Ray II

RAY II

Real Name: Raymond C. Terrill

Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Superhero, freelance computer programmer

Group Affiliation: Freedom Fighters III, formerly Justice League of Air, Forgotten Heroes, Freedom Fighters II

Known Relatives: Henry Terrill (third cousin, thrice removed), Langford Terrill (Ray I, father), Thomas H. Terrill (uncle, deceased), unnamed mother

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

First Appearance: Ray #1 (February, 1992)

Powers: Ray was partially composed of light energy, and could absorb and store solar energy. He used this energy to fly, shoot bursts of energy or create objects made of solid light.

History: Raymond was born a mutant because his father, the 1940s' era mysteryman Ray I was exposed to a light bomb. Ray I told his wife her son had died during childbirth and gave Raymond to his brother Thomas to raise. Thomas passed himself off as Raymond's real father, and kept the boy inside the house until he was eighteen under the pretense that exposure to sunlight would kill him. In truth he didn't want Raymond to learn about his mutant powers. On his deathbed Thomas told Raymond about his superpowered heritage and the identity of his actual father. Ray I later used his government contacts to manipulate his son into becoming the superhero Ray II. Ray I knew that his son, being partially composed of light energy, was the only living being who could communicate with the Light Entity, a creature that threatened the Earth. Ray II talked to the Light Entity and convinced it to steer clear of Earth.

(Guy Gardner: Warrior #20, 21) - Guy Gardner and Green Lantern Alan Scott wanted to learn why Green Lanterns were turning up dead and stripped of their power rings, so Guy recruited Ray and his Justice League America teammates to travel to Oa. Approaching Oa they spotted several dead Green Lanterns, and on Oa the heroes were attacked by power constructs and confronted by the source of the carnage, the power-mad Hal Jordan. Hal told them they should never have come after him, because all he wanted was to resurrect Coast City, but the Guardians and GLC got in his way. He defeated the heroes and destroyed Guy Gardner’s power ring.

(Final Night #1-4, Aquaman V #26, Spectre III #47) - Superman organized a summit of superheroes, including Ray, to listen to an alien named Dusk. She'd seen the Sun-Eater snuff out the sun of countless planets, and she was there to warn the heroes that the Sun-Eater was headed towards Earth. Ray and a team of heros used their powers to create a smaller second Sun. It drew the Sun-Eaters' attention, and it absorbed it, but was still after Earth's real sun. The Sun-Eater attacked the sun, chilling Earth, and Ray and a number of heroes tried to control the chaos caused by panic. Ray helped put out a fire caused by a boy who tried to keep his mother warm, but ended up burning down their apartment building. One tenant wanted to see her family, so Ray took her back to her South American village. He tried to generate enough light to keep them all warm, but burned himself out in the process. Fire and Zatanna saved his life, and Firestorm provided enough heat to save the village. Earth was saved when Parallax sacrificed his life to dispel the Sun-Eater and reignite the sun.

(Green Lantern III #81) - Coast City; Ray was among the heroes who attended a memorial service for Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

(DC One Million #2) - Vandal Savage decimated Montevideo, Uruguay with a nuclear-armed Rocket Red suit, and Ray and Firestorm contained the fallout. They were infected by the Hourman Virus, a creation of the Vandal Savage of the 853^rd century that filled them with rage and ate away at their minds. Justice Legion A calmed them down, and recruited them to stop Savage.

(JLA #27) - Ray was called in as a JLA reservist to battle Amazo. Amazo was programmed to acquire the powers of the JLA, so when Animal Man and a number of other heroes temporarily joined the JLA to battle him it just made Amazo more powerful. Amazo decimated the JLA reservists, and was only defeated when Superman officially disbanded the JLA, leaving Amazo powerless.

(JLA #29-31) - Triumph told Gypsey and Ray they were invited to join the JLA. He actually meant he was planning on destroying the JLA, and making his team into a new Justice League, and mind-controlled them so they’d team with him. Triumph had unleashed the 5^th Dimensional genie Lkz on Earth, and planned on saving the day once it destroyed the JLA. They broke into the JLA Watchtower and waited. Steel arrived and they drove him off, but when they were ready to arrive on Earth and act as the triumphant heroes they were halted by Batman and Aquaman, who defeated them. Ray and Gypsey shook off Triumph’s control, and Triumph’s schemes ended when the Spectre turned him into ice to punish him fpor the deaths Lkz caused.

(JLA #38, 39, 41) - Ray was among the legion of heroes summoned by the JLA to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon. Ray was badly injured trying to save lives in Venice Beach, where Japanese and Canadian armies were battling each other.

(Justice Leagues: Justice League of Aliens #1, Justice Leagues: JLA #1) - When the Advance Man made the world forgot that the JLA ever existed the individual members still had a vague memory of the team and formed their own Justice Leagues. Ray was recruited to be in Green Lantern IV’s Justice League of Air. The League of Air aided Martian Manhunter’s Justice League of Aliens quell an outbreak of human mutation in California that was caused by the Advance Man. Advance Man’s client, Plura, arrived on Earth and prepared to ravage it, but she was temporarily thwarted by the Justice Leagues of Air and Aliens. The Justice League of Air disbanded following the reformation of the Justice League of America.

(JSA: Our Worlds at War #1) - During the Imperiex War Ray was called in as a JSA reserve on a mission to disrupt Imperiex’s link to his ship’s power supply. The JSA found that Imperiex’s ship was leeching it’s power from the planet Daxam, which Imperiex had pulled out of its’ orbit. Ray was teamed with a group of reservists who dubbed themselves the Freedom Fighters, and they freed the Daxamites from Imperiex control, while the JSA not only cut off Imperiex from his power, but managed to blow up his ship as well.

(JSA #34, 35) - The Ultra-Humanite used Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt to conquer the world, and imprisoned Ray and virtually every superhuman on Earth in stasis tubes, only reviving them when he needed mind-controlled slaves to serve in his personal guard the Thunderfront. Ray served as a member of the Thunderfront when they attacked the JSA, the only heroes not under the Humanite’s control. The JSA used a device that disrupted the braincaps Humanite used to control the Thunderfront, leaving them unconscious but freed from Humanite’s mental domination. The JSA later defeated Humanite.

(JSA #49-51) - Ray and the Freedom Fighters aided the JSA in a battle against Eclipso, who’d possessed hundreds of New Yorkers and was tearing the city apart. The Freedom Fighters wrested away Eclipso’s black diamond and gave it to Alex Montez, who used it to make Eclipso manifest in him, and kept Eclipso bound to his will using magic glyphs. The Freedom Fighters then aided the JSA in battling and defeating Eclipso’s ally Mordru.

(Teen Titans III #21 (fb)) - Ray observed Dr. Light shoplifting in a food market and apprehended him.

(JSA #73) - Ray and the Freedom Fighters, now under the direction of Washington, prepped for a mission.

(Identity Crisis #1) - Ray was among a number of heroes that investigated Sue Dibny's murder scene. Two days later he attended Sue’s funeral.

(Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1) - An army of Earth’s heroes, including Ray, appeared to take Superboy-Prime down during the Sinestro Corps invasion of Earth. The heroes focused on wrecking his armor, because after a year on Oa, and away from a yellow sun his Kryptonian body still wasn’t at full strength, and his armor collected sunlight. Superboy bragged that once the sun rose on Earth he’d be at full power. Superboy was battered by Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman, who blamed him for Superboy’s death, as well as Supergirl and Power Girl, who blamed him for the death of the Superman of Earth-2. As the fight went against him, Superboy broke down in tears. He tried to wipe them away, saying that it was impossible for boys to cry, and then whining that no one ever thanked him for sacrificing his Earth to save the multiverse. The battle lasted until dawn, and he flew into the sunrise. As he achieved full power he declared himself the one, true Superman. The Guardians arrived with Sodam Yat, the new Ion, and pitted him against Superboy-Prime.

(El Diablo #4, 5) - El Diablo, Hell's assassin, was working for S.H.A.D.E. without his knowledge. He went rogue when he killed several officers at a VA hospital. The Freedom Fighters were called in, and their liaison Agent Aaron explained that Diablo had only killed disgraced officers, but they were determined to bring him to justice. They caught Diablo in the middle of a fight with his archenemy Vorpal. El Diablo had no intention of returning to jail, and made an uneasy alliance with Vorpal to fight them. He recognized Phantom Lady as a killer, and his curse allowed him to threaten her life before Uncle Sam intervened. Diablo was not impressed with Uncle Sam, saying he might be the flashy American dream, but Diablo was the guts and reality. Crimelord though he was he pointed out that he was a self-made man. Black Condor recognized Vorpal as a fellow avatar, and Vorpal was pleased to tell him that Diablo's death would mean freedom for Chutriel the god of vengeance that powered him. Diablo berated Phantom Lady, telling her the people she protected would be horrified if they knew what a monster she was, and she turned her black light on him, separating him from Chutriel, who was snatched up to Hell by Ninhursag. The powerless Santana was arrested, and after a trial was sentenced to death.

(Titans II #38) - Ray, the Freedom Fighters and the rest of the superhero community attended the funeral of Atom Ryan Choi.

Comments: Created by Jack C. Harris & Joe Quesada.

Damage #0 and Green Lantern: Rebirth #3 had a flashback of Ray’s appearance in Zero Hour.