Atomic Skull
30 years ago - Joseph Martin is born
16 years ago - 14-year-old Joseph has his juvenile record expunged so he can play football.
13 years ago - 17-year-old Joseph gets a football scholarship to Metropolis University.
11 years ago - 19-year-old Joseph is expelled from school for sexual assault. He starts breaking and entering to fund his drug habit.
10 years ago - 20-year-old Joseph breaks into Star Labs. He is exposed to their mutogenic gene-bomb. He takes the name of a movie character, Atomic Skull, and attempts to be a superhero, but quickly becomes a violent menace. He is stopped by Power Girl.
7 years ago - 23-year-old Joseph attacks Superman. His powers burn the flesh from his face, driving him insane.
4 years ago - 26-year-old Joseph escapes from prison, but is caught by Supergirl.
2 years ago - 28-year-old Joseph is recruited to the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller. He goes berzerk, killing Magenta on his first mission, and is killed by Bane.
Atomic Skull's Comic HistoryThere are actually two Atomic Skulls from comic continuity. The original character was Albert Michaels, a Star Labs scientist that started appearing in Superman #303 in 1976 and was just generally a curmudgeon until he eventually had his neurological disorder updated with a radium implant by a criminal organization, turning him into a classic, costumed, skull-hovercraft-riding villain with a panther-turned-human girlfriend. That old chestnut. He was a decidedly weird seventies-era Superman baddie, and while he's made a few post-crisis appearances, for the most part he's essentially vanished in favor of his replacement.
Joseph Martin was introduced in 1991, a young man who was brought into Star Labs for a check up who was subject to the strange alien energy during the Armageddon event, giving him super strength and making his skin invisible, while also driving him insane, leaving him to think he's the character Atomic Skull from an old movie serial (who happened to look like the original pre-crisis character). A decidedly 90s-style villain, The Joseph Martin Atomic Skull would go on to have his powers amped up by Neron in the Underworld Unleashed storyarc, and to generally be one of the few regularly appearing Superman enemies to actually be able to give him a run for his money. |
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Our Atomic Skull StoryWhile his actual comic appearances tend to be a little schlocky, Atomic Skull can be a really fantastic inclusion into Superman's Rogues Gallery. Like a lot of incredibly powerful characters you want to be careful how much you use him, but when you do there's quite a bit we can do with him.
We're sticking with the Joseph Martin Skull, because the visual potential of a big metalhead with a flaming skull head is just way cooler, and we've given him a more violent history leading up to his accident, which we're actually tying into the Gene Bomb that would later lead to the the Dakota City Bang Babies. We'll be using him against several members of the Superman family, letting them test themselves against his massive power levels. He was included in a strange Suicide Squad arc, and we actually like the idea of Amanda Waller trying to use someone WAY too powerful, leading to a horrible tragedy, and to the metal-as-hell moment where Bane claims the Squad as his own by crushing his skull in his bare hands. |
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