Ted Knight, aka Starman is one of the oldest superheroes in comics, fighting villains with technology that he invented. He was a member of the Justice Society of America, the All-Star Squadron, and later the Justice League. Starman has been around for 85 years, first appearing in Adventure Comics #61 (April 1941) as a creation of Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley.

He can project light and heat, generate forcefields and energy constructs, fly, and he is telekinetic. Much of this power comes from the gravity rod (later called a cosmic rod) that he invented. Sporting a costume inspired by Superman and Buck Rogers, Starman is a superhero with a little science fiction thrown in the mix.

Ted created the rod to be used as a power source until his cousin Sandra Knight – who was also the Phantom Lady – suggested that he use it to fight crime instead. Starman’s first outing saw him fighting Dr. Doog, who planned to use his Ultra-Dynamo weapon to take over the world. To create a cover for himself, Ted pretended to be a man about town with little ambition and a carefree attitude.

His first regular villain was an elderly scientist who used an invisibility potion and called himself the Mist. From there, he faced off against Dr. Doog and the Secret Brotherhood of the Electron, the Veil, Cuthbert Cain, Astra the Astrologist, and the Injustice Society.

Starman was primarily a Golden Age hero, though he did return several times over the years in different incarnations or from another Earth. Along with the other members of the Justice Society, he retired at the end of the Golden Age. He returned to mentor the Justice League of America, married Adele Doris Drew and they had their children, Jack and David.

In the ‘90s, he came back for a Starman series when Jack took up the mantle of Starman. Later, Ted got terminal cancer as a result of a fight with Doctor Phosphorus. Then during a fight with the Mist he was killed stopping a bomb that the villain planned to use to destroy the city.