STARMAN (Ted Knight)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Jack Burnley and Gardner Fox

Starman (Ted Knight)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Ted Knight
Full Name: Theodore "Ted" Henry Knight
Occupation: Astronomer, Adventurer, Physicist
Status: Deceased
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Widower
Known Relatives: Daniel Knight (father; deceased); Senator Henry Knight (uncle; presumed deceased); Sandra Knight (cousin); Adele Doris Drew Knight (wife; deceased); David Knight (son; deceased); Jack Knight (son); Kyle Theo Knight (grandson)
Base of Operation: Opal City
Group Affiliation(s): Justice Society of America; All-Star Squadron
Gender: Male
Height: 6' (later 5'10")
Weight: 177 lbs. (later 155 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown, later grey
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #61 (April 1941)
Creators: Jack Burnley and Gardner Fox

OVERVIEW

In the late 1930s, scientist Ted Knight discovered a device - the "Gravity Rod", later developed into the "Cosmic Rod" - that could convert starlight into powerful cosmic energy, and inspired by the JSA, used this to become the Starman, soon joining both this team and the wartime All-Star Squadron. He continued to be active as a hero for many years, apart from a period when he suffered an acute mental breakdown due to the guilt of having been involved with the creation of the atomic bomb. Although he tended either to work alone or with the whole Justice Society, he worked alongside the Black Canary for an extensive period of time in the 1960ds, having a brief affair with her. During the Zero Hour, Ted and many other Justice Society were aged by Extant, an event which forced him to hand over the Starman mantle to his son David, who was soon killed, and then to his other son Jack. He continued to advise his son and to work on new applications for the stellar energy which powers his rod until having to sacrifice his life in recent months to save his beloved Opal City from the Mist.

HISTORY

Born into Opal City's wealthy Knight family, young Theodore Knight was never one to just let his life slip by like so many born to his station might do. He looked to the skies, his love of science and his abilities in math and the physical sciences were fueled by his limitless imagination and the family fortune. Briefly meeting Albert Einstein also gave him a push in finding out about the underlying structure of the universe, and he began to make discoveries about the cosmic forces that bind matter together.

Even at the young age of 25, Ted Knight began to harness these energies ("cosmic rays", as he would call them) and made a demonstration of their uses to government officials in 1939. After being turned down for further governmental study, Ted took his ideas and began building a containment rod that would allow them to be used as an offensive and defensive weapon. His ideas took a different turn, however, when his cousin, Sandra, told him that she had begun adventuring as the mystery woman known as the Phantom Lady. She was aided by an refugee scientist named Dr. Abraham Davis, and she told Ted to consult him. Davis was set up in a New York City brownstone as he and Knight began to develop what later became known as the Gravity Rod. Knight used the Gravity Rod and adding a colorful (and warm) costume, began patrolling the skies of Opal City in late 1939 as Starman.

As his fame grew, Starman came in contact with the Justice Society of America, in mid-1941 and during this introduction, he was bathed in a wash of chronal energies that kept him youthful for several decades. Starman served with the JSA and the later group, the All-Star Squadron, while secretly aiding the US War Department as Ted Knight in developing aspects of the Manhattan Project that led to the atomic weapons used to end World War II.

At the end of the war, however, Ted felt great remorse and suffered much anguish when he learned that his work on the Manhattan Project helped create the atomic holocaust that ultimately ended World War II. That sadness, along with the murder of his long-time girlfriend, Doris Lee, caused Ted to suffer a nervous breakdown. During the year that followed, a mystery "Starman of 1951" patrolled Opal City for only that year. While recuperating, Ted met Adelle Drew and as part of his healing process, fell in love and married her. He continued to adventure semi-actively for several years afterwards.

After a brief extra-marital affair with the original Black Canary, Ted and Adelle began raising two sons, David and Jack. Adelle fell ill and died while the boys were quite young. Ted reduced his time spent in his heroic identity while the boys were young and concentrated on refining and developing his Gravity Rod into a "Cosmic Rod". When the Justice Society became re-active eleven years ago, Starman rejoined them. Ted grew apart from his sons; David in his studies and training to become another Starman, Jack first worshiping and idolizing his father to then rebelling against much of his father's way of life.

After breaking his leg in a battle, Starman lent his Cosmic Rod to the recently returned Star-Spangled Kid, who adapted the technology into a Cosmic Converter Belt, which made use of the individual's own metabolism to aid in the controlling of the energies. This belt was passed down to a later Star-Spangled Kid.

Starman was lost for several years in Limbo, believed dead. David took up the Starman name, but failed miserably and gave up his claim to the name to another super-hero. When Ted returned, he began to train with David, and after the elder Knight was aged to closer to his real age, David stepped in and took the Starman mantle. Unfortunately, the younger Starman was killed only a week after beginning his career. It fell to Ted's younger son, Jack, to defend Opal and avenge his brother's death. Somewhat reluctantly, Jack has grown into the hero's role over the last three years. Jack took on the name "Starman", but only on the condition that his father, now retired, take the "Cosmic Rod" technology and work on expanding it to aid mankind in the future. Ted took to his new role with a renewed sense of purpose, making some advances in the energy containment and control.

Recently, the "Bad Dwarf" Culp's siege of Opal City and Mist's final gambit resulted in Ted Knight giving his life for Opal City, but not before seeing his first grandchild and knowing through a time-travelling member of the Knight family that the legacy of Starman would continue for many generations to come. Before sacrificing himself to save Opal, Ted told his son that the Cosmic Rod technology had advanced as far as he could carry it and left his notes for future generations of scientists.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

The Starman's first and foremost weapon was his mind. Ted Knight discovered and refined a method of using the ambient energies residual of the Big Bang and The Godwave to power his Gravity Rod (later refined to his Cosmic Rod). The Rod allowed the possessor to nullify gravity, and propelled him through the skies. He later learned to project heat and force beams, and build a containment and force fields out of that energy. Later applications of the technology will be instrumental in creating Earth's first starships.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Starman in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22 (December 1986)

Starman Secret Files #1 (April 1998)