Ray Palmer

"I'm Ray Palmer. I can science my way out of anything."

- Ray Palmer

Dr. Raymond "Ray" Palmer (born 1981) is a businessman and the former CEO of Palmer Technologies, previously known as Queen Consolidated. He is the brother of Sydney Palmer, who in at least one version of the future is considered to be the father of the robotics industry. Ray was engaged to the late Anna Loring, and later dated Felicity Smoak, a clandestine member of Team Arrow, although the relationship did not last. Having designed a powerful exosuit, he began acting as a vigilante in Starling City, calling himself The Atom. While testing out a new function of his exosuit, Ray accidentally caused an explosion which shrunk him to a miniature size; stuck in this state and unable to call for help, his friends presumed him dead. After months Ray managed to contact Felicity but was captured by Damien Darhk for his technology. However, thanks to the efforts of Team Arrow Ray was rescued and would continue to aid them in their fight against H.I.V.E. In early 2016, Ray Palmer was recruited by time-traveler Rip Hunter on a mission to take down Vandal Savage. When Mick Rory gave him the Cold Gun, he nicknamed himself Colonel Cold, using both Leonard Snart's weaponry and Cold glasses.

Early life
During his university years, Ray was a student of professor Martin Stein. Despite being one of his best pupils, Stein failed to remember him when they reconnected later on in life.

Sometime prior to the spring of 2014, Ray became engaged to Anna Loring. While in Starling City, both were caught in the crossfire of Slade Wilson's citywide attack on Oliver Queen. Ray attempted to fight Wilson's soldiers, but was easily subdued, resulting in Anna's death. Afterwards, he promised himself that he would never again kiss a woman so as not to once more lose someone he loved, and that he would find a way to save his city from ever having to face a similar danger again.

Takeover of Queen Consolidated
In late 2014, Ray visited a Tech Village in Starling City and met Felicity Smoak. He was curious as to why a woman of her intelligence would work at a Tech Village, dropping a hint that he knew of someone who was looking to hire a techie of her caliber. After she dismissed his proposal, he inquired about a satellite frequency communicator, which she automatically assumed he had no knowledge of. However, he proceeded to show his extensive technological knowledge of them, which prompted Felicity to suggest the forthcoming TX50 model. She also suggested using a remote administration tool. Following their encounter, Ray used the satellite frequency communicator to hack Queen Consolidated's servers to find raw data on the company's performance. Sometime later, he visited Queen Consolidated to bid for the company. He introduced himself to Oliver Queen and re-greeted Felicity. He proceeded on in to the conference room, apologizing for being late. He mentioned taking his helicopter and parking it on their roof. After a moving speech from Oliver, Ray stood up to give his bid. As a screen came down, he noted how one of the board members had one of his smart watches, which he was especially proud of. Heading back on track, Ray began talking about Queen Consolidated's performance figures shown on the screen, noting that the figures shown on screen (which he'd previously retrieved with the help of the satellite frequency communicator) were not big enough for Wall Street. He noted, however, that the low percentages were not Oliver's fault, but the city's fault on a whole. Ray went on to describe his hopes that when Queen Consolidated metaphorically "rose from the ashes", that it would take the city with it, naming this new version of the city "Star City".

A few days later, Palmer bought the holding company which owned all Tech Village stores. When Felicity discovered the news, Ray made an attempt to hire Felicity for an office job to which Felicity angrily declined. Ray quickly realized that Felicity wasn't mad at him to which Ray knew something was wrong and told Felicity things would brighten up. At his Star City pledge, Ray announced he would give half of his net-worth to the benefit of Starling City to become Star City. The benefit was soon crashed by Simon Lacroix, however, Ray was left unharmed. Ray was later surprised when Felicity decided to accept his job offer. His favorite greeting is "Hi".

Becoming the Atom
Ray personally hired an executive assistant for Felicity and turn the former CEO office into an office for her. Palmer requested Felicity obtain the data from the Applied Science division from a file server which was destroyed by the previous CEO. Palmer said it was necessary for his plan to rebuild Queen Consolidated as well as the city. After Felicity recovered the data, he was asked by Felicity if she could take time off to visit an old friend who had recently woke from a coma. Ray accepted her request and as she walked off, Ray looked through the blueprints of O.M.A.C..

Later he acquired the rights to a mine where he thought he would find dwarf star alloy, and reacted by calling up schematics for a project he was working on, the A.T.O.M. Exosuit.

He kissed Felicity which left him confused and he quickly left. He later explained to her Anna had been killed and he swore to not be with another woman again. He also told her he wanted to improve technology by shrinking it so that he could help humanity and that there would be no other assaults on the city. He told Felicity he wanted her help, unaware that she was in the same situation with Oliver.

Ray had not been showing up for work, causing Felicity to get worried. Ray was found by Felicity working on his A.T.O.M. Exosuit. Before Ray is able to complete his suit, Felicity locked him out of the network. Ray was told to take a shower, eat, and take at least a five-hour nap, to which Ray agreed on. After his shower, Ray shared a kiss with Felicity. The two then had sex after. Ray sneaked out of bed, completed his Exosuit, and gave it a test drive.

At John Diggle and Lyla Michaels' wedding, Felicity brings Ray and he ends up wedding the two due to the priest not showing up (as Ray has the license to wed). When the Arrow appears to be on a murdering spree, Ray voices his support to apprehend the vigilante. One night while flying, he sees the Arrow standing over murdered bodies in a warehouse and uses his facial recognition to discover that the Arrow is Oliver Queen. After revealing to Felicity the suit's completion and his knowledge on Oliver, Felicity tries telling him that Oliver's being framed, but Ray does not trust her, accusing her of letting her feelings for Oliver cloud her judgement. He tries showing the evidence to Laurel Lance, but Laurel tells him that his testimony and evidence would not stand. Her defense and injury make Ray realize she's the Black Canary and he decides to take matters into his own hands. Oliver shows up at Ray's office and tries to tell him that Felicity's telling the truth and he doesn't know what the city is up against, but he doesn't believe Oliver. He fakes a 911 call to get the Arrow and Arsenal to come to the top of a building where he's waiting for them. He flies in and unleashes electricity at the two. He also shows the Arrow that his suit cannot be damaged by his arrows. Arsenal starts to charge at him, but Atom blasts him with electricity, knocking him out. The Arrow fires a trick arrow at the Atom, but he flies away before it explodes. When he's not looking, Atom rapidly flies past Oliver, making him fall to the ground and disarming him. The Atom then prepares to defeat Arrow, but he notices a weak spot on his suit and throws a small flechette at it, causing the suit to stop working. The Arrow gets up and kicks Ray to the ground. He holds an arrow to him and prepares to execute him. However, Arrow proves Ray wrong by not killing him and tells Ray that he needs to prove himself to Felicity by trusting her. Ray apologizes to Felicity and still wants to work with her. The two kiss. During a meeting with Celia Castle and Quentin Lance, Ray changes his mind and agrees with Laurel that the Arrow's being framed before watching Celia get killed by an Arrow impersonator.

Ray saves Felicity from being shot by an arrow, but is shot himself. He is taken to the hospital where he's in critical condition. The doctors remove the arrow, but one doctor says that there's a blood clot in his brain. Ray could die during a surgery to remove the clot or if the clot moves. Ray then asks Felicity to retrieve his nano-tech, so that the nano-tech can completely destroy the clot. She does so and injects him with the nano-tech. Ray starts to die of side effects, but the side effects stop. The doctors then discover in a MRI of Ray's brain that the clot has disappeared. A fully recovered Ray thanks Felicity for saving his life and says he loves her.

In order to improve the suit, Ray and Felicity travel to Central City to seek assistance from S.T.A.R. labs and meets Barry Allen aka the Flash. As Team Flash helps him improve the suit Ray finds a kindred spirit in Cisco Ramon for their senses of humor and naming super-villains. When they see Eddie Thawne struggling with Iris to keep Barry's secret, Felicity decides they should have a dinner with Iris, Eddie, and Barry. Ray buys out the restaurant for privacy, but the night quickly turns disastrous due to Iris' frustration with Eddie's secret and Barry having a hard time with Harrison Wells. When the disgruntled scientist Brie Larvan, a villain Barry's been trying to get during their time there, attacks Tina McGee, Ray suits up as the Atom and saves her by redirecting the robotic bees into the water, managing to crash into Cisco and Caitilin's van just as his suit runs out of power. Before leaving Ray is given Brie's last robotic bee they obtained and intends to study it.

Back in Starling City, Oliver reluctantly asks for Ray's help in capturing a meta-human named Jake Simmons, Felicity and Oliver include him in the Team Arrow. In their first encounter, Ray loses the fight when it turns out Jake could absorb electrical blasts. Ray is criticized by Oliver and his friends for not taking it as seriously when he lacks the experience. Later, when Jake has Felicity hostage, Ray flies towards their location and uses a remote link to have Oliver control the suit, combining his technology with Oliver's experience. The link was successful at first until Simmons gained the upper hand and destroyed the remote link, leaving Ray helpless. Jake was about to kill him until Oliver gave Ray the encouragement he needed to beat Simmons. Ray held his hand over Simmons' eyes and reflected his eye blast back into his face and then proceeded to beat Jake to unconsciousness. Ray is later seen saying goodbye to Roy. Later Simmons was placed in The Pipeline at S.T.A.R. Labs by Cisco and Ray, where Ray nicknames him "Deathbolt". However, Cisco came to the realization that Simmons was not in Central City on the night of the explosion but in Opal City instead, which made them both wonder how Simmons obtained his powers.

As Ray is working on his suit in his office Felicity comes in looking sad as Ray is concerned. Felicity asks him for a big favor which was his jet in which she said both she and Oliver needs it. Felicity also tries to tell Ray it isn't what you think but he denies it. Ray confesses the truth saying that when we were saying goodbye to Roy how Felicity and Oliver looked into each other's eyes knows she still has feelings for him. Ray also says that he now knows when he told her he loved her at the hospital she was spotted with jello saying you don't love me because you're in love with him. Felicity apologies sad with tears saying she never meant to hurt him. So they break up but Ray allows her the jet hoping something will stop being awful.

As Ray is seen with his suit and Felicity enters he makes amends with her saying she is still a friend and he will always be there for you. Ray later tricked Felicity into signing documents which would transfer ownership of Palmer Technologies over to her. He later aided the team in Nanda Parbat after Felicity failed to stop the plane from taking off. Ray intercepted the plane in midair and attacked it with an energy blast. After he took a hit from a missile and the weapon damaged, he decided to fly straight through the plane. Both crash landed back in the battlefield. Ray was then taken prisoner along with the rest of the team and exposed to the Alpha Omega bio-weapon.

Ray and the rest of the team survive the bio-weapon because Malcolm Merlyn secretly immunized them. The Flash arrives and rescues them from the League of Assassins. Ray and the team then return to Starling City. Ray and Felicity later save the city by containing the virus Ra's al Ghul unleashed on it. When Oliver and Felicity decide to leave Starling City, Felicity hopes that Ray will find a new VP and that she wants him to be happy. The next morning, Ray implants his nano-tech into his suit, while testing out a new discovery in its technology, which would allow it to miniaturize selected targets and reduce the scale of the suit itself. This causes the CEO's office of Palmer Technologies to explode, leaving Ray to be presumed dead. Ray however, survived the explosion, albeit shrunk, and left Felicity a distress call, telling her that he's alive and needs help.

Captured by H.I.V.E.
Six months later, Felicity was able to contact Ray and reveal that he had been captured. He was later revealed to have been captured by Damien Darhk and had recorded all his conversations with Felicity and tried to use that as leverage against him. Darhk wanted the A.T.O.M. suit but couldn't use it while it's small. He provided Felicity with a list of item to assemble into a device that would restore him to his normal size. Later Team Arrow (also including Curtis Holt) was able to break into the facility where he was being held and released him. Ray was later filled in on who Darhk was and told Felicity that until he decided to reveal himself she would still be in charge of Palmer Technologies. Felicity asked for Ray's assistance to study the DNA of a H.I.V.E. agent who was missing half of his DNA, and find a base of operations but as they worked Felicity asked why Ray wouldn't declare himself alive but he avoided the subject. Later when asked again Ray admitted that he felt ashamed of how little his life had achieved when the world believed him dead, and that he needs to find a new purpose for his life. Later when Team Arrow was infiltrating a H.I.V.E. field base to locate John's brother Andy Atom arrived in time to help Green Arrow against a squad of agents, but Black Canary seen needed aid and Atom assisted her.

Helping Vixen
When Vixen and her sister Kuasa broke into a man's home in Star City to retrieve the Water Totem of Zambesi to stop General Eshu, Kuasa attempted to steal the Totem for herself, only to be stopped by Ray and Black Canary who Mari had contacted prior to the break-in, predicting her sister would try to betray her. Mari convinced her to work with them together to stop Eshu, save Detroit, and avenge their village and its people. Together the group confronted Eshu however managed to subdue both him and Laurel.

Aiding Rip Hunter
In January 2016, Ray helped Oliver with a mission to stop several H.I.V.E. ghosts. After defeating them, he was intercepted by Rip Hunter. The former Time Master presented a proposal to form a team to take down Vandal Savage, a future dictator, before he could rise to power. Rip promised Ray that he and the other potential members of the team would be remembered as legends. Ray returned to Oliver to seek his friend's advice, and ultimately accepted Rip's offer. Other members of Rip's team included Carter Hall, Kendra Saunders, Sara Lance, Leonard Snart, Mick Rory, his former professor Martin Stein, and Jefferson Jackson.

First mission, 1975
Ray and the others arrived at The Waverider where Ray talked to Martin about being one of Martin’s students, which Martin didn’t remember. Then, Rip took them to St. Roch in 1975. Ray accompanied Rip to speak to Dr. Aldus Boardman to gather information on Savage. After Martin psychically sensed Jax’s distress, the team returned to the Waverider being attacked by Chronos. Martin and Ray made a run for the ship. Then Ray, now armed with his A.T.O.M. exosuit, and Firestorm provided cover for the others to get onboard the time ship. Hiding in the Temporal zone, the team learned of Rip’s status as a rogue Time Master and the murder of his family by Savage. While repairing his exosuit, Ray discussed with Sara, Leonard, and Mick about wanting to give his life purpose and they chose to stay on the team.

Next, the team headed to Norway where Savage was holding a black market auction of a nuclear bomb. Against Rip’s wishes, they went after Savage during the auction. However, Savage sensed the presence of Kendra and Carter and ordered the other attendees to kill them all. A huge fight broke out and Ray emerged from Martin’s pocket and joined the fight. However, the team failed to kidnap Savage, and Ray left a piece of his exosuit behind altering history. Martin and Ray deduced that the exosuit’s alpha particles could be tracked with a device created by a younger Martin Stein in 1975. While the rest of the team tracked down the exosuit tech, Ray accompanied Leonard and Mick to steal the Amon Dagger being held by a Sasha Mahnovski. However, Ray tripped a fake alarm box capturing himself and Leonard. While trying to break out, Ray talked to Leonard about being an inventor versus being a criminal. Mahnovski, who was actually Vandal Savage, arrived as he was the owner of the dagger. The team then came to rescue them. Ray helped the team hold off Savage’s forces while Kendra and Carter went after Savage. But, Savage got the upper hand and killed Carter and wounded Kendra forcing the team to retreat. Back on the time ship, they renewed their commitment to defeating Savage in memory of Carter.

When the team touched down in Leipzig, Kendra’s condition worsened. Martin and Ray discovered fragments of the Amon Dagger in her bloodstream. Ray had a plan to shrink down in his A.T.O.M. suit to destroy the fragments. However, during a first attempt Ray was only able to destroy one of the fragments before another smashed into him, causing him to panic and abort the procedure. He resented the fact that Martin didn’t remember him as one of his top students. Later, Martin confided to Ray that he acted like he didn’t remember Ray because he was jealous that as one of his students, Ray seemed more brilliant than he was. Ray then admitted to Martin that he panicked because it reminded him of how he wasn’t able to save Anna. Martin guided a newly confident Ray through Kendra’s bloodstream and they managed to destroy all of the remaining dagger fragments. He then noted to Martin that he realized Martin lied about remembering him as a student, but Martin justified it by saying that Ray needed the push. After the rest of the team recovered Carter’s body from Savage, they held a funeral for Carter and Aldus.

Cold War, 1986
Gideon tracked Savage’s next appearance to 1986, where they needed to steal a file from the Pentagon that would tell them Savage’s whereabouts. Ray and Leonard were disguised as janitors to steal a keycard from a Pentagon official. Firestorm tripped the alarm and Kendra went crazy causing a chaotic fight to break out but they succeeded in getting the file which located Savage in the Soviet Union. Chronos and the Soviet air force intercepted the Waverider causing it to crash land. Ray and Leonard went after Savage’s top scientist Valentina Vostok. Ray tried to talk to Valentina but she rejected him, but Leonard was able to. He stole her keycard leading them to Luskavic Labs. Martin, with Ray, Leonard, and Mick as backup, infiltrated the lab discovering that Savage’s Operation Svarog was a program to create his own Firestorm. In a control room, Ray powered down the thermo-core but Valentina captured Leonard and threatened him unless Ray turned the core back on, which he did. Valentina’s forces then captured Ray, Martin, and Mick and took them to the Koshmar gulag.

Ray and Mick arrived at Koshmar where Ray was trying to look on the bright side of things. Ray got into a fight in the prison yard with Boris. When he woke up, he was angry at Mick for not standing with him in the yard. Then Mikhail Arkadin retrieved them and started torturing them to get Martin to divulge the secrets of Firestorm. Ray started smart-mouthing Mikhail, taking most of the beating. When Leonard came to rescue Mick, Mick insisted on bringing Ray because he took a beating for him. After the successful rescue, Chronos ambushed The Waverider in the Temporal zone, knocking them out of the time stream and stranding them in 2046.

Lost in time
Arriving in Star City of 2046, the team is confronted by a hooded archer. Thinking it was Oliver, Ray and Sara tried to talk to him but the archer fired arrows at them forcing them to retreat. Ray informed Rip that Palmer Technologies, now Smoak Technologies, were working on a part that could fix the Waverider. While Rip led a team to retrieve the tech, Ray stayed behind on the ship to make additional repairs. Ray worked with Kendra on the repairs, getting to know each other. Martin attempted to dissuade Ray from romantically pursuing Kendra but in reality, gave him the very idea. Later, Ray helped Sara rescue Connor Hawke from Deathstroke. After the fight, Ray asked out Kendra but she turned him down.

Unable to track Savage due to obsolete time data, the crew was stranded. Gideon intercepted a distress signal from Captain Eve Baxter of the Acheron. Rip put Ray in charge of the ship while he led the away team. Rip was captured by time pirates and their leader, Jon Valor, demanded Ray surrender the Waverider. However Rip used key words to activate the Waverider's defenses. Ray piloted the Waverider in combat against Valor and the Acheron. After camouflaging the ship, Ray and Kendra discovered Leonard and Sara trapped in the bulkhead breach after trying to repair damage sustained from the Acheron. Ray configured his suit for space and went outside of the ship to repair the damage. After repairing the hull breach, he passed out and went into cardiac arrest. Kendra performed CPR and revived him. Soon after, Mick arrived on the Waverider, but the team found out that he sold them out to the time pirates. Mick and Valor's crewmen chased Ray, Kendra, Sara, and Leonard throughout the Waverider. They managed to fend off the pirates and subdued Mick. Afterwards, Kendra kissed Ray, surprising him. As a team, they decided to put down Mick for betraying them to the pirates.

Trapped in the past
After receiving new timeline data from the Acheron, the data took the team to Harmony Falls, 1958. Ray and Kendra staked out the town by living in an empty home, posing as a married couple, which he enjoyed. Kendra and Ray then received a visit from neighbors Gail and Curtis Knox (Vandal Savage’s 1958 alias). Kendra opted to investigate Savage since he didn’t seem to recognize her. Kendra and Ray attended the Knox’s house party. Kendra talked to Savage while Ray scoped out the house. He found a backroom where Savage was keeping the Amon Dagger. The next day, he stole it and escaped just as Savage returned home. The team devised a plan for Kendra to kill Savage with the dagger, which Ray was against. Ray was disguised as a hospital patient while Kendra attempted to kill Savage. However Savage outsmarted them and released his manhawk experiments as Ray and Kendra escaped. While Ray, Kendra, and Sara were preparing to leave, Chronos attacked the Waverider forcing it to depart without them. Now left to fend for themselves in 1958, Ray, Kendra, and Sara decided to leave Harmony Falls to avoid Savage's retaliation. They moved into an apartment together, but as the days passed by, Sara quickly came to the conclusion that the rest of their team must have been killed or else they would have returned to the exact moment the Waverider had left. After relaying her concern to Kendra, the two confronted Ray, who had been busying himself with building a time beacon to signal the rest of the team. Ray refused to give up the hope that they may yet be rescued, and Sara left on her own out of exasperation, despite the protests of her friends. She soon found herself returning to Nanda Parbat, and rejoined the League of Assassins under a new alias.

Ray and Kendra remained together, eventually settling down and building a new life for themselves. They continued to explore the romantic feelings that had sprung up between them and soon became involved as a couple. While Kendra became a librarian, Ray ended up starting a career as a college professor, and would later instruct such students as William Gates Sr., the father of Bill Gates. Though Ray eventually completed the time beacon in 1960, he had long since given up hope of being rescued, and had come to love both Kendra and their new lives together. He soon bought an engagement ring, with the intention of proposing to Kendra in a park near their home.

Contrary to what Ray, Kendra, and Sara had come to believe about their teammates, however, all of them had survived their encounter with Chronos. After disabling the Waverider, the bounty hunter kidnapped Leonard Snart and escaped aboard the jump ship, leaving Rip, Martin, and Jax plummeting through time. When the team finally regained control over the ship, they detected the time beacon that Ray had built, and arrived in 1960 just as Ray was about to propose. Kendra was overjoyed to be rescued, and was eager to both rejoin the team and resume her old life, but Ray was hurt by what he perceived as a disregard of everything they had built together. He reluctantly gathered some of their belongings from their home and rejoined the team aboard the Waverider.

Together, the team traveled to Nanda Parbat in an effort to convince Sara to rejoin them. After two years with the League, however, Sara had once again become completely loyal to Ra's al Ghul, and immediately turned over her former team to her master as soon as they arrived. With the team imprisoned and awaiting execution, Rip Hunter, who had studied the history of the League and its laws, requested a trial by combat. Kendra volunteered to fight for their freedom, much to Ray's dismay, and Ra's in turn elected Sara as his champion. Their duel was shortly interrupted, however, by Chronos, who had tracked the team to Nanda Parbat with the intention of finishing them off. Ra's freed his prisoners from their restraints and through the combined efforts of the team and the League, Chronos was subdued.

Leonard, having managed to escape the jump ship, arrived and revealed that the bounty hunter was actually Mick Rory; he had been found and conditioned by the Time Masters to be one of their operatives after Leonard had stranded him in the past. Ra's pardoned the team's death sentences for their help in defeating the intruder, and in addition excused Sara from his service. The team, now whole again, was allowed to leave Nanda Parbat, and Mick was imprisoned aboard the Waverider. Finally given some reprieve, Kendra and Ray were able to discuss their relationship, and Ray confessed that he was afraid of losing Kendra after all they had been through. Kendra consoled him by telling him that for the first time in centuries, she was actually able to choose who she fell in love with, and that she did not want to lose Ray, either. The two reconciled and embraced, though not before Ray hid the engagement ring beneath his mattress.

The Kasnia Conglomerate
With Mick in custody and the threat of Chronos neutralized, Rip Hunter took his team to the year 2147, where he hoped to stop Vandal's takeover of the Kasnia Conglomerate in an effort to slow down his rise to power. Upon arriving in the future, Ray learned that the Conglomerate employed robotic variations of his A.T.O.M. Exosuit in order to both keep the peace and subdue anyone found to be violation of the law. Ray was appalled by this appropriation of his technology. While Rip and the other members of the team set out to kidnap Per Degaton, the young heir to the Conglomerate, Ray assumed the identity of a foreigner from Central City and was given a tour of the security facilities by Dr. Brice. During the tour, Ray was startled to see an incarnation of his Exosuit on display alongside a bust of his brother, Sydney, who Brice introduced as the founder of the robotics industry and her great-great-great-great grandfather. However, as Brice referred to her ancestor as simply Dr. Palmer, Ray mistook the bust to be of his own image, and came to the incorrect conclusion that he must have had an illegitimate child in the 21st century in order for Brice to have been born.

Though Ray wrestled with how to tell Kendra what he had learned, he eventually confided in her about his supposed child, and the couple reconciled some of the tension that had been plaguing their relationship since their return to the team. Vandal Savage meanwhile became aware of the presence of Rip and his team and advised Tor Degaton, Per's father, to assault the Waverider in an attempt to rescue the young heir. Unbeknownst to Vandal and Tor, Rip had taken Per outside of the Conglomerate aboard the jump ship, aiming to kill the boy before he could grow up and become a dictator; however, Rip found himself unable to murder a child, and so returned to the rest of the team with the intent of releasing Per back to his father. Rip and Per arrived in the midst of the battle with the Kasnian forces, while Ray attempted to disable the security robots. Ray was interrupted by Dr. Brice while in the midst of shutting down the robots, and in convincing her to let him finish he revealed his true identity. Brice, puzzled, explained that her ancestor was Sydney Palmer, after which Ray realized the mistake that he had made and that Brice was in actuality his great-great-great-great-grandniece. Ray and the rest of the team were assured safe passage out of the Conglomerate in exchange for releasing Per, and together the group retreated back to the Waverider, with the knowledge that their actions in 2147 had in actuality sped up the events that they had been trying to prevent.

The town of Salvation
After learning from a recently reformed Mick that the Time Masters had sent the Hunters after the members of his team, Rip decided to temporarily hide them within a time fragmentation that existed within the town of Salvation during 1871. Ray jumped at the chance to explore the Old West, as he had always loved Western films as a child. After donning era-appropriate clothing, Ray and the other members of the team (minus Rip himself) decided to explore the town, eventually ending up inside the local saloon. Martin and Leonard soon ended up in a skirmish with an outlaw over a game of cards; Leonard killed the man, causing the entire saloon to erupt in a barroom brawl. Jonah Hex, who had been observing the situation from his own table, eventually fired his weapon and quickly brought the fight to an end.

Outside the saloon, Hex questioned Ray and his teammates about what time period they were really from, and after the group learned of Hex's knowledge of time travel, they quickly took the bounty hunter aboard the Waverider to explain the events that had transpired to Rip. When Hex explained that their actions in the saloon would cause the deceased outlaw's gang, the Stillwaters, to raid Salvation in retaliation, Ray insisted on going with Hex to the local sheriff's office in order to assist in any way that he could. When Ray and Hex arrived, however, they found that the sheriff was abandoning his post. On his way out the door, the former sheriff stuck his badge in Ray's open hand, naming him the new sheriff of Salvation.

Ray, now determined to protect the town, met the Stillwater Gang at the entrance to Salvation when the outlaws returned for retribution. Ray had strategically placed Leonard with a rifle in an open window overlooking the road; when Ray refused to let the gang take whatever they wanted, Jeb Stillwater, the gang's leader, reached for his pistol, which Leonard immediately shot out of his hand. Ray proclaimed that he had sharpshooters surrounding the Stillwaters, and the gang begrudgingly rode off on their horses, temporarily defeated. Hex, knowing that the bandits would only return after Rip's team left Salvation, convinced Ray and the others to form a posse to ambush the Stillwater gang at their hideout. During the ensuing firefight, Ray and his allies captured Jeb Stillwater, though the gang managed to lasso and kidnap Jax as the group made their escape. In order to free Jax without releasing Stillwater, Rip chose to have a quick draw showdown at high noon with the gang's leader in the streets of Salvation. Rip easily dispatched of the outlaw, and Jax was released unharmed. After the bandits departed, however, the Hunters arrived in Salvation, and the standoff immediately devolved into a firefight between the mercenaries and Rip's team. With their combined powers and the assistance of Jonah Hex, the team managed to easily incapacitate them. Ray subsequently relinquished the title of sheriff and returned with his team to The Waverider.

Omega Protocol
After the defeat of the Hunters the Time Masters instructed one of their operatives, known as The Pilgrim, to initiate Omega Protocol. A punishment reserved for the worst of history's time-traveling criminals, Omega Protocol was a process in which the Pilgrim killed a past version of the offender, thus erasing their contemporary counterpart from existence. The Pilgrim began her assault on Rip Hunter's team, beginning with Mick Rory, who in her eyes was a traitor since he had left behind the title of Chronos. After failing to kill both Mick and Sara Lance, the Pilgrim attempted to kill Ray in 2014, in the time just prior to his becoming the Atom. Ray's past version was saved through the combined efforts of Rip Hunter and Firestorm, but the injuries he sustained during the fight were also inflicted on his future self.

In the midst of the battle, the contemporary Ray was rushed to the Waverider's infirmary due to his sudden wounds, where he finally proposed to Kendra with the knowledge that he may not survive. Kendra accepted, but after Ray's past self was rushed to a hospital, his contemporary counterpart recovered more quickly than expected, and she began to have doubts over their engagement. During the events in Salvation, Kendra had come into contact with one of her past lives, who had warned her that any relationship with a man other than Carter Hall only ended in tragedy. In addition, Kendra worried that she had only accepted Ray's proposal because of the life or death situation in which he had proposed. During a moment of reprieve from the Pilgrim's onslaught, Kendra sought advice from Sara and told her of her concerns, a conversation which Ray overheard.

After the rest of the team safely secured their past selves with Rip's adoptive mother, Ray confronted Kendra about what he had overheard, and she revealed to Ray the truth about what had happened in Salvation; she added that although she wanted to be with him, she believed as a result of what she had learned from her past life that they could not last together, a sentiment that Ray did not share. The Pilgrim, meanwhile, grew desperate, and began kidnapping the team's friends and family, including Anna Loring. Through their combined powers and with the assistance of a young Rip Hunter, they overwhelmed her, reducing her body to a pile of ash. While Anna recovered from the ordeal in their quarters, Ray and Kendra discussed their own relationship in the corridor outside. Kendra revealed that following their confrontation with the Pilgrim, she had decided to choose her own future, and that she wanted to be married to Ray. Overjoyed with the news, Ray embraced her in a passionate kiss.

Duel with the Leviathan
Arriving in the year 2166 during the reign of Savage, Rip took Ray, Martin, and Jax to make contact with the resistance. Ray listened to Rip as he reminisced of his many attempts to save his wife and son. Ray and Rip went with the resistance to investigate an attack on one of their camps. Ray and Martin investigated a destroyed resistance camp and discovered Savage's superweapon was a giant robot named the Leviathan created by scientists of Savage. The Waverider sustained damage and was taken down by the robot. Rip was dejected and willing to just wait for the Leviathan's imminent attack. However, Ray convinced him to fight on saying that there was still a chance to save his family. The team then devised a new plan. Ray and Kendra kissed before going off to their respective battles against the Leviathan and Savage. Jax reconfigured Ray's suit so that it could become giant-sized. A giant Ray then battled with the Leviathan. After a fierce battle on the outskirts of London, Ray took a big swing to punch off the Leviathan's head and destroyed it.

Losing Kendra
Using scans from Ray's exosuit during his battle, the team discovered that Savage's Leviathan robot was technologically at least a hundred years ahead of anything in 2166. Rip saw this as an opportunity to bring Savage before the Time Council for manipulating time. During the voyage to the Vanishing Point, Ray helped Kendra with getting Scythian to remember his past lives. However, after Scythian attacked and hurt Kendra, Ray went to Savage demanding him to free Scythian's mind. Savage compared himself to Ray since both them have loved Kendra but that Carter/Scythian had stood in the way their relationships with her. On his way back, Ray caught Kendra reciting Khufu's love poem to Scythian. He angrily walked away and told Kendra that he wasn't okay with being a placeholder for Carter and broke up with Kendra. He then went back to the brig. Savage tricked Ray into a fight, overpowering him and using his hand print to open the cell. Ray, Leonard, Mick, and Kendra battled Scythian and Savage. Savage incapacitated Ray but Kendra managed to awaken Scythian's powers and knocked out Savage. Later, Ray and Kendra talked; Ray concluded that even though their relationship was over, it showed that he was able to love again after Anna's death. After arriving at the Vanishing Point, soldiers working for the Time Masters boarded the timeship and captured the crew as they were in league with Savage the whole time.

Crisis in 2024
Around midnight on April 25th in the year 2024 Atom aided Flash in his latest battle with Reverse-Flash, along with Green Arrow and Hawkgirl in the streets of Central City The fight also somehow caused the sky to turn a deep crimson color. The fight caused several trucks to start leaking their contents onto the streets, and caused power outages spread over 20 blocks throughout the city. During the fight Atom aided the Central City Police Department in evacuating all the nearby buildings during the power outage. Eventually the two speedsters sped off leaving Atom, Green Arrow and Hawkgirl behind.

Future
In a possible future, Atom is seen fighting alongside Flash, Captain Cold and Sara Lance against an unknown large metallic adversary. Barry caught a glimpse of this when traveling through the Speed Force.

Rip Hunter mentioned Ray as having survived the Imperiex onslaught. However, this may have just been an excuse for Rip to use the trigger words, not an actual event.

Personality
Ray is an ambitious, intelligent and charismatic businessman. He is highly motivated to achieve more success and is willing to work extremely hard to get what he wants. Ray can often find himself awkwardly babbling, likening him to Felicity in that respect. Ray is also selfless, putting himself in between a gun and Felicity, and eventually breaking up with her civilly to allow her to pursue her love of Oliver Queen. Ray is also a trustworthy friend, keeping both Oliver and Barry's alter egos a secret. Ray can occasionally be stubborn, such as when he believed he could take on a dangerous meta-human, but is not above admitting to this.

When setting a goal he seems to be highly persistent in achieving it, as it took him a lot of effort to finally get Felicity to work for him. He seems to be a visionary as well, as he gives expensive things away and seemingly wants to improve the city and make it flourish again, prompting Felicity to describe Ray as Barry with Oliver's body. Ray can become obsessed with completing these goals, however, as when building the A.T.O.M exosuit he ended up tired and rather reckless, but was determined to finish the suit.

Behind his positive attitude is a sad side as he had lost his fiancée Anna who was killed in front of him. He mentioned he was not strong enough to save her which seemed to be a motivation to as why he is so keen on helping the city and training to become stronger. Ray can sometimes be stubborn and jump to conclusions before he gets his facts straight, despite this Ray is not above apologizing or admitting when he is wrong. This caused him to not see what good the Arrow was doing and attack him using the A.T.O.M exosuit, daring the latter to kill him and prove that he was the villain Ray thought he was.

Even after being held captive by Damien Darhk for 6 months, the experience has not changed his positive and optimistic attitude. He is naïve when it comes to women, as Ray believed Valentina Vostok to be an innocent person, only to find out the hard way, that she was actually working for Vandal Savage.

He is also known to be a workaholic, as he once went several days without sleep, food, or bathing while still obsessing over his ATOM suit. It took Felicity's prodigious and thorough programming skills to shut him out of his work and get him to take a break and wash his noticeably foul smelling armpits. His workaholic tendencies are most commonly witnessed expression of his indomitable willpower, as he is never prone to giving up, whether it's taking on an enemy or in his engineering pursuits. Ray is simply an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

While personality wise, he is considered a "boy-scout", especially by Leonard Snart, he is dangerous, confident, and sometimes ruthless in combat. He is willing to attack without restrain, using all of his power to defeat his opponents. He is also inventive with his abilities, such as combining his punches with his energy blasts to hit harder. He also utilized his shrinking ability and flight to fly straight through one of The Hunters, piercing through him like a bullet and seemingly killing the man. He had also shown willingness to kill when not interfering in the team coming close to dealing a killing blow on Chronos before he was revealed to be Mick Rory.

Ray can sometimes be short-tempered and hot-headed to the point of letting his temper get the better of himself, like when Vandal Savage called him coward which result in the former escaping from his cell, he is also sometimes naïve to the point of being too trusting and believing people are innocent, like Valentina Vostok, the latter who was revealed to be working for Vandal the whole time.

After learning of the message sent by Barry Allen from the year 2056 and that he altered the timeline, he criticized the present Barry for his actions, as Ray was being hypocritical; as he would do exactly the same thing the latter did, if he was in an emotional state, and not thinking clearly.

Abilities

 * Charisma: Using his charm and speech he was able to persuade the board to make him CEO. With a huge amount of effort he was able to get Felicity to work for him.
 * Expert survivalist skills: After getting time-scattered by the emergency protocol of the Waverider, Ray ended up in South Dakota back in the Age of Dinosaurs, managing to survive there for months, growing a great beard and a lot of hair before getting rescued by Mick Rory and Nate Heywood.
 * Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen: Ray is very intelligent, having an IQ of 140 and three PhDs. Ray is also a skilled businessman, being able to lead a billion dollar enterprise with success. He recognizes skilled people and is excellent at recruiting them for his cause.
 * Indomitable will: Even after being held captive by Damien Darhk for 6 months, Ray did not break, even when Damien offer to release him if he gave the latter the tech for his A.T.O.M. Exosuit.
 * Master mechanical/chemical engineer: Ray has proven to be a master in engineering as he was able to design his complicated suit. His engineering skills as shown to be on par with that Cisco Ramon, a highly regarded mechanical engineer. He is also an adept chemist. He was able to analyze and modify Eobard Thawne's biomolecular enhancer to have lasting and more stable effects, despite it being made from advanced future technology.
 * Peak of human physical condition: As a vigilante Ray is in top physical condition. He works out regularly and trains on the salmon ladder. He has the body of someone who engages in frequent, strenuous exercise.
 * Skilled swordsman: While new to the fighting art, Ray showed some proficiency in it against a Shogun, able to land some solid blows to the A.T.O.M. suit the tyrant was wearing, albeit his opponent relied more on the special suit than his actual blade.
 * Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Ray has some experience in unarmed combat, which at first was very modest. In battles, Ray almost always relies on his suit, and uses close combat in form of simple punches, enhanced with his suit abilities. Over time and under influence of his fellow legends, Ray became much more experienced in unarmed combat, which allows him to defeat two trained and armored samurai, while been tied.

Equipment

 * A.T.O.M. Exosuit: Ray wore an exosuit as his heroic alter-ego, The Atom, to hide his identity from his enemies, when he goes out fighting crime. It was designed by Ray himself, the armor is made out of dwarf star alloy, making it strong enough to withstand damage from bullets, arrows and explosions. Its offensive capabilities include electricity projection, compressed hard light blasts, and photon blasts. A new discovery in the suit's technological applications allows it to miniaturize selected targets, especially its wearer. Alternatively, by properly charging the suit with enough advanced energy, the suit can perform the reverse effect and increase the wearer's size to gigantic stature and proportionately increase their strength. During the Legends' adventures in Medieval Japan, the exosuit was destroyed by Nate Heywood, to prevent its abuse. . However Ray found a supply of dwarf star alloy in the Old West and used it to create a second suit.

Former equipment

 * Oda Yamashiro's armor: This armor was used by Ray to defend himself in a duel against Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. After the duel, it was returned to its owner, Ichiro Yamashiro.
 * Cold Gun: After his A.T.O.M. Exosuit was destroyed, Heat Wave offered Ray Captain Cold's cold gun as a sign of partnership.

Arrow
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Trivia

 * Ray is an Eagle Scout.
 * Mick Rory often employs the disparaging nickname "Haircut" when talking about Ray.
 * Ray called himself Colonel Cold, as he didn't feel like he had earned Snart's title "Captain Cold".

Behind the scenes

 * In DC Comics, the Atom is a superhero mostly known for his ability to shrink in size, turning into a miniature version of himself, hence the name. The original was Al Pratt during the Golden Age, a diminutive man with superhuman strength; he was a founding member of the Justice Society. Ray Palmer took the name during the Silver Age, a physics professor at Ivy University who developed equipment to shrink himself down to subatomic levels while maintaining regular mass. Palmer has been a member of the Justice League, Teen Titans, Suicide Squad and Indigo Tribe. Adam Cray also briefly took the mantle using stolen equipment, and it was later used by scientist Ryan Choi until his death.
 * Ray's second codename, Colonel Cold, was originally intended for Lewis Snart, appearing in the promos for, before getting scrapped in the final version of the episode.
 * Ray Palmer was portrayed by Brandon Routh in the third season and in two episodes of the fourth season of Arrow. Routh also reprised his role in two episodes of The Flash; and in the first and second season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
 * Routh was also known for portraying Superman (other superhero of DC) in the 2006 film, Superman Returns. This is alluded to with Snart referring to Palmer as "Boy Scout", which was a nickname for Superman. Most recently, Superman was being portrayed by Tyler Hoechlin in the TV series Supergirl.
 * During an interview with MTV News, co-producer Keto Shimizu stated a spin-off of Arrow could be made with The Atom/Ray Palmer in the lead role. However, the idea never materialized and DC's Legends of Tomorrow was released instead.