Hero Profile: Captain Atom

Remember how in the Deathstroke villain profile I started with a little spiel about governments in fiction always trying to make super soldiers? Well, that’s kind of the background of this guy, too. But unlike Slade Wilson, a morally ambiguous character that is given superpowers that turns into an unstoppable killing machine, Nathaniel Adam was a morally upright character that was given superpowers by a morally ambiguous character. But more on that in a second. On with the show.

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER! Itty bitty living space
Still miss you Robin Williams

Nathaniel Adam was an Untied States Air Force officer back in the Vietnam War. He was an outstanding officer with a spotless reputation. He had a loving family, respect of his peers, all around life was good. You know that never lasts. Adam was framed for treason and sentenced to death. His execution was to be supervised by the aforementioned morally ambiguous character, Col. Wade Eiling. Eiling, being a “kind” soldier, offers Adam an alternative sentence. Said sentence was the “Project: Captain Atom,” a secret military project with a survival rate of about .01%. If Adam agreed to do it, and survived, he’d get a full presidential pardon. I personally would have tried to haggle for a faked KIA should the experiment fail, but that’s just me. Adam agrees and is shown the project. Apparently, the US government had gotten its hands on a crashed alien space craft. Said craft was composed of an unknown metal alloy that the big wigs were eager to test. The test was simple, Adam would be place inside the metal’s protective shell, and then they’d set off a nuke. Yeah, I’m starting to think that fictional versions of the US government don’t have much understanding of the word restraint. Adam is put inside, and the nuke is set off. Much to everyone’s shock, and possible horror, the bomb seemed to have disintegrated Adam and the metal. Project: Captain Atom was scraped and stuck in some secret warehouse to gather dust.

You've made him angry. You won't like him when he's angry.

Eighteen years later Adam reappeared right where he’d left. He was unhurt, but now suffering from a seemingly permanent….skin disorder. The metal was now fused to Adam’s body, and seemed to give him supernatural powers. It’s revealed that the alien metal can absorb energy, but it has limits. Once it reached its maximum capacity, a number I’m assuming is several terajoules south of a Nuclear Bomb, the metal would release the energy by jumping forward in time. And now that the metal was fused to Adam, he was given powers that came from the metal’s ability to tap into and manipulate the “Quantum Field.” While that’s cool and all, this is when “it” hits the fan. Adam learns that since the experiment had apparently been a failure, his pardon was never issued and the current administrations refused to issue him another after the fact. Eiling, who had since been promoted to General, married Adam’s supposedly widowed wife and became the Dad of his kids, decided to use the outstanding murder/treason charges to force Adam into becoming a government controlled Superhero. Adam begrudgingly agreed. He’s given the alias Cameron Scott for his ‘civilian’ identity, and the codename Captain Atom for his superhero ID. Much of his early career is centered on coming to terms with his personal tragedies like the remarriage and death of his wife, the fact his kids are biologically only a few years younger than him now, and just how dangerous his powers can be. He also meets superpowered terrorist and foe of Firestorm, Plastique, whom would become a major part of his life. And a short time later he learns that the Government attempted a second “Captain Atom” experiment, this time with a convicted felon, rapist, death row inmate, and overall bad man Clifford Zmeck. Seriously? Patient 1 was apparently vaporized, along with the precious alien metal, so you decide to try it again? Someone needs to be fired. The Government was ready for Zmeck’s arrival after the return of Adam and were able to force a few powerful explosives into his metal skin when it was still hot and malleable. They did it to make sure he remained “compliant.” Which, given Zmeck’s status as all around Bad Man, makes sense. He’s given the codename Major Force he’s at first a reluctant ally of Captain Atom, but later becomes his arch-nemesis.

While Atom is not happy being forced to work for Eiling, he does meet and befriend Dr. Megala. Dr. M was a research scientist on the Atom project and helps Captain Atom better understand and utilize his powers. After a few missions under Eiling, Captain Atom gathers the appropriate evidence to clear his name of the original treason charges. After that, he resigns from the Air Force to become his own superhero. He does retain close ties to the US Military, he even joins the Justice League by the request of the US Government. During his time as part of the Justice League he becomes one of the main leaders of the group, develops a friendly rivalry with the other nuclear man Firestorm, gets “involved” with and eventually marries Plastique, briefly. He also gets some intensive superhero training, like learning some hand to hand combat and some detective training from Batman. One of the best teachers ever. After establishing a presence in the DC Universe, and even forming a few side teams on his own, before returning to the US Military. Unfortunately he chose to return right around the time that Lex Luthor was sworn in as the US president. Luthor thoroughly abuses the power over he has over the nation and the various superheroes that side with him, with things coming to a head when a giant Kryptonite meteor enters the solar system. Atom sacrifices himself to save the world by piloting a starship into the meteor, destroying them both. But, thanks to his…unique physiology, Captain Atom can’t be destroyed in an explosion or similar event. He came back a short time later, became a Kryptonite infused supervillain for a little while, before being cured by Hiro Okamura, the Toyman. His life is kind of a rollercoaster ride, but that’s the life of a superhero.

I hope he never has to scratch his nose.
Kind of hard to do when there's an inch
of alien metal between you and the itch.

Captain Atom’s powers, pre-new 52, are based on the alien metal grafted onto his body. The metal is tied into the Quantum Field. It’s this connection to that field that allows Atom to absorb and manipulate immense amounts of energy. This mainly comes in the form of concentrated blasts of energy. He can also fly, survive in the vacuum of space, fly at incredible speeds (speed of sound in Earth’s atmosphere, and nearly half the speed of light in space), survive indefinitely without food, water or air, and he’s super strong. Like on par with Superman super strong. He’s also a natural born leader and tactician, which helped him earn the place of leadership he has within the Justice League and the DC Universe at large.

Captain Atom appears in a few DC series, usually as a part of the Justice League.

He first appears in the DC animated series, Justice League Unlimited. He has a few differences from his comic book origins, like a number of other characters on the show. This version has a Texan accent, and for some reason his last name is Adams. It’s a minor thing, but I just don’t understand why they needed to add an S. The major difference for him is that he isn’t a normal dude encased in a metal shell. Instead he’s a mass of disembodied energy that is contained within a special suit. Like his counterpart in the comics, his powers have their limits, he can only absorb so much energy. The difference is, instead of jumping forward in time, he’ll plow up like an atom bomb. He serves as one of the leaders for the JL, until the rise of Cadmus Labs. When things begin to heat up between the League and the Government funded Cadmus Labs, the US Air Force forces him to side with Cadmus. He’s required to guard a captured hero named the Question. Superman is against this, and fights him to free the Question. Using his powers over radiation, he blasts Superman with Red Sun radiation, one of the Big Blue Boy Scout’s main weaknesses. This only bothers Superman for a bit, he quickly overpowers Captain Atom and knocks him out. Superman brings him and the Question back to the Watchtower. After recovering, Captain Atom chooses to remain with the Justice League.

Nathanial Adams is a background character in Young Justice. He takes a more prominent role in Season two, as he is the chairman of the Justice League for the season. This makes him the face of the League, and the guy that gets a lot of crap dumped on him during the covert invasion of the alien group known as the Reach. When things finally call down at the end of the season, he gladly turns his job over to Black Canary.

He’s a major character in the film adaptation of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He leads a group of superheroes working for the government. He tries to convince Superman to join them, but Sups refuses to work for Luthor. After Superman is framed for the murder of supervillain Metallo, Captain Atom leads his team against him, and Sups ally Batman. He clashes with Superman and Batman several times, but fails to capture them each time. In the end, Atom learns that one of his team, Major Force, actually killed Metallo. Force killed Metallo under Luthor’s orders to frame Superman. When Major Force’s containment suit is ruptured by another superhero, Power Girl, Captain Atom risks his own life to contain the explosion. He survives, but is rendered comatose for the remainder of the film. He wakes up in time to escort Luthor to prison.

While I like the costume, I feel like the starburst in the center
is like having a sign on your chest that says "Aim here."

Captain Atom has a small, but important role in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. He helps the League disarm several bombs that the villainous Reverse-Flash stuck to the Flash and the slightly less villainous Rogues. After the timeline is distorted by the Flash’s selfish but understandable jump back in time to save his mother, things change substantially. Atlantis is at war with the Amazons, and Europe is paying for it in blood. Captain Atom flew off to try to stop the fighting. (This is a world without the actual Superman, by the way, so Captain Atom is kind of forced to do the jobs Sups would have done.) He disappeared after entering Atlantian airspace. We learn he was captured by the Atlantians and that he’s being used to fuel a doomsday device. Said device sunk Western Europe. So yeah, about as doomsdayie as you can get. Aquaman activates the machine again during the final battle in London, seemingly killing Captain Atom in the process.

Captain Atom is a pretty interesting character. He’s your standard straight-laced, no nonsense soldier that was given superpowers. It’s been done before, but classics are classics for a reason. His powers make him one of the most dangerous characters in the DC Universe, so it’s probably a good thing that he’s got a lot of that good old military discipline. His design is also pretty awesome too, I really like the silver and red thing that he’s got going on. It’s kind of funny, he’s one of the lesser known DC Heroes, and yet he’s kind of decent metaphor for the US. A whole lot of power that would be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, so it’s in everyone’s best interest that Captain Atom remain in control of it and himself. He’s the immensely powerful, proud and patriotic superhero, Captain Atom.

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