Starman's 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.
