Superman villain Atomic Skull started out as Albert Michaels, a brilliant scientist and no-nonsense administrator at STAR Labs. He has a rare disorder to his nervous system that shorted the electrical impulses in his brain, which causes painful seizures.

When a cure escaped him, he contacted the criminal organization SKULL who would help him for a price. They implanted a radium-powered device into him to harness the neural disorder and redistribute it as atomic “brain blasts” and for his part, Albert would become their agent.

Creators Martin Pasko and Curt Swan introduced him in Superman #323 (May 1978), giving him a mask visor that can send powerful energy bolts that are like brain waves, heat vision, and atomic blasts. Along with that ability, he is the head of the SKULL organization and he’s a successful scientist.

The mental blasts were hard to control and ended up making his condition worse instead of better. He blamed this new level of pain on Superman, because the hero had captured the only SKULL scientist who could cure his condition.

Albert fashions a yellow and green costume with skull mask and visor to shoot his energy blasts, becoming Atomic Skull. Like he did at STAR Labs, he rises in the ranks and becomes the organization’s leader. He creates a skull-shaped hovercraft to fly around the city, seeking revenge against the Man of Steel.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths, he has only made a few appearances in comics. One was in Teen Titans Spotlight to fight Thunder and Lightning, he has also shown up in Birds of Prey and the Villains United miniseries.