Rainbow Raider

Rainbow Raider first appeared in The Flash #286 (June 1980), and was created by Cary Bates and Don Heck.^[2]

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".^[3]

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, cold, heat, magic, boomerangs, etc., Julie and I thought the color spectrum gimmick had the potential to be a worthwhile addition."^[4]

As a child, Roy G. Bivolo always dreamed of a career as an artist, a lofty goal considering he was completely colorblind. He would often paint what he thought were beautiful pieces of art and showed great technical skill, only to be told that his art had clashing colors. His father, an optometrist and genius in optical technology, swore he would find a cure for his son's disorder. Due to failing health, he was unable to complete his product, but instead created a sophisticated pair of goggles that would allow Roy to create beams of solid rainbow-colored light. On his death-bed, his father presents him with this gift, and it was not long before Roy found a sinister use for it.

Turning to crime because the world did not appreciate his art, Roy, now the Rainbow Raider, went 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 would. Rainbow Raider and Booster Gold work together to expose an artist who had stolen Roy's black-and-white art, added color to it, and found false fame as an artist. Raider happily surrendered himself after this was accomplished.

Rainbow Raider once traded opponents with Batman villain Doctor Double X after meeting a motivational therapist named Professor Andrea Wye. Both of them are defeated by Batman and Flash.^[5] Rainbow Raider is later imprisoned in Belle Reve, where he is part of the Color Queens prison gang alongside Crazy Quilt, Doctor Light, Doctor Spectro, and Multi-Man.^[6]

Roy is later killed by Blacksmith.^[7] He is temporarily resurrected as a Black Lantern in Blackest Night and permanently resurrected in The New 52 continuity reboot, where he is known as Chroma.^[8] During the Forever Evil storyline, Chroma is present in Central City when Gorilla Grodd invades with an army of gorillas. Grodd later kills Chroma to warn the other villains that the Gem Cities are his.^[9] Chroma later appears alive, with no explanation given for his survival.^[10]

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).

Heavy.com lists Rainbow Raider as one of the worst supervillains of all time.^[11] Francesco Marciuliano from Smosh.com ranked Rainbow Raider as having one of the worst supervillain gadgets of all time.^[12]