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"I'm Ray Palmer. I can science my way out of anything."
—Ray Palmer[src]

Dr. Raymond Carson "Ray" Palmer[1] (born 1981[2]), is a businessman and the former CEO of Palmer Technologies, previously known as Queen Consolidated. He is the son of David and Sandy Palmer and younger brother of Sydney Palmer, who in at least one version of the future is considered to be the father of the robotics industry. Ray is the husband of Nora Darhk, the ex-fiancé of Kendra Saunders, and the ex-boyfriend/friend of Felicity Smoak. Ray was also the fiancé of Anna Loring until her death at the hands of a Mirakuru soldier.

Having designed a powerful exosuit, Ray 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, he was presumed dead. After six months, during which time the city was renamed "Star City" in his honor, Ray managed to contact Felicity but was captured by Damien Darhk and H.I.V.E. for his technology. However, thanks to the efforts of Team Arrow, Ray was rescued and would continue to aid them in their fight against Darhk.

In early 2016, Ray was recruited by time traveler Rip Hunter into the Legends on a mission to take down Vandal Savage. After Ray's A.T.O.M. suit was destroyed during a mission in Feudal Japan, Mick Rory gave him the Cold gun. He nicknamed himself Colonel Cold, using both Leonard Snart's weaponry and goggles. After getting a new source of dwarf star alloy, Ray went back to his Atom identity. He is later knighted Sir Raymond of the Palms, Defender of Camelot by Queen Guinevere in 507.[3]

Ray was possessed by a powerful demon, Neron, after accidentally interfering in Nora Darhk and John Constantine's efforts to subdue the demon until Neron killed Nate (voiding the deal he made: sparing Nate in exchange for control of his body), allowing John to kill Neron and grant Ray his body back.

Post-Crisis, Ray helped the Legends fight the Encores such as Damien Darhk, who gave his blessing for Ray to marry Nora. After getting married, Ray and Nora chose to leave the Legends and focus on Nora's job as a Fairy Godmother.[4]

Ray went to Central City for the Technology Convention, where he met a member of Team Flash and his fan, Chester P. Runk. Ray helped Barry Allen face Despero. Before leaving the city, Ray promised to create a foundation in honor of Chester's father.

Ray will soon be a father, as Nora is pregnant. Gathering their old friends, Ray and the former Legends went on a daring rescue mission to save Mona Wu and Mick Rory and Kayla's children from the Necrians.

Biography

Original multiverse

Early life

Ray was born in 1981 to David and Sandy Palmer in Ivy Town and had an older brother, Sydney. Ray had a lonely childhood, though he got through it by immersing himself in Arthurian lore,[3] fancying himself as "Sir Galahad" and naming his personal playground in the woods after the legendary Camelot.[1] He was inspired to become an engineer and inventor after watching Star Wars as a child.[5] Ray and Sydney often fought over which video games to play as Sydney liked playing Tecmo Bowl while Ray preferred Legend of Zelda.[1]

Finding Gumball

Young Ray Palmer with Gumball

Ray Palmer with his new alien friend.

In 1988, Ray had come across a time-displaced baby Dominator alien as he was hiding away from some bullies.[6] He befriended the alien and named it Gumball. Ray took Gumball home, fed him candy and watched movies with him. Soon, the situation drew the attention of the NSA, who wanted to capture Gumball to study him.

Original timeline: Ray tried to free his friend from the NSA, but the agents shot him before he could. Ray's body was left in the woods for the authorities to find days later, with enough damage done that it required dental identification. An article was written about him post-death by Ivy Town Times, although his family was too shaken to comment for it, and faculty at Ivy Town Middle School began working on a “Ray Palmer Memorial Garden", where they planned to grow Ray's favorite snack.

Young Ray Palmer tearfully says goodbye

Ray says goodbye to Gumball and returns him to his mother.

Current timeline: However, this event sent a ripple through time that drew in a strange group of people, unknowingly including his future self. Ray, with help from Zari Tomaz and his future self, rescued Gumball from the NSA agents. After they escape, Ray reunited Gumball with his mother, tearfully letting him go. Back home, Zari assured Ray that he did the right thing and that he would go on to find people that he fit in with, urging him to stay positive. Ray then went trick-or-treating as "The Atom", with his new adult friends standing by him against the teasing from his bullies.[1]

Adulthood

During his university years, Ray was a student of Professor Martin Stein in his "Quantum Theory" class. Despite being one of his best pupils, Stein failed to remember Ray when they reconnected later on in life.[7]

Anna Loring

Ray and Anna Loring.

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 siege on the city. Ray attempted to fight Slade's soldiers but was easily subdued, resulting in Anna's death. Heartbroken by this loss, Ray promised himself that he would never again lose someone he loved and would find a way to save his city from ever having to face a similar danger again.[8]

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 into 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 smartwatches, 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 showed 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." The board elected Ray to be the new CEO and he planned to rebrand the company into Palmer Technologies.[9]

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 at Palmer Technologies, which Felicity angrily declined. Ray quickly realized that Felicity wasn't mad at him, realizing something was wrong. He tried to assure 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 crash by Simon Lacroix, though Ray was left unharmed. Ray was later surprised when Felicity decided to accept his job offer.[10]

Becoming the Atom

Ray personally hired Gerry Conway as an executive assistant for Felicity, whom he promoted to the new vice president of Palmer Technologies, and turned the former CEO's office into an office for her. Ray requested Felicity to obtain some Applied Sciences data from a file server which was destroyed by the previous CEO, claiming it was necessary for his plan to rebuild Queen Consolidated, as well as the city. After Felicity recovered the data, she asked if she could take time off to visit an old friend, who had recently woke from a coma. Ray granted her permission and as Felicity walked off, Ray looked through the blueprints of A.T.O.M. Exosuit.[11]

Ray was visiting Felicity in the morning at her house when a surprised woman asked what their company was not using. The man started the topic about cogeneration and made some preliminary calculations. Instead of selling energy to the city, he wanted to give it away for free. Conversation was interrupted by the doorbell and the visitor was Felicity's mother. Palmer was surprised by the difference in personality between women when she suddenly noticed him. At first she thought he was staying with her daughter, but when she found out who the man was, she linked him to the SmartWatch she had bought. Ray introduced her to the prototype of the latest model and gave it back to her. He decided to leave both women and left the house.

Some time later, Palmer found Felicity in tears in the office. He said that while implementing the city transformation plan, he had not thought about the cyber terrorists who were now attacking Starling City. He added that he would like to have a drink now when Donna suddenly walked into the office. Nervous, she started yelling at her daughter, so Felicity asked Ray to leave the room for a moment. The next day, Palmer visited Felicity's offices again, with whom he wanted to talk about cogeneration. There he noticed a mother hugging her daughter, who seemed happy. Miss Smoak, wanting to stay with Donna before she left, asked the president of the company for the time off, saying she was sick.[12]

Palmer Technologies

Palmer Technologies.

Later, Ray 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.[13]

Ray visited his company's cafeteria and was surprised to start telling Felicity about it. The woman announced that she eats there every day like the rest of the staff, then wanted to leave the office, believing she had a meeting. Palmer noticed his friend's strange behavior and remembered the last kiss. He realized that Miss Smoak was angry because he ran away nervous shortly after him. He wanted to explain everything to her, but she wouldn't let him because she wanted them both to forget about it.

Sometime later, Ray tracked down the girl's phone at the Verdant Club and called her to speak to her. When the girl came to him, Palmer said that he did not regret the kiss, but felt guilty. He told her a story about his ex-fiancée - Anna, who died during the night of the siege. The man blames himself for her death all the time, as he failed to protect her and therefore tried not to bond with other women. After this conversation, Felicity decided to return to the office to find Ray sitting over the microscope. The girl started asking him what exactly he was doing with the company, so Palmer decided to show her. He shortened his clandestine project as a miniaturization of the military equipment of the Department of Applied Sciences and showed the exoskeleton of Automatic Technology of Mechanical Operations, thanks to which the man will be able to help many people, but he needs the help of a friend.[8]

On December 19, 2014, Ray Palmer was attacked by The Pilgrim, but was saved by the interference of Rip Hunter and Firestorm.[14]

Ray did the 37 Alpha test in his office, but failed. Suddenly, Felicity entered the room, making fun of her friend's test targets - the clowns. The girl visited Palmer to talk about risking her life. She figured the armor would only give him temporary protection and he could die. Ray gave the example of the Arrow, which has no armor and is alive, but Miss Smoak was not sure about it. To end this discussion, the man asked her friend to repair the glove chip. In the evening, Ray visited the girl in her office, where he saw her all crying. When he asked how the chip repair was progressing, Felicity announced that it would not succeed. She referred to Anna and said that the exoskeleton would not revive her, because when we lose someone, they go away forever and nothing will return them to us. Palmer noticed his friend's behavior and upset and offered to help comfort, but made it clear she had no right to say what his ex-fiancée would like. Miss Smoak apologized to the man and left the office. The next morning, Felicity went back to work and apologized to her friend again, realizing she had crossed a line, then decided that she couldn't stop him, but might not help him. She handed him the chip intact and left, leaving the devastated Palmer alone.[15]

Ray found a pensive Felicity in the office that morning, who had informed the man that the meeting was not due for three hours. Palmer said he had asked the Mayor to move them because of a murderer who was roaming the city. The discussion turned back to the subject of the exosuit the girl would not hear about. Deciding that she would not help him on the suicide mission, she dressed and left. Some time later, Ray and Felicity entered the building where the meeting was being held. Despite being late shortly after entering the room, Palmer declared that he could provide financial assistance. Even so, he knew the development would take some time and offered to call a national guard. Suddenly, the glass broke and a smoke bomb flew through it. Soon after that, Brick appeared with his thugs, whom he ordered to take the mayor and councilors, and ordered to kill the rest. Ray tried to protect Felicity at all costs and pounced on the bandit whom he overpowered.

In the evening, at the Palmer Technologies office, Felicity was treating a friend who remembered the death of her fiancée. He said he now had a goal of protecting his loved ones, especially Miss Smoak. Some time later, everyone heard the phone message from the criminal who requested a meeting. In the designated place, Brick began to show off, as the police could not attack him because of the hostages he was holding. The man made fun of Ray, who in his opinion only has money that will not solve this problem. He ordered all city officials to leave town within twenty-four hours, then drove off. The next morning, Felicity interrupted Palmer's meeting and asked him to borrow the helicopter. When the girl returned, she gave her friend the nanochip, which she repaired. He was surprised that Miss Smoak helped him on his suicide mission, but the woman decided that with her help there was a high probability that she would not die.[16]

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.[17]

Ray is working in his apartment on the A.T.O.M. exoskeleton, when he opens the door to an angry Felicity Smoak, who informs the man of a decline in company shares for the week he is absent. Palmer says he doesn't know he's gone a week. He begins to explain that he is working on gloves that don't want to work with the helmet. Suddenly, Miss Smoak tells the man to stop as he wanted to use a sonic ionizer on a four-lane circuit, which would have blown up the building. Ray announces that he is not going to stop until this is done, leading Felicity to leave the apartment. Some time later, the woman disconnected her friend from the server and gives him two solutions. The first is a six-hour attempt to crack the password, while the second is to eat, wash and sleep, after which he will be given the password. After dinner and a shower, Palmer thanks his friend for returning the password. The man announces that when he is with Felicity he doesn't think about work, and she kisses him, causing them to end up in bed together. Some time later, Ray wakes up and comes up with a solution. He manages to complete the exosuit, so he puts it on and climbs onto the roof of the building, where he makes his first successful flight attempt.[18]

Ray Palmer finishes his A.T.O.M

Ray completes his A.T.O.M. Exosuit.

At John Diggle and Lyla Michaels' wedding, Felicity brings Ray as her date. Ray ended up officiating John and Lyla's marriage when the priest couldn't make it, as he was a licensed minister. When the Arrow appears to go 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 ADA Laurel Lance, but Laurel tells him that his testimony and evidence would not stand. Her defense and injury make Ray realize Laurel is the Black Canary and he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Oliver tells Ray to trust Felicity

Ray talks to Arrow.

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 Mayor Celia Castle and Captain 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.[19]

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.[20]

Cisco and Ray discussing ways to fix the Atom suit

Cisco and Ray discussing ways to fix the Atom suit.

In order to improve A.T.O.M. exosuit, Ray and Felicity travel to Central City to seek assistance from S.T.A.R. Labs and Ray meets Barry Allen/The Flash. As Team Flash helps him improve the suit, Ray develops a friendly rapport with Cisco Ramon over their shared sense of humor, penchant for engineering, and tendency to name super-villains. When they see Eddie Thawne struggling with Iris West 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 Dr. Harrison Wells. When the disgruntled scientist Brie Larvan, a villain Team Flash is trying to catch, attacks Dr. Tina McGee, Ray suits up as the Atom and saves her by redirecting Brie's robotic bees into the water, managing to crash into Cisco and Caitilin Snow'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.[21]

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 in Opal City the night of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion, 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, much to his concern. Felicity Ray's permission for both her and Oliver to use his private jet. When she tries to explain her reasons, Ray brings up the topic of her and Oliver, having seen them together after Roy left the city. Ray voices his belief that Felicity didn't return the sentiment when he confessed his love to her at the hospital because she is still in love with Oliver. Felicity admits he is right and tearfully apologizes. The couple break up, though Ray still allows Felicity and Oliver to use his private jet.[22]

While Ray was working on his exoskeleton at Palmer Technologies, he was visited by Felicity Smoak, who again asked for a jet for her and Oliver. The crying girl tries to explain that this is not what he thinks, but the scientist denies it. Palmer reveals that when they were saying goodbye to Roy, he saw her looking at Queen. It was then that he saw that she still loved him, and the moment when he confessed to her in the hospital gave much food for thought. Ultimately, Ray said that Felicity couldn't love him, as she was still in love with Oliver. Felicity apologized to the scientist in tears, saying that she never intended to hurt him. The pair broke up, and Palmer gave the computer scientist access to his jet without knowing the specific reasons.[23]

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 secretly had Felicity sign some documents which transferred 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.[24]

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.[25] Ray however, survived the explosion, albeit shrunken to the size of an atom. He sent several distress calls to Felicity, telling her that he's alive and needs help.[26] Despite this, Starling City was subsequently re-branded as Star City in honor of Ray saving the city from the Alpha-Omega virus.[2]

Captured by H.I.V.E.

Tiny Ray

Ray, in miniature size, being captured by the 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, with help from 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.[27]

Felicity later asked for Ray's assistance in studying the DNA of a H.I.V.E. Ghost tooth, which was missing half of its genetic markers, to hopefully track down the organization's base of operations. As they worked, Felicity wondered why Ray wouldn't declare himself alive but he avoided the subject. Later when asked again, Ray admitted that despite the city being renamed in his honor, he felt ashamed of how little his life had achieved when the world believed him dead. With the city still riddled with corruption and Palmer Technologies struggling to bounce back from bankruptcy, Ray decided he needed to find a new purpose for his life. Later after analyzing the Ghost tooth, Ray realized H.I.V.E. was stationed at Wolfman Biologics. While Team Arrow was infiltrated the field base to locate John's brother, Andy Diggle, the Atom arrived in time to help Green Arrow and Black Canary.[28]

Helping Vixen

Team Arrow and Vixen catch Kuasa

Team Arrow and Vixen catch Kuasa.

When Vixen and her sister Kuasa broke into a collector's home in Star City to retrieve the Water Totem of Zambesi to defeat General Benatu 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, Eshu managed to subdue both him and Laurel.[29][30][31]

Aiding Rip Hunter

Rip Hunter explaining the mission to the eight people he essentially kidnapped

Ray and others are asked by Rip Hunter to join him on a mission to save the future.

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.[7]

First mission, 1975

Ray and the others arrived at the Waverider where Ray talked to Martin about being one of his students, which Martin didn't remember. Then, Rip brought 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 on board 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.[7]

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, ordering 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 from the mansion of a "Sasha Mahnovski". However, Ray tripped a fake alarm box, causing Leonard and himself to be captured. While trying to break out, Ray talked to Leonard about being an inventor versus being a criminal. Mahnovski, who was actually Vandal Savage, revealed 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. Unfortunately, Savage got the upper-hand, killing Carter and critically wounding Kendra, forcing the team to retreat. Back on the time ship, the team renewed their commitment to defeating Savage in memory of Carter.[32]

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 the situation reminded him of how he wasn't able to save his fiancée, 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.[33]

Cold War, 1986

Gideon tracked Savage's next appearance in 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 the 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 imprisoned them at a Koshmar gulag.[34]

Ray and Mick arrived at Koshmar, where Ray attempted 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 the duo 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 since the latter tried to protect 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.[35]

Lost in time
Oliver and Connor stand over Grant Wilson

Legends in 2046.

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 technology that could fix the Waverider. While Rip led a team to retrieve the tech, Ray stayed behind on the ship to make additional repairs. He worked with Kendra on the repairs and the two got to know each other. Martin attempted to dissuade Ray from romantically pursuing Kendra, but ended up giving him the very idea. Later, Ray helped Sara rescue Connor Hawke from Deathstroke. After the fight, Ray asked Kendra out, but she turned him down.[36]

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 keywords 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.[37]

Trapped in the past
Kendra, Ray and Sara in 1958

Ray is stranded with Kendra and Sara in 1958.

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 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.[38]

Ray Palmer building a time beacon

Ray building a time beacon in 1958.

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.

Team Legends bring down Chronos

Legends bring down Chronos.

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 couple reconciled and embraced, though not before Ray hid the engagement ring beneath his mattress.[39]

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 a 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. Bryce. During the tour, Ray was startled to see an incarnation of his Exosuit on display alongside a bust of his brother, Sydney, who Bryce introduced as the founder of the robotics industry and her great-great-great-great grandfather. However, as Bryce 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 Bryce 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. Bryce while in the midst of shutting down the robots, and in convincing her to let him finish he revealed his true identity. Bryce, puzzled, explained that her ancestor was Sidney Palmer, after which Ray realized the mistake that he had made and that Bryce 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.[40]

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.

Rip Hunter's team walks through Salvation

Legends walks through Salvation.

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.

Jonah Hex wields an energy gun

Sheriff Ray prepares to battle the Hunters.

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.[41]

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.

Rip Hunter's team fight the Pilgrim

Legends fight the Pilgrim.

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 is rushed to the hospital, his contemporary counterpart recovered more quickly than expected, and she began to have doubts about their engagement. During the events of 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.[42]

Duel with the Leviathan
The Atom fights the Leviathan

The Atom fights 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.[43]

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 Hunter 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 handprint 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.[44]

Defeating the Time Masters and Vandal Savage
The Waverider locked in to the Vanishing Point's tractor beam

The Waverider locked in to the Vanishing Point's tractor beam.

In his jail cell, Ray could only watch as soldiers fetched Kendra from her cell and knocked her out with a laser blast for attempting to escape. Later, Rip returned from his meeting with Zaman Druce and told them about the Oculus, the Time Masters' use of it to control their actions, and Ray's foreseen death. Martin and Rip were dejected about their situation, but Ray told them to have faith that Sara and Leonard would rescue them. Druce then came to the holding cell and ordered a soldier to kill them all. Leonard arrived, shot the soldier, and knocked out Druce, rescuing the captured team members. They regrouped in the Waverider where Ray suggested to destroy the Oculus to restore their free will. Ray and the team arrived outside the Oculus Wellspring and were promptly cornered by the Time Masters' soldiers. They were rescued by Jax's arrival from 2016 in the jump ship. They entered the Oculus chamber and Ray started disabling it. However, Rip realized that these events were the ones that Druce showed him that would lead to Ray's death. Ray accepted his fate, but Mick knocked him out and elected to sacrifice himself to save Ray, although Leonard would later sacrifice himself in Mick's place. Leonard eventually succeeded in destroying the Oculus and the Vanishing Point, sacrificing himself. Ray went to console Mick and they both agreed to finally stop Vandal Savage to avenge and honor Leonard.[45]

Rip returned the team to 2016, 5 months after they left and they went their separate ways. Ray tracked down Mick and joined in a robbery as the getaway driver. Ray suggested that Leonard wanted them to be partners and they both agreed to finish Rip's mission. Ray and Mick returned to the site in Star City where Rip dropped them off running into the other Legends who also wanted to finish the mission. Martin and Ray fabricated a time beacon successfully summoning the Waverider. The team discovered a note in Sgt. Rock's helmet with a note from Kendra to go to Saint-Lô, France, 1944. Gideon located Savage and the team fought him and located his time ship. They rescued Scythian but Kendra was recaptured during the escape.

Rip Hunter's team walk off to begin their new adventure

Ray and the Legends prepare for their new adventures to protect the timeline.

After Martin deduced Savage's plan, Ray and Mick went to 1958 to kill Savage and destroy the meteorite there. Ray fought off a manhawk while Mick fought and burned Savage to death. Ray then shrunk the meteorite into a minuscule size rendering it's explosion harmless. Ray and Mick rendezvoused with the rest of the team in 2021 and discovered Savage had been killed by Kendra. However, the team couldn't stop the third meteorite due to the radiation buildup so Rip elected to fly the Waverider with the meteorite into the sun. After the mission is over, Ray and Rip accompanied Mick to 2013 to visit an alive Leonard. In 2016, the team prepared to leave when a beaten up future Waverider crash landed with Rex Tyler telling them not to get on the Waverider.[14]

Protecting the timeline

During a mission to protect the King of France in 1637, Ray shrunk down to secretly monitor King Louis XIII. After saving the king, Gideon detected a time quake originating from New York City 1942, so the team readied itself to prevent New York from getting nuked by the Nazis. Ray found Sara in the library and offered his help to Sara in dealing with her grief over Laurel's death. Ray and Martin then looked over the timeline and found that the Allied forces still won the war but it lasted for over two more years than it originally did with millions of added casualties. They then saw that around the time of the bombing Albert Einstein had vanished and guessed they were connected. They then decided to find Einstein before the Nazis forced him to build them an atomic bomb.

They arrived in New York and Ray followed Sara when she tried to go after Damien Darhk. He understood Sara's motivation but told her to hold out when they noticed that Darhk was meeting with Nazis and was supplying them Uranium for their atomic bomb. Later, Ray revealed Sara's side mission to the rest of the team. Sara argued back that without his suit, Ray was only a self-righteous rich guy. Ray brushed it off and told the team that his suit can track the radiation from Darhk's Uranium traces. They tracked Darhk to the Garrett Shipyard and engaged him and his Nazi allies. They rescued Mileva Maric, but Ray's suit could not neutralize the bomb's radiation so they retreated. After securing the Einsteins with the authorities, the team boarded the Waverider and went underwater to try and find the Nazi submarine before they used the bomb. It was ill-suited for underwater combat but Ray did manage to use the ship's weapons to cripple the submarine. However, it managed to fire the atomic bomb in a torpedo and Rip moved to stop it by using the Waverider to intercept it. To protect the team, he activated a last-ditch measure called the Time Scatter.[46]

Dinosaur chases Ray Palmer

Ray fights off a dinosaur while trapped in 70 million BC.

Due to the time scatter, Ray was sent back in time to 70 million BC.[46] He spent and survived there for six months and got on the bad side of a female T-Rex he christened Gertrude when he stole one of her eggs to eat.[47] One day, he was pursued by Gertrude there until Nate Heywood and Mick rescued him and returned him to the Waverider so that they could find the rest of the team. After all of the Legends were back on the Waverider, Gideon played Rip's final message to them. The Legends then returned to 1942 to ensure that the Einsteins couldn't be put in danger again. Sara apologized to Ray for her harsh words to him and he assured her that they would get justice for Laurel. They all started to head back for the ship but they were then confronted by the Justice Society of America.[46]

The Legends in the JSA Headquarters

Ray and his team in the JSA's Headquarters.

The Legends tried to explain their mission to the JSA but they were not convinced and a battle ensued. The JSA easily defeated the Legends and had them locked up at the JSA headquarters. They questioned the Legends before letting them go and told them to leave 1942. Shortly after, Nate discovered that the JSA was going to die on their next mission so they all returned to 1942. They infiltrated a Nazi nightclub in Paris and learned of Baron Krieger's plan. However, a Nazi general demanded Ray salute to Adolf Hitler but Ray refused and a fight broke out. The JSA arrived and Stargirl knocked out the Nazi patrons with her staff. The JSA then agreed to work with the Legends to stop Krieger and retrieve the Askaran Amulet but Amaya Jiwe told off Ray for blowing her cover and that he wasn't a real hero. Ray and Amaya went after Krieger but Krieger used a sample of Eobard's serum to transform himself into a monster. He knocked out Ray and Amaya and took them to an underground bunker. While Amaya was ready to accept death, Ray wasn't willing to give up and convinced Krieger to let Ray replicate the super-serum. Ray used the opportunity to take out the guards with a microscope. Ray retrieved his suit and rendezvoused with the rest of the team. He then used modified serum to save Nate from his injuries. After the successful mission, Amaya apologized for dismissing Ray as a hero.[48]

Losing the A.T.O.M. suit

Ray and Stein were talking about Nate's condition due to him taking the serum and it seemed that he was stable. The two of them were knocked out by Amaya who had stowed away to kill Rory as she thought he killed Rex Tyler. When Nate had gotten a power to have his body turn to steel, Sara tasked Ray with the job of helping him hone his powers. Ray believed that stimulus is what was needed so he and Nate tried sparring in the cargo bay. The two got carried away and ended up blowing a hole in the hull that sucked the two of them into the Temporal Zone and stranded them in Feudal Japan. Ray was then captured by samurai and taken to the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. He confiscated Ray's suit believing it to be armor for himself. He was then locked up though was rescued by Sara, Amaya, and Rory.

However, the Shogun had learned how to use Ray's suit and the team realized that they had to stop him before he used it to conquer all of Japan. Since Nate was the only one that could stand up to it, with his new powers, Ray had to teach him how. Nate was a little nervous as he still couldn't hone in his powers and his uncertainty made Ray angry as he had to teach him how to destroy the ATOM suit despite the money, time, and effort to master shrinking he put into it. He claimed that it was the only thing that truly made him a hero which made Nate speechless. Ichiro noticed Ray's discomfort and told him that armor was something that could be replaced but the man who wore it couldn't be. It was the person who wore the armor that gave it meaning.

Ray Palmer faces Tokugawa Iemitsu

Ray fighting against his ATOM suit worn by Tokugawa.

To stand up to Tokugawa he gave him his son's armor and sword to wield in the battle against him. Thanks to his understanding of his suit, Ray was able to cripple Tokugawa but he managed to overpower Ray. Thanks to the arrival of Masako and Nate, Tokugawa was defeated when the suit overloaded and exploded. Ray was sad to see his suit destroyed but happy to see that it wouldn't be misused. He apologized to Ichiro for the armor being damaged but he told Ray that it served its purpose to be damaged instead of the owner. After taking a better look at the sword, Ray asked for their family name and it was revealed to be Yamashiro.[49]

When the Legends received a distress call from a time traveler that crashed in the 1860s during the American Civil War, Ray had to stay aboard the ship as he was crippled due to not having the suit. When Rory was brought back to the ship, infected by a zombie virus, Ray and Stein had to work in finding a cure. However, Rory escaped and Ray had to go off and work on the cure and left Stein to track him down. Stein was scared as he had an innate fear of zombies and Ray sternly told him to pull himself together if they were going to get out of this alive. When Rory was cured, he decided to give Ray Snart's Cold gun so that he could feel like a vital part of the team again.[50]

Mick and Ray using the Heat and Cold Guns

Ray using the Cold Gun alongside Mick and his Heat Gun before accidentally crossing streams.

Ray spent some time training with the Cold Gun though he said that he might be able to tweak it and even improve it though Rory told him that there was nothing wrong with it. Rory started to spend more time with Ray and tried to help teach him how to be like Snart, cold and calculating. When there was an aberration detected in 1987 at the White House, Ray and Rory went as part of a tour but separated away to find the cause of the aberration. Ray found Reagan's jelly beans and he wanted to try some but he didn't think it was allowed. Rory told him that he didn't play by the rules anymore and Ray went and stole some. They then found Damien Darhk and reported it to the team. When Sara went off to try and kill Darhk to avenge her sister, Ray and Rory arrived to try and stop her. The Secret Service showed up and Ray voted to stay and fight. He tried using the Cold Gun but accidentally crossed the stream with Rory's Heat gun which disabled both weapons. Ray and Mick were thrown back and it looked like the Secret Service would succeed in taking them into custody. Luckily, Firestorm arrived to help get them away before they could be arrested.

Ray went on a stakeout with Rory as he kept trying to emulate Snart's personality but Rory told him that he wasn't Snart so that he should stop trying to be. He should just be himself. When Stein's younger self was stabbed by Damien Darhk, he and Rory rushed over to bring him back to the Waverider. In the medical bay, Ray talked with Stein about how he didn't recognize who his younger self was. Ray said that anyone would feel that way about their younger selves and that he felt that way about his current self. He claimed that he didn't know who he was. When the team infiltrated the White House to stop Darhk making a deal, he revealed that he planted a bomb up at the peace dinner. Ray went with Rory to find and disarm it. Ray couldn't find a way to disarm it but knew a way to disable it using components from the Cold Gun. He managed to fry the bomb just a second before it could explode.[51]

The Legends approach Jonah Hex and Nate Heywood

The Legends approach Jonah Hex and Nate Heywood.

When Ray found that he was returning to the Old West when they detected an aberration, he was excited due to their last trip to the period. The Legends learned that the aberration was Quentin Turnbull was going to forge his own country in place of the United States by using dwarf star alloy to destroy the Continental Railroad and cut off the U.S. military from the west. Allied again with Jonah Hex they moved to stop the train carrying the alloy before it could detonate. Nate, using his new Steel abilities, managed to stop the train and Ray got his hands on the dwarf star. He found that there was enough left for him to forge over a dozen ATOM suits. Ray managed to re-create his suit but used the remaining dwarf star to forge Nate his own metallic suit.[52]

Fighting the Dominators
Whammied heroes face Green Arrow and the Flash

Whammied heroes face Green Arrow and the Flash.

The Legends were then called back to Central City in 2016 when Barry Allen called them for help with the threat of an invasion by the Dominators. Ray and his team re-met with Team Flash, Team Arrow and met Supergirl from Earth-38. Ray talks with Cisco about his new suit and Barry goes to see Ray and asked him where Snart was, however, Ray told him that Snart had sacrificed himself to save the Legends,[45] and that he had died as a hero, but Barry corrected him to say he died as a Legend. They all trained against Supergirl to help prepare against the future fight. When the President had been taken, they were all ready to move, but before they did Barry confessed about going back in time and creating Flashpoint. Ray was among those who were angry at Barry for taking it upon himself to change the past for his own gain especially given all the work the Legends had done to keep history safe. Supergirl led them off to try and save the President when the Dominators ambushed them and put them under mind-control. Ray along with the others attacked both Oliver and Barry though the arrival of Wally West helped stop them from destroying their friends. After Barry tricked Supergirl into destroying the mind control device, their minds all returned to normal. The team then forgave Barry for changing history as they realized that any of them would've done the same in his position. Yet, a moment later, Ray along with Oliver, Diggle, Thea, and Sara was taken by the Dominators.[53]

Captured aboard their ship, they were all placed in some kind of mental fantasy where their lives were relatively normal ones. Ray was a friend to the Queen family and was invited to Oliver's wedding to Laurel when he bumped into Sara and seemed to spark some memories of being teammates aboard the Waverider. When Oliver realized what was going on, he gathered Ray and the others to try and find some way to escape the fantasy. They confronted enemies of theirs from the past and fought their way through them before they found their way out of the hallucination and woke up to find they were on a spaceship, in outer space. They managed to get to an escape ship and tried to outrun the Dominators pursuing them when they were saved by the Waverider. Nate told them that Cisco, Felicity, and Oliver's new recruits managed to find where they were. They then realized that the reason they were taken by the Dominators was so that they could probe their minds to find intel on meta-humans. They then went to Gideon to learn that the Dominators were working on a weapon and the spaceship they were on was now heading for Earth.[54]

The heroes take on the Dominators in a final showdown

Ray with the other heroes as they face the Dominators.

Ray went with Oliver and Barry to meet with the President, but it was revealed to be a setup by Agent Smith to try and capture Barry to trade him to the Dominators for safety, in response for creating Flashpoint. They all fought off the agents and returned to Central City. Barry told all of them that he decided to give himself up but Ray and the others told him that they wouldn't allow him to do that and they were willing to fight and stop the Dominators their way. When the attack began, Ray joined the other heroes as the met the Dominators head-on. They fought them off as long as they could until Felicity activated a nano-weapon that brought them great pain and forced them to retreat. With Earth saved, all the heroes went back to Central City to celebrate and then Ray along with the other Legends returned to their mission.[55]

The Legion of Doom
Ray realizing that he just let Ness get captured

Nate informs Ray that he let Eliot Ness walk off with officers controlled by Al Capone.

When the Legends found an aberration in 1927, they went to Chicago where Ray and Nate found Eliot Ness. Ray went to Ness and told him that he was there to escort him to police headquarters, two officers arrived and told them that they had been sent to escort him. Ray let Ness go with them but learned from Nate that the officers were likely sent by Al Capone to bring Ness to him so that they could throw him in the river.

The Legends in Chicago

The Atom, White Canary, Steel, Vixen, Firestorm, and Heat Wave arrive at the Chicago docks to save Eliot Ness.

Atom and the Legends managed to make it to the docks and save Eliot Ness in time though he was unconscious. Ray and Nate went to the police station to pose as Ness and a federal agent to keep history back on track while the others went undercover at Capone's nightclub. When Ray and Nate arrived with the police, they learned that Darhk and the speedster they were after had kidnapped Sara and Stein. They then went to Capone's office where they managed to find his ledger and their friends, narrowly escaping being killed by Capone and his men until Nate jumped in front of Ray with his powers. However, as the two were working on Ray's new Exosuit, Jax came running in and revealed that Stein was really their speedster in disguise, who was after the medallion they kept Darhk from getting back in 1987. Ray managed to save Jax from getting killed by the speedster but he managed to get away. They then learned that Malcolm Merlyn left with the medallion in return for giving Sara Stein's location. They managed to save him before Capone threw him into the river. Ray and Nate then gave Ness Capone's ledger and set history back on course.[56]

Ray and Amaya were woken up by Nate's noise in the library as he was trying to unravel the mystery of the medallion. Nate then officially dubbed their enemy trio as the Legion of Doom which Ray seemed to like. They then learned that the medallion was able to help locate the Spear of Destiny which had the power to reshape reality itself. When they found signs that the Legion was in 1967 Los Angeles, they went off and found Rip Hunter who was going by the name Phil and was working on a film set. Unfortunately, their battle with Darhk and Merlyn to get him back scared George Lucas and he decided to quit film school. This created an aberration which made Ray start to forget his scientific knowledge as it was through Lucas' film Star Wars that inspired him to become an inventor and instead made him a surgeon. They did manage to find and rescue Rip but learned that he didn't have the spear, George Lucas did. He along with Nate and Amaya tried to find Lucas to get the spear and convince him to go back to film school but were jumped by Darhk and Merlyn. Ray found that his suit was gone and Nate didn't have his powers anymore since Ray hadn't invented them anymore.

Legends vs Legion

Ray and his team facing against the Legion of Doom.

When they learned that the spear had been thrown away, they all went to the dump where Ray, Nate, Amaya and Lucas had to dig through the trash to find it. The two former assassins began the trash compactor to motivate them to look faster. Ray and Nate told Lucas that he had to go back to film school or they wouldn't have their powers anymore. They found the spear but knew that if they gave it up they would be killed anyway. George Lucas then admitted that what he really wanted to do with his life was direct and it corrected the aberration giving Ray his suit back and Nate back his powers. Using them, they were able to escape and overpower Darhk and Merlyn as well as take the medallion back from them. It looked like they would stop them but their speedster enemy arrived and tipped the scales back in the Legion's favor. Rip then appeared, seemingly his old self again, but it was quickly revealed to be an act to try and distract the Legion. In the chaos, the Legends watched as Rip was captured. That night, Ray along with Nate and Amaya decided to have a movie night with George Lucas' films.[5]

Ray worked with the other Legends to learn more about their new speedster enemy. When Stein revealed that he had a daughter that was a time aberration, he jumped at the chance of working with her when she had an idea of linking the medallion data with Gideon. He met Lily Stein and together they succeeded in networking the two and celebrated with some champagne. However, Mick accidentally revealed that that Lily was an aberration and Ray suggested to her that she should talk to her father.[57]

Ray was in his room when he found droppings from a rat which he guessed had stowed away because of Mick's sloppy eating habits. When there was a massive time quake, he quickly found Nate and Amaya as Gideon told them that it was due to George Washington getting killed before he could lead the American army across the Delaware in 1776. Ray miniaturized himself to stealthily cover the team when they found Washington. Rip Hunter, now with the Legion, released an EMP wave that shut down Ray's suit and left him shrunk. He was taken to the Waverider where he worked to try and fix Gideon's data drive. On his way there, he ran into the rat that he had found and it chased him to the drive. When power was restored, he was able to re-activate Gideon. When his suit was repaired, he went back to normal size and celebrated Christmas with the rest of the team. He also managed to capture the rat and he gave it to Rory as a Christmas present.[58]

Gideon was able to use Lily's algorithm to locate a piece of the spear in the year 3000. However, when the team arrived, the spear had already been stolen by Rip and he had murdered Dr. Mid-Nite. Shortly afterwards, Gideon again located another spear fragment in 507 A.D. Britannia. Ray was excited to be in Brittania as he loved Arthurian lore though Nate told him that his expectations were way off base. Ray, Nate, Jax, Amaya and Sara went through the woods towards the spear's location while Nate kept correcting them on their views of medieval England, especially their misconceptions about knights in armor, just as knights in armor arrived to surround them. Ray immediately spoke to try and explain themselves and was ecstatic to see that they were Knights of King Arthur's Camelot. The leader then revealed herself as Guinevere and agreed to escort them to the castle. In the castle, they found King Arthur sitting with his other Knights of the Round Table. He explained that a dark knight was recently abducting knights from his kingdom and Ray quickly assured the king that they weren't their enemies. Arthur was still not sure so he called for Merlin to see if they were truly trustworthy. Ray and the others were shocked to find that Merlin was really Stargirl.

The Legends enter the court of Camelot

The Legends enter the court of Camelot.

Ray was feasting with the others in the castle and he quickly found Sir Galahad and went over to introduce himself. Ray told Galahad that he was a big fan of the knight thought it meant that he made wind. He quickly explained himself better and Galahad told him that he was just a humble servant and was happy to serve an inspiration like Arthur which Ray quickly agreed the king was. When the king returned, it appeared that he captured the knight that was terrorizing the kingdom but it was revealed that it was a trick by both Damien Darhk and Rip. Rip was using mind control tech to have Arthur be their puppet and demanded that they get Stargirl's fragment of the spear. A fight broke out which had Arthur kill Galahad while Darhk demanded that they surrender the spear or they would unleash a brainwashed army to destroy Camelot. Ray mourned Galahad's death and took his sword. When Guinevere gathered the knights together to stand against the Legion, Ray was present for her inspirational speech and moved to join them for battle. Nate found him as he took Galahad's sword and infused it with ionic energy from his suit to make it stronger and even light up. Nate told him that the team had the spear fragment and were leaving though Ray wanted to stay and fight for the kingdom as it meant so much to him when he was a child. Nate warned Ray that he checked his manuscripts and saw one of Ray's funeral but Ray accepted it all being part of what it was to be a true legend.

Ray fighting for Camelot

Ray fighting as a knight of Camelot.

Guinevere took Galahad's sword and officially knight Ray as Sir Raymond of the Palms. The Legion met the knights on the battlefield at dawn and the two sides clashed in brutal combat. Ray fought beside Stargirl as Nate, Amaya, and Sara arrived to help. When Ray got to Nate, he asked if he came to fight for an imaginary kingdom after all but Nate told him he came to fight for his friend. When Stein and Rory managed to cut off the Legion's control of the army, he watched as all of the men were freed including Arthur. He then watched as Arthur unhorsed Rip and helped capture him. However, Darhk rode his horse from the battlefield and tried to escape. Ray went off and pursued him, ignoring Nate's cries to keep him back. Ray rode to find Darhk's abandoned horse and Darhk emerged from his spot and told him that he was a glorified nerd, not a knight. However, Ray wasn't intimidated and was ready to fight against him.

Ray Palmer vs Damien Darhk

Ray fighting against Damien Darhk.

The two crossed swords and Ray was able to use his ionic charged sword to destroy Darhk's sword and knock him down by clearly catching him off guard. Darhk quickly admitted defeat before he pulled out a hidden blaster and shot him. Nate caught up to him and found him on the ground, unconscious and seemingly dead, and became scared that the manuscript's prediction had come true. Ray then woke up and revealed that he was still okay as he had worn a piece of his Exosuit under his armor for further protection. Guinevere told Ray that he would always be welcomed at the Round Table and he and Sara left but not before he told Sara that every good legend ended with a kiss. Ray moved aside as she went to kiss the queen goodbye. When Ray made it back to the Waverider, Nate asked if he wanted to see how he was remembered in the story of Camelot but Ray said he would rather make his future along as he went. Nate then looked to see that Ray now had a solid place in the legend.[3]

Rip stops the bizarro Legends

Rip stops the bizarro Legends.

Ray was on the bridge when Rip had managed to cause the ship to begin locking down and then later initiate self-destruct. Jax managed to reboot Gideon but the Waverider ended up crash landing in the same time that Ray had been stranded when the Time Scatter was initiated. Gideon explained that when she was rebooted, she took them to the oldest time that was in her logs which was his time. They all wanted to leave but couldn't as a vital part of the ship broke off in the crash. Ray volunteered as he knew the area and took along Nate and Amaya. They found out that the part landed in a place that Ray knew belonged to the T-Rex Gertrude that he stole eggs from. Gertrude picked up his scent and tried to go after him. He took the others to the hut where he had stayed when he was there and when they found his dolls, he explained that he had been lonely. He left to catch something to eat and loudly announced his return to the hut, breaking a moment between Nate and Amaya.

Later that night, Ray quietly told Nate that he interrupted them on purpose and told Nate he couldn't be with Amaya as it would endanger the existence of her granddaughter. He told him that Amaya has a destiny, unlike them, and will eventually have to go back to 1942 and to her village. He also told Nate of the fate of her village and he wanted to tell her but Ray told him that he couldn't. The following day, they found the part and it was in Gertrude's nest. They managed to sneak in and grab it but Gertrude caught up with them. He and Nate were prepared to fight but Amaya invoked her totem and calmed Gertrude and the dinosaur left them in peace. Ray then reinstalled the part and he quickly apologized to Nate for trying to steer Nate away from Amaya but Nate told him that he was right and couldn't be with Amaya. He then stood with the team when Rip, with his old self fully restored, met with the team. Ray was happy to have the old Rip back again and he revealed that he knew where the last fragment of the spear was.[47]

The Legends managed to track down Commander Steel to NASA in 1970 where he was a mission control supervisor overseeing the Apollo-13. Ray went with Rip and quickly found Henry Heywood at a press conference and Ray deduced that he must be nervous due to the crisis that Apollo-13 suffered when its oxygen tank exploded. He then spotted them and he then quickly punched Rip on sight. Ray then nervously greeted the man after Rip was taken away. He asked Henry why he punched Rip and he told him that it was between the two of them. When the others joined them, Henry revealed that his fragment of the spear was safely in Neil Armstrong's flag on the moon. When they learned that the shuttle was suffering no problems, they realized that history had been changed.

Thawne vs Palmer

Atom fighting Eobard Thawne aboard the Apollo-13 space shuttle.

Ray went aboard the Waverider with the others to check out the shuttle and get the spear fragment when they saw that it was completely off course and was heading for the moon. Sara had Ray shrink down and head for the shuttle to find out what was going on. He flew over and got inside to find that two of the astronauts were unconscious and Eobard Thawne was there. He moved to follow him but was quickly spotted by the speedster. They went into an all-out brawl and though Thawne couldn't use his speed, he managed to damage his suit's thruster system. Ray managed to blast Thawne and then tied him up. The part of the shuttle they were in separated and crash-landed on the moon and Ray told them that he would need a pickup as he couldn't fly back by his suit or the shuttle.

Ray Palmer retrieves the last fragment of the Spear from the US flag on the moon

Ray retrieving the last fragment of the spear from the moon.

He excitedly went over to Armstrong's flag and retrieved the spear fragment but the team told him that the Waverider had been damaged by meteors and couldn't pick him up. Ray realized that he would have to repair the shuttle by using the dwarf star in his suit to power it. Thawne quickly pointed out that if Ray didn't do it correctly then it would make the shuttle explode mid launch. He argued that fixing the shuttle would require two people to help repair it. Thawne offered an alliance and temporary truce which Ray grudgingly accepted. They moved to repair the shuttle and Thawne told him that it was nice to actually work with another scientist again and that they had more in common than he would think as they were both scientists that chased after the impossible.

Eobard Thawne talking with Ray Palmer

Ray being told by Thawne that they are a lot alike.

Ray disregarded his words and Thawne said that it was easy for Ray to think of him as a monster but he had met history's greatest monsters and he argued that he wasn't one of them. Ray disagreed as Thawne killed Barry's mother twice, Rex Tyler and brainwashed Rip so that he would turn into a killer. Ray claimed that he used his science and suit to try and help people but Thawne told him that he really was the ATOM because he wasn't satisfied with his small life and there was no shame to try to be greater. Ray asked if that was why he wanted the spear for but Thawne said that what he wanted was to live. They finished repairing the shuttle and managed to successfully take off and make it to the Waverider.

Ray moved to put Thawne into their ship's brig before going to the bridge with the others. They saw that they needed to re-enter Earth's atmosphere without the help of Gideon and if they didn't angle themselves correctly then they would either burn up or get bounced off for the sun's orbit. Ray knew that Thawne would know the right angle and Thawne easily told him it was 38 degrees. The team was having doubts about trusting Thawne's answer and Ray believed that Thawne was telling them the truth. Sara agreed and decided to angle the ship to 38 degrees.

Ray Palmer confronts Eobard Thawne

Ray intercepting Thawne as he tries to make his escape.

To get the ship to be angled, Henry Heywood had to sacrifice himself to open the cargo bay doors which sucked him off into the atmosphere. When they landed, Thawne then phased out of his cell but Ray was waiting for him with a speedster weapon as he knew he would try that. Ray guessed that Thawne was a time remnant and was being chased by something trying to correct the abnormality that he was. Thawne's watch alerted him and Ray guessed that Thawne would have to leave without searching the ship for the fragment. Thawne smirked at him before he assured him that they would meet again before he sped off.

Fight for reality

With all the fragments found, the team knew they had to try and get the Legion's fragments before they tried to make a move for theirs. Rip revealed that the Legion had been operating from the Vanishing Point and they set course for the destroyed outpost of the Time Masters. Ray shrunk down and went through the base and found Thawne in his lair. He didn't seem to realize they were there and kept his eye on him until the rest of the team found the fragments and got them. When the fragments were placed together, they watched as they melded together and the spear became whole. Rip then warned them that the spear would try and tempt them into using it by playing on their desires, dreams, and regrets. Mick tried to destroy it in front of them with his Heat Gun but didn't affect it at all. However, it revealed a message that Nate was able to translate into revealing that the Blood of Christ created it and could also destroy it. Since the team couldn't go to the crucifixion to preserve the timeline, they went to find the only person on Earth with leads on where Sir Gawain had retrieved and hid the blood of Christ in his quest, J.R.R. Tolkien.

He was serving as an officer in World War I and the team went to France in 1916 to find him. When they retrieved the famous author, he revealed that the best place to find answers was in Sir Gawain's resting site at a cathedral. Ray went with most of the team to the cathedral where they found the bones of Gawain. However, they were surprised by the sudden return of Leonard Snart, who had been recruited by the Legion. They had gone back in time to before Snart joined the Legends and told him of his fate and he agreed to join them to change his future. Darhk also appeared with a platoon of World War I German soldiers who attacked them. They were then forced to flee and head back to the ship. After Nate and Tolkien found the location of the blood, which was in the center of the battlefield, the team decided to get the two warring sides to call a temporary ceasefire. They managed to succeed and get to the blood but through Snart, Rory decided to join the Legion and gave the spear over to them. The Legion then used its power to rewrite reality.

Ray was made into a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs and had no memory of his past life. He was cleaning some glass from Stein's dropped picture frame at the reactor lab though he didn't recognize him. However, he had a sense that things weren't quite right and, on instinct, created a device which would help restore a person's proper memories. He was then found by Nate and Rory, who had decided to try and make things right, for help. Nate was skeptical that Ray could help them until he showed them the device he made. Rory then used it on Nate and found that it worked when Nate regained his memories and punched Rory for his betrayal. Rory then used it on Ray and he also punched Rory immediately for his betrayal and for him getting stuck cleaning an obscene amount of dirty toilets. They were then found by Sara and Amaya who had been altered to now be loyal henchmen for Damien Darhk. Nate and Ray tried to get through to them but it didn't seem to work to stop them at all. In the struggle, Sara was hit with Ray's device which made her regain her old self as Amaya ran away.

Sara had then gone off to get back Amaya and also brought back Jax and they learned that Thawne was building a new reactor which he would use to destroy the spear. They then realized that if the spear was destroyed then they couldn't put reality back to normal. The team then headed off for the reactor, minus Rory as none of them felt that they could trust him after what he had done. They found Stein at the reactor but he couldn't snap back to his former self and he quickly sounded a silent alarm to alert Thawne that they were in the lab.

Thawne faces the Legends

Ray and his team are confronted by Thawne at his thermal reactor.

Thawne had the spear in his possession and after his security surrounded the team, he was moving to throw the spear into the reactor and destroy it in front of them. However, the rest of the Legion, including Rory, arrived to stop him as they planned to keep the spear and use it to erase Thawne. A fight then broke out which had the spear constantly changing hands until it ended up in Rory's. Rory mentally debated on who should have the spear and he finally decided to give it to Amaya to use and repair what had happened. Before she could repair reality, the team watched in horror as she was killed by Snart's Cold Gun. Thawne then snatched the spear and destroyed it in front of them all. The Legends were ready to fight Thawne with everything they had but Thawne felt that them being stuck in this reality and with no one ever to believe them of how they were almost able to become Legends was a better punishment than death. Ray was with the others as they felt there was nothing else to do but Sara came up with an idea: to go back in time to when they lost the spear to the Legion and make sure that they never get it.

The Legends stand around the whole Spear of Destiny

The Legends stand around the whole Spear of Destiny.

The team had to find the Waverider first which had come to them in a miniature state. Rip told the team that Thawne had used Ray's ATOM suit to shrink it and it could be used to enlarge it again. Ray guessed that Thawne had it in S.T.A.R. Labs and they broke into the complex to look for it. He and Jax found it in his tech room and Ray immediately was happy to see it and even gave it a kiss to Jax's discomfort. Ray put the suit on just as Damien Darhk stumbled upon them. Ray had enough time to fire a plasma blast at Darhk's guard before Darhk held him and Jax in a mystic grip. Rip distracted Darhk with the Waverider's miniature weapons before Rory came and knocked him out from behind freeing the two of them. Ray then used his suit to return the Waverider to its normal size and they escaped an alternate reality and headed back for 1914. Rip warned them that they couldn't allow themselves to be seen by their past selves or it could be disastrous. They planned to get to the blood of Christ, now that they knew where it was buried, and leave it for their past selves to find when they go to the church. Ray then asked what would happen to them if they succeeded and they realized that they would disappear as they wouldn't exist if the Legion used the spear in the first place as they were now an aberration.[59][60]

Thawne kills Ray Palmer

Ray is killed by Eobard Thawne.

Ray used his suit to go to the battlefield and got the blood from where it was buried but it was taken from him by Thawne. Ray demanded the blood to be given back to him but Thawne went and crushed the vial in his hand. The speedster then said that he had been told to just erase the Legends the entire time and felt that he should finally follow that advice. The next thing Ray knew, Thawne sped over to him and punched through his chest and ripped out his heart. Ray took a moment to gasp out in horror before he collapsed on the ground, dead. His friends mourned him but Rip reminded them that Ray's present self is still alive and he could be saved if they succeeded.

The Legends travel to Aruba before crash landing in an alternate Los Angeles 2017

The Legends travel to Aruba before crash landing in an alternate Los Angeles 2017.

The Legends did succeed, and Eobard was killed by Black Flash, erasing his and Amaya's deaths. They went back on to the Waverider, and Rip left the team shortly after, claiming there was nothing left for him to teach his team about time travel. After he left, a time storm hit the ship, due to their interacting with their past selves, and they crash-landed in Los Angeles, however, when they arrived, they found themselves surrounded by futuristic buildings and dinosaurs.[61]

Temporary retirement

As the Legends tried to figure out how to fix the now disheveled timeline, they were nearly attacked by a dinosaur only for it to run into a portal leading back to its own time period. Various portals soon opened up with Rip himself stepping out of one to explain to the group that their services were no longer needed as Rip revealed to them that in the time that he had left (15 minutes for the team; 5 years for him) that he had established the Time Bureau, a more organized and professional organization able to fix anachronisms without the extra damage the Legends usually caused and relieved them of their duties along with the Waverider.

Ray decided to settle down in Silicon Valley, revealing to the public that he was alive. However, his reputation was damaged due to Felicity being fired as CEO of his company. Ray started working as a software engineer for Upswipz and was unhappy at getting demoted in life itself.

When Sara contacted Nate and him about Mick running into Julius Caesar in Aruba, they agreed to find the Time Bureau to see about returning to their old time traveling lives. The three of them found the bureau but were greeted with hostility when they arrived. Rip arrived to quell the hostility, but Nate quickly grabbed him and angrily demanded that Rip tell him if he was the one to convince Amaya to return to 1942. He told him that it was Amaya who came to him and asked to return.

Sara challenges Julius Caesar

Legends and Julius Caesar.

Shortly after, they were kicked out of the Time Bureau headquarters after Mick caused chaos by picking a fight with who he thought was Julius Caesar, but in reality was a tourist. After witnessing Mick force out a Roman Aereus from a vending machine, they realized that he was telling the truth about seeing Caesar. With this in mind, they stole the Waverider and reunited the Legends, sans Amaya, whom Nate refused to see.

After traveling to Aruba and capturing Caesar, the Legends made the decision to return to 1942 on their own. However, when Nate took a selfie with Caesar, he inadvertently allowed Caesar to steal his history book on Rome, allowing Caesar to learn about the future and allowing him to conquer the entire world. The Time Bureau arrived before the Legends could act, however, and attempted to take over the operation only for Agent Sharpe to be captured and the operation to end in abject failure. After some persuasion, Rip allowed Ray and the Legends to finish the job, and Nate and Ray retrieved the book successfully: thereby setting history back on its proper course.[62]

Return to time travel

Fixing anachronisms

After Nate, Ray and Jax reverse engineered stolen Time Bureau technology to track anachronisms, the Legends settled on a Level One anachronism in 1870 Wisconsin, specifically P.T. Barnum's fledgling circus. After some digging, Nate, Jax and Ray found the anachronism, which turned out to be a sabertooth tiger. Upon attempting to contain it, however, they inadvertently enlarged the tiger and allowed it to escape its enclosure. Knowing that none of the Legends had handled animals, Sara sought out Amaya, much to Nate's displeasure.

Ray and Jax eventually accompanied a frustrated Nate to a nearby bar for drinks, during which Nate revealed his powers to P.T. Barnum in a bar fight. When asked by P.T. Barnum regarding his abilities, a drunken Nate revealed the abilities of everyone presented he said Ray could shrink. Ray protested and said he couldn't do it naturally without his suit, but Barnum kidnapped him and Jax. They were forced to dress as conjoined mixed racial twins. When the crowd began to lose interest in the performance, Barnum coerced Nate into "steeling up" by first threatening him, then Amaya. Barnum then shot Nate multiple times despite Nate's protests, angering Amaya to the point where she attacked Barnum, driving him out of the tent. This distraction allowed Ray along with Jax to be free. After that Ray made his way back to the Waverider, where Amaya revealed to the Legends her lack of control over her powers. Ray along with the rest of them promised to help her.[63]

Amaya Jiwe creates a totem shield

Atom, Mick, and Amaya confront Kuasa.

Ray and the others witnessed Gary Green ask for their help in solving an anachronism in Seattle in 2044, and they agreed to help. The Legends tracked down the person responsible for the anachronism and came across a metahuman named Zari Tomaz. Ray and the team found Zari in her lair and discovered that she was a skilled hacker, and Zari left for the Legends to confront the agents of A.R.G.U.S., who were hunting and murdering metahumans.

Ray still had hopes that she was good, and they saved her from a resurrected Kuasa, who wanted to kill Zari. He and the Legends helped her rescue her brother Behrad Tomaz, but this was a deception from Zari. Ray, Mick, and Amaya helped Zari fight Kuasa to save her. By saving her, Ray and the others welcomed Zari to the team.[6]

Saving his younger self

Ray called everyone to do a confidence test for Zari to learn how to work as a team. Ray started his trial with Mick, but Ray mysteriously disappeared and appeared, and they realized that Ray was murdered as a child. To save their future, Ray and the others traveled to 1988 and began keeping an eye on the young version of Ray. Ray shrugged off to follow his younger version to home, and they found out that he befriended a time-shifted Dominator who call Gumball.

Zari, young Ray, and Atom fly away

Ray, Zari, and Young Ray fly away.

Ray talked to Zari about his childhood without friends and that his friends were stuffed animals, and he only watched the musical Singing in the Rain. He and Zari followed young Ray to the FBI base and discovered that Agent Smith and other officials were planning to kill Young Ray, who was trying to save Gumball. Ray saved his younger version and he and Zari saved Gumball, who made the agents sing. Ray, Zari, the young version of Ray, and Gumball flew off to escape the agents. After Gumball was returned to his mother, Ray and the others helped Young Ray to impress everyone on Halloween and show that Young Ray is cool. Ray and Zari began a friendship and watched Singing in the Rain.[1]

Facing the Darhks

The Legends suspected an anachronism in in 1895 London when bodies started turning up drained from blood, hinting to a vampire. As they tried to get clues by digging up one of the bodies, they instead ran into Rip who then informed them about the threat of Mallus, an ancient evil who he now believed was recruiting allies throughout time. He begged for their help but they were reluctant to trust him again. Rip offered to get the Time Bureau of their backs to which Sara agreed to work together. Believing that finding the vampire was key to tracking Mallus, they attempted to use Nate as bait but the plan went awry as Nate was kidnapped. Ray noticed that the body had a Palmer watch on it and revealed that the threat was not a vampire. He and the others were shocked to find out that Damien Darhk was going to be resurrected and were annoyed at Rip for tricking them. Rip pretended to agree and then locked the team in the Waverider. Sara had the ship's missiles target the cargo bay doors, so they could escape. They arrive too late as Darhk has already been resurrected in is killing Rip's Time Bureau agents one after one. The team tried to fight Damien, but he escaped with his daughter, Nora. Upon returning to the Waverider, Ray and the Legends were still upset, so they called the Bureau to arrest Rip and the Legends were allowed to time travel without permission.[64]

Wanted Poster with Jonah Hex on the Waverider

Ray and the Legends caught in 1937.

Ray tried to help Jax and Martin, so they could stop being Firestorm, but he accidentally caused Jax and Martin to switch bodies. When they learned of an anachronism in 1937 in Hollywood, the heroes immediately went there and discovered Helen of Troy, who was their target, on set. Her ability, or rather the "curse of beauty", forced her to flee and join K&B Pictures. The team went to the college prom where Helen was to be introduced, but there they discovered that Damien Darhk himself was their agent. The man wasn't going to fight the legends, wanting to compromise. Sara, however, disagreed, took Helena to the Waverider and ran away with her friends. When things seemed to be going well, Martin Stein in Jax's body defended Hedy Lamarry was attacked by Darhk's allies. Legends immediately traveled to, where Lance offered Damien an old league-style duel without magic or allies. Sara won the fight and when she was about to finish off the enemy, her daughter attacked her with magic, effectively wounding her. Fortunately for her, Firestorm joined the fight and forced the enemies to flee. Sara in serious condition was taken to the hospital room on the ship, where she began to regenerate.[65]

Ông Trời Mới cult

Ray, Amaya, and Zari in Vietnam.

With Sara still unconscious from her last fight, the team decided to tackle another anachronism on their own, encountering one in Vietnam in 1967. Ray, Zari, and Amaya went to a camp to talk to a soldier who had survived a monster attack of. While talking to the solider, Tomaz noticed that they were being watched by a mysterious woman. The women showed Ray, Zari, and Amaya the beast who turned out to be Grodd who intended to restore order in the world, starting with Vietnam. However, in the process, he could trigger a Third World War. Ray, Zari, and Amaya came up with a plan to stop Grodd, but he discovered their plan and told them to be prepared for fire. Later, Mick's father burst into the camp that the Legends had visited was going to kill all of the campers, but Mick was able to convince him not to. After dealing with Grodd, the team returned to the Waverider to eat a cake from President Johnson's wife's recipe. and later spotted Sara who had awoken from her coma.[66]

Crisis on Earth-X
Earth-1 heroes and Earth-X rebels listens to Oliver of Earth-X's bargain

Ray with the other heroes of Earth-1.

Ray was contacted by Felicity, who sent a message to help them with their current problem. Ray, Nate, Amaya, and Zari infiltrated S.T.A.R. Labs to avoid the Nazis of Earth-X. Ray saved Kara and Felicity from Eobard Thawne. Ray helped the others fight Thawne and Metallo and Ray got upset that Thawne wasn't dead. Like the others, Ray mourned Stein's death. Ray and the other heroes decided to avenge Martin's death by ending the Nazi invasion once and for all. He and the other heroes faced the Nazis and managed to defeat them. After the battle, Ray and the heroes attended Martin's funeral.[67]

Fight against Mallus

After the loss of Professor Stein, everyone on the team fought the duel in their own way. Leo Snart decided to help the crew express their emotions and with the help of a puppet he wanted them to tell Martin the last thing they wanted to say. The idea, however, was quite powerful after such a short time, and it did not work in the long run, and if that was not enough, a powerful anachronism emerged in South America in 1000. The Legends immediately went there, discovering that the Vikings worshiped a new god, Beebo, a present-day pet, and they also kidnapped young Stein. The heroes took up the younger version of their friend and returned to the Waverider, where they learned everything.

Beebo praises Jesus, science and evolution

Ray speaks through Beebo.

Wanting to go out and retrieve the toy from a Viking settlement, Sara asked Ava Sharpe for help, who helped the legends infiltrate the warrior tribe. Unfortunately for them, Mick was caught stealing the pet and the battle began, which was interrupted by Damien Darhk, who pretended to be the god of Asgard, Odin. Realizing the danger, the Legends retreated to make a plan. Ray decided to use Beebo to talk to the Vikings and convince them of their belief in Jesus, the science and managed to successfully convince them except for Freydís. After the Legends completed the mission, Ray and the team celebrated Christmas and said goodbye to Jefferson.[68]

Ray and the rest of the Legends meet John Constantine, who was an exorcist and friend of Sara. He and Zari encountered a young Nora Darhk, who was being possessed by Mallus. Ray and Zari took care of her to try to convince her to join the evil, but they couldn't do anything due to Mallus ending up possessing her until Damien Darhk appeared and saved their daughter. Ray and Zari were going to be killed by Darhk, but he decided to let them live. Upon returning to the ship, Ray led John to the exit, but before that he told Ray that if Sara is possessed by Mallus he asked him to kill her and Ray promised to do so if that happens.[69]

When Sara was scolding Zari, Ray tried to calm her down to prevent Mallus from manifesting. The hacker, however, decided to slightly modify the Gideon system, adding a program that searches for gaps in the history, so that Tomaz could save her brother and change the future. Unfortunately, the rest of the members returned from the mission, noticing the burnout of the AI core. Captain Lance became furious with Zari, who she ordered to repair the ship. During the repairs, a mysterious substance from the core pipes sprayed into the face of the woman who had fallen into a coma. As soon as the team found Zari, they took her to the medical room and hooked her up to Gideon. For the next few hours, the girl got stuck in a Gideon simulation, thanks to which the AI tried to show Zari that she can trust legends. As soon as she woke up, she was sure she knew her place in the band. From the information obtained from the simulation, she revealed to Sara the task that Constantine entrusted to Palmer.[70]

When Sara went on a date with Ava, the Legends followed the trail of the Zambesi totems. The first target was a fire totem, but this one was stolen from the Detroit museum by Damien Darhk. The second course was an earth totem hidden by Blackbeard in 1717 in the Bahamas. Everyone except Zari went to retrieve the artifact, creating the story of "Cruel Captain Jiwe" and immediately afterwards without Mick and Amaya returned to the ship, which turned out to be parked in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. This forced the team to leave their friends behind and roll back to 2018 to Star City. Soon after, Captain Lance unexpectedly appeared on board, who interrupted her date when she saw a ship falling from the sky. After the team explained to her what happened, Sara immediately ordered Zari to repair the ship and as soon as possible return to 1717, where the heroes finally captured the Earth Totem, lost the Anansi Totem. Ray spoke to Mick about his concern with Nora, and he knew that she was going to die, so Ray traveled back to 1717 to save her, but was knocked out by Nora and the Darhks kidnapped Ray.[71]

Nora and Ray in 1962 East Germany

Ray and Nora in 1962

Ray managed to inform the team that he was kidnapped by Damien and Nora. Ray was forced to have to repair the Fire Totem on Upswipz. Ray had to go with Nora to 1962 in West Berlin to achieve the cold fusion that was created by scientist Bernhardt Vogel. When they found Vogel, Ray and Nora were chased by a younger version of Damien. Ray wanted to help Vogel get back to his family, and he and Nora were surprised to see that adult Damien Darhk arrived to help them.

Ray talked to Damien about how he treated Nora and convinced Darhk to accept Nora as an adult. Damien knocked out Ray and tied him up. Darhk took Vogel to use as bait to save his daughter. Ray noticed that Darhk left the Atom suit, so he used it to free himself. Ray arrived to save Vogel, but it was too late, and the scientist gave Ray his wrist before he died, which contained the cold fusion. Ray couldn't escape and didn't want to kill Nora, so he destroyed the Berlin Wall to cause an aberration and lure his friends to come to the rescue. When the Legends arrived, Wally West managed to save Ray. Ray informed the team about the cold fusion to repair the Fire Totem, and they needed to face the Darhks to get it, but they were happy to learn that Wally managed to get the Fire Totem and retrieve the Earth Totem.[72]

Ray and Sara talk in his lab

Ray talks with Sara.

The team encountered strange changes over time, discovering a great anachronism in Memphis in 1954. Everything was linked to Elvis Presley, who never became "king of rock & roll", prompting legends to try to meet him at his uncle's mass. When Elvis was playing the guitar, Zari's totem went crazy, which forced the heroes to flee to the ship. As it turned out, Presley was the owner of the sixth missing artifact, the death totem. Wally swapped the guitar quickly, but that wasn't enough to fix the course of history. It turned out that thanks to the crystal, Elvis saw his brother's spirit while playing, which gave him the strength to continue making music.

Ray and Mick found Axl dead, which was a shame for Mick, so Ray organized a funeral for Axl in which Mick and Sara attended to remember their rat friend. After Nate and Amaya got the Death Totem from Elvis, Ray and the others put it away, as it was the most dangerous totem.[73]

As the anachronisms began to pile up, the team couldn't sit back and watch Mallus grow stronger. So Sarah divided the team into several smaller divisions and sent them to specific places to fix the time. Ray stayed with Mick, so he could repair the Fire Totem, but while they were working they were attacked by Sara, who was being possessed by Mallus through the Death Totem. Soon after, the rest of the team found Ray and Mick knocked out, for which they took both of them to Medbay. After everything was back to normal, Ray managed to wake up.[74]

Ray and Sara helped Gary find Ava. Ray managed to hack into Ava's files and went to Fresno to talk to Ava's parents, but found out they were just actors and returned to the Time Bureau, where they met Ava. After stealing Ava's time courier , Ray and the others traveled with the mothership to Vancouver, 2213, and encountered many Avas and Ray revealed that Ava is a clone. The trio infiltrated in Ava Corporation. There, they found out all about the clones, but accidentally woke up one of them, who then attacked them, but easily subdued her.

Suddenly, the real Ava arrived and confronted them for stealing the mothership and its time messenger. She asked where they were and why, but Sara told her that she knew their secret, but Ava was still acting confused and when she saw one of the clones, she fainted from sheer shock, which revealed to Sara that Ava had no knowledge of the clones. When they were about to escape, Ray and the others were ambushed by the clones and tried to fool them with the real Ava pretending to be one of them, but one clone revealed the artifact which led them to fight against the clones. Upon returning to the Waverider, Ray erased Gary's memory of what happened with the clones.[75]

John Noble (character)

Ray meets John Noble.

Nate alerted the team that Amaya had taken the jump ship to 1998 to save her Zambesi from destruction. At the same time, the team received a distress call from Rip that Grodd was going after Barack Obama in 1979, so Ray led Rory and Sara to save Obama while sending Nate and Wally to stop Amaya from changing history. Ray and the Legends managed to shrink Grodd and locked him in a jar to prevent him from escaping. Ray and the team encountered Damien, who asked them for help saving Nora from Mallus. The team took him back to the Waverider where they used a spell to trap him in a magic circle for questioning. Darhk gave them the Water Totem as a gesture of confidence and explained that he wanted to save his daughter from being consumed by Mallus and wanted to help them stop it. Ray made a plan to get into Nora's ear and pretend to be Mallus. Seeing Mick watching to John Noble in Lord of the Rings, Ray thought about using John's voice to pretend to be Mallus. Ray met with John to get him to say the words to trick Nora.

Ray palmer with the water totem

Ray with the Water Totem.

Ray entered the ear to activate Noble's words, managing to fool Nora. The team looked for loopholes to save Amaya's village but realized there were none. Sara suggested they should allow Mallus escape and then kill him. The team were skeptical but Darhk suggested he could also wield the Death Totem as it was drawn to him as it was Sara as he had also been brought back from the dead. Ray became the bearer of the Water Totem.

The Legends and Damien Darhk attempt to release Mallus

The Legends try to save Nora.

The team assembled in Zambesi and armed themselves with the totems, ready for Mallus to be released after Zambesi was saved. Ray ran into Nate and told him that they met John Noble. However, as Amaya's daughter Esi defended the village from the warlords, the timeline didn't change as the Legends found out Darhk had betrayed them and had released Grodd to destroy the village instead.

Legends see Mallus

Legends see Mallus.

The Legends engaged Darhk in a fight but he used his totem to fend them off. Darhk explained that he just wanted to save his daughter and allowed Nora to escape. Darhk then attacked Ray but Sara stabbed him in the back and they took his totem. The team then watched as Nora transformed fully into Mallus.[76] The team attacked Mallus but were unable to defeat it and were forced to retreat. Rip took the time drive and made it unstable, he lured Mallus towards him as he prepared to blow himself and Mallus up to slow him down, sacrificing himself in the process. Sara used comms to contact Rip who told her he was proud on them and that he hoped that they would all live up to the name Legends. As they said goodbye, Rip blew himself up when Mallus moved towards him. The team mourned and reconsidered their options and Sara decided to take them to a place where Mallus could not find, Salvation in the old west in 1874 as it was a temporal blind spot. When Sara left, Ray freed Damien, and they teamed up to save Nora. Having traveled in the past, Ray and Darhk saved Nora and Darhk took Nora's place to save her and sacrifice himself.

Nora ready to fight alongside the Legends in Salvation

The Legends and their allies prepare to defeat Mallus.

Ray and Nora reunited with the others in 1874 where they devised a plan to defeat Mallus and his army once and for all. Ray, Nora, Jonah Hex, Helen of Troy, Ava, Kuasa, and Jax fought Mallus' forces and watched in amazement as Sara, Amaya, Zari, Nate, Mick, and Wally used the totems to become a giant Beebo and fight to Mallus. After Mallus's defeat, Ray said goodbye to Nora, who was arrested by the Bureau and before Nora left, Ray gave Nora the time stone to escape. Secretly, Ray began to have feelings for Nora. The Legends bid farewell to Amaya, who finally returned to 1942. The team went to Aruba for a break and relaxed on the beach. Soon, Gary and Constantine showed up and Constantine told them that a new danger was looming - the creatures that were released from Mallus's realm throughout time.[77]

Losing Nate and relationship with Nora

Hunting magical fugitives
Unicorn hallucinogen

Ray and the Legends receive unicorn slime.

The Legends removed an aberration interfering with a tour of The Beatles although the Legends started getting bored by doing the same thing as they had spent five months fixing anachronisms while Constantine had mentioned magical creatures being loose. Zari confronted Ray about helping Nora escape the Time Bureau. The first magical fugitive that the Legends faced after defeating the demon Mallus was a Unicorn in Woodstock Festival, 1969. Ray and Nate were excited to see it until the unicorn began to kill, and the Legends were affected by the unicorn slime.

Legends pull Gary from the unicorn

Ray, Zari and Sara stop Gary Green from being killed by the Unicorn while Constantine casts a spell.

To find the unicorn, Ray and Zari went to the forest to find it, and saw a tree, which he thought was Nora, and since he was in love with her, Ray kissed the tree, until Constantine and Sara freed everyone from the hallucination. Atom got hair from Janis Joplin for Constantine's spell, and mentioned that his mother was a Janis fan. Ray, Zari, and Sara had to restrain Gary Green to prevent the unicorn from killing him for being a virgin. After this, Ray was taken by Zari to 2018 to see Zari play with her mother since she was a child.[78]

The second was found in Salem. Ray, Sara, and Zari went into town to find the fugitive, and their search eventually led them to Prudence Hawthorne, a teenage girl whose mother had been accused of witchcraft. Fetching John Constantine and Mick from the Waverider, the Legends followed Prudence into a remote forest, where they found Prudence and a growing cloud of sparkly fog. John demanded for the wicked spirit to show itself, but that "spirit" turned out to be Prudence's Fairy Godmother, who had escaped from Mallus' realm and been spit out into the timeline of Salem. The Godmother introduced herself and was about to sing a song until they cut her off and brought her and Prudence onto the ship.

Ray Palmer as pig

Ray as a pig stuck on the Waverider.

Closed in one of the rooms, Prudence worried about her mother, eventually using her Godmother's magic to unlock the door and escape. Ray and Mick moved to intercept them, but Prudence yelled at them to move, calling them swine. The Godmother turned both men into pigs, as well as removing John's mouth from his face before sweeping past them and exiting the ship. Just then, Nate arrived, having been sent by Ava Sharpe to find evidence of magic existing to help her receive the funds she needed to help the Legends with the fugitives. Nate listened as Ray explained (in pig language) the situation, replying that he could use Ray's help at the Time Bureau. Ray agreed to go but made sure that Nate would carry him there. Nate brought Ray forward and raised him in the air, but nothing happened. Nate tried again several times, pleading Ray to turn back into a human. Eventually, after a heartfelt conversation with Zari, Prudence released the Fairy Godmother, undoing all the spells she had cast but causing Ray to suddenly turn back into a naked human. Nate revealed his powers and caught Ray, whom he introduced to his father. Ray's transformation and Nate's powers would end up being enough to convince Hank to give Ava the $4.2 billion she needed for her new magic department.[79]

Later, after getting new clothes, Ray cheerfully met up with Nate, celebrating his "non-cloven digits" and opening up a time courier portal back to the Waverider. Ray gestured Nate through the portal, but Nate told him to go ahead, announcing that he would be staying in 2018 for a while to work at the Time Bureau and reconnect with his father (as well as finish recovering from his recent heartbreak, which he only told Sara[80]). Ray made Nate promise that the Legends would "see him for the next one" before hugging him goodbye. Ray shared a final glance with Nate, who gave him a reassuring smile, before sadly returning to the Waverider alone, leaving his friend behind in 2018.[79]

Ray and Nate say goodbye

Ray says goodbye to Nate Heywood before the latter begins his leave of absence from the Legends.

After leaving Nate, Ray continued his work with the remaining Legends, forming a bond with Charlie and getting a tattoo of a corgi on his bicep, but he admitted how much he missed Nate. Sara spoke to Nate and reassured the other Legends that he would be back soon.[80] While in pursuit of a shtriga in 1990s Maine, Nate was too busy at the Bureau to team up with Ray, so John went with him instead. The two served as summer camp boys' counselors while searching for the shtriga and the children that it had captured. Eventually, they found the missing children, but the kids were all on the verge of death. As Ray chanted the necessary incantation, John used magic to return their life forces back to their bodies, unmasking the shtriga's true identity in the process and allowing Sara and Ava to kill him. However, one little boy was still in severe danger. Eventually, John made a heroic sacrifice, sucking his own life force out of himself and healing the boy. Just then, the other boys that the two men had counseled arrived, worried after they didn't show up for food. Ray praised them as they loaded John onto a stretcher and gave electrolytes to the rescued children. The two returned to the Waverider, where Ray and Sara had Gideon sedate him while discussing possible solutions to healing John.[81]

Ray finally decided to search for Nora Darhk, who had escaped to a Renaissance Fair in 2018 to hide from her pursuers and avoid her use of magic. Ray tracked her down and saved her from a man who was trying to make a move on her, bringing her back to the Waverider and asking her to help him save John. She refused at first, afraid because her magic was connected to her dead father. Eventually, she agreed to a lifetime of magic after a speech from John. Ray connected her to a machine that used energy to help her send him life force, and in time, John was healed.

A few minutes later, John stood up and left to smoke, much to Ray's annoyance. Nora thanked him for seeing the best in her, saying that it was time for her to go. Ray placed the time stone in Nora's hand, begging her to travel as far away as possible and hide, not telling him where she was. Nora reminded him of how upset the team would be if he released her again, but Ray confessed that he cared about her more, only wanting her to be free. At this, she took his hand and the two traveled by time stone to the Bureau headquarters in 2018. Ray told her to get out, but she said that she couldn't keep running because she realized that repentance was her path to freedom. She placed the time stone in Ray's hands, reassuring him that it was time to pay for her past. As the Bureau agents approached, she squeezed his hand once more, and Ray watched as she turned herself in. She gave him one last look before being escorted away at gunpoint.[82]

Ray and Nora

Ray realizes that Nora is turning herself over to the Time Bureau in order to take responsibility for her past.

A month after their separation, Nate returned to the Waverider, where Ray eagerly went to greet him despite Sara's warning that Hank was also on the ship for an impromptu evaluation. The Legends noticed the time seismograph going off and settled on a mission to 1920s Paris. However, Sara had Ray, Zari, John, and Charlie stay behind on the ship to avoid looking unprofessional or causing a scene. Ray and Zari attempted to teach Charlie an American accent so she could act out as Amaya until Hank was gone, ultimately failing. Sensing his feelings for Nora, John reminded Ray that he could most likely sneak off the ship without being noticed. Ray flew the jumpship to the Bureau and begged Ava for permission to see Nora, but she refused. However, the new creature handler Mona had overheard their conversation and offered her help. Ray shrunk himself into an envelope, which Mona brought to Nora's cell, claiming it was a love letter from Ray. Unfortunately, Nora accidentally used magic to lock all three of them, as well as Ava, in the cell. Mona brought out a bottle of alcohol, and the three women began to bond as they drank the bottle. Mona and Ava eventually convinced Nora to open the letter from Ray, at which point he revealed himself and asked for help escaping from the letter's glue. Ray explained to the girls that he simply wanted to see Nora and make sure she was okay, which Nora found "stupid but sweet", but Ava scolded him for not listening to her. Ray then shrunk the door, allowing himself, Ava, and Mona back out into the headquarters. Later, as Mona was bringing in congee to help with their hangover, Nora asked her to deliver a response to Ray's "love letter", which the latter was happy to do because she now considered the two her generation's "Ross and Rachel".

The Legends regrouped on the Waverider, where they threw a pizza party before saying goodbye to Nate. Ray sadly mentioned how different the ship was without him, but Nate reassured him that they could always visit him at the Bureau and he would always be there in Ray's "giant heart". Ray listened as Nate gave an emotional speech about his growth as a Legend and reminded them to "enjoy the ride while it lasts". As the Waverider flew off into the temporal zone, Nate went to speak to Charlie in private, and the remaining Legends shared a toast together.[83]

Big Easy O's

Ray with a mustache.

Ray used a fake mustache to impress Nora, as she likes guys with mustaches. He and the Legends traveled to 1856 to catch the serial killer, Mike the Spike. Ray helped Didi Charbonnet's daughter to find Mike, but he was knocked out by Mike, and they discovered that the killer was a doll. Ray and the others managed to defeat him, and Mick ended up burning the doll and took it away in the Waverider.[84]

Erased timelines

Ray and Nate reunited twice more as members of the Custodians of the Chronology and the Puppets of Tomorrow when John fractured the timeline to save Desmond, but he eventually went back and fixed the timeline again, erasing these events from existence.[85]

Romance with Nora Darhk
Legends in Mexico City

The Legends in Mexico City.

Ray and the others arrested Mona Wu, as she had been found guilty by the Bureau for releasing a Kaupe, Konane. The Legends did not know whether to believe it or not, but they were interrupted by an aberration that occurred in Mexico City in 1961. Upon discovering that Konane was an important fighter, Ray and the others decided to support him and El Cura in faking a fake fight and protecting Mexican history. When the Bureau appeared during the fight, Ray and the Legends clashed with the agents, but they successfully managed to make Konane and El Cura the idols of Mexico again.[86]

The Legends stuck inside the Getaway

The Legends on a road trip.

Ray and the Legends traveled to 1973 to prevent President Richard Nixon from telling many truths to the country. He and Sara managed to kidnap Nixon and left Charlie pretending to be Nixon. Ray and the Legends captured the Agent of Ma'at that caused anyone to reveal the truth. He, Mick, Sara, Mona, and Constantine set out on a road trip to flee from Hank and Nate, who were chasing them. During the journey, Ray and the Legends were possessed by the Agent of Ma'at and spoke what they most concealed from the team. Ray and Mick were taken into custody by Hank, but thanks to Nate they managed to be freed and pardoned by Hank.[87]

Ray and Nora awkwardly share a bed

Ray and Nora awkwardly share a bed.

Ray attended Hank's funeral. In the bathroom, Ray ran into Nora, who had been charged with Hank's death, so Ray decided to protect her from the Bureau by taking her to the Waverider. Ray and Nora had an awkward moment trying to sleep in bed together, but he decided to sleep on the couch so as not to make the situation more uncomfortable. Unknowingly, Ray and Nora were affected by Zari and Sunjay 's song, I Surrender. This caused Ray and Nora to reveal their true feelings, and they finally had a night of passion.[88]

Defeating Neron and Tabitha

Ray helped Nora and John defeat Neron by removing him from Desmond 's body. Ray worried about Nora because Neron had hurt her so much. Unknowingly, Ray was being possessed by Neron.[89] Ray began to fight possession of Neron and tried to ask Constantine for help, but Gary came to his aid. Ray and Gary tried to eliminate Neron without success. When Nate arrived, Ray tried to make him leave and made a deal with Neron which was to give him his body in exchange for not hurting Nate, which Neron accepted and Ray lost his body and Ray was sent to Hell.[90]

Ray Palmer and Vandal Savage in Hell

Ray and Vandal Savage in Hell.

Ray was sent to be tortured by his old enemy, Vandal Savage, but the two of them delved into talking about Kendra and began to get along leaving their rivalry in the past.[91] Ray was transported by the Triumvirate before John so that he could decide if he wanted to bring Ray's body or save Astra Logue, but John decided to save Astra.[92] While playing Jenga, Ray screamed because a piece fell and Nora and John, who came to get him, thought they were doing something wrong to him. Ray kissed Nora who was happy to see him and Ray said goodbye of Vandal Savage and was returned to the real world, but in the form of a Soul Token due to Neron using his body.

Ray and Nate reunite in Heyworld

Ray and Nate share a hug.

When Neron broke his promise not to hurt Nate, Constantine managed to assassinate Neron by managing to return Ray to his body. Ray cried over Nate's death, but Ray, the Legends, Heyworld visitors, and the Magical fugitives sang Sweet Baby James managed to revive Nate. But without noticing it, the Legends changed the timeline causing that instead of Zari joining the team, her brother, Behrad Tarazi. Ray and Nate shared a happy hug and together with the others they left for new adventures.[91]

Anti-Monitor Crisis

Sara and Ray on game night

Ray and Sara on game night.

On December 10, 2019, Ray and Sara were at a bar in Star City, where they participated in a game night. In the last question of the night, which was "what was the last song recorded by Janis Joplin", Sara and Ray were convinced that their answer ("Mercedes Benz") would be the correct one, but the presenter announced that the Legends lost. Ray revealed that when they went to Woodstock in 2018,[78] the late singer noticed Ray in his suit, causing the story to be changed and the song "Little Robot Man", Janis' nickname for Ray, to be his last composition. At that moment, Lyla Michaels, wearing a blue suit, appeared on a table. Although Sara questioned her about her dress, Lyla did not answer and covered her and Ray in white light. Lyla, now called the Harbinger, revealed to Ray and Sara about the Anti-Monitor Crisis, an event that would destroy all the Earths in the multiverse. Ray and Sara, alongside Barry Allen, were dispatched to reconnoiter.

Ray Palmer as the Atom during the Anti-Monitor Crisis on Earth-38

The Atom during the Crisis on Earth-38.

Upon being taken to Earth-38, Ray, Sara and Barry prevented Supergirl from destroying a quantum tower that had emerged in the center of National City. The Harbinger explained that this was the Monitor's plan as a "last line of defense", where the tower would delay antimatter and prevent it from reaching Earth, while also finding out about the existence of the Anti-Monitor and its goal of destroying the towers. He met Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman, and Ray asked if he could make adjustments to her batarang, but she rejected him, threatening him. Brainiac-5 located the capsule of Superman's son and Lois Lane, revealing that the baby was in Star City 2046 on Earth-16, making Ray and Sara realize that they traveled to an alternate universe on their first adventures.[36] During the battle to save Earth-38, Ray fought alongside the Green Arrow, Mia Smoak and Batwoman against several shadow demons. During the fight, Ray helped Kate modify her batarang. The fight started in the interior of the tower and escalated outside. Later when the Monitor told the heroes the battle was lost, he portaled Ray to an unknown location.[93]

Novu argues with Ray

Ray argues with The Monitor.

As Harbinger arrived, Ray and Novu were in a disagreement about using the Waverider. When Harbinger found Mick Rory of Earth-74 with a Waverider, Ray and the rest of the heroes boarded the timeship to avoid the Crisis. While the other heroes did their missions, Ray stayed in the Waverider building the Paragon detector to find the seven people who would save the multiverse.

Ray meets Superman of Earth-96

Ray meets Superman of Earth-96.

While working, Ray overheard Mick reading his book, "Caged Passion", to Jonathan Kent, which Ray deemed inappropriate for Jonathan, but was surprised to see that Jonathan liked the book. Soon after, Ray met Superman of Earth-96, who was his doppelgänger, and asked him many questions about his gluten sensitivity. Ray believed that his machine was malfunctioning because the detector warned that there was a Paragon, but Monitor confessed that the machine works perfectly and that Kate is actually the Paragon of courage.[94]

Later, Ray used the detector and revealed that the last three Paragons being J'onn J'onzz, Barry, and Ryan Choi. Ray, Ralph Dibny, and Iris West-Allen visited Ryan Choi, and Ray was surprised to learn that Ryan was his fan. He revealed his Atom identity, and Ralph revealed that he is the Elongated Man. The trio tried to recruit Ryan to join their fight for the Multiverse, but Ryan refused because he wanted to be with his family. After Iris convinced Ryan, Ray and the others returned to the Waverider to prepare for battle. Later, Ray as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor,[95] only to be restored a month later, after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.[96]

New multiverse

Battle on Earth-Prime

Ray takes a selfie with Beebo

Atom takes a selfie with Beebo.

Ray was at the bar with Sara, who was confused by what was happening and thanks to J'onn J'onzz, Ray was able to regain his memories of Earth-1. Ray accompanied Barry and Kara to face a giant Beebo and Atom took a selfie with the stuffed animal. Ray, Barry, Kara and Mick tried to take down Beebo without success, but thanks to Kate Kane they realized that Beebo was a magical creation made by someone to steal.

Later, Ray and the rest of the heroes found out from Harrison Nash Wells that the Anti-Monitor returned. Ray, Ryan Choi and Nash created a device to send the Anti-Monitor into the microverse. Ray joined Barry and saved Superman from the Anti-Monitor. After defeating the Anti-Monitor, Ray turned Superman back to his normal size. Later, Ray, Sara, and Mick stayed in Arrow Bunker mourning Oliver's death.[97]

Fightning the Encores

The Legends at the premiere event for their documentary

The Legends in the premier of Meet the Legends.

During the Meet the Legends, Ray talked about Nora and how the world sees her after what happened with Neron. Ray and the team traveled to 1917 to discover that Grigori Rasputin was somehow revived. He and Nate tried to kill Rasputin to cheer Sara up, but they made it worse.

Ray and the others decided to help Sara and Behrad stop Rasputin. Ray got inside Rasputin and got big by killing Rasputin. Later, he received the help of Behrad to clean his exosuit. Ray and the others agreed to mislead the public by lying that everything they saw was false.[98]

Constantine and Ray in Burbank

Ray and Constantine in Burbank.

The Legends traveled to Burbank in 1947 where they faced another Encore, Benjamin Siegel. Ray pretended to be a cop and met Jeanie Hill, who was Siegel's ex-lover. Ray helped John Constantine to protect Jeanie from Siegel. Ray was locked in a car by Siegel's henchmen, who planted a bomb in Jeanie's car. Ray managed to warn Constantine to save Jeanie, but it was too late.[99]

Ray and Nate talk with Freddy Meyers

Ray and Nate talk with Freddy Meyers.

Ray offered the team a plan to travel back in time before the Encores were bad, but no one supported the idea. Ray ran into Nora, who was fed up with children asking for ponies, and he offered her his bed, so she could rest. The Legends traveled to the school reunion in 2004 to catch Freddy Meyers. Given the deaths that occurred, the Legends embraced Ray's idea to prevent Freddy from being evil. Ray along with Nate, traveled to 1989 to prevent Freddy from becoming a murderer. Ray and Nate pretended to be school mentors to talk to Freddy, but he turned them down, so Ray asked Nora for help to be Freddy's Fairy Godmother.

Legends' photo booth pic at Central City High 2004

The Legends enjoy themselves at the reunion.

On the prom night, Ray, Nate, and Nora watched with joy as Freddy went to the dance with his partner, Tiffany Harper. After Freddy surprised everyone at the dance, Ray and Nora danced. After completing the mission, Ray, Nora, Nate, Zari Tarazi, and Behrad reunited with the others in 2004 to celebrate and happily reunited with Freddy and Tiffany there.[100]

Legends at the Palace of Versailles in 1793

The Legends in 1793.

Ray tried to talk to Nora while she was working as a Fairy Godmother, but was interrupted by Mick. Ray inspected Mick, but saw that he had nothing and assumed that Mick was in love with Ali, but he did not accept it. The Legends traveled to France in 1793 and Ray believed that Nora was the Encore, but thanks to Nate he discovered that she was Marie Antoinette and Ray believed that she and Nora were related.

Ray, Nate, and Behrad fell under the temptation of the Marie Antoinette cake and kidnapped her by taking her to the Waverider. Ray spoke to Nora to show her the head of Marie Antoinette, but was shocked to learn that Zari took the magic perfume and alerted the team. Ray and Mick confront Marie's body and managed to retain her by locking the body next to her head in the cell.[101]

Helping Constantine

Medical Bay of the Waverider

Ray and Charlie help Constantine.

After Constantine's death was anticipated, Ray quickly treated him in the medical bay to prevent him from dying. Ray was during the explanation about the mission in 1997 in Japan and was excited to see Nate with a scooter. He and Gary tried to support John in trying to heal him, and Constantine agreed to help him. Ray called Nora to make Pippa ask that Constantine be cured, but the wish didn't work. He and Gary tried with Pùca, but it didn't work out either. This caused Constantine to get upset with his friends and force them to leave.

Ray and Gary stayed to try to help him, and John apologized to them by agreeing to be with them in their last minutes of life. The trio talked about their list of what they want to do before they die and Ray commented that he wants to propose to Nora, but he couldn't and Constantine encouraged him to do so. Ray and Gary were saddened to see Constantine commit suicide, but were happy to see that Astra spared his life and revived him.[102]

Marriage and leaving the Legends

Soon after, Ray along with Behrad, Gary, and Nate prepared everything so that Ray could propose to Nora, but he could not because Nora was tired of taking care of Pippa and Ray had to take care of her while Nora rested. In the Waverider, Ray entertained Pippa by showing her recordings of the show he watched as a child, Mr. Parker's Cul De Sac. Ray returned to Constantine's house to propose to Nora, but found out that Damien Darhk was resurrected and Nora had to pretend that Constantine was her partner, so Ray followed the deception and returned to the ship.

Mr

Ray as Mr. Parker.

Ray continued to watch Mr. Parker episodes with Pippa until Pippa encouraged him to propose to Nora and Ray thanked him. Determined, Ray returned to the house and together with Nora they revealed their romance to Damien, who did not take it very well and planned to kill all the Legends until Pippa arrived with the rest of the team and with a wish from Nora, Pippa sent everyone to Mr. Parker's Cul De Sac.

Ray, Damien, and Nora inhabit the world of Mr

Ray talks with Nora and Damien.

When the show started, Ray had become Mr. Parker and spoke with Damien and Nora to try and solve their problems and showed how Sara and Ava solved their relationship, Gary overcoming his fear of trains, and John and Charlie making amends for find the Loom of Fate. Ray continued to wear the speech hat, which allowed the wearer to speak, and Damien used it to criticize Ray and scold Nora.

Ray and Nora's wedding

Ray and Nora get married.

Ray managed to get Nora and her father to solve their problems and the three shared a hug and to finish, Ray introduced Nate as a sun, and they all made it out. Ray and Damien solved their problems, and Darhk gave Ray and Nora his blessing to get married. With everything ready, Ray was congratulated by his friends and Ray and Nora got married at Constantine's House and celebrated. During the celebration, Ray spoke with Damien, who told him that they should leave the Legends, so that Nora can do her job without problems, which Ray accepted and joined the others to dance.[103]

Ray and Nora in their quarters on the Waverider

Ray and Nora plan to leave the Legends.

After getting married, Ray and Nora had a night of passion, which Mick listened to. Upon awakening, Ray saw photos of his first missions in the Legends and told Nora that they will leave the team so that she can continue with her work as a fairy godmother. Ray and Nora lined up to go to the bathroom and tried to say they were leaving the team, but Mick went first and revealed that the couple is leaving the team, except for Nate and Ray had to lie to his best friend, so that do not be sad.

Legends' final mission with Ray

Ray celebrates his last mission with the Legends.

To start the search for the Loom, the Legends had to travel to 1594 to ask William Shakespeare for the first piece of the Loom and Ray considered that as the last mission with the Legends and Nate planned that the mission would be incredible before Ray and Nora went to honeymoon. Upon arrival, Ray, Constantine, Nate, Mick, Behrad, and Charlie easily got the first piece of the Loom and Ray convinced everyone to stay to celebrate the victory to make the mission longer.

While celebrating, the Legends were drunk and accidentally started a fight where they showed off their powers and Ray accidentally showed off his exosuit, so they had to run off with the piece. When they returned to the Waverider, Ray and the others realized that they created an anachronism by seeing that Shakespeare never wrote Romeo and Juliet and due to interference from the team, Shakespeare made Romeo v. Juliet Dawn of Justness.

Ray and Nora leave

Ray and Nora leaving the Waverider.

Ray apologized to Sara, who was also drunk, but she also apologized and said goodbye to Ray before he left the team. To make amends for his mistake, Ray talked to Shakespeare and managed to convince him to write Romeo and Juliet and Nate heard that Ray was planning to leave the team, which made him angry. When he returned to the ship, Ray and Nate argued about leaving the team and cheating on him and both ended their friendship, but secretly the two felt bad.

Nate hugs Ray goodbye

Ray and Nate say goodbye.

Ray and Nora packed their things and were ready to leave the team heading into 2020. When they were going to leave, Ray heard Nate calling him, and before he left he went and met him with watery eyes. Ray and Nate solved their problems by reestablishing their friendship, and they shared a goodbye hug. After this, Ray and Nora left.[4] Ray and Nate would regularly get together for drinks, but oftentimes, Nate wouldn't come, as he and the other Legends were in a different time.[104]

Retirement

Visiting Central City

Ray attended to the Central City Technology Convention as legacy honorary but found that his hotel was overbooked so he decided to stay on the West-Allen apartment. He talked to Barry and Iris West about his retirement from the Legends, but he mentioned that it was okay, as he was able to connect more with Nora, although he still missed his days as a hero. The morning after he met with Chester P. Runk who volunteered to be his handler through the convention.

Iris interviews Ray

Ray is interviewed by Iris.

Ray told Chester that his life as a the Atom and Legend had passed as he decided not to start another tech business and just wanted a balanced life with his wife. Ray attended the convention and was encouraged by Barry to remain a scientist and fix things. During an interview with Iris West, Ray revealed that he will return to technology, and will accept the ideas of all the young people, making amends for his mistake.

Flash and Atom confront Despero

The Atom and Flash face Despero.

Ray and the attendants were attacked by Despero who was looking for the Flash. While Barry fought the alien, Ray put on his A.T.O.M. Exosuit once again and helped the Flash fight Despero. Atom eventually shrunk himself and caused Despero's belt to malfunction, though he could barely recognize the navigation system, teleporting the alien to a random location and saving Barry. After the fight Ray realized that there was a middle ground beetwen his normal life and his life as the Atom, deciding to create a non-profit organization to fund young scientists named after Chester's father, leaving Central City and letting Team Flash handle Despero.[104]

Helping Chester

A few weeks later, Ray would be contacted by Chester to give him a container of dark matter to acquire traces of the mysterious Black Flame assassin. Chester used the container to take traces of the flame, and experiment with it.[105]

The missing Necrians
Ray briefs Nora on rescuing the Legends

Ray talks to Nora about rescuing the Legends on a mission.

Worried that Nate wasn't answering his calls, Ray put on his A.T.O.M. exosuit again, but Nora calmed him down fearing that he was worrying to much. Ray then went to Jefferson Jackson's house and recruited him, Kendra Saunders, and Carter Hall on his mission. The group then went to a bar to ask Mick Rory to give them his time courier so they could go rescue the Legends. However, they discovered that Mick and Kayla's children along with Mona Wu were kidnapped.

The former Legends unite in their rescue mission

The Atom and the former Legends team up again on their rescue mission to save Mick and Kayla's children.

Ray and the former Legends then used the time courier to time travel to different periods in history to try find the children, to no avail. The group then discussed the possible location of the Mick and Kayla's children as they reminisced about the time as a member of the Legends. Kayla then found out that her children were on the planet Necria, the Necrian homeworld. The former Legends traveled there, where they discovered that the kidnapper was Kayla's mother, Kamaya, and had to confront her to save the babies and Mona.

However, after learning that Kamaya and Kyle only wanted to meet their grandchildren, Ray and the former Legends made peace with Kamaya. On the way home, Ray talked to Kendra about their current lives and how much they've changed since joining the Legends. After returning to Earth, Ray received a call from Nate, where Nate couldn't wait to tell Ray about his adventures. The group then took a picture together. Two days later, Ray and Nora talked about their child. Nora requested that if their child was a boy, they would name him Damien after her late father, to which Ray agreed.[106] On his outings with Nate, Ray heard the story of how the Legends encountered another version of Eobard Thawne, who helped them break a fixed point in time in 1914 until he was killed by the Robot Legends.[107]

Reporting on Eobard Thawne
Ray makes a video to explain Thawne's return

Ray informs Team Flash of the Legends' encounter with Thawne.

In 2022, after Team Flash discovered a version of Eobard Thawne working at Fast Track Labs, Chester P. Runk reached out to Ray for help. Ray sent a video message to them while he was at the Quincy P. Runk Institute. He apologized for the delay in responding to Chester's request for assistance and said that there was a infestation of serpent creatures from the Morlaidh dimension. Ray then revealed that Nate Heywood, while having retirement drinks with him, had told him that the Legends had their own encounter with Eobard in Sarajevo. Ray then told the team about Eobard's time as a fixed point guardian and how he sacrificed himself to save the Legends' lives. After another serpent got loose, Ray went to grab his sword to capture the creature, ending his video message.[107]

Potential future

In the present future in 2049, Ray would leave his suit on display at the Flash Museum.[108]

That same year, Ray went to a bar in Star City, meeting up with Sara Lance, Jax, Mick, Wally West, Kendra, and Scythian. As they talked, Ray learned that Martina Jackson became a scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs, Mick's children did not become thieves and Alda and Sara's daughter became vigilantes, something that surprised Ray, however, the meeting was interrupted when Ray, Sara, Mick, Kendra, Jax, and Scythian disappeared from view mysterious way.[106]

Battle with Magog

Heroes united

Atom and the other heroes against Magog and his army.

Summoned by Oliver Queen to help Nora West-Allen and Bart West-Allen, Ray used his suit again, to join Nora, Bart, Kara Danvers , J'onn J'onzz, Ryan Wilder, Luke Fox, Wally West, Mia Queen, Ryan Choi, Jax, Kendra, Scythian, Ray Terrill, and other heroes to face Magog and his evil army. After the epic battle, Atom, Sara, Jefferson Pierce, and Clark Kent happily reunited in the Hall of Justice, where he agreed with Clark that their suits no longer fit them.[109]

Possible futures

Around midnight on April 25 in the year 2024, Ray, as the Atom, aided the Flash in his latest battle with Reverse-Flash, along with Green Arrow and Hawkgirl, on 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 that spread over 20 blocks and throughout the city. During the fight, the Atom aided the Central City Police Department in evacuating all the nearby buildings during the power outage. Eventually, the two speedsters disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Ray, Oliver, and Kendra behind.[110] However, a 2049 newspaper mentions the presence of the Elongated Man and Batwoman as well, meaning the timeline may have changed.[111] The timeline was further changed after the defeat of Cicada and the erasure of Nora West-Allen, which moved the crisis five years early.

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.[112] This future is no longer possible due to Snart dying, though it is possible that the version of Captain Cold seen was actually his Earth-X doppelgänger, or that Earth-1 Snart had somehow been resurrected.

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.[37]

In another future, the Legends face off against Cicada and attempt to stop him, but they ultimately fail, as does Supergirl.[111]

Erased Reverse Flashpoint timeline

In a timeline created by Eobard Thawne, Ray and the Legends died at the hands of Barry, who had become the Reverse-Flash, but the line was erased thanks to Barry with the help of Damien Darhk.[113]

Personality

Ray Palmer

Ray in his civilian persona.

"So you're always this positive, even when you're dead? How can you pretend like everything's okay?"
"I'm not pretending. I believe it. I found that if I can trust in myself, I can believe everything's okay, and it usually is. It's called positive thinking. Give it a shot."
Zari Tomaz and Ray Palmer[src]

As a child, Ray was lonely to the point of being delusional, as he didn't want to face the fact of that the world is imperfect; however, he eventually outgrew his lonely and delusional traits by the time he became an adult.

As an adult, Ray is an ambitious, intelligent and charismatic businessman. He is highly motivated to achieve more success and is willing to work both honorably and 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. 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.

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. Ray 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.

The Atom

Ray as the Atom.

"I became the Atom to make the world a better place. And I'm pretty sure that saving it counts."
—Ray Palmer to Felicity Smoak[src]

Behind his positive attitude is a sad side as Ray had lost his fiancée Anna who was killed in front of him. Ray mentioned that 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.

Ray is also known to be a workaholic, as he once went several days without sleep, food, or bathing while still obsessing over his A.T.O.M. 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 the 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.

Ray is a very loyal person that can't stand to see people in trouble. While personality wise, he is considered a "boy-scout", especially by the likes of Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, 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, and when the team collectively obliterated the Pilgrim.

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. But he and the other heroes decide to forgive Barry with Ray saying that he and the other heroes still trusted him no matter what message, however, Ray was also being hypocritical; as he would have done exactly the same thing the latter did, if he was in an emotional state, and not thinking clearly. It was also seen that Ray is a little self-conscious of the fact that he fears he wouldn't be remembered or do anything too significant with his life. It was this fact that led him to join Rip Hunter in the first place. It was also seen when he showed his anger in helping Nate Heywood learn how to destroy his suit, believing that it was the only thing that even made him a hero.

"To Ray, who taught me how to be a better friend by being a better friend than I deserved."
"Who told me that if you're dumb enough to expect good from the world, well, it might just live up to your expectations."
"And who showed us that there's never a problem so big it can't be solved with a smile.
"
Nate Heywood, Charlie, and Sara Lance about Ray[src]

Ray is very open and warm-hearted, always working to keep the team's spirits up and seeming to want to make everyone welcome. Ray's sense of optimism, innocence and steadfast adherence to his principles would easily make him the most morally-upright member of the Waverider's crew. Though he was one of three remaining members of the original team, he seems to love meeting and connecting with new members. Soon after Amaya Jiwe and Nate Heywood joined the team, he formed very close bonds with both of them, and they went on a few missions together as a trio. Being close with both of them also allowed Ray to help Nate begin to navigate his romance with Amaya.[47] Ray also played icebreakers with Zari when she joined,[1] showed excitement when he saw that John Constantine was joining,[79] and opened up to Charlie even before he knew that she would work with the Legends.[80]

Ray takes Nate and Nora to prom

Ray was often the first to form a bond with his fellow Legends, such as his best friend Nate and wife Nora.

However, as much as he likes new members, he also strongly dislikes saying goodbye to old ones. Ray openly mourned the losses of Carter Hall (even though he barely knew Carter),[32] Leonard Snart,[45] and Rip Hunter,[77] and he even cried during the funeral of Martin Stein.[67] When Nate began working at the Time Bureau, Ray became lonely and a bit more serious until reuniting with Nora Darhk, and he sat in quiet sadness for most of Nate's farewell party.[83] Nate's apparent death left Ray devastated, and he was one of the first to help channel love in order to magically save Nate's life.[91] However, throughout his time on the team, Ray rarely let his sadness or nostalgia distract him when a mission was at hand, proving his strong morale and inner workaholic.

Powers and abilities

Powers

  • Exosuit application: Ray uses his advanced exosuit to replicate powers akin to those of meta-humans and magic users. Some of the suit's capabilities can affect him in a way that they can still apply to him even after he's removed the suit.
    • Size alteration: Ray is able to change his own respective size, able to shrink or grow to whatever size he chooses. The effects still apply to him even after he's taken the suit off. This allows him to infiltrate wherever he wants with a low likelihood of being caught when he's shrunken. His larger heights also proportionately increase his strength and durability, allowing him to fight the Leviathan and win.[43] By the time of the Earth-X invasion, Ray was able to enlarge only parts of his body with no loss of balance and control, which notably allowed him to enlarge his arm to fill an entire corridor and crush several armed men, knocking them unconscious.[67] Additionally, Ray can also change the size of other objects around him using his ion cannon, an example being a Thanagarian "tech meteor".[14]
    • Energy blasts: Ray is able to use the suit's offensive capabilities to replicate meta-human energy blasts, such as electricity projection and hard light blasts, with his suit have an onboard photon and ion cannons. The energy blasts are able to send humans flying through the air, knocking a target unconscious, cracking stone, denting metal, even causing small explosions on impact with harder and thicker surfaces.

Former powers

  • Water Totem: Ray briefly wielded the Water Totem in the Legends' initial attempt to use all six Totems of Zambesi against the escaped Mallus at once individually. However, soon after when they tried to combine the totems' powers to destroy Mallus, Ray gave the Water Totem to Wally West. After Mallus was defeated once and for all, the totem was entrusted to Kuasa.
    • Water generation: Ray used the totem to hurl a burst of water at Mallus in the Legends' initial battle against the demon after Mallus assumed his true form.
  • Magic: Ray briefly assisted John Constantine in returning some children's life forces to their bodies after they had been captured by a shtriga in Maine.[81]
  • Bond with Neron: Following a botched attempt to destroy Neron by Nora Darhk and Constantine through exorcism from Desmond's body, the demon escaped and latched on Ray instead.[89] After killing Nate Heywood, Neron's pact with Ray was null and void, so he left Ray's body.[91]

Abilities

"Ray's so nice and smart and hot."
"Yeah, it's kind of like I'm dating Barry but in Oliver's body."
Caitlin Snow and Felicity Smoak[src]
  • Peak of human physical condition: Ray is in top physical condition. He regularly engages in moderate to strenuous exercise to keep his body in top shape and to increase his mobility while using the A.T.O.M. Exosuit in combat, notably climbing the salmon ladder like Oliver. Ray was inspired by Richard Branson, who works out twice a day, which gives him 20 additional hours of productivity a week.[13]
  • Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen/Leader: Ray is very intelligent, having an IQ of 140 and three PhDs.[19] His intellect made him a self-made man and an indispensable member of the Legends. Ray is also a skilled businessman, being able to lead Palmer Technologies, a multibillion-dollar enterprise, with success. He recognizes skilled people and is excellent at recruiting them for his cause. As revealed from an aberration timeline, Ray could have applied his intellect to become an M.D. for advanced cardiac surgical procedures.[5] Ray also exhibits leadership potential, as he received a signature from every Legend on his petition to become interim captain of the Waverider in Sara Lance's absence.
    • Master engineer: Ray has proven to be highly skilled in engineering, as he was able to design and build the A.T.O.M. Exosuit using dwarf star alloy as a power source. He has also developed several other gadgets and successful products when he was CEO of Palmer Technologies and while as a member of Team Arrow, such as nanobot surgeons and dispersal units, smartwatches, etc. Ray's engineering skills have shown to be on par with Cisco Ramon, who himself is a highly regarded mechanical engineer.
    • Master scientist/Physicist: Ray is an adept biochemist, as he was able to analyze and modify Eobard Thawne's biomolecular enhancer to have lasting and more stable effects while in World War II, despite the formula initially being made from 22nd-century technology.[48] Also, after receiving the secrets of cold fusion, Ray was able to successfully use its energy to repair the Fire Totem.[72]
    • Expert computer hacker: While not on the same level as his ex-girlfriend, Felicity Smoak, Ray is a highly competent hacker, as he was able to hack the Time Bureau's network to access Ava Sharpe's personnel file.[75]
    • Theologian: Ray is a licensed minister, allowing him to officiate John Diggle and Lyla Michaels' wedding when the priest was unable to make it.[19]
    • Multilingualism: Ray is capable of fluently speaking English, Latin,[45] and French.[84] He can also do a convincing German accent.[72]
  • Cooking: Ray is a skilled cook, easily making up a dinner for himself, John Constantine, and Gary Green.[102]
  • Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Ray has some experience in unarmed combat, which at first was minimal. He is proven to prefer boxing as his fighting style, though is not as skilled as any professional combatant. In battles, Ray almost always relies on his suit by using his enhanced strength to engage enemies in close combat, a trait that is easily exploited by opponents relying on tactics (a prime example being when Ray attempted to arrest the Arrow and was subsequently defeated). Over time though and after training with his fellow Legends, Ray has become more adept in unarmed combat without his exosuit; he was able to knock out a restrained Scythian Torvil with a single punch, subdue two samurais whilst his hands were tied, and fight off multiple genetically-engineered AVA clones. Together with his suit though, Ray has become a formidable combatant as a member of the Legends.
    • Skilled swordsman:
      Ray Palmer vs Damien Darhk

      Ray dueling against Darhk

      Ray has some degree of proficiency in using a sword, as shown in a battle against the Shogun in Feudal Japan; he was able to land some solid blows to the A.T.O.M. suit the tyrant was wearing in an effort to cripple the exosuit by targeting some of its weak spots. However, it is possible the Shogun was not fighting to his full capability.[49] Ray later used Sir Galahad's sword in Camelot to great effect by channeling his suit's ionic energy through the blade to help fight against Rip Hunter's army of mind-controlled knights and even Damien Darhk.[3]
  • Skilled marksman: Ray has become a seasoned marksman throughout the years of using his exoskeleton's ranged weaponry. Using the suit's voice recognition, Ray was able to calculate the intensity and degrees of an Atom Blaster to fire at his restraints.[72] He also briefly wielded the Cold gun.
  • Singing: Ray seems to be a good singer, though unrecognized. At the funeral of Axl, Ray was about to sing for the rat before Sara cut him off.[114] Ray also wrote a song for all the codes Nate made for the Legends to help the team remember them better, which he began singing to them until he was cut off by Sara once more.[76] However, Mick Rory managed to memorize the songs quite fast, stating it was because of how often Ray sang it, which implies that he kept on singing on the ship after that.[77] Ray also sang frequently with Sara and Nate as the Puppets of Tomorrow in an alternate timeline.[85]
  • Dancing: Ray is a talented dancer, as seen when he performed a dance routine with Nora Darhk.[88]
"Ray is good and strong. He can fight his way back from Hell."
Nora Darhk to Neron[src]
  • Indomitable will/High tolerance for pain/Expert survivor: After getting time-scattered by the emergency protocol of the Waverider, Ray ended up in South Dakota back in the Cretaceous period and managed to survive for six months before being rescued by Mick and Nate.[46] Ray mentioned that he is a lifelong boy scout, possibly giving him insights and resourcefulness in surviving.[34] He has also demonstrated significant willpower when it comes to adversity; Ray was able to resist Damien's attempted torture when being held captive by the latter for months, refusing to divulge the secrets of his exosuit technology.[27] He remained defiant whilst withstanding severe beatdowns by Mikhail Arkadin[35] and Head Samurai.[49] Ray also refused to fix the Fire Totem for Damien and Nora even with the threat of death, only giving in when Damien threatened his mother, Sandy Palmer.[72]

Equipment

  • A.T.O.M. Exosuit: Ray wears a powered exosuit of his own design 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 being composed of and powered by a dwarf star alloy, making it strong enough to withstand damage from bullets, arrows, and explosives.

Former equipment

  • A.T.O.M. Exosuit: Ray wears a powered exosuit of his own design 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 being composed of and powered by a dwarf star alloy, making it strong enough to withstand damage from bullets, arrows, and explosives. The suit's offensive capabilities include electricity projection, compressed hard light blasts, photon cannons, and the ability to infuse ionic energy into objects. A recent discovery in the suit's technological applications is that it allows Ray to miniaturize selected targets, including himself. Alternatively, by properly charging the suit with enough energy, such as auxiliary time-drive from the Waverider, the suit can reverse the shrinking effects and increase the wearer's size to the gigantic stature and proportionately increase their strength. During the Legends' adventures in Feudal Japan, the A.T.O.M. was destroyed by Nate Heywood to prevent its abuse.[49] However, Ray found a supply of dwarf star alloy in the Old West and used it to create a second suit with the Waverider's fabrication room.[52]
Colonel Cold

Ray Palmer as "Colonel Cold".

  • 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.[49]
  • Cold gun and Goggles: After Ray's A.T.O.M. Exosuit was destroyed, Mick Rory offered him Leonard Snart's Cold gun and Goggles as a sign of partnership. Ray used the gun briefly in his new alter-ego as "Colonel Cold".[50][51] However, Ray was forced to disassemble the Cold Gun to stop a bomb, leaving the gun with insufficient power. After rebuilding his suit with dwarf star alloy from the Old West, he presumably no longer uses the Cold Gun.[52]
  • Sir Galahad's sword: This sword belonged to the legendary Knight of the Round Table, Sir Galahad, and Ray used it after the man was killed to help defend Camelot when it was under attack from Damien Darhk and Rip Hunter. Ray notably used his suit to focus ionic energy into the blade and enhance its strength, which he used to gain the upper hand in a sword fight with Damien Darhk. Afterwards, Ray presumably returned the sword to be buried with the fallen knight.[3]
  • Water Totem: Ray was briefly in possession of the Water Totem. Later on, he passed to the totem to Wally West who, after defeating Mallus, left the totem with Kuasa.[77]
  • Speed Force rifle: When Thawne phased out of his cell but was met with Ray, who was waiting for him with a speedster weapon handy. Thawne couldn't help but laugh at the irony as he stated that he was the one who invented them in the first place. Ray kept his weapon on him but let Thawne go as the latter wouldn't have time to search the ship for the fragment of the Spear of Destiny due to the speedster being hunted by something.
  • Anti-magic gun: Ray invented an nanite-based pistol that has a complex technological code to the nanites written by Zari Tomaz. It is made to counteract the dark magic of Damien Darhk and Nora Darhk by simulating the effects of a Heat gun and a Cold Gun crossing streams.
  • Tabitha’s Magic Staff: When Ray was possessed by Neon, he wield Tabitha’s magic staff which has an orb in it to drain energy from strong emotions such as fear use it to perform more advanced magical spells, like opening a portal to hell. After defeating Neon and accidentally killing Nate, John used it to harness love as energy to bring Nate back to life.

Appearances

Arrow


The Flash

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Trivia

  • Ray had coulrophobia, a fear of clowns, as a kid.[39]
  • Ray is a fan of Doctor Who,[20] Star Wars,[5] and Star Trek: The Next Generation.[115]
  • He has four PhDs.[19]
  • Ray is an Eagle Scout.[34]
  • Sara Lance, Kendra Saunders, and Ray were all left behind by the Waverider for only a few minutes, but to them, two years had passed.[39]
  • He is gluten intolerant.[5]
  • Ray is allergic to cats and dogs.[37] However, this allergy seems to either be very minor or only developed in his adult years since Ray was pretty well known for rescuing "strays" when he was younger.[1] Sara also mentioned Ray was allergic to apes, specifically Grodd.[80]
  • Ray's favorite musical is Singin' in the Rain, which he openly considers the "best musical ever".[1][80]
  • He loves playing video games, especially The Legend of Zelda.[1]
  • Ray's favorite snack is arugula, according to an Ivy Town Times article.[1]
  • He was named "Most Likely to Become a Particle Physicist" in the second grade.[1]
  • Ray is very neat and organized, and thus enjoys washing dishes.[72]
  • For breakfast, Ray likes his coffee with grass-fed butter and MCT oil with his eggs poached and runny.[72]
  • Ray is best friends with Nate Heywood.[80][115][92][4]
    • Nate's pet names for Ray include his full name, "buddy", and "big guy", the latter of which Sara adopted during Nate's leave of absence.[84]
    • When on missions together, Ray and Nate enjoy pairing up for the buddy system and watching Patrick Swayze movies in between.[80][81]
    • Ray keeps a photo of himself and Nate in a frame, but it's unknown whether he still has it.[4]
    • Every episode on the week of Halloween thus far has had some significance towards their friendship.
      • In "Shogun" (October 27, 2016), they teamed up for the first time to take down Tokugawa Iemitsu and became friends.
      • In "Phone Home" (October 31, 2017), they shared their first on-screen hug, and Nate comforted Ray upon the latter discovering the truth about his childhood "friends".
      • In "Witch Hunt" (October 28, 2018), the two parted ways after pairing up for a mission with the Time Bureau.
    • Both men have stated that they love each other like family.[88][116][4]
    • Like Nate, Ray is secretly a "brony", being a fan of the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.[78]
  • Mick Rory's nicknames for him are "Haircut" and "Boy Scout".
  • John Constantine's nicknames for him are "Raymondo" and "Squire".
  • Apparently, The Atom didn't exist on Earth-38, implying that if Ray even has a doppelgänger on that Earth, he never became The Atom.[117]
  • Ray is uncircumcised.[102]

Behind the scenes

  • In the 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. However, like on the show, he was able to reverse the process and expand his size on a few occasions, too. Palmer has been a member of the Justice League, 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 The Flash Season 2 episode "Family of Rogues", before getting scrapped in the final version of the episode.
  • Ray was portrayed by Brandon Routh in a recurring role 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 as a series regular in DC's Legends of Tomorrow. He played the role in all three parts of the crossover event Invasion!. Routh also voices the character in three episodes of the web series Vixen, and appears in one episode of Supergirl and Batwoman each. Because of these appearances, Ray is one of the most recurring characters throughout the Arrowverse, appearing in all shows so far, with the exception of Superman & Lois and Black Lightning.
  • Ray's relationship with Nora Darhk is a reference to the real-life marriage between Routh and Courtney Ford, who portrays Nora.
  • Routh was also known for portraying Superman (another 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. In the Arrowverse, Superman is portrayed by Tyler Hoechlin.
  • 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.[118] However, the idea never materialized and DC's Legends of Tomorrow was produced instead.
  • Brandon Routh went on to reprise his role as the Atom in LEGO DC Super-Villains.

References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 "Phone Home"
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Green Arrow"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Camelot/3000"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Raiders of the Lost Art"
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Zari"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Pilot, Part 1"
  8. 8.0 8.1 "The Climb"
  9. "The Calm"
  10. "Sara"
  11. "Corto Maltese"
  12. "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak"
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Draw Back Your Bow"
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Legendary"
  15. "Left Behind"
  16. "Midnight City"
  17. "Nanda Parbat"
  18. "The Offer"
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 "Suicidal Tendencies"
  20. 20.0 20.1 "Public Enemy"
  21. "All Star Team Up"
  22. "Broken Arrow"
  23. "The Fallen"
  24. "This Is Your Sword"
  25. "My Name Is Oliver Queen"
  26. "Haunted"
  27. 27.0 27.1 "Lost Souls"
  28. "Brotherhood"
  29. "Episode 4"
  30. "Episode 5"
  31. "Episode 6"
  32. 32.0 32.1 "Pilot, Part 2"
  33. "Blood Ties"
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 "White Knights"
  35. 35.0 35.1 "Fail-Safe"
  36. 36.0 36.1 "Star City 2046"
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 "Marooned"
  38. "Night of the Hawk"
  39. 39.0 39.1 39.2 "Left Behind"
  40. "Progeny"
  41. "The Magnificent Eight"
  42. "Last Refuge"
  43. 43.0 43.1 "Leviathan"
  44. "River of Time"
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 "Destiny"
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 "Out of Time"
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 "Land of the Lost"
  48. 48.0 48.1 "The Justice Society of America"
  49. 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 "Shogun"
  50. 50.0 50.1 "Abominations"
  51. 51.0 51.1 "Compromised"
  52. 52.0 52.1 52.2 "Outlaw Country"
  53. "Invasion!"
  54. "Invasion!"
  55. "Invasion!"
  56. "The Chicago Way"
  57. "The Legion of Doom"
  58. "Turncoat"
  59. "Doomworld"
  60. "Fellowship of the Spear"
  61. "Aruba"
  62. "Aruba-Con"
  63. "Freakshow"
  64. "Return of the Mack"
  65. "Helen Hunt"
  66. "Welcome to the Jungle"
  67. 67.0 67.1 67.2 "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4"
  68. "Beebo the God of War"
  69. "Daddy Darhkest"
  70. "Here I Go Again"
  71. "The Curse of the Earth Totem"
  72. 72.0 72.1 72.2 72.3 72.4 72.5 72.6 "No Country for Old Dads"
  73. "Amazing Grace"
  74. "Necromancing the Stone"
  75. 75.0 75.1 "I, Ava"
  76. 76.0 76.1 "Guest Starring John Noble"
  77. 77.0 77.1 77.2 77.3 "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly"
  78. 78.0 78.1 78.2 "The Virgin Gary"
  79. 79.0 79.1 79.2 "Witch Hunt"
  80. 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 80.4 80.5 80.6 "Dancing Queen"
  81. 81.0 81.1 81.2 "Wet Hot American Bummer"
  82. "Tagumo Attacks!!!"
  83. 83.0 83.1 "Tender is the Nate"
  84. 84.0 84.1 84.2 "Hell No, Dolly!"
  85. 85.0 85.1 "Legends of To-Meow-Meow"
  86. "Lucha De Apuestas"
  87. "The Getaway"
  88. 88.0 88.1 88.2 "Séance and Sensibility"
  89. 89.0 89.1 "The Eggplant, The Witch & The Wardrobe"
  90. "Egg MacGuffin"
  91. 91.0 91.1 91.2 91.3 "Hey, World!"
  92. 92.0 92.1 "Terms of Service"
  93. "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One"
  94. "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"
  95. "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three"
  96. "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four"
  97. "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five"
  98. "Meet the Legends"
  99. "Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me"
  100. "Slay Anything"
  101. "A Head of Her Time"
  102. 102.0 102.1 102.2 "Mortal Khanbat"
  103. "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac"
  104. 104.0 104.1 "Armageddon, Part 1"
  105. "Phantoms"
  106. 106.0 106.1 "The (Ex) Legends of Tomorrow"
  107. 107.0 107.1 "The Man in the Yellow Tie"
  108. "Impulsive Excessive Disorder"
  109. "Savior Complex"
  110. "The Trap"
  111. 111.0 111.1 "Nora"
  112. "Fast Enough"
  113. "Armageddon, Part 4"
  114. "Amazing Grace"
  115. 115.0 115.1 "Here I Go Again"
  116. "The Getaway"
  117. "Worlds Finest"
  118. "The Suicide Squad Gets A Solo Mission In 'Arrow: Season 2.5' Exclusive" - MTV News
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