When Brandon Routh‘s Ray Palmer first built his A.T.O.M. suit in season 3 of The CW’s Arrow, some saw the character as a bit more Iron Man and a bit less of the DC Comics Atom that they knew and loved. That situation was rectified shortly before the start of the spinoff series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, as we saw Ray honing the ability to shrink in the suit.
Of course, the A.T.O.M. suit as we know it is no more, but in the comics, Ray Palmer didn’t need a suit of armor in order to shrink. Could his TV alter ego be taking the same direction?
“That’s not been brought up to me,” Routh told us last week at the studio where DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is filmed in Vancouver. “I think it’s a lot about Ray again finding what it is to be a hero. That was kind of his journey last year, too, to an extent, but it’s not only what it is to make a difference. Last year was about what it is to be a hero making a difference. This year is ‘if I don’t have a suit, if I don’t have super-powers, can I still be a hero and be an effective part of the team?’ I think he learns that there’s more to being a hero than just having a suit and all of those lovely ideas, and he passes that on to Nate as well,” Routh explained.
“I don’t know if it’s possible for Ray to shrink without the suit, necessarily, because the technology of the suit… even in the comics, the belt was needed to initiate the shrinking,” the former Superman said.
Audiences will see what’s next for Ray on a new episode of Legends of Tomorrow that airs tonight (Nov. 10) as the team heads to the 1980s. It should be rad. You can find promotional photos for the episode here.
