Ray Palmer, one of the central characters of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, was a superhero with and without his super-suit. What made Ray Palmer one of the most compelling Arrowverse heroes?
The Atom, aka Ray Palmer, a stalwart of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and the Arrowverse, has made his exit from The CW universe.
The CW announced the news of The Atom actor Brandon Routh leaving months ago while the show was still on hiatus. Still, many fans believed that Routh, and co-star/wife, Courtney Ford, who played Nora Darhk, the Fairy Godmother, would see out the end of season 5.
However, at the end of Season 5 Episode 8, ‘Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness’, Ray Palmer and Nora Darhk decided to leave the Waverider to start living their married life together.
In typical Legends of Tomorrow style, the episode was as amusing as it was touching and served as a fitting send-off to a character who was beloved by fans and will be sorely missed.
Routh’s infectious enthusiasm when playing Ray Palmer made him a massive draw on Legends of Tomorrow — a show that has consistently hosted larger-than-life characters, though many have lasted only a season or two.
What made Ray Palmer/The Atom an even more critical endeavor on Routh’s part was that the character wasn’t his first foray into the world of superheroes.
Routh took on the role of Superman in 2006’s Superman Returns, a film that was unfortunately not well-received by fans or critics, despite being a box office hit. Though set up to spawn a sequel, Warner Brothers and DC decided to go in a different direction, handing the reigns over to Zack Snyder, who birthed the much-debated DCEU, with Henry Cavill as Superman.
Then came Ray Palmer, a character who has gone through multiple interpretations in the Arrowverse but came out on the other side a multi-faceted and beloved character.
What made The Atom stand out in the crowd of heroes, and why will he be missed so much? We break it down for the fans.
Villain to Hero
In 2014, Routh was back in the superhero saddle, joining Arrow as Ray Palmer, the new CEO of Queen Consolidated, formerly run by Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), before he went bankrupt.
On Arrow, Ray Palmer was primarily a pseudo-villain — he didn’t believe the Arrow was doing any good for Starling City. In some ways, he was right — this was back when Arrow was still in his murderous phase, killing villains instead of sending them off to jail.
But Ray Palmer was also an antagonist in a few other ways. Not only did he buy up Queen Consolidated, but he renamed it Palmer Tech. His sway over city officials was so strong that he convinced them to change the name of the entire city — from Starling City to Star City.
And there was yet another reason why Ray Palmer wasn’t in Oliver Queen’s good books — he had his eye on Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), Oliver Queen’s former secretary, partner, and Team Arrow’s tech genius.
Despite Queen’s jealousy, Ray and Felicity made a good pair. They both had an interest in tech and wanted the best for the city.
Ray also had a dark past, with his former fiancée having been killed during an attack on Star City that was directly tied to the Green Arrow’s actions, which explained his dislike for the hero.
Ray Palmer and Smoak eventually became a couple and got engaged, but an accident with the Atom super-suit left Ray for dead.
Later, Arrow revealed that the Atom suit had actually saved his life, and Ray returned from the dead, as many characters have done in the Arrowverse.
The newly-revived Ray Palmer was a more light-hearted character. He was quick to joke and see the lighter side of matters.
During a crossover on The Flash, Routh portrayed The Atom as a fun-loving and adorkable character. The chemistry he shared with Carlos Valdes’ Cisco Ramon had serious potential but was barely explored on the Arrowverse.
However, it did showcase the kind of team player that The Atom would eventually become when he joined the Legends of Tomorrow.
A Legend in the Making
After two years on-and-off of Arrow, a new spin-off featuring The Atom was announced, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The show was introduced during a crossover between Arrow and The Flash, and took off from there a few months later.
In Legends of Tomorrow, Ray Palmer, alongside other heroes and villains from Star City and Central City, were brought together by time-traveler Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) to stop the immortal tyrant, Vandal Savage (Casper Crump).
The Atom was an essential cog in the team, but so was Ray. His scientific knowhow and peppy optimism weren’t always appreciated. He was described as annoying more than once, but it was nonetheless necessary to keep the team going even in the most difficult of circumstances.
One could say that Ray Palmer’s characterization was hindered by an ill-conceived romance with Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renée), which severely curtailed Saunders’ growth on the show.
The moment Legends of Tomorrow moved away from the romance angle for its characters, the storylines and personalities thrived.
While the Ray Palmer of season one was love-lorn and mopey, the version we saw in successive seasons was multi-faceted. Alongside his unbridled optimism, Ray was also empathetic, kind, and brimming with ideas.
But what really made Ray Palmer memorable among the Legends —especially since they all have their own kind of sparkling personality —was his propensity for making friends.
Spreading the Love
The Ray Palmer we first met on Arrow was cynical and dour—mourning his fiancée and bent on destroying the Arrow, Ray had little personality beyond being antagonistic.
But on Legends of Tomorrow, Ray was everyone’s friend. Despite all the teasing he received at the hands of Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller), when Ray was about to sacrifice his life for the team, Snart took his place because the world still needed Ray Palmer.
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Even Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell), the team’s designated hothead, can’t help but put up with Ray and also learned a thing or two about kindness from his teammate.
Ray had stood by Captain Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) through thick and thin and always lent an ear when she needed help looking for a new course of action.
Ray Palmer’s ability to love and spread a message of hope was uncanny. When he had been sent to hell by the demon Neron, instead of drying up and dying, Ray not only thrived but managed to turn the Legends’ old rival, Vandal Savage, into his personal friend and card-playing partner. Only Ray!
While Ray’s romance with Nora Darhk — not exactly a surprising decision considering the actors are married in real life — has been sweet to watch, Ray’s friendship with Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) has been one of the biggest highlights of Legends of Tomorrow. It evoked the most tears in Ray’s swan song.
Ray and Nate
One could say that male friendships run the entertainment industry.
Some of the best stories have focused on men fighting for each other and by each other’s side — Kirk and Spock, Butch and Sundance, Frodo and Sam, Captain America and Bucky Barnes — the list is endless and encompasses stories from every era.
But these stories are often more memorable not because these characters fight side by side, but because they display the more human emotion of love.
In superhero properties, platonic love is sometimes left by the wayside to make way for romances with overwhelmingly heterosexual couples.
Legends of Tomorrow chafed against the norm, not just with its romances but also its friendships, best exemplified with Ray and Nate.
Since Nate Heywood joined the show in season 2 as the resident historian, he and Ray seemed destined to be friends.
They shared similar interests and quickly started learning more about each others’ fields of expertise — history, and science.
But it was in season 4 that the close bond between the characters became obvious. With Nate’s father being secretive and potentially collaborating with a villain, it was up to Ray to soothe his friend’s concerns.
By the end of the season, both Nate’s father and Nate were dead. Nate was swiftly resurrected by the power of love, of course—and a beautiful friendship became cemented.
What was surprising about the bond between Nate and Ray was how physically affectionate they were, hugs abounded, but so did the friendly peck on the cheek that we commonly see among women characters, but rarely among men.
The chemistry and the off-screen bond between Routh and Zano powered the on-screen performances, which made Ray’s goodbye particularly emotional, bordering on tragic.
On any other show, the “Romeo and Juliet” theme of Ray’s final episode would have signaled the dawn of a new romance between two characters. And indeed, it may have if we are to read between the lines of Zari (Tala Ashe) and Constantine’s (Matt Ryan) balcony scene. But on Legends of Tomorrow, the epic love story propels Nate to put aside his anger at being left out of Ray’s decision to leave the Waverider so he can give his best friend a proper farewell.
There have been many emotional farewells on Legends of Tomorrow. Firestorm’s demise was probably one of the most distressing in the Arrowverse, but even though nobody died in this episode, saying goodbye to Ray was incredibly challenging for Nate and fans of the show.
Ray Palmer’s departure is a particularly painful pill to swallow. Now more than ever, we need the optimism and hope that Ray embodied.
Although he began as an angry and lost man bent on power, Ray’s steady change into approachable boy scout and loving friend and husband was a delight to watch. The Legends and the Arrowverse have lost a brilliant character.
But for fans, we can always look back at Ray Palmer’s best moments on the show whenever we’re looking for a little hope and a lot of inspiration.