The Ray (real name Raymond C. "Ray" Terrill) is a fictional character, a superhero in the . He is the second character to use the codename the Ray. Ray Terrill first appeared in The Ray #1 (February 1992), and was created by Jack C. Harris and Joe Quesada.
Ray Terrill appeared in The CW's fourth annual Arrowverse crossover event with Arrow, The Flash, the Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl titled "Crisis on Earth-X". He was played by Russell Tovey, who would also voice character in the CW Seed series Freedom Fighters: The Ray. Tovey returned in a cameo in the crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Publication history
Ray's debut miniseries was created by Jack C. Harris and Joe Quesada, edited by Jim Owsley.
Fictional character biography
Origins
From a very young age, Raymond Terrill is told by his supposed father that exposure to direct sunlight will kill him. Privately tutored in his window-darkened home, he is dubbed "Night Boy" by the media. At the age of eighteen, Ray learns the truth about his heritage while at the deathbed of his father, "Happy" Terrill. The dying man admits that he was the Golden Age Ray, and that exposure to sunlight will activate Raymond's own light-based superpowers. As a child he would have been unable to control such power and, thus, had to be kept in darkness.
At the funeral for "Happy" Terrill, Ray meets his cousin, Hank, who urges him to become a superhero like his father. When he refuses, "Happy" shows up very much alive, in his classic Ray costume and looking far younger than he should, to meet his son. He tells Raymond that he was in fact raised by his uncle, Thomas Terrill, and that he must use his newfound powers to save the Earth from a powerful cosmic light-entity. Raymond eventually decides to take up the mantle of "the Ray", defeats the evil Doctor Polaris, and succeeds in dissuading the light entity from its destructive purpose.
Justice League
Ray's adventures continue, bringing him to battle with villains such as Brimstone, Neron, and Vandal Savage. Following the death of Superman, Ray is recruited into the Justice League for roughly a year of service. During this time, Ray has a brief romance with Black Canary. His tenure with the League takes place as the team was split into different factions, one led by Wonder Woman who consistently deferred to the team's United Nations mandate and the other, more hotheaded Captain Atom. Ray was present when fellow League member Ice was killed by the Overlord, prompting a number of member departures and signifying the end of the League operating closely with the U.N. Ray is then asked to join the ranks of Justice League Task Force, led by Martian Manhunter. With the Task Force he shared a number of adventures, including repeated tangling with Vandal Savage. Ray eventually began to view fellow Task Force members Gypsy and Triumph as a family and viewed the Martian Manhunter in more of a fatherly role than his actual father. This was complicated by Triumph's frequent conflicts for leadership with the Manhunter. Though Ray's own issues (as shown within his solo series, which ran concurrently with Justice League Task Force) caused him to leave the team, he would eventually leave to aid them in their last off-world mission to help the robot L-Ron who was then inhabiting Despero's body. The last adventure of Justice League Task Force involved their traveling to the center of the Earth and into Skartaris, world of the Warlord. Ray's body was taken over by a mystic and used against the team until he was freed by his friends.