THE FLASH Casts Adam "Edge" Copeland as Atom Smasher

If only we could get the classic Nuklon mohawk...

ComicBook.com has revealed that the CW series The Flash has cast Adam Copeland in the role of Al Rothstein, better known to DC Comics fans as Justice Society of America member Atom Smasher.

Atom Smasher is described in the article as "One of the most powerful enemies we encounter this season, Atom Smasher has come to Central City to kill The Flash.  His incredible strength and ability to grow to enormous size makes him more than a match for Flash and the entire S.T.A.R. Labs team will have to come together to find a way to defeat him."  Rothstein was previously mentioned in the episode "Power Outage" as one of a number of DC characters thought to have died during the particle accelerator explosion.

Copeland, 41, is best known as the former WWE wrestler Edge, but has retired from wrestling and has recently appeared on the television series Haven as Dwight Hendrickson and Sanctuary as Thelo.

Created in 1983 by Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway, Atom Smasher first appeared in All-Star Squadron #25 as Nuklon, a member of the superhero group Infinity, Inc. and godson to the original Atom, Al Pratt.

Albert Julian Rothstein inherited his metahuman powers of super-strength and control over his molecular structure (allowing him to change the size and density of his body) from his grandfather Terry Curtis, who became the reluctant supervillain known as Cyclotron.

As Nuklon, Rothstein later served as a member of the Justice League of America.  Adopting the new identity of Atom Smasher, he was invited to join the reformed Justice Society of America to uphold Al Pratt's legacy. Albert's mother was later murdered in a plane crash engineered by the terrorist Kobra, making him consumed with vengeance, nearly crushing Kobra in his hands before he is talked down by his teammate Jack Knight. Not long after the fatal crash, Albert – with the aid of Metron of the New Gods – went back in time and replaced his mother with the villain Extant.  This ended up saving her life but made Albert a murderer, even though there was no other way to contain Extant and stop him from causing further harm.

This will be the first time Atom Smasher will be depicted in live-action, although he previously appeared in the animated series Justice League Unlimited, voiced by an uncredited Kevin Conroy.

The Flash returns to The CW for Season 2 on October 6, 2015.