A
superhero published by
DC Comics and created by
Roy Thomas.
Amazing Man first appeared in
All-Star Squadron #23 in 1982.
William Everett was a gifted athlete who made the 1936 Olympic
team along with Jesse Owens. Traveling to Germany, the two
black athletes won event after event, flying in the face of Hitler's
master race propaganda. Unfortunately, Everett's popularity in
the games did not turn into job offers later on, and he fell on
hard times a few months after the games had ended. Working as
a custodian for a scientist named Terry Curtis, Everett soon found
his life turned upside down.
One evening, Everett was taken hostage by agents of the villain
known as the Ultra-Humanite. Everett was then exposed to energy
produced by a generator of Curtis's design. The generator exploded
and Everett came out of the blast with the ability to absorb the
properties of any substance that he touched. He could become tough
as steel or as stretchable as rubber once he touched one of these
substances. Everett agreed to help the Ultra-Humanite in his
quest to take over the world hoping that he and his family would be
spared.
After battling the All-Star Squadron in a costume and calling
himself Amazing Man, Everett realized that the Ultra-Humanite
would not keep his end of the bargin, so Everett betrayed the
villain and battled along side the All-Star Squadron. Later,
he became a member of that same group of heroes.
Years later, after being exposed to an intense magnetic field,
Amazing Man's powers changed into allowing him to attract and
repel things with a magnetic field. This power continued until his
death.
Recently, Everett's grandson William Everett III gained powers similar
to his grandfather's original powers and worked with the Justice
League for a time, but was killed by the villain the Mist not long
after he began heroing.