Nuklon

Profile image by Alex Garcia (Pen and inks) and David Stepp (Colors)
Personal information
Real Name: Albert Rothstein
Residence: Los Angeles
Occupation: Student, adventurer
First Appearance (Post-Golden Age): All-Star Squadron #25
Character History
Albert Rothstein was born some time
in the 1960's, the son military pilot Phillip Rothstein and his wife, NASA
engineer Terri Kurtzenberg Rothstein. When Albert was 3 years old, his father
was killed in action during the final days of the Vietnam occupation. His
mother was assisted in raising him by a surrogate father, Al Pratt, the Golden
Age Atom. As a child, Albert was significantly smaller than other children. He
was often the butt of jokes and ridicule until he reached puberty. Spending the
summer with Al Pratt, Albert went through a series of workout regimens designed
by Joe Morgan, Pratt's original trainer. That summer, Albert underwent a series
of tremendous growth spurts, exceeding 6 feet tall as a high school freshman
(revealed in Infinity Inc. #48). The roots of his rapid growth are though to
relate to the genetic alterations caused by radiation exposure of his mother.
In 1942, when
Terri Kurtzenberg was a newborn infant, she was inadvertently subjected to
radiation exposure from her father, physicist Terry Curtis (Kurtzenberg).
Desperate, her father was black-mailed into being a lackey for the
Ultra-Humanite as Cyclotron. The thorium radiation from Curtis' body affected
his daughter directly and through her genes, as his had likely been altered by
the effects of radiation on his own body. Ultimately, Curtis, as Cyclotron,
died in combat with the Ultra-Humanite. The infant Terri was left in the care
of relatives and her welfare was tended to by Golden Age heroes Firebrand II
and the Atom (All-Star Squadron #21-25, Annual #2).
As an adult,
Terri Kurteznberg Rothstein likely passed on her genetic alterations to son
Albert, who began to undergo significant physiologic changes at puberty. By 18,
Albert had reached a staggering 7'6" tall and become a UCLA basketball
star. Eager to find his place in the world, Albert joined with other JSA
offspring to form costumed identities, in his case, Nuklon. Together, the 6
teen-agers barged into a Justice Society meeting and demanded admission as
second generation members of the hallowed group. Their demands were rebuffed by
the elder heroes and the would-be JSAers were sent home (Infinity Inc. #3).
Shortly thereafter, several senior members of the Justice Society,
including the Atom, were captured by the Ultra-Humanite and drowned in the
water of Koehaha. The water of Koehaha are narcotic, dulling the conscience and
sending the JSAers on a rampage. The Atom immediately set out to further
upgrade him powers (also affected by Terry Curtis' radiation) by attacking
nuclear energy facilities. Splitting up, the junior heroes, now calling
themselves Infinity Inc., pursued their parents and mentors. Nuklon caught up
with the Atom as he was tearing apart a nuclear reactor. Turning his rage on
Albert, the Atom brutally battered the younger hero and left him to die among
the exposed thorium rods in the reactor core (Infinity Inc. #8).
However, like the
Atom and his mother, Nuklon was not negatively affected by thorium radiation.
Instead, it affected the young hero's physiology, giving him the ability to
change in size and density. Reuniting, the second generation heroes tracked the
JSA to the Ultra-Humanite's lair in Colorado and then to Limbo. Battling the
JSA to a standstill, the tide was eventually turned by the appearance of the
Brain Wave, father of Henry King Jr. who gave his own life to defeat the
Ultra-Humanite (Infinity Inc. #10).
Within a year, the Crisis on
Infinite Earths engulfed Earth-Two and Nuklon was involved throughout. His activities on Earth-Two after this point are largely unrecorded. He is known to have survived into the 21st century and become a member of the Justice Society (Justice Society of American Vol. 3 Annual #1). His later activities are unknown.
Powers and Abilities
Nuklon has inherent propensities to size, likely due to genetic alterations passed down from his grandfather, Terry Curtis through his mother, Terri Rothstein. As a result, at baseline, Nuklon is an unusually large (7'6") human with a high level of athletic ability. He was trained by his godfather, the Atom, using the same intense physical training that he himself at received from Joe Morgan. After exposure to thorium radium within a nuclear reactor, Nuklon developed the ability to alter his mass, change his physical size as well as his physical density.
Weaknesses and Limitations
The limitations of Nuklon's abilities have not been fully defined, tho are likely within some reasonable scope (i.e. he cannot expand out of the atmosphere). When in his normal human form, he is a vulnerable to normal forms of mortal injury.

Multiversity
Over the next several years, Nuklon remained a stalwart member of Infinity Inc. (Infinity Inc. #11-52). When the group disbanded following the death of its leader Skyman, Nuklon remained as loose ends. He spent some time with a minor group known as the Conglomerate (Justice League Quarterly #12) and later joined the Justice League of America (Justice League America #0, 93-113). That version of the Justice League was easily defeated by the invading White Martians and disbanded (JLA #1-4).
Now moving into a more mature phase of his heroic career, Nuklon decided to re-invent himself as a new hero. Choosing the code name Atom-Smasher has a tribute to his godfather and his grandfather, Rothstein was contacted by Wildcat to help solve the murder of Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman (JSA Secret Files and Origins #1). With the successful resolution of this case, the JSA reformed and Albert Rothstein finally got a long-held wish, membership in the legendary Justice Society of America (JSA #1-4).

In more recent months, Al Rothstein has been under a series of strains on his integrity. Most significantly, the international super-terrorist Kobra crashed an airliner on which Terry Rothstein, Al's mother, was flying (JSA #11). This incident was immediately followed by an encounter with Extant, the villain responsible for the deaths of several original JSAers and Al's mentor, Al Pratt. As the JSA battled Extant across the timeline, temporal anomalies were created. Within one of these, the Atom-Smasher took the oppurtunity to save his mother and place Extant in the doomed airliner (JSA #13-15). While the result of saved his mother, the long-term consequences of distorting the timestream remain unknown.
After this point, Rothstein was
generally viewed as a murderer, even though Extant was exceedingly dangerous
and his actions saved a more worthy life.
His path took a darker turn when Black Adam joined the JSA and had a
grittier, more approving view of Rothstein’s actions. The relationship between the two resulted in
Black Adam’s murder of Kobra as a favor to Rothstein and Atom-Smasher’s murder
of the dictator of Kahndaq, allowing Black Adam to take the throne (JSA
#51-56).
The intervention of the JSA
resulted in Rothstein’s arrest and sentencing to prison, where he was
eventually recruited to Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad (52 #33-34). Atom-Smasher
later petitioned and was granted re-entry into the Justice Society (Justice
Society of America Vol. 3 #23-26). His
later activities in this time line are largely unrecorded.
Earth-22
The Atom Smasher of Earth-22 is thought to have a largely similar history as the Earth-0 version. After roughly 20 years of activity, he becomes a member of the re-formed Justice League when Superman comes out of retirement. He participates in the apocalyptic battle in Kansas during the super-villain riots and is killed when the battle is nuked by the U.S. government (Kingdom Come LS).
Earth-49
The Atom Smasher of Earth-49 also has a similar history to prior version and is a member of Superman's regime's forces (Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Five Annual #1).
Appearances
Issue |
Comment |
Reprinted in |
First Appearance, vs the Ultra-Humanite and the Secret Society of Super-Villains |
Infinity Inc.: The Generations Saga |
|
With the All-Star Squadron, vs the Ultra-Humanite and the Secret Society of Super-Villains |
Infinity Inc.: The Generations Saga |
|
During Crisis on Infinite Earths |
Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition #1 |
|
Cameo appearances |
America vs. the Justice Society TPB |
|
During Crisis on Infinite Earths |
Crisis on Infinite Earths HC, Crisis on Infinite Earths TPB, Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths HC, Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths HC |
|
Forms Infinity Inc |
Infinity Inc.: The Generations Saga |
|
Vs. the Ultra-Humanite and the JSA, identities revealed |
|
|
Vs. the Thorn |
The Best of DC #69 |
|
Vs. Chroma |
DC Through the ‘80’s: The Experiments |
|
|
|
|
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths |
Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 |
|
|
Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 |