Rainbow Raider (Roy G. Bivolo) is a

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

appearing in

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. His real name is a pun based on the acronym "

ROYGBIV ROYGBIV is an acronym for the sequence of hues commonly described as making up a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. There are several mnemonics that can be used for remembering this color sequence, such as the name ...

", a mnemonic for the colors of a

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

. He is a minor, though recurring, enemy of

the Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

and other heroes. Two incarnations of the Rainbow Raider appear in ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'', with Roy G. Bivolo appearing in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and ninth seasons, portrayed by Paul Anthony, and a female incarnation named Carrie Bates appearing in the seventh season, portrayed by

Jona Xiao Jona Xiao (born May 18, 1989) is an American actress born in China. Early life Xiao was born in Changsha, China and moved to New York as infant, before ultimately settling in St. Louis, Missouri with her family; starting acting in middle schoo ...

Publication history

Rainbow Raider first appeared in ''

'' #286 (June 1980), and was created by

Cary Bates Cary Bates (born 1948) is an American comic book, animation, television and film writer. He is best known for his work on ''The Flash'', ''Superman'', ''Superboy, the Legion of Superheroes'' and '' Captain Atom''. Bates is the longest-serving S ...

and

Don Heck Donald L. HeckDonald L. Heck
at the Social Security Death Index. Retrieved on Septem ...

. Bates said in a 2008 interview that "Rainbow Raider's color-blindness (as well as the color-emotion powers and origin) was an attempt on his part to emulate those classic Rogues' Gallery villain origins Bates enjoyed so much from the sixties". Bates elaborated on the characters creation stating "Having grown up on a Flash Rogue’s gallery full of villains who were adept at weaponizing things like

mirrors A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

boomerangs A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from an Aboriginal Aust ...

, etc., Julie and I thought the color spectrum gimmick had the potential to be a worthwhile addition."

Fictional character biography

As a child, Roy G. Bivolo always dreamed of a career as an artist, a lofty goal considering he was completely

colorblind Color blindness, color vision deficiency (CVD) or color deficiency is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. The severity of color blindness ranges from mostly unnoticeable to full absence of color perception. Color bl ...

. He would often paint what he thought were beautiful pieces of art, and indeed showed great technical skill only to be told that it was made up of clashing colors. His father, an

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

, attempts to cure Roy's condition and creates sophisticated goggles that can produce rainbow light beams. Roy, now the Rainbow Raider, embarks on a crime spree focused mostly on art galleries, saying that if he could not appreciate the great works of art in them (due to his disability), then no one else will. After being imprisoned in Belle Reve Penitentiary, the Rainbow Raider joins the Color Queens gang alongside

Crazy Quilt Crazy-Quilt is the name of several characters in DC Comics. The first is an enemy of the Boy Commandos, while the second, Paul Dekker, is an enemy of Batman. Both are blind and use special helmets that enable them to regain their vision and genera ...

, Doctor Light,

Doctor Spectro Captain Atom is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books, initially owned by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. All possess some form of energy-manipulating abilities, usually relating to nuc ...

, and

Multi-Man Multi-Man (Duncan Pramble) is a fictional character that has been both a superhero and a supervillain in DC Comics comic books, primarily as a villain for the Challengers of the Unknown. His first appearance was in ''Challengers of the Unknown'' ...

. Roy is later killed by

Blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. He is temporarily resurrected as a

Black Lantern The Black Lantern Corps is a fictional organization of wikt:corporeal, corporeal revenants (resembling intelligent zombies or jiangshi) appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, related to the emotional spectrum. The group is composed of d ...

in ''

Blackest Night "Blackest Night" is a 2009–10 American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous central miniseries, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis, along with a number of tie-in i ...

'' and permanently resurrected in ''

The New 52 The New 52 was the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero American comic books, comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint (comics), Flashpoint" Fictional crossover, cros ...

'' continuity reboot, where he is known as Chroma.

Rainbow Raiders

Since Rainbow Raider's death, a team of color-themed supervillains have dubbed themselves the Rainbow Raiders in his honor.

Powers and abilities

Rainbow Raider's powers are derived from the special goggles he wears, which allow him to project solid beams of rainbow-colored light he can either use offensively or as a slide for travel. In addition, he can coat people in certain colors of light to induce emotions (coating someone in blue light, for instance, would make them sad).

Reception

Heavy.com lists Rainbow Raider as one of the worst supervillains of all time. Francesco Marciuliano from Smosh.com ranked Rainbow Raider as having one of the worst supervillain gadgets of all time.

Other characters named Rainbow Raider

* Jonathan Kent posed as a supervillain called Rainbow Raider as part of a plot to get

Superboy Superboy is an identity used by several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series ...

to capture gangster Vic Munster and his gang by using a hypnotic device on his helmet. Munster later used the Rainbow Raider identity before being defeated by Superboy. * Dr. Quin (a villain from the first ''

Dial H for Hero ''Dial H for Hero'' is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a magical dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, such as an hour, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the ...

'' series) appears in ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...

'' #167 (June 1967) as a different Rainbow Raider whose powers are derived from a rare crystal.

In other media

Television

* Two incarnations of Rainbow Raider appear in ''

'': ** Roy G. Bivolo appears in the

and ninth seasons, portrayed by Paul Anthony. This version is a

metahuman In the DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with the terms '' mutant'', '' inhuman'' and '' mutate'' in the Marvel Universe and '' posthuman'' in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In ...

capable of inciting anger via eye contact and a member of the Red Death's Rogues. ** A female incarnation named Carrie Bates / Rainbow Raider 2.0 appears in the seventh season episode "Good-Bye Vibrations", portrayed by

. She is a former collections officer who was fired for cancelling debts instead of collecting them and became a metahuman capable of inducing

euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

. * Roy G. Bivolo appears in the ''

Teen Titans Go! ''Teen Titans Go!'' is an American animated television series developed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic for Cartoon Network. It premiered on April 23, 2013, and is based on DC Comics' fictional superhero team the Teen Titans. The series ...

'' episode "Real Art", voiced by Scott O'Brien. * Rainbow Raider makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the ''

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, PhD) is a fictional American character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for ''Batman: The Animated Series'' as a henchwoman for the ...

'' episode "B.I.T.C.H.".

Film

Rainbow Raider appears in ''

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies ''Teen Titans Go! To the Movies'' is a 2018 American animated superhero comedy film featuring the DC Comics superhero team, the Teen Titans. Based on the Cartoon Network animated television series ''Teen Titans Go!'', it was produced by Warner ...

''.

Video games

* Rainbow Raider appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''. * Rainbow Raider appears as a downloadable playable character in '' Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham'' as part of the "Rainbow" DLC pack.

Miscellaneous

* Rainbow Raider appears in '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' #14.''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' Vol. 2 #14. DC Comics. * Rainbow Raider appears in ''The Flash'' tie-in novel ''The Haunting of Barry Allen''.

References

External links

Rainbow Raider
at DC Comics Wiki
Rainbow Raider
at Comic Vine

{{Flash Characters created by Don Heck Comics characters introduced in 1980 DC Comics supervillains DC Comics supervillain teams Fictional artists Fictional characters with disabilities Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities Flash (comics) characters