History: <30th Century> Chuck asked as an errand boy for a famous scientist, but while distracted at a sporting event he ingested the scientist's super-plastic fluid, which gave him bouncing powers. As Bouncing Boy he applied to the Legion of Super-heroes, and despite their initial reluctance he was accepted onto the team. Bouncing Boy never took himself or his powers too seriously, and declared himself morale officer of the Legion.

(Adventure Comics I #304) - Bouncing Boy and the Legion were set to have their annual vote to elect a new leader, and Saturn Girl was the first to arrive at the Clubhouse. A crystal capsule sent from the Trylop Council of Mernl dropped from the sky warning that their computers predicted a Legionnaire would die using their powers during an upcoming invasion of Earth by Zaryan the Conqueror, and Saturn Girl resolved to sacrifice herself to protect her fellow Legionnaires. She used her thought control to nudge the Legion into electing her leader, then used a rainbow bar from their treasury to make medallions with her face printed on them, and demanded every Legionnaire wear one. She demanded the Legionnaires demonstrate effective use of their powers, and was able to temporarily duplicate each member of the Legion’s powers using the medallions they wore, and proceeded to forbid them for using their powers or going on missions during a probation period because she declared they were not using their powers properly. When Zaryan began his invasion of Earth she responded, and warned the other Legionnaires not to follow her because they were on probation. The Legion thought she’d gone mad with power, but Mon-El had observed her actions from the Phantom Zone, and knew her motivations. Sunspots interfered with him communicating with the Legion, but when they lifted he filled in Lightning Lad on the situation, and he flew into space, determined to keep Saturn Girl from sacrificing herself. He blew up Zaryan’s ship with his powers, but was fatally shot with a freeze-ray. The Legion honored him by placing him in a glass coffin with lightning generated over it by a perpetual motion device, and his funeral was attended by Superboy, Supergirl and Lori Lemaris. The Legion placed a statue of Lightning Lad in their Clubhouse as a tribute to the first Legionnaire killed in action.

(Adventure Comics I #305) - The Legion still mourned Lightning Lad, but had to fill the spot his passing left on the roster, so they held an open audition. Antennae Boy of Grxyor could use his ears as an antennae to tune into any radio station from Earth’s past present or future, but the screeching sound of radio programs blaring over each other drove the Legion nuts, and he admitted he couldn’t control his powers. Dynamo Kid was a reporter hoping to do a story on the Legion, and rigged a device to make it appear as if he had the same powers as Lightning Lad, but the Legion easily saw through his ruse. Marvel Lad demonstrated several of the same powers as Superboy, making the team suspicious. A metal-detector revealed he wasn’t a robot, and he proved he wasn’t Superboy in disguise by handling a piece of Kryptonite kept in the Legion Clubhouse. Cosmic Boy decided to give Marvel Lad a number of initiation tests before letting him on the team. He had Marvel Lad retrieve fluvium, which Brainiac 5 needed for his lead-poisoning antidotes he was developing to cure Mon-El, and Marvel quickly brought some back from a distant galaxy. For his next test fought a feeding Sun-Eater, a being that roamed the galaxy absorbing the heat and energy of suns, and made it flee by blasting it with his heat-vision, which was hotter than a sun. Marvel was told to clear the planet Brogg of space monsters so it would be safe to use as an emergency landing spot for space pilots. The monsters turned out to be illusions created by a 3-D generator. Marvel smashed it and found stolen treasure underneath it, realizing the charade was created by space pirates looking to protect their booty. For his final test Marvel Lad had to create a new element, and by crushing gold, silver and iron into powder and rubbing his hands at superspeed to vibrate the molecules of the three elements he formed a bar of element 152, an anti-gravity metal. Marvel Lad was accepted into the Legion, and pulled off the mask he wore, revealing himself as Mon-El. The day before Brainiac 5 had him test his latest antidote, but told him to wait a day to make sure its’ effects were permanent before revealing himself to the Legion, not wanting to get their hopes up as they had before when Brainiac came up with a cure that turned out to be temporary. Mon-El took one last trip to the Phantom Zone to tell off the Kryptonian criminals who’d tormented him for centuries, and reminded them that good always triumphed over evil. Mon-El was overjoyed that Brainiac had finally cured him, but his spirits were dampened by the passing of Lightning Lad, and vowed to find a way to revive him using Daxamite super-science.

(Adventure Comics I #306) - The Legion held try-outs, and had to reject several well-meaning but unsuited applicants, including Polar Boy, Night Girl, Chlorophyll Kid, Fire Lad and Stone Boy. The rejects met up and were encouraged by Polar Boy that even though they weren’t Legion material, they could still use their powers to help people. They formed the Legion of Substitute Heroes, vowing to help people and, if need be, the Legion of Super-Heroes in their time of need. They built their own clubhouse in the side of a mountain as well as a spaceship and Science Police monitoring system. They got a warning about giant evolved sea creatures that had escaped from the Ocean Research Laboratory, and were quick to respond, but the LOSH were already on the scene wrangling the beasts. The next Science Police alert came when scientists who’d built a domed city in the Arctic went rogue. They secretly built an atomic power plant under the dome, propelling the city into space, and delivered an ultimatum that they’d use the advanced weaponry they’d built to attack Earth unless they were given tribute. The Substitute Heroes flew into space, but Sun Boy of the Legion streaked through space near the domed city, and fearing they were about to be hit by a meteorite the scientists piloted their city back to Earth where they were apprehended by Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy. Robot-ships attacked Earth and Polar Boy offered the Legion back-up, but Brainiac 5 refused him, saying the mission was too dangerous for untrained civilians. The Substitute Heroes’ anxieties finally got to them, and they decided they were no help as a team after all and prepared to disband. Chlorophyll Kid spotted seeds that had rained down from space, and used his plant growth powers on one. The seed grew into a plant man that attacked him, and the Substitute Heroes defeated it, and Fire-Lad incinerated the rest of the seeds. They learned from their monitor system that the seeds had come from a distant planet that had also sent the robot-ships. The robot-ships were meant to divert the Legion while the planet rocketed more seeds to Earth to conquer the planet. The Substitutes traveled to the planet, found the warehouse storing millions of seeds, and Chlorophyll Kid used his powers to prematurely grow them to plant men. The planet was now burdened with a population explosion, and had to cease its’ plans of invasion. The Substitutes decided to stay together after all, and were pleased to keep their victory a secret amongst themselves, and attended a parade for the Legion celebrating their defeat of the robot-ships.

(Adventure Comics I #307) - Space pirate Roxxas and his crew wee looking for a valuable target, and during their search they raided the planet Oranz, stealing all their cold light globes. The Legion responded, with Sun Boy heating a mountain to white-hot temperatures to provide light for the natives until they could produce more cold light globes to light their cities. The Oranz shot down one of the pirate’s rocketships, which Brainiac 5 examined, declaring it capable of faster-than-light-travel. He immediately went about replicating the technology so the Legion could pursue Roxxas. With several members on offworld missions the Legion conducted an emergency membership drive. Jan Arrah of Trom, said he had an amazing power, but couldn’t reveal it to all of them. They assumed he had a good reason for his conditional application, and he showed it to Saturn Gir, who promised not to reveal his power, but assured the Legion he’d be a worthy member. Dubbed Mystery Lad, he accompanied the Legion using the faster-than-light rocketships Brainiac 5 duplicated to the waterworld of Vuruna, where Roxxas and his men had looted valuable colored pearls. Roxxas dropped z-bombs on the pontoons of a city in Vuruna, and Cosmic Boy used his magnetic powers to keep the city afloat until repairs could be made, but Roxxas managed to escape. Saturn Girl used her telepathic powers to follow the pirates to a dead world, and Mystery Lad helped them escape an ambush., The captured pirates recognized Mystery Lad, who looked guilty on meeting them, and Invisible Kid suspected he was secretly a space pirate. The Legion continued to pursue Roxxas and his crew, and Mystery Lad got out in front of them, surrendering himself to the pirates. They’d raided his homeworld because the residents were capable of transmuting one element to another, and they planned to force the natives to turn lead into uranium so they could create a doomsday weapon, the threat of which would let them conduct unopposed raids across the universe. The residents of Trom fought back, and were all killed except Jan, who fled, and Roxxas had pursued him ever since, which was was he was hiding the nature of his powers. Jan said he’d rather die than help them, and turned the hull of their mothership into gas. The pirates had oxygen helmets and fled, only to be captured by the Legion. Invisible Kid, still suspicious of Jan being allied with the pirates, had followed him onboard Roxxas’ ship, and gave him an oxygen helmet, saving his life. Cosmic Boy welcomed Jan as a full member of the Legion, dubbed him Element Lad, and promised that the nature of his powers would still be kept a secret to everyone but the Legion.

(Adventure Comics I #308) - The Legion unveiled their official flag, made of an indestructible material and luminous enough to be seen for hundreds of miles. They draped a Legion flag over Lightning Lad’s coffin when his body began to twitch. Lightning Lad had seemingly been revived by the constantly firing electrical bolts above his coffin, , but claimed to be suffering from some memory loss. The Legion suspected that Lightning Lad’s powers might have worn off while he was dead, and agreed to secretly test his powers. Sun Boy was absolutely convinced Lightning Lad was powerless, but decided he’d cover for him, fearing his heart would be broken if he was taken off the Legion. Scientist Jon Arkol needed a massive amount of electricity to power his latest experiment, and the Legion had Lightning Lad fly to his lab’s hilltop condenser to charge it up. Sun Boy used his powers to heat the air, creating a lightning storm that powered the conductor. The commissioner of the Science Police learned that the rumored Thieves’ Planet where crooks from around the universe hid out was a reality, and although he didn’t know the exact location he knew which space sector it was in. The Legion flew to an asteroid in the sector, waiting for any criminal ships to pass by. When they spotted one Cosmic boy, still unsure of Lightning Lad’s powers, ordered the legionnaire to take it down with a lightning bolt. Sub Boy reflected a burst of heat and light off a cliff behind Lightning Lad, which struck the criminal ship, bringing it down. The criminals were from the Hydra World, and had stolen a group of rare animals from an intergalactic zoo. The Legion placed the animals safely onboard their own ship, but Chameleon Boy took a liking to Proty, a Protean that could shapeshift just like him, and decided to keep him as a pet. Thieves’ World was hidden from the world by an invisibility shield, but the Legion located it using the coordinates set in the Hydra World criminal’s spaceship. The Legion tried to pass themselves off as criminals, but the master of Thieves’ World was a telepathic sentient ball of electricity and soon found them out. He had his Atom Guard robots apprehend them and throw them in his jewel jail, but Chameleon Boy had his new pet transform into a gun, allowing the Legion to bluff their way out of prison when a guard came to feed them. The Legion tore through Thieves’ World, apprehending a number of criminals, and Lightning Lad used his powers to short-circuit the master. The Legion were all surprised to see Lightning Lad unequivocally demonstrate his powers, but sun Boy was especially shocked because he knew “Lightning Lad” was an imposter. He’d noticed that Lightning Lad was suntanned except on the back of his neck, indicating he’d had long hair until he recently clipped it, and Lightning Lad had no Adam's apple, which meant he was a woman. The imposter was Lightning Lad’s sister Ayla Ranzz, who wanted to carry on her brother’s heroic legacy, and the Legion let her join the team as Lightning Lass. They still hoped the day would come when they could revive Lightning Lad for real.

(Adventure Comics I #309) - The Legion furthered their education by taking classes via closed-circuit TV so they’d never miss a lecture no matter where they were in the galaxy. The Legion held tryouts and Jungle King brought in a wild borlat and demonstrated his power to control any animal using hypno-mental commands. While bragging about his powers and explaining how his father Dez-Nu gave them to him using experimental energy rays his concentration broke and the borlat tried to attack him. Sun Boy disabled the borlat, and the Legion turned Jungle king down because of his lack of control over his powers. Jungle King was in a furious rage over his rejection, and the Legionnaires wondered if his father’s ray experiment had altered Jungle King’s brain. The Jungle King traveled to Monster World and assembled a team of wondrous beasts to serve him as the Legion of Super-Monsters. He renamed himself the Monster Master, and planned on getting revenge on the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Science Police alerted the Legion after he robbed the Space Bank and bragged he’d go after the rarest gems in the universe. Brainiac 5 deduced that he could only be talking about the comet jewels of Korr’s Sky City. Sky City was built on a platform that extended into the stratosphere to avoid Korr’s deadly smog. Monster Master’s Earthquake Beast created an earthquake that started to destabilize Sky City’s base, and the Legion went into action. They fought an even battle with the Legion of Super-Monsters, but Sky City’s base started to crumble, and they had to abandon the fight, using the Legion spaceship to hitch a cable around Sky city’s base to stabilize it while Monster Master made off with the comet jewels. Saturn girl picked up monster Master’s thoughts and realized his next target was Inshar, the World of Giant Flowers where he planned on stealing valuable seeds. The Legion came up with a plan to have chameleon Boy duplicate the form of one of the Super-Monsters to get the drop of Monster Master. The Legion captured the Drill Beast and Chameleon Boy took its’ place, but Bouncing Boy, who’d been told to stay behind with the Legion spaceship because his powers were no match for the monsters, tried to go after Monster Master. Monster Master, alerted to the Legion’s presence, flew off in his spaceship with his super-Monsters and the disguised Chameleon Boy. Brainiac 5 yelled at Bouncing boy for ruining their plan. Monster Master hid out on a rocky planet when he discovered Chameleon Boy’s presence. Monster Master sicced Omnibeast on him, but Chameleon Boy lured the monster into one of the rocky planet’s tunnels it got trapped under a cave-in. Monster Master flew off again, and the Legion predicted he’d return to Monster World to bolster the ranks of his Legion. Bouncing Boy redeemed himself on Monster World by tricking the Earthquake Beast, the most powerful of the Legion, into swinging its’ massive tail at a cliffside, and it was trapped under falling rocks. Ironically Monster Master was killed when the Gas Creature, a monster he’d twice rejected from his own Legion, vaporized him.

(Action Comics I #380) - A man snapped, climbed a high tower in Metropolis, and started shooting at air-cars. The police surrounded him with snipers, but Duo Damsel, seeing that he was mentally disturbed, pleaded with them to give her a chance to take him alive, and managed to disarm him. Mon-El told Duo Damsel he needed her to deliver important papers to Ikros, and when she grumbled that she’d just finished a mission he told her tough. Duo Damsel decided to split into two and sent her duplicate to Ikros so she could relax for a while. Bouncing Boy had planned on taking Duo Damsel to the movies, and was sad that her other self would not be present. He asked her who the real Duo damsel was, and she said it was difficult to explain, but even she couldn’t answer that because even when they were seperate both her bodies and minds were identical. Bouncing Boy dubbed her Luornu I, and her offworld duplicate Luornu II. A month later Luornu returned from Ikros, engaged to Nam’Lor, the hero of that world. Bouncing Boy was incredulous, and Luornu II said she’d explain later, but was tired and wanted to merge with Luornu I. Mon-El suspected something had changed about Luornu II, and also alerted Bouncing Boy that a number of robberies had been committed around Metropolis by a superpowered male and female. Duo Damsel slept, with Luornu II’s memories coming back to her, about how she’d fallen from a sky-saucer and been rescued by Nam’Lor, who she later fell for. Her mind was, for the first time in her life, torn between the wants and desires of her two selves. Duo Damsel woke up in a fright, and Luornu II separated from her and ran away. Bouncing Boy and Luornu I responded to an alert of the Almagonite Refinery being robbed. They confronted the masked male and female robbers and Luornu I grazed the woman with a nerve ray, but the criminals escaped. Back at the Legion Clubhouse Lournu I was met by Luornu II, and realized that II had an injury where I had hit the criminal. Luornu I confessed to Bouncing Boy, speculating that Nam’Lor had corrupted II, and they planned to take out Nam’Lor with a super-power neutralizer. II confronted them for plotting against her and Nam’Lor, and when Nam’Lor arrived he easily disarmed Bouncing Boy, but when II commanded him to kill bouncing Boy he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Nam’Lor confessed that the hyper-aura that gave him his powers had turned II evil, but because he loved her he humored her and even stole for her, but he realized he was in the wrong. He announced that he was leaving, and that within days the radiation from his aura would wear off and II would return to normal. He told her to forget about him, but he’d always remember what could have been between them.

(Superboy I #190) - Bouncing Boy and the Legion prepared to vote on their new leader, with their revised bylaws allowing them to choose between re-electing Mon-El or placing Saturn Girl in charge. As the Legionnaires voted Mon-El confessed to Saturn Girl that he’d decline leadership if re-elected, he’d lost faith in his nerves and leadership qualities. Tharok used a teleport beam to spirit Mon-El and Saturn Girl to a remote planetoid. He planned to eliminate the Legion by having Validus kill their leaders. Mon-El was overmatched by Validus, so he pretended to go over to Tharok’s side and convinced him to take leadership of the Legion. Once Tharok accepted Validus continued his programming to destroy the Legion leader and friend Tharok’s computerized side with his mental lightning. Mon-El and Saturn Girl returned to Legion hq, with Mon-Elonce again feeling fully confident in himself.

 (Legion of Super-Heroes III #11 (fb)) - Bouncing Boy was on a good-will tour of the Spiral Arm colony worlds when Comet Queen greeted him, telling him she had a huge crush on him and desperately wanted to join the Legion since she was a small girl. Bouncing Boy tried to let her down, saying he was happily married and if she wanted to to join the Legion she’d have to prove herself. Comet Queen, headstrong as always, went to the lava seas to find the remains of the mythical natives of Quaal-III to show Bouncing Boy what she was made of. She found the native remains in a volcano, but couldn’t fly out because she’d broken her leg. Bouncing Boy went to save her when they realized the volcano had a gas vent that would blow them up if activated. Bouncing Boy bounced her up to the vent and had her release comet gases to short-circuit it. Technicians came to check in on the vent and rescued them. Bouncing Boy was impressed with the young woman, and agreed to enroll her in the Legion Academy.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #4) - The Legion of Super-Villains invaded Orando and captured Queen Projecta and Karate Kid. On Earth Cosmic Boy agreed to keep watch on the planet while Element Lad assembled the rest of thew Legion to fly a ship to Orando. The Legion of Super-Villains warped Orando to a space between dimensions, inadvertently taking several Legionnaires with them. The LSV planned on finding other worlds where there was no Legion to foil them and conquering them. Dream Girl, acting as deputy leader with Element Lad on Orando, called Cosmic Boy to check in on Earth. Cosmic Boy now had the back-up of reservists Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, the Legion of Substitute Heroes and the Legion Academy.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #9) - Bouncing Boy and the Legion Academy cared for Laurel Grand after she’d been shot with a kryptonite bullet. They called in the Science Police, and officer Roon Dvron responded. Roon was eager to investigate, hoping that if he cracked the case he’d get a promotion.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #11) - Superboy visited Bouncing Boy at Legion headquarters, saying he was thinking of rejoining the team. Bouncing Boy said that wasn’t going to happen, because the history books showed that when Superboy left active duty he never rejoined the team. Bouncing Boy told him about potential new recruits, focusing on Comet Queen, who Bouncing Boy personally recruited.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #12) - The Legion Academy discussed the shakeups in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and their chances of getting called up. They started bickering, and were convinced Magnetic Kid would get called up since his brother Cosmic Boy had just left the Legion. Tellus even asked Magnetic Kid to put in a good word for him. Magnetic Kid got irritated and unleashed a magnetic blast on his teammates. Bouncing boy told them to stop goofing off, saying he had some people he wanted them to meet back at the academy.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #14) - The Legion interviewed applicants during their membership drive and had them demonstrate their powers. The Legion Academy all tried out, with Bouncing Boy on hand to cheer them on. Mentalla applied for membership, saying she’d be a valuable addition because her powers were similar to Saturn Girl, although her telepathy was used to control minds instead of reading them. Comet Queen, Magnetic Kid and Tellus all made it to the second round, and were given a trial by fire, joining the Legion on a mission to find out why the bridges and drainage systems of the California Coastal District were breaking down. Brainiac 5 led the mission, and had Mon-El team up with Magnetic Kid to use their powers to raise the newly sunken sections of California. Comet Queen rescued civilians in danger of drowning and Tellus picked up the thought-patterns of someone with sabotage on their mind. At Legion hq Energy Boy demonstrated he ability to create nuclo-globes when Polar Boy interrupted him by freezing his nuclo-globe and hands to show the Legion that he’d gotten much better at controlling his powers. He told the Legion he’d dissolved the Subs, and asked that they waive their old rule that new applicants had to be under 18 to consider him. Tellus led his teammates to the northern cost, where he sensed the thought-patterns coming from. The coast buckled and Mon-El went to investigate, finding Dev-Em on the scene. Dev-Em was now working for the U.P.’s Counter-Intelligence Corps and was also investigating the damage being done to California. Dev-Em made it very clear he was not impressed with the new would-be Legionnaires, and said the Legion would be better off if they offered him membership again. Dev-Em said the Corps had learned that the Dark Circle left behind a few stragglers on Earth to commit acts of sabotage, and Tellus tracked down the saboteur, an Ontiir clone. The clone sat in a weapon-chair and was set off another destructive device that caused a tidal wave. Mon-El used his heat vision to evaporate the tidal wave while his teammates tried to pierce the clone’s forcefield. Quislet, an adventurer from a microscopic dimension flying in a miniatures Trans-D Vessel, joined the fray in an attempt to impress the Legion. Quislet could animate inanimate matter, and took control of the clone’s weapon-chair, using it to defeat him. Quislet returned to his Vessel, and the weapon-chair crumbled to dust, as was usually the case for any matter Quislet possessed. The Legion inducted Magnetic Kid, Polar Boy, Quislet and Tellus as new members. Saturn Girl said she had a recruit with an excellent reason to join the team, Sensor Girl. She wouldn’t reveal anything about Sensor Girl, but asked the Legion to trust her, much like they trusted her telepathy when she recommended Element Lad as a member, and the Legion welcomed Sensor Girl to their ranks.

Comments: Created by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney

Bouncing Boy received a profile in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #3 and Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #1. Chuck Taine received a profile in Who’s Who in the DC Universe #9. He received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #13 under the Legion of Super-Heroes entry.

Bouncing Boy's appearance in Adventure Comics I #304 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #403, 499, Adventure Comics I #305 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #403, Adventure Comics I #306 was reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #1 and Adventure Comics I #500, Adventure Comics I #307 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #500, Adventure Comics I #308 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #403, 500, Adventure Comics I #309 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #500,  Legion of Super-Heroes III #4, 9, 11, 12, 14 was reprinted in Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #329, 334, 336, 337, 339.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com