Known Powers:

Spectrum is a mutant with the ability to manipulate light for a variety of effects across the entire light spectrum. He can project light blasts of various intensities, ranging from a stunning light to a laser intensity light. Spectrum can fly upon light waves, surround himself with a wall of light for protection, and even cause light waves to flow around him, making himself invisible to the naked eye. His favorite form of attack is a Dazzle Blast that is akin to a super flash bulb going off in his opponent's face; it stuns and disorients the victim. His vision also extends into the ultraviolet and infrared range.

Rainbow striped costume

Notes:

On August 17th, 1984, Reporter James Christopher Sculley was kidnapped by the villain Hexmaster. Unknown to the reporter, his father, former LAPD Sergeant Jordan Sculley, had at one time been the crime fighter known as the Shadow, a mutant who could manipulate darkness. Hexmaster was a long time foe of the Shadow and sought to use Shadow's children in a plot for revenge.

At Hexmaster's base, Jim's DNA was experimented upon. Hexmaster had done this before with his own son, giving him powers but at the same time wiping his mentality away. The procedure worked on Jim very slowly, giving him the powers of Spectrum. In addition, he was subjected to deep rooted mental conditioning.

The son of Hexmaster had gained the ability to mimic the superpowers of others. Not only mimic, but in essence virtually become that person in appearance as well. Some memories were transferred, but not all of them. Personalities were not copied at all. By this method, Hexmaster's son duplicated Spectrum's powers and was unleashed on the world to do evil in the name of Spectrum. Traveling far from Los Angeles, the evil Spectrum became involved with the South American villain team Terror Incorporated, even having a love affair with Scorpia.

Meanwhile, the real Spectrum continued to languish in Hexmaster's lair, subjected to his mental conditioning. However, a GENOCIDE Minuteman robot broke into the lair upon detecting Spectrum. It carried the unconscious mutant to a GENOCIDE base located outside of Denver, Colorado. Almost a dozen mutants were subjected to the Project: ARENA experiment where all their minds were linked to a type of virtual reality. The purpose of the project being to determine if GENOCIDE could imprison mutants without them realizing it.

And so, for the first time since his kidnapping, Jim Sculley woke up. Hexmaster had wished Jim to show up on the doorstep of his old girlfriend Whitney Parks when he was released. That idea in mind, the Arena simulation made it come real to Jim. He knew that he was Spectrum and that he could change into his rainbow striped costume at a whim.

The situation quickly went downhill as things that Jim and the other captive mutants imagined became real. The monstrous Giganto started to hunt down Spectrum in an attempt to bring him back to Terror Incorporated. The sensuous Shadow Queen was stalked by the Thugmaster's Elite, a team of villains she had betrayed. Icicle was chased by Grond, and so on. Eventually, the mutants realized what was going on and managed to escape.

All the other mutants considered Spectrum to be a villain, due to the actions of his doppelganger. He himself didn't feel that way. Joining up with Icicle and Shadow Queen, the trio reached Denver, pulled a minor robbery, and sought passage to Los Angeles. Hexmaster caused the plane to crash to retrieve Spectrum.

On February 21st, 1986, Jim woke up in the apartment of Whitney Parks. This time for real. Initially, Jim was confused but with Ms. Parks' help tried to put his life back together. The two ended up falling in love with each other all over again.

The ordeal he had gone through left Jim with partial amnesia. Jim contacted his father and discovered that he had superpowers. The older Sculley wanted to have nothing to do with his son, believing that he was a criminal.

Traveling to Seattle, Jim was reunited with his younger sister, Stephanie Sculley who worked there as a lawyer. The experience jarred free some of Jim's lost memories, but not all of them.

Back in Los Angeles, the situation between Jim and Whitney rapidly deteriorated. Ms. Parks had correctly deduced that Jim was Spectrum, but he refused to admit it. He couldn't because of the mental blocks placed by Hexmaster. Because of this, they broke up.

Taking a more active role as a hero, Spectrum encountered many other heroes. He worked with Blizzard and Shockwave as a part of Heroes for Hire in protecting the Tanghal Tower from looters. During this task, he encountered Icicle once more who was now a staff villainess for VIPER. Later, he assisted Morning Star in thwarting a VIPER plot to extort 20 billion dollars from the City of Dallas.

The Great Supervillain Contest came to a head when Spectrum and many other heroes were attacked at the Freedom League base. With many of the team leaders missing, Spectrum took charge of the remaining heroes. Disguising Sabre as Blizzard, Spectrum took him to the Crimson Claw's base, himself disguised as the villainous Spectrum. The ruse worked, but Jim encountered other members of Terror, Inc while inside, including getting up close and personal with Scorpia. Seems that she and the other Spectrum were plotting to overthrow Professor Muerte and assume control of the group. After breaking out of the Claw's Dome, Spectrum along with his allies formed the hero team X-Factor. This new hero team played a major role in thwarting the Claw's plans.

While all of this was going on, the other Spectrum (really Hexmaster's own son) was released back into the world. Up until now, only one Spectrum was ever active at one time. He captured Jordan Sculley for Hexmaster. Then he joined forces with Scorpia to form Terror Unlimited with Shamrock and Mind Slayer. Terror Unlimited robbed a bank and got the real Spectrum blamed for it. As if that wasn't enough, he kidnapped Jim's sister Stephanie and his younger brother Brian to be experimented on by Hexmaster.

In spite of these efforts, Spectrum was cleared of any wrongdoing by his allies in X-Factor. His brainwashing was discovered and removed by Nightingale. Due to these circumstances, Jim and Whitney made up and are again dating.

Enraged, the evil Spectrum went after his copy. So lost in his mania, Hexmaster's son now believed himself to be the one true Spectrum. He attacked Jim at his home, but was easily defeated. Shocked because of this incident, the evil Spectrum started to call himself Lightmaster.

Right after the attack, Jim, Whitney and LAPD Detective Jackie Carter were all captured by Hexmaster. The villain had decided to finish off Shadow once and for all by ordering his own children to kill their father. He had experimented on Stephanie and Brian, giving them both superpowers. Having his mental conditioning removed enabled Jim to resist Hexmaster and thwart the plan. Enraged, Hexmaster did the job himself, killing Jordan in a terrific display of power. In response, Spectrum destroyed Hexmaster who had really been an android the entire time.

With Hexmaster's conspiracy now fully out in the open, any charges against Spectrum have been dropped. Things are finally starting to look up for the colorful mutant. That was until his brother Brian moved in. With his new superpowers, Brian could no longer continue his football career without being discovered. Having no where else to go, Brian moved in with Jim for a short time and adopted the name Impact. Spectrum has begun to help train Impact.

Recently, Spectrum was able to convince Icicle to turn herself in. The former icy villainess is now a ward of X-Factor and Spectrum and Morning Star in particular. Jim is confident that Icicle can be rehabilitated.

Spectrum was created by, big surprise, Spectrum. Costumes were drawn by Muskateer.

Appearances:

Avengers # 23
Spectrum # 1 - Present
X-Factor # 1- 15, 17 - Present

Awards:

Co-Winner of Best Male Costume 2001