Atom-Smasher

27 years ago - Albert Julian Rothstein is born, the son of one-time All-Star Squadron villain Terry Rothstein. Danette Reilly becomes his foster mother.

11 years ago - 16-year-old Albert first exhibits his powers and begins fighting crime as Nuklon.

9 years ago - 18-year-old Albert joins the newly-formed Justice Society.

6 years ago - 21-year-old Albert kills the Kobra kijackers that murdered his foster mother, Danette Reilly, attacking Kobra headquarters & shattering the legs of Jeffrey Franklin Burr. He turns himself in and goes to Belle Reve, where he is recruited by Amanda Waller for the Suicide Squad.

5 years ago - 22-year-old Albert begins studying the history of the original Justice Society.

3 years ago - 24-year-old Albert is released from the Suicide Squad & rejoins the Justice Society as Atom-Smasher.

Atom-Smasher's role in the world of DC is actually kind of deceptive. He's not a big name marquee character, but he's actually appeared in a wide variety of stories. Whether it's early 90's crossover stories, the animated Justice League Unlimited, or even in the background of the Hall of Justice level of the first Injustice: Gods Among Us fighting game. His role goes a little deeper than just his surprisingly prolific list of appearances, though... he's been a consistently occurring character in a surprisingly robust list of teams and books, and it's probably that reliability that makes him such a great addition to the world.

Atom-Smasher's Comic History

Albert Rothstein showed up for the first time in in 1983 in issue #25 of the 80's run of All-Star Squadron. This was the issue that introduced the entire lineup of Infinity Inc, although the series took its grand time with explaining who they were. Nuklon was the godson of Golden age hero the Atom, and the son of his longtime foe Cyclotron. His whole deal back then was density control & super strength, but truth be told, I'd say the real innovation here was his look. Lots of Golden Age costumes involved cowls with little fins, so Nuklon's mohawk was a neat little update on that design.

He and the rest of Infinity Inc starred in their own series in 1984 that ran for several years. As the children of the Justice Society, they were all set on Earth-2, so they were left in the lurch after 1985's Crisis of Infinite Earths condensed the multiverse and essentially removed Earth-2, but they were popular enough to stick around. Eventually, in late 1994, Nuklon and fellow Infinity Inc alum Obsidian actually made it to the big leagues when they became members of the Justice League.

That League ended in 1997 with the introduction of Grant Morrison's Big Seven JLA, but Nuklon continued to make sparse supporting appearances here and there until 1999 when James Robinson introduced his new JSA series, making big new innovations to classic characters in the world of the Justice Society. Albert was a founding member; he had developed a real respect for his own legacy and the legacy of the JSA as a whole. He took the new name Atom-Smasher and adopted a costume more like the original Atom's. He also had some really impressive new powers, able to not just adjust his density but his mass, which meant he could increase his strength & size exponentially.

Al was a huge part of this seminal series, often serving as the quiet heart of the team but also undergoing massive arcs all his own, struggling to process his own rage and desire to be more proactive, even leaving the JSA to go join Black Adam's forces before realizing that he was wrong, and going back to the JSA. He appeared through every Justice Society series as one of their most reliable members, which is probably why he wound up having romance plotlines with Stargirl, although they're not quite age appropriate for each other.

There aren't a ton of appearances of the character past the new 52, but he shows up in extended media all the time, and is still a big part of the world of DC.

Our Atom-Smasher Story

We're using the beats of Al's in-continuity story to create our take on him, but shuffling a few things around. He's starting off his career as Nuklon, sporting the mohawk and everything, as a founding member of the new Justice Society. He's then going to seek revenge for the murder of his foster mother. In the comics this led to his time working with Black Adam, but in our story he's going to turn himself in, which will lead to one of our biggest departures from continuity, because he's going to serve on the Suicide Squad. He's part of the team that actually fulfills their contract and earns their pardons. It's during this time that Al becomes a student of superhero history, and also learns new uses for his powers. When he comes back to the Society, he chooses to now take up the legacy of the Atom, (even though in our timeline he doesn't actually have any connection to the Golden Age hero) and becomes Atom Smasher.

It's basically the same story beats, but we get to include him in another team, and give him time and space to develop from his early superhero identity into the one we all now recognize as a core part of the modern Justice Society.

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