left him behind while she bombed Imperiex, sacrificing herself to crack his shell. Brainiac-13 stole the released energy using Warworld and used the LexCorp Towers, actually a temporal displacement cannon, to bombard Apokolips with the energy. Darkseid used this attack as a reason to declare war on Earth.

(JLA #63) - When Wonder Woman’s lasso, the embodiment of truth, broke because she doubted it, the truth became subjective, altering the world. Atom found basic numbers failing to add up, driving him slightly mad. He shrunk to microscopic size for comfort, and manged to give the JLA a consult on the situation Wonder Woman caused.

(JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice) - Atom attended the first annual JLA and JSA Thanksgiving celebration when the teams were called to Arusha, Tanzania to stop Doctor Bedlam from disrupting the Pan-African Conference on World Hunger. The JLA and JSA defeated Bedlam, but the attack was a ruse on the part of Johnny Sorrow to give him the opportunity to have Despero possess President Luthor, who was at the conference, and to have the Seven Deadly Sins possess members of the JLA and JSA. The possessed heroes destroyed JSA headquarters and incapacitated the unpossessed JLA and JSA members. Atom was among the heroes banished to Odin’s Ragnarok in Limbo by the possessed Mr. Terrific. Atom figured out a way to turn Surter of Limbo into a living black hole that shunted the heroes back to Earth. The JLA and JSA then helped Shazam re-chain the Deadly Sins in the Rock of Eternity, defeated Johnny Sorrow and freed Luthor from Despero.

(JSA #37) - Atom was among the crowd of heroes that attended Johnny Thunder’s funeral.

(JLA #68, 69, 71, 73, 75) - Atlantis, ancient and in ruins, appeared on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Atom and other scientists investigated, but the causes turned out to be mystic. Mystics sent the JLA to 1,000 B.C. and determine the fate of the Atlantis that Tempest had sent back in time during the Imperiex War. The JLA were gone for a month when Batman's contingency plan for a new JLA was activated. JLA-Spheres located Atom and other heroes hand picked by Batman and brought them to the Watchtower, where a video recording of Batman told them they would have to carry on as Earth's protectors in case the JLA never returned. They were instructed not to go looking for the JLA, and were kept busy by a worldwide drought. The drought caused tectonic plate shifting in Japan, resulting in earthquakes and lava flows that the JLA had to deal with. Atom discovered that Eartrh’s water was being drained to Atlantis. He got a video feed of Atlantis, where the team saw a skeleton dressed in Superman’s costume. Atom coordinated the JLA’s return to Atlantis, where they found Gamemnae, an ancient Atlantean sorceress bent on bringing new glory to her land. They warned her that the waters shifted to Atlantis threatened to pull Earth from its orbit, but she refused to listen. The JLA couldn’t defeat her, and President Luthor ordered muon bombs to be dropped on Atlantis to destroy the sorceress. The bombs had no effect on her, and the JLA was brought to safety by a ring-image of Green Lantern, who explained that the JLA in ancient Atlantis made a plan in the past to save the future. Manitou Raven, the sole survivor of the Ancients, the superteam Gamemnae created and betrayed, had preserved the souls of the JLA that Gamemnae killed in 1,000 B.C. He tricked yher into resurrecting them, and then Zatanna and members of the new JLA went to 1,000 B.C. where they freed Aquaman, who’d been turned into a water elemental and imprisoned in a pool by Gamemnae. Aquaman merged with the ocean, sank Gamemnae’s Atlantis, and Zatanna cast a spell that returned Aquaman’s Atlantis to the present day. Gamemnae, weakened by this change in history, was easy prey for Manitou Raven, and he sacrificed himself to destroy her.

(JLA #76) - Atom and the JLA recovered the scattered atoms of Plas from across the Atlantic and pieced him back together. He explained the trauma of not being whole for over 3,000 years, and quit the JLA to spend more time with his son.

(JLA #77) - Mnemon, a synthetic lifeform that recorded history by draining the memories of others, landed on the moon and Atom and the JLA investigated. Atom entered Mnemon, who was quick to start eating the memories of the JLA. Mnemon’s actions always led to planetwide destruction, which it considered its’ own form of art. With Atom’s guidance Superman destroyed the magnetic field that kept it cohesive with his heat vision, but this freed the miniature black hole that powered Mnemon. Through great force of will Superman held Mnemon and the black hole in his hands long enough to fly into space and toss it into a wormhole.

(JLA #78, 79) - A large mass of Mirror Matter, previously thought to be only theoretical, was headed toward Earth, and Atom and the JLA disposed of it by having Firestorm transform it into marshmallow fluff. The JLA received an extraterrestrial video feed from Kylaq sent to them by Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who was in deep space. The Peacemaker and his Paciforce deceed that Kylaq would join his forcesor perish. The JLA debated handling a political situation so far from Earth that they didn’t know all the details about. Wonder Woman said the JLA had a responsibility to nay innocents in danger, and Superman said that handling the Peacemaker was a preemptive measure, because he could eventually target Earth, so the JLA traveled to Kylaq, but Atom and other members staid behind to watch over Earth. On Kylaq the JLA defeated the Paciforce and arranged peace talks between the Kylaq and the Peacemaker.

(JLA #81-82) - The commune Safe Haven, an organization protected by metahumans, was at a standoff with government forces A.T.F. and D.E.O. that wanted to investigate the commune when the JLA intervened. The JLA heard the case of Shepherd, who ran the Haven, and wanted to act as intermediaries. This went south when tensions led Haven members and government agents to fire at each other. An explosion seemingly killed everyone at the Haven, and the JLA were blamed. Superman, Major Disaster and Faith were all convinced that they were responsible, but Atom, Firestorm and Batman later examined the scene and found that no one had died. Axis America, led by Shepherd, aka Ubermensch, appeared to battle the JLA and revealed themselves as agents of Mr. Manson, the government operative behind Safe Haven who sacrificed it and used the metahuman the Mouth to convince the JLA they were responsible for hundreds of deaths. All this was so Manson could reclaim Faith for the U.S. government. Faith recognized the setup and forced Manson to leave her alone for the time being, and Axis America retreated.

(JLA #83) - Superman entered Martian Manhunter’s transconsious articulator for subconscious therapy. He envisioned President Luthor going to war with Quarac because they supposedly had W.M.D.s, and the American public felt betrayed that the U.S. declared war before they had proof. Superman didn’t stop Luthor because he couldn’t make up his mind as to the justness of the war. In the end of his vision Luthor told him patriot don’t ask questions and killed him with kryptonite. Atom and the JLA woke Superman from the articulator, and he vowed never to use it again.

(JLA #84-89) - A wave of fear and remorse washed over the inmates of Arkham Asylum, the prisoners of Blackgate and President Luthor. Atom and the JLA investigated, and when Martian Manhunter, who’d rejoined the team after Scorch healed him of his fear of fire, tried to fix Luthor’s mind, he was assaulted by a powerful psychic force. Hostile nations and hate groups started feeling remorse and killing themselves. Firestorm’s powers were taken away, and realizing it was connected to world events, Manitou Raven guided the JLA to Vandal Savage’s mountain stronghold. Vandal recognized the world events as the attack of the Burning, a Martian he killed 20,000 years ago. He presented the Burning’s head to the JLA, and they brought Savage and the head to the Watchtower, only to discover Superman, who’d been attacked and bonded to the JLA meeting table. They freed Superman, but the revived Burning defeated the JLA and would have killed them if Major Disaster didn’t use evac protocols to teleport them to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Superman suspected that the Burning was actually Martian Manhunter, and in preparation of combating him they entered the Phantom Zone to ask the White Martians for aid. The Burning was already in the Zone and had slaughtered the Martians. The Burning again defeated the JLA, but they were saved and spirited away by Green Lantern John Stewart, who’d been brief on the Burning and how to deal with it by the Guardians of the Universe. The Burning was a dangerous, chaotic race that the Guardians genetically modified to become Martians, and gave them an innate fear of fire so they couldn’t acess the powers of the Burning. When Manhunter overcame his fear of fire, his race memory turned him into the Burning, who needed fear and fire in multitude to asexually reproduce. Batman contacted the amnesiac Plas as his backup plan and convinced him to confront the Burning while Manitou contacted Martian Manhunter on the spiritual plane and found his soul dominated by the burning. Burning unleashed nuclear attack to create the chaos and flames he’d need to asexually reproduce, but the JLA stopped the bombs, except for one that hit Chongjin, North Korea, but Flash evacuated the population. Plas fought Burning to a deadlock because his mind was non-organic and not vulnerable to telepathy. Thanks to Manitou Martian Manhunter separated himself from the Burning, and Scorch sacrificed herself to sap the Burning’s flame. Manhunter confronted the Burning and destroyed him with his Martian-vision.

(JSA #54) - Atom, the JLA and JSA celebrated Thanksgiving at JSA hq. Kulak and the Warlord of Ys ruined the Thanksgiving meal, but were quickly defeated by the heroes. The JLA and JSA settled for ordering out, and had pizza for Thanksgiving.

(JLA #91-93)- A meteor storm ripped holes in the JLA Watchtower, and Plas plugged the holes with his body as a stopgap until Atom and the JLA arrived to make repairs. The storm was caused by a rip in spacetime when an alien ship arrived near the moon. The JLA investigated and met the alien Pe-Paey, who told them he monitored Earth’s progress from time to time and needed to locate specimens of the silver-masked monkey. The JLA traveled with Pe-Paey to South America, but found a construction crew demolishing the monkey’s last habitat for grazing land. Superman spotted a silver-mask and tried to save it, but the crew’s explosives were already set and the blast killed the monkey, probably the last of its species. Pe-Paey was upset; his people’s Book of Lol predicted the silver-masks would become Earth’s dominant species. He asked to see all of Earth, and the JLA oblidged, taking him to monuments, museums, an in the interest of full disclosure, and at Superman’s request, strife ridden countries like Santa Prisca and Minglia. The JLA foiled insurgents and terrorists in Minglia, and asked Pe-Paey what he thought. Pe-Paey assured them the silver-masks should have been the dominant species, and that humanity was choosing to become extinct, so he would help. He used his ship to bring meteors crashing toward Earth, but the JLA stopped any damage and told him their race was confused, not suicidal. Disheartened by the inaccuracies in the Book of Lol, the only thing he believed in, Pe-Paey returned to his ship and blew it up, killing himself.

(JSA #57 (BTS), Hawkman IV #24, (BTS), JSA #58, Hawkman IV #25) - Hawkman sent Atom on a mission in Khandaq, which had been conquered by Black Adam and his team. Adam’s team was comprised of former JSA allies, and Atom was in Khandaq to find out if they were being mind-controlled. Atom was displeased to learn they were acting of their own free will, so he hid near Atom-Smasher and tried whispering in his ear, acting like a conscience for the hero turned murderer. When Atom-Smasher discovered his presence he didn’t report Atom to Black Adam. Atom then entered Brainwave’s head to perform neurosurgery, which would hopefully return his sanity and deprive him of his powers. He discovered Mr. Mind inside Brainwave’s head, and realized Mind was in control of Brainwave. Atom defeated Mr. Mind, and thanks to Atom-Smasher the JSA and Black Adam came to terms on a peace pact.

(JLA #94-99) - Batman investigated a number of child abductions and murders that seemed to have a common perpetrator, and got Atom and the JLA involved. Manitou Raven had already learned that the Tenth Circle was responsible, so they spirited him away with vampire bats. Atom examined his telling stones at microscopic size looking for clues about where Manitou went, but soon after disappeared. They learned that most of the missing children possessed the metagene and could be powerful as a collective. Superman found children being taken into a van in Metropolis, and intervened, but the metahuman Nudge took control of his mind, and took him to her master Crucifer. Crucifer bit Superman, bringing him under his control, and sent him after his teammates. After defeating and abducting Faith Crucifer sent him back to the JLA Watchtower. Wonder Woman, in her research of the amazon archives, matched a symbol found at the abductions to the Tenth Circle, a cult of vampires defeated by the Amazons in the early days of Greece. Superman surrepticiously destroyed the archives because they described how the Circle could be defeated, and lured Wonder Woman to Castle Crucifer. Superman attacked Wonder Woman, and Nudge, rebelling against Crucifer, tried to influence the battle, but when Superman briefly regained his senses Crucifer stabbed Wonder Woman with a sword. Crucifer dumped Wonder Woman on a highway, with the Tenth Circle calling card on her, a challenge for the JLA to oppose him. Batman didn’t want the team walking into a trap, and considered it misdirection. John Stewart had encountered the Doom Patrol while battling Tenth Circle members abducting more young metahumans, and the DP told him the Circle was their responsibility. Batman and the JLA went to the DP’s Key Mordaz hq to compare notes. Chief’s tech was able to find Atom in the telling stones, he’d found a side-door dimension that Crucifer used for transporting his cultists. The JLA and DP teamed up and confronted Crucifer in Barnes, Saskatchewan, where he prepared to transfer the souls of his vampire lords into the metahuman children he'd collected. The heroes drove him off, and Atom destroyed the vessel containing Crucifer’s heart he had stored in the side-door dimension. Crucifer was weakened enough for Superman to break Crucifer’s hold over him and destroy him.

(JSA #59) - Hourman came to Atom when he needed to return to Timepoint to switch places with his son Hourman II. Atom told him his time pool was too unstable and limited in function to be of use to him. Atom admitted that time travel was one of the few sciences that escaped him.

(JSA #60) - Atom and Mr. Terrific hooked up one of Terrific’s T-Sphere’s to the time pool, sending a distress signal across the past in future in hopes of locating the timelost Hourman II.

(Flash II #208, 209) - Atom and the JLA summoned Flash to the JLA Watchtower, demanding to know why they no longer remembered his secret identity. He initially refused to talk to team, and ran away, but after Superman talked to him he returned. He revealed that the Spectre erased the world’s knowledge of his secret identity to protect his family, but he was ready to reveal himself as Wally West to his friends.

(JLA #100) - Manitou Raven sensed a disturbance in the Earth, and there were several volcanic eruptions, the hole in the ozone layer opened further, and other geothermal events signaled an extinction level event. Gaea, speaking through the earth-powered Major Disaster damned humanity for their abuse of her and their failure to get along. Sister Superior of the Elite v.2 had also realized that Gaea was ready to destroy humanity, and proposed a plan to Atom and the JLA, and although they doubted her trustworthiness they agreed. The Elite stormed Washington, demanded all governments dissolve and declared themselves rulers of Earth because humanity had proved themselves unfit to rule. After UN meetings and a staged defeat of the JLA by the Elite, every nation on Earth put aside their differences to tackle the Elite. Gaea once again believed in humanity, seeing them unite against a common enemy, and held back her wrath.

(JLA #107) - On maintenance day Atom and the JLA monitored Krona’s cosmic egg and learned that a new universe was forming inside it. They agreed to not act, but just observe.

(Identity Crisis #1-7, Flash II #214) - Jean Loring signed over Atom’s patents she’d gotten in their divorce settlement back to him as a way of showing her independence. Ray learned of Sue Dibny’s death and investigated the crime scene. Two days later he attended her funeral. Afterwards Atom, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Zatanna, and Elongated Man, the surviving Satellite Era JLA, met in a private chapel. They believed Sue’s murderer was Dr. Light, the man who savaged Sue years before, the man they mind-wiped. Flash and Green Lantern noticed they’d stayed behind and overheard their conversation, so they confessed what they did to Dr. Light. They confronted Dr. Light, but he was prepared for them, he’d hired Deathstroke as a bodyguard. They fought, and Dr. Light’s memories of what the JLA did to him returned. He unleashed his powers on the heroes, striking them unconscious, and fled. Atom and the JLA recovered from their fight against Deathstroke in the JLA Watchtower. Atom left the team to be at Jean’s side. Superman wanted to know why they were pursuing Light, and Flash told him Elongated Man had a run-in with him years back, but didn’t give details. Atom received a call from Jean saying she was being attacked. He found her hanging from her apartment’s ceiling and rescued her, unaware that she staged the attack to throw suspicion off her in Sue’s murder. Atom nursed her back to health, and they shared a moment and kissed. Jean and Atom once again became lovers. Jean was careless in her pillow talk with Atom, and he figured out that she killed Sue. She told him to be grateful; that she did it so they would get back together again. Atom had no choice but to commit her to Arkham Asylum. He felt immense guilt over Sue’s death, so he got rid of his JLA signal device and shrunk down to microscopic size.

(Titans II #28-30) - When the Atom Ryan Choi disappeared Ray Palmer came to Ivy Town to investigate. He met Ryan’s girlfriend Amanda, and told her that because Ryan was a legacy hero he felt close to him. They both feared he was dead, but Ray promised to find him. Ray investigated Ryan’s apartment, and at microscopic size he discovered red corpuscles. He ran lab tests, and determined them to be Ryan’s. He went to the JLA Satellite, and presented his findings to the Justice League. They, too, wanted to hope for the best, but the evidence was piling up that something had happened to Ryan.

(Titans II #31-34) - Atom reexamined Ryan Choi’s DNA, reverse engineering quantum decay to determine that the DNA had been left behind by a dead man. He came to grips with the fact that Ryan really had been murdered. Atom broke the news to Amanda, and told her he had a suspect, Ryan’s foe the serial killer Dwarfstar. Atom found Dwarfstar in the Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans after Ryan’s former lover Giganta broke almost every bone in his body. Atom interviewed him, and Dwarfstar bragged that he’d hired Deathstroke’s Titans to kill Ryan. Atom threatened to let Deathstroke know he’d given him up. Dwarfstar knew that would be a death sentence for him, and pleaded with Atom, who ignored him and walked out of his hospital room. Atom told Batman (Dick Grayson) what he’d learned, and asked for his help in bringing Deathstroke to justice.

(Titans II #36, Titans Annual II #1) - Atom, Batman, and the Justice League caught up with Deathstroke and his Titans, and demanded justice for Ryan Choi. Deathstroke showed the Justice League that his plane was equipped with a nuclear self-destruct system, and he’d rather destroy himself and them than surrender. Deathstroke also told Arsenal he knew the League would never allow him to die, because they still considered him one of their own. This exact situation was the only reason Deathstroke allowed Arsenal to join his team. The League backed off temporarily, and allowed the Titans to fly off. The League confronted the Titans again in Kahndaq, where the villains had enlisted the support of Kahndaq’s ruler Osiris. Batman tried to get Arsenal to side with the League, but he refused, telling him that heroes never won when it counted. Atom got Deathstroke to himself, and nearly killed him by creating a controlled nuclear blast by expanding a molecular fractal charge. Tatooed Man rejoined the team, just as Deathstroke knew he would, and gave Slade the opportunity to stab Supergirl with a kryptonite sword created for him by Lex Luthor. The battle ravaged Kahndaq, and Isis had enough. She demonstrated her godlike powers, and banished the League from her country. She sent Osiris and the Titans off, telling her brother that he’d proved he was unfit to rule. Atom was especially heart-broken that there’d be no justice for his successor.

(Titans II #37, 38) - Atom went back to his lab to mope, and plan the eulogy for Ryan Choi’s funeral. Superman visited him, and told him he made the right decision in not killing Deathstroke. Atom spoke at Ryan’s funeral, which was attended by the entire superhero community. He said he was honored that Ryan chose his legacy, and that everyone should be honored with a brilliant mind like his choosing to protect his fellow man.

Comments: Created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.

Atom received profiles in Who's Who: the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #1, Who's Who Update '88 #1 and The DC Comics Encyclopedia. Atom received a profile in Silver Age Secret Files #1 under the Justice League of America entry. Atom received a profile in JLA-Z #2 under the JLA (“The Satellite” Era) entry.

Atom had a cameo in DC Comics Presents #26, Flash II #216, Green Arrow III #8, Hawkman V #5, Justice League of America II #1, 5, 7 and Titans: Villains For Hire Special #1.

Atom's appearance in Batman I #177 was reprinted in Batman I #259.

Bizarro-Superman wrote and illustrated comic books titled “First Contact” and “J’onn J’onzz Celebrity Roast,” both featuring Atom, in Bizarro Comics #1.