Atomic Skull I

ATOMIC SKULL I

Real Name: Albert Michaels

Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Supervillain, formerly director of S.T.A.R. Labs

Group Affiliation: SKULL, formerly S.T.A.R. Labs

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Metropolis

First Appearance: Superman I #323 (May, 1978)

Powers: Atomic Skull was affected by a rare nervous disorder that short-circuited his brain's electric impulses. A radium pacemaker in his brain turned his brain waves into a powerful form of energy, and every time Skull's disorder caused him to have a seizure he could shoot destructive energy bolts from his head.

History: Albert Michaels stole inventions he created during his tenure as director of S.T.A.R. Labs and handed them over to the criminal organization SKULL when SKULL promised to cure his nervous disorder. SKULL implanted a radium pacemaker in Albert's head, but this did not cure him, instead he gained superpowers. Under the name Atomic Skull he became the leader of SKULL and clashed with Superman on a few occasions.

(DC Comics Presents #35) - During his prison term prison doctors found a way to control Atomic Skull’s neurological disease. He was no longer dying, and with his neural pacemaker he could now utilize his mental powers whenever he chose. He broke out of prison and rebuilt SKULL, and swore vengeance on Superman for his inconvenience. Skull experimented with an evolutionary ray that transformed a panther test subject into a human. He named her Felicia, and inducted her into SKULL, but also fell in love with her. Skull and Felicia bugged Metropolis’ S.T.A.R. Labs to keep track of Superman, and when they learned he was planning on helping the hero Man-Bat using an ultra-sonic wave device capable of rearranging the molecular structure of organic material, they followed him to the Fortress of Solitude, planning on exacting vengeance, and using the machine to make sure Felicia stayed a human. The villains swiped the device, and the Atomic Skull congratulated himself on being one of very few of Superman’ foes to break into the Fortress. He used the wave device on Superman, making the hero capable of only using one super-power at a time. The heroes pursed Atomic Skull and Felicia onto their SKULL craft, where Superman used his heat-vision to short out the controls of Skull’s neural pacemaker. Skull’s last energy blast damaged the saucer’s control panels, and he fell from the saucer to his apparent death. Superman recovered the wave device, and Felicia regressed back into a panther and died of old age.

(Formerly Known as the Justice League #4) - Nevada; Atomic Skull went to Roulette's House to attend one of her gladiatorial contests. He was among the crowd of villains that watched members of the Super Buddies forced to fight each other.

Comments: Created by Martin Pasko & Curt Swan.

Atomic Skull received a profile in Who's Who: the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #1.

Atomic Skull II was originally presented as a post-Crisis version of Atomic Skull I, even though Atomic Skull I had already appeared post-Crisis in an issue of New Teen Titans. The DC Comics Encyclopedia established that Atomic Skull I & II were separate individuals.