Amalak was an alien criminal who hated Superman and all things related to Krypton.
History
Amalak was a man born on a distant planet, the name of which is unknown. He is apparently the sole survivor of a cataclysm that befell this world; from his own accounts, the disaster that destroyed his planet was caused by the planet Krypton. However, he has not been forthcoming with additional information on this subject, and thus, independent corroboration is not currently possible. Amalak harbored an extreme hatred of all things Kryptonian, and this drove him to seek out Superman and other survivors of Krypton's destruction with an eye towards slaying them in revenge for the loss of his own world. Amalak tried to kill Superman and his cousin Supergirl on four separate occasions. To support himself in between his attacks on Superman, Amalak made his living as a space pirate, preying on interstellar travelers and robbing them of their riches.
The first of his attempts on Superman's life involved transforming four unwitting humans on Earth into elemental beings under his control. By coincidence, the last of the four humans he chose to transform into an elemental was Clark Kent, as Amalak was unaware of Superman's human alter ego, but the ray Amalak trained on him to induce the transformation instead reflected, hit another bystander, and incinerated Clark's clothes to reveal the Superman costume underneath. The ray also had the unforeseen effect of halving Superman's considerable powers, causing him to struggle with all his might to put the four elementals out of commission. While trying to control them, Amalak was incapacitated by feedback from his own devices. When he regained his faculties, Amalak worked to re-assert control for the personal privilege of directing the coup de grace, but the critical delay this caused the elementals' movements was all the opportunity Superman needed to turn the tables and overcome his opponents, and Amalak's ship was seemingly blasted to bits during the conflict.[1] Amalak somehow survived and intercepted the space-traveler Rinol-Jag, whose world was destroyed by a runaway Kryptonite asteroid during his time away from it. Convincing Rinol-Jag to blame Krypton itself for his planet's end, Amalak manipulated the spaceman into becoming his pawn against Superman and Supergirl, although they convinced Rinol-Jag that he was misguided and downed Amalak with an electric shock before he could detonate an explosive that would shatter the Earth.[2]
Many years later, Amalak was teleported to Clark Kent's apartment in the 344 Clinton Street building in Metropolis, along with Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Mister Mxyzptlk, Terra-Man, the Parasite, the Toyman, the Prankster, and the Kryptonite Man. Unbeknownst to the villains, they were brought to the location by Clark's neighbor, extraterrestrial shapeshifter Mister Xavier, as part of a plot to trick Superman into destroying the Earth and fulfilling his alien mercenary company's contract with an unethical interstellar transportation firm. Amalak and Brainiac fought Superman in a forested area, trapping Superman in a force-field and attacking him with a laser-rifle. However, Superman defeated the both of them and deposited them in an intergalactic penal colony at the edge of the Solar System. Anticipating the cataclysmic destruction of Superman and the Earth upon the Man of Steel's conquest of the Kryptonite Man, Xavier used his powers to switch places with and impersonate Amalak in the penal colony, confident in his own success and the promise of subsequent liberation by his employers. However, Xavier failed, and Superman lived to return the real Amalak to the penal colony when the crisis had passed.[3]
In his last battle with Superman, Amalak worked to break Superman's heroic willpower, instead of killing him, by tricking Superman into breaking his vow never to take a life. Amalak picked up an alien pet named Jevik from another planet in his space sector, infecting it with a virulent and deadly space-plague, and teleporting it to Central City during an international news conference attended by Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Iris Allen, and Steve Lombard. Meanwhile, Amalak supervised the chaos on the surface from his shielded spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit. Amalak's prisoner, the immortal mutated Kryptonian Nam-Ek, escaped Amalak's captivity and appeared at the Central City resort where the outbreak started, drawing Superman and the Flash into a battle with him, as the heroes were under the misimpression that Nam-Ek was the plague vector. This hostility led Nam-Ek to return to Amalak and join forces with him against Superman, but Superman and Supergirl located Amalak's base and broke its hull to put an end to their newfound alliance. Superman captured Nam-Ek, while Amalak bested Supergirl and elected to hold her hostage. Amalak threatened Supergirl's life to force Superman to return to Central City. Fortunately, as Superman still had Nam-Ek in tow, Nam-Ek's Rondor horn could be used to rapidly cure infected people under quarantine. While Superman was on Earth, Supergirl broke out of captivity and tackled Amalak, but their battle was interrupted when Amalak's Star-Cannon overloaded and blew up the entire ship, with Amalak only protected by a personal force field. Incorrectly presuming that the explosion had killed Supergirl, Amalak beamed himself aboard the Justice League Satellite, overtook the Flash and Green Lantern, disabled the life support systems, and waited for Superman's return, while Superman discovered that Jevik and not Nam-Ek was the plague vector. The crux of Amalak's plan was focused around that moment: Amalak intended for Superman to destroy Jevik due to the creature technically not being alive, only for Amalak to activate a transformation in the creature which would change it into a truly living being. However, Superman circumvented the outcome of killing Jevik by returning the animal to its own planet, before heading to the Justice League Satellite to search for special medical equipment. There, Superman found his nemesis waiting for him and dodged Amalak's efforts to defeat him with confiscated weapons from the JLA trophy room. Superman overcame Amalak on accident while his vision was being tampered with by the villain, striking the Gamma Gong of Kanjar Ro with enough force to render Amalak totally paralyzed. By the time Superman had restored the life support systems and revived his Justice League friends, Amalak had regained control of his body and committed suicide with a laser weapon. As the life fled from his body, Amalak lied to Superman that his act of striking the Gamma Gong was responsible for killing him, hoping to seize a final, desperate victory over the Last Son of Krypton in death, but Superman automatically dismissed the notion and revealed that he knew the laser was discharged due to a momentary upsurge in the Satellite's power usage. Acknowledging his act of futile treachery, Amalak cursed Superman with his last breath and died. It is unknown what became of his body, but Supergirl stated that she would take care of the matter.[4][5][6][7]
Paraphernalia
Transportation
- Asteroid-shaped Spaceship[8]
Weapons
Numerous Kryptonite or red-sun based weapons.
- Star-Cannon
- Star Amulet
Notes
- This version of Amalak, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
Related
- 10 Appearances of Amalak (Earth-One)
- 1 Images featuring Amalak (Earth-One)
- 4 Quotations by or about Amalak (Earth-One)
- Character Gallery: Amalak (Earth-One)
Footnotes
  This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category." |