Allies

The Atom 2

Real name: Ray Palmer
Known relatives: Jean Loring-Palmer (ex-wife), Mr. Palmer (father, deceased), Mary Palmer (mother, deceased)
First appearance: Showcase #34, September/October 1961
Occupation: adventurer, college scientist/professor/lecturer
Hair color: brown
Eye color: green (?)
Residential area: Ivy Town, Connecticut

Research scientist Ray Palmer discovered a white-dwarf meteorite star from which he was able to draw matter that he used to create a belt that could enable the wearer to shrink to microscopic size and alter his body mass at will. He also developed options that could help to shift his weight and provide him with impact strength whenever he was in his tiny form. He could also shrink other objects in size too, though they tended to explode after an hour. He became the Atom, the World's Smallest Superhero, and a famous member of the Justice League of America, making a name for himself in undercover and espionage work, and has been a good friend of Hawkman's for many years. Plus, he also helped out Zatanna, who'd made her debut in Hawkman's book from the Silver Age, to find her father Zatara.

Ray later married girlfriend Jean Loring, but years later, their marriage encountered a rocky road, and they divorced, during which time he retired from the role of the Atom, taking to living in the jungles of South America with the princess (Laethawaen) of a tribe of tiny aliens called Katarthans. During this time, he decided to reveal his secret identity to the world through a biography published by an old pal of his, Norman Brawler. At one point, when Jean Loring was accidentally shrunk by one of his own patents, and kidnapped and held hostage by some of the rotten apple factions of the Katarthans (they had both good and bad factions at war with each other) while looking for Ray to help her fix the problem in South America, Ray gave Paul Hoben, her second husband, a size-weight control belt which he could use to help out in rescuing her. Paul kept ownership of the belt until it was stolen by Adam Cray, a government official who worked with the Suicide Squad, which he used to become the third Atom, until he was killed by a shrunken villain who thought he was really Ray.

Ray returned to civilization after the tribe he lived with was slaughtered by a firebomb attack on the jungle by a gang of villains around the time of the Invasion crossover of 1989. An old friend of his who worked for the CIA, Don Brice, tried to warn him but was murdered after bringing him the information. As Ray discovered, it was part of a ploy to get the Atom to work for CIA, and after uncovering secret documents that pointed it out, he devised a plan to punish those responsible. He built a special shrinking ray that he then used to battle and shrink each of the villains (Mr. Bailey, Ms. Hubbard, Ginsburg, Blacksnake, and Sting) until he had reduced them all to six inches tall. He then turned the tiny people over to his friends and destroyed the ray, effectively trapping them at that height. He then told the director of the CIA what had happened and was thanked for his actions. The plan had been to recruit Ray as a miniature spy and with his actions he had just given him a whole 'micro-squad' of spies. Ray chose to split and stay out of the public eye, leaving many wondering if he would ever be seen again.

Ray continued to be pursued by the tiny group, now calling themselves the Micro/Squad. For a time, he ended up trying to take up a new civilian identity for himself, as he tried to expose more of the villains pursuing him, but later slowly returned to being more public again about his identity.

When the former Hawk, who'd become the time-manipulating villain Extant, de-aged Palmer to 17 years old (and caused the death of the Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, during the Zero Hour crossover of 1994), Ray took to leading a new lineup of Teen Titans in this form. Eventually, he was restored to his normal age, and went into semi-retirement fropm being a superhero, taking some time to concentrate on his job as a university professor and college lecturer, in which capacity he served as an advisor to Firestorm and the JLA.

Jean Loring

First appearance: Showcase #34, September/October 1961
Known relatives: Ray Palmer (ex-husband), Prof. Loring (father, possibly deceased), Jimmy Loring (nephew), Freddy Loring (nephew)
Occupation: lawyer
Hair color: black
Eye color: blue
Residential area: Ivy Town, Connecticut

Jean Loring was a successful lawyer who married Ray Palmer, the Atom. Once, she was kidnapped by a sub-atomic race called the Jimberen, who thought her a descendant of an ancient queen of theirs, and used a radiation device to brainwash her and drive her to insanity so that they could make her their puppet queen. Luckily, both the Atom and Hawkman were able to rescue her, and cured her of the insanity the Jimberin caused her soon afterwards. She later went on another adventure with together with her second husband Paul in Sword of the Atom in the mid-1980's, after being accidentally shrunk by one of the technological devices Ray left in their custody in their old house and needed his help in fixing the problem.

Sadly, the pressures of their disparate careers meant that their marriage didn't work out. Although divorced, the two have remained in contact and are, if not friends, then at least non-hostile acquaintances. Jean later married Paul Hoben, another lawyer who worked at the same firm as she did, though they too broke up years later. Jean paid Ray a visit when he'd been reduced in age to a teenager following Zero Hour and he was serving as a field leader for the Teen Titans in a new incarnation.

Paul Hoben

First appearance: Sword of the Atom #1, September 1983
Known relatives: Jean Loring-Hoben (ex-wife)
Occupation: lawyer
Hair color: brown
Eye color: ?
Residential area: Ivy Town, Connecticut

Paul Hoben was a lawyer in the same firm as Jean Loring-Palmer, former wife of Ray Palmer (a.k.a. the Atom II). After Ray caught Jean having an affair with Paul, they ended up having a divorce, and Jean married Paul with Ray's blessing. Jean and Paul continued to be part of Ray's life, though, and Paul was actually given the Atom's original size/weight control belt during the time when Ray lived permanently in a micro-sized society in the Amazonas. Paul's belt was later stolen by Suicide Squad agent Adam Cray, who used it to become the third Atom. Jean and Paul may have later parted ways, at least professionally.

Green Arrow 1

Real name: Oliver Queen
Known relatives: Connor Hawke (illegitimate son)
First appearance: More Fun Comics #73, November 1941
Occupation: adventurer, social company owner
Hair color: blond
Eye color: brown
Residential area: Star City, Washington State

Oliver Queen was a young millionaire and businessman who fell overboard on a cruise at sea, and ended up in a Robinson Crusoe-ish situation when washed up on a deserted island where he learned how to survive by using a bow and arrow. Eventually, he escaped from the island by overpowering some drug smugglers who were making their headquarters there, and handed them over to the authorities. Changed by his experiences, he decided to help out society in as exciting a way as possible, by becoming the crimefighter Green Arrow, using his skills in archery for the cause of good. He took on a sidekick, Speedy, alias Roy Harper, who was also his ward, and who today has changed his name to Arsenal.

Queen later lost a lot of his fortune and had to go live in the poorer neighborhoods of Star City, sometimes teaming up with Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and fell in love with the second Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance.

But he was unable to settle down for long, and even after trying to run a florist shop with Dinah, who'd been trying to manage a business similar to what her mother, the first BC, Dinah Drake Lance, owned in her time, he still couldn't still for long, and set off on a cross country journey, and in issue #100 of his series' first volume, he was seemingly killed in a plane bombing, after which his illegitimate son, Connor Hawke, took over the role for a time. But a few years later, he was found alive, safe and sound, apparently having used technology borrowed from the Atom that he was able to use to shrink himself out of harm's way, and returned to living in Star City, where he also managed to regain some of the fortune he lost years before, and opened up a special center for helping troubled youth.

In the 5th-6th issues of Hawkman's fourth volume, Green Arrow travelled to the St. Roch area searching for the Black Spider, a crooked archer who'd been trying to impersonate him while carrying out an assassnation contract against a handful of businessmen in the area.

Black Canary 2

Real name: Dinah Laurel Lance
Known relatives: Dinah Drake Lance (mother, deceased), Larry Lance (father, deceased)
First appearance: Justice League of America #75, October 1969
Occupation: adventuress, florist, former fashion designer and teacher
Hair color: black (originally, she wore a blonde wig when in costume, later, she dyed her hair blonde instead)
Eye color: blue
Residential area: Gotham City, northern USA, formerly Star City, Washington State

Dinah Laurel Lance, daughter of the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake Lance, grew up surrounded by the superheroes of the Justice Society, and was determined to follow in their footsteps. Her parents were against this, but fate played a hand in helping her achieve her wish, when she discovered that she had a meta-gene within her, that may have been caused by an effect of Alan Scott's power ring that affected the first Black Canary, that gave her the ability to emit a devastating sonic scream that could bowl over crooks and shatter walls with its sound vibrations. Armed with this power, and the extensive martial arts training of Ted Grant, the JSA's Wildcat, she launched her superheroic career taking up her mother's mantle, and joined the Justice League where she romanced Green Arrow/Oliver Queen.

Dinah continued her career in the League for many years, until one of the Green Arrow's enemies, a drug cartel leader, tortured her and damaged her vocal chords, robbing her of her sonic scream ability. A few years later, Dinah and Oliver parted ways, and she took up a path of her own in crimefighting, usually investigating street level crime. She was later recruited by the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, for managing undercover missions worldwide, something that Dinah enjoys just as much as working domestically, and the two are now known as the Birds of Prey in the DCU.

Following the death of the former Sandman, Wesley Dodds, she fulfilled her dream of joining the regrouped JSA, and began a romance with the new Dr. Mid-Nite, Pieter Cross. However, when Green Arrow resurfaced again after having been thought dead, she took a leave of absence from the team to meet him again.

Star-Spangled Girl

Real name: Courtney Whitmore
Known relatives: Barbara Dugan (mother), Patrick Dugan (stepfather), Michael Dugan (stepbrother)
First appearance: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E #0, July 1999
Occupation: adventuress, student
Hair color: blonde
Eye color: blue
Residential area: Blue Valley, Nebraska

When Courtney's mother and new stepfather decided to move to Blue Valley, Nebraska, the town where the third Flash and former Kid Flash, Wally West, used to live, she wasn't especially happy, since it was away from her usual city haunts. So when she discovered that her stepfather Pat Dugan had once been the superhero Stripesy, and that he also kept the original Star-Spangled Kid's cosmic converter belt around the attic, she decided to take up the role first taken by Sylvester Pemberton, mainly to annoy Pat, but she soon discovered that being a superheroine was quite fun. She uses Sylvester's cosmic converter belt in her newfound butt-kicking career, which gives her increased strength, energy beams, and even a few other as yet undefined abilities. Her real father is a criminal who collaborated with the Royal Flush Gang, and whom Courtney fought, and sent her father back to the pen after defeating them.

Courtney was allowed to join the JSA, and while she gets on the nerves of some of the members at times, she's forged some strong friendships with Hawkgirl and Atom Smasher, the latter who remembers what it was like being a novice hero around the JSA in its All-Star Squadron days, when he became a member of its satellite team of younger members, Infinity Inc, and also with the Justice League America. Though she may not be looked upon too kindly by some of the more established heroes, she certainly proved herself when she succeeded in helping out Hector Hall in becoming the new Doctor Fate, and thus bringing about the defeat of Mordru, and she also proved herself to Merry Pemberton, the sister of Sylvester, the original Kid, when leading the de-aged Society on a mission in space. Thanks to this on an indirect basis, she was chosen by the current Starman Jack Knight to use his cosmic anti-gravity rod, which she can use in the future when she feels ready to do so. And, she's become the gal-pal of Billy Batson, alias Captain Marvel, when in their daytime guises as well.

Zatara

Real name: John Zatara
Known relatives: Sindella (wife, deceased), Zatanna (daughter)
First appearance: Action Comics #1, June 1938
Death: Swamp Thing #50 Vol 2, July 1986
Occupation: adventurer, stage magician
Hair color: black
Eye color: blue
Residential area: midwestern USA

While he may normally seem to be just a simple stage magician, John Zatara actually had a gift for the use of true magic, and encouraged by Dr. Occult he used his magical abilities as a mystery man during the WW2 period. He later met and married a woman named Sindella of the Homo Magi, and their daughter Zatanna received an inheritance of even greater power than Zatara's own.

Zatara went missing for quite awhile when Zatanna was in her early 20's, after an adversary he'd been dealing with put a curse upon him that would surely bring disaster if he contacted her, but was thankfully rescued with the help of the Justice League of America and reunited with Zatanna, during which time he went into retirement.

Eventually, he sacrificed his life to save his daughter while they were both fighting against the terrible mystical repercussions of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. But he's reappeared a few times as a ghost, to aid his lovely daughter and some of the other superheroes of the DCU.

Zatanna

Real name: Zatanna Zatara
Known relatives: Zatara (father, deceased), Sindella (mother, deceased)
First appearance: Hawkman #4 Vol 1, October 1964
Occupation: adventuress, stage magician
Hair color: black
Eye color: blue
Residential area: midwestern USA

With magical hero Zatara for a father and Sindella of the Homo Magi for a mother, it was inevitable that Zatanna inherit great control over magic, which she went on to use both as a stage magician and as a member of the Justice League of America, who were quite helpful in rescuing her father from the curse of an adversary he'd been dealing with. She often focuses her abilities by speaking the words of her spells backwards, though she later learnt that vocally, this isn't actually necessary. Thanks to her continued practice in magic, she also learned how to be able to keep herself young and lovely for many years to come. She later enjoyed a romance with a bartender named Eric, and while she hasn't been as active with the JLA in recent years as she has before, she's still teamed up with them on occasion as an honorary guest member. Besides magic, she's also practiced judo, and is pretty good at that skill too.

And next to the Black Canary, she's by far one of the hottest women in fishnet stockings, both on the performance stage and in the superhero business!

Sindella

Real name: Sindella Zatara
Known relatives: Zatara (husband, deceased), Zatanna (daughter)
First appearance: Justice League of America #164, March 1979 (it's also her only appearance, as far as I know)
Occupation: magician
Hair color: ?
Eye color: ?
Residential area: ?

The late wife of the also late magician John Zatara and the mother of Zatanna, Sindella was also a member of the mystically-gifted race of Homo Magi, who passed on her fashion sense to Zatanna (mystically giving her a new costume) and then died to save her.

Golden Eagle

Real name: Charles Edmund Parker
Known relatives: ?
First appearance: Justice League of America #116, March-April 1975
Occupation: adventurer, resturant worker
Hair color: blond (formerly brown)
Eye color: brown
Residential area: Malibu, California, formerly Midway City, USA

An orphan from California who originally came from Midway City (as established in 2005), Parker idolized Hawkman as a superhero during his teen years. He gained his powers quite by accident, when the Matter Master tried to use his Mentachem Rod to come up with a "new" Hawkman to exact revenge upon his own foe. Following Parker's help on the resulting JLA case, Hawkman gave him a helmet and a set of wings of his own.* Later, Parker had some modifications made to his powers. While he had some initial success as a superhero in his native state, having rescued a family of campers from a forest fire, he diminished his image by making it seem as if he was more interested in money than in true fame. He joined up mainly with Titans West during the time that Mr. Esper was menacing California, and served there until its disbandment.

Except for his superhero career with the Titans, he seemed unable to hold a steady job, working mainly in resturants in and around Malibu, and was seen at the wedding of Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy and Terry Long in New York City.

He murdered by the second Wildebeest, Jericho, who had gone insane, during a meeting with Aqualad in Long Island, NY (in New Titans #72 Vol 2, January 1991), while trying to defend his fellow Titan from the villain who took his life. He may have had some flaws, being the beach-bum/surfer he was, but he died a true hero in the end.

However, it appears that now, he's been revived from the dead, and went to pay a visit to St. Roch.

* Post-Crisis, this connection may have been done away with for a certain period of time, and Parker was reinvented as a simpler beach-bum/surfer character whose exact origin was mostly kept under wraps. Now, it appears that the origin Cary Bates first wrote for him in the Justice League of America is being restored, with Hawkman written as having been a trainer, and certainly an inspiration, for Parker's role as a superhero.

Weng Chan

First Appearance: Military Comics #3, October 1941 (from Quality Comics)
current version: Blackhawk #1 Vol. 2, 1987
Residential area: San Francisco, California, formerly Hong Kong, China

Born in Hong Kong, Weng Chan moved with his family to San Francisco in the early 1930s. During World War II, he distinguished himself as a pilot and member of the famous Blackhawks squadron. Chan continued to serve with the team on and off until the 1970s. He is still alive and currently active as Chairman of the Board of Blackhawk Express. As such, he has worked together with the Thanagarian Hawkman, Katar Hol, against Killer Shark.

Captain Marvel

Real name: Billy Batson
Known relatives: Mary Batson (sister)
First appearance: Whiz Comics #2, February 1940
Occupation: adventurer, radio talk show host, former newspaper merchant
Hair color: black
Eye color: ?
Residential area: ?

Young Billy Batson was granted amazing powers by the wizard Shazam to fight evil in all its forms. Drawing power from ancient beings (Solomon's wisdom, Hercules' strength, Atlas' endurance, Zeus' power, Achilles' invulnerability and Mercury's speed) he has but to call Shazam's name to be transformed from a young teenager, reporter for WHIZ radio, to the mature and mighty Captain Marvel. Recently he discovered his sister, Mary, the two of them having been kept apart for many years, and has shared the power with both her and a friend called Freddy, who was injured at the hands of the evil Captain Nazi.

Captain Marvel is widely regarded as one of the purest, most upstanding heroes there is - his soul was certainly enough to send the demon Neron packing during the battle against him in early 1997.

Captain Marvel Jr.

Real name: Freddy Freeman
Known relatives: Tim Freeman (foster brother, deceased)
First appearance: Whiz Comics #25, December 26, 1941 (original), Power of Shazam! #7, September 1995 (more contemporary)
Occupation: adventurer
Hair color: black
Eye color: ?
Residential area: New England, northern USA

After being horribly injured by Captain Nazi, Freddy Freeman was granted a portion of the power of Shazam by Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel in order to help him heal more quickly. He has also used the power as a hero, initially brasher and more impulsive than the other members of the 'Marvel Family', though time and experience, including a short stint as a Teen Titan, have matured him.

He's also had a romance with Mary Marvel more recently. Even more recently, he came into battle with the demon who slew his foster brother Tim.

Mary Marvel

Real name: Mary Batson
Known relatives: Billy Batson (brother)
First appearance: Captain Marvel Adventures #18, December 11, 1942
Occupation: adventuress
Hair color: black
Eye color: ?
Residential area: ?

Mary Batson is Billy Batson's sister, though adopted outside the family, and as such is co-inheritor of the power of Shazam. Of all the Marvels, Mary is undoubtedly the most adept at using the wisdom of Solomon, and can be somewhat frustrated by the failings of the others in this department. She's sometimes been an honorary member of the Justice League in past years, working alongside Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. She is currently romancing Freddy Freeman, Captain Marvel Jr.

Deadman

Real name: Boston Brand
Known relatives: ?
First appearance: Strange Adventures #205, October 1967
Occupation: Crimefighter, former circus aerialist
Hair color: ?
Eye color: ?
Residential area: obviously, the afterlife

Circus performer Boston Brand's adventures as a supernatural crimefighter began after he was murdered during one of his cricus trapeze performances by a sniper in the audience. A spirit named Rama Kushna kept his spirit alive, enabling him to become a supernatural crimefighter and to search for and punish his murderer. The only clue Brand had to who the culprit was was that the murderer had a steel hook in place of his right hand, and idea apparently inspired by The Fugitive on television at around that time.

Deadman eventually discovered who the murderer was: a small-time professional hitman named, appropriately enough, The Hook, who had done the evil deed just so that he could be accepted into a criminal organization called the League of Assassins, which wiped out the culprit before Brand could exact his own revenge upon him. Nevertheless, Rama Kushna still took interest in Brand's being a crimefighter and an agent for the cause of good, and enabled him to continue his career as a hero in the afterlife. More recently, Deadman helped the Hawks to solve a mystery in St. Roch.

Deadman's powers include being able to possess the bodies of other people, which he sometimes used as a means to help expose criminals and to help get them captured for the crimes they committed. The costume he usually wore during his circus performances is also the design he took up when becoming a supernatural crimefighter.