A
super-hero created by
Bob Haney and
Ramona Fradon
for
DC Comics. Metamorpho first appeared in
The
Brave and the Bold 57.
Metamorpho's real name is Rex Mason. Rex was an adventurer
by trade, eventually falling to life as a mercenary.
He eventually met and fell in love with Sapphire Stagg,
daughter of millionaire Simon Stagg. Stagg disapproved
of the relationship between Mason and his daughter and
hired Rex to recover the Orb of Ra, a legendary object
of power. Accompanied by Stagg's right-hand man, Java,
Mason traveled to Egypt in search of the Orb. During
the search, Java, who had become smitten with Sapphire,
attacked Mason and left him to die.
Mason recovered and while searching for a way out of
the pyramid he was in, uncovered the Orb of Ra, which
turned out to be a meteor. The meteor's radiation
transformed Mason, making him grotesque but giving him
the ability to transform himself into any element. According,
to the writer, this ability has at times had certain limitations.
Some have only allowed Rex to be transformed into any
element in the human body, while others have even allowed
him to transform into compounds.
Using his new ability, Rex escaped from the pyramid, to
return to Stagg. Stagg agreed to help Mason, now dubbed
Metamorpho, to become human again, as long as Mason would
use his powers to aid Stagg. Mason then engaged in a
career as a super-hero, eventually becoming connected with
the team of super-powered heroes known as the Outsiders.
During his tenure with the Outsiders, Metamorpho married
his long-time love Sapphire Stagg and eventually was killed
in action during one of his adventures.
Super-hero comics being what they are, heroes rarely stay
dead very long. During the Invasion series in DC Comics,
aliens released a bomb which caused wild fluctuations in
the powers of any super-powered individual. One side
effect of this was the resurrection of Metamorpho. Suffering
memory loss, Mason joined the Justice League's European
branch for a time. During his tenure there, Metamorpho
was reunited with his wife, learning that he had a son
who had inherited his father's ability to transform elements, but
in the case of his son, the child had the ability to change
the elements around him, not of his own body.
But happiness was not in the future for Rex. In JLA #1, aliens attacked the Justice League satllite, killing Metamorpho.
Thanks to
Jet-Poop for pointing out the events of JLA #1 and that the character is currently on the deceased list.