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. Biography Early career Bates began submitting ideas for comic book covers to DC Comics at the age of 13, and a number of them were bought and published, the first as the cover to Superman #167 (Feb. 1964). Bates began to sell stories to DC when he was 17. Bates is best known for his work for DC Comics on such titles as Action Comics, Captain Atom, The Flash, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Superman. He began working for the publisher in 1963 and continued to do so until the early 1990s. Among his contributions to the Superman mythos, he and artist Curt Swan co-created the supervillains Terra-Man and the 1970s version of the Toyman as well as the superhero Vartox. In November 1972, Bates and artist Art Saaf launched the first Supergirl series. Bates wrote two stories which featured a superhero wedding. In Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #200 (Feb. 1974), the characters Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel were married and Justice League of America #121 (Aug. 1975) featured the marriage of Adam Strange and the character's longstanding love interest Alanna. Superman #300 (June 1976) featured an out-of-continuity story by Bates and Elliot S. Maggin which imagined the infant Superman landing on Earth in 1976 and becoming a superhero in 2001. The tale was an inspiration for Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son limited series published in 2003. Bates would end the marriage of another character when he wrote The Flash #275 (July 1979) wherein the title character's wife, Iris West Allen was killed. Bates appeared in his own comics as himself several times, alongside superheroes such as the Silver Age version of the Flash and the Justice League of America. 1980s Bates and artist Kurt Schaffenberger were the creative team for The New Adventures of Superboy, a series debuting in January 1980, which took the character out of the Legion of Super-Heroes and back into solo adventures. He and artist Carmine Infantino crafted a Batman backup story for Detective Comics #500 (March 1981). Infantino returned to The Flash title with issue #296 (April 1981) and he and Bates collaborated on the series, including issue #300 (Aug. 1981) which was in the Dollar Comics