Will Everett was the superhero Amazing Man. After gaining powers and longevity in a laboratory explosion, he became a member of the All-Star Squadron. Two of his grandsons, Will Everett III and Markus Clay, later took up the name as well.
History
World War II
Will Everett was a promising young African-American Olympian who had competed in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin but whose post-Olympic career devolved into a janitorial profession. During an accident involving the explosion of some equipment he was connected to developed by the criminal mastermind the Ultra-Humanite, Everett quickly developed the ability to mimic whatever properties he touched. If he touched wood, then he became wood, and so forth.
At first, he was employed by the Ultra-Humanite as a henchman along with Terrence Curtis (as Cyclotron) and Deathbolt. However, his sympathies soon swayed towards the side of good after repeated exposure to the All-Star Squadron, a team comprised of both Golden Age and retroactive individuals like himself, whom he joined and helped to defeat his former employer's machinations. He then served a lengthy stint as a member of this voluminous mystery man organization.
In February of 1942, the Squadron helped Everett defeat the bigoted villain in his home town of Detroit, the Real American.[1] During the first great Crisis, Amazing Man was one of a group of heroes chosen by the Monitor to try and stop the Anti-Monitor's quest for destruction.[2][3] Later in 1942, Amazing Man's powers changed so that now he had mastery of magnetism while losing his ability to mimic matter.[4]
After the War
In the 1950s, Everett's secret identity was revealed to the public by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. This consequently endangered the lives of Everett and his family in which they constantly received death threats. During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, Everett gradually moved away from the extraordinary and into everyday life. He led anti-segregationist marches across the United States and was responsible for capturing Martin Luthor King, Jr.'s killer, James Earl Ray, becoming one of America's premiere civil rights campaigners.[5]
Legacy
It was later revealed that his grandson, Will Everett III (a.k.a. "Junior") also developed the same mimicry attributes. He was last seen in the hospital, visited by his grandson and was dying of cancer. The status of his son, the father of Amazing Man III, is currently unknown. For a brief time his grandson Will Everett III carried on the legacy of Amazing Man before dying tragically. Later another grandson named Markus Clay would take up the mantle of Amazing Man.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Matter Absorption: Capable of transforming himself into a living, breathing facsimile of any material that he touched.
- Magnetic Manipulation: Later, his powers were altered, and he was instead able to magnetically attract or repel objects with his hands.[6]
Weaknesses
- Power Limitation: Amazing Man could not adapt the properties of a Green Lantern Ring. He once attempted such a feat, but the ring energy temporarily canceled out his powers, returning him to a normal state of being.[7]
Notes
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and no longer apply.
- Amazing Man was named after an unrelated character called Amazing-Man from Centaur Publications who had fallen into the public domain. His real name is an homage to the original Amazing-Man's creator, Bill Everett.
Related
- 48 Appearances of William Everett, Sr. (New Earth)
- 8 Images featuring William Everett, Sr. (New Earth)
- Quotations by or about William Everett, Sr. (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: William Everett, Sr. (New Earth)
External Links
Footnotes
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Amazing Man (DC Comics). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.  This character is or was a member of the All-Star Squadron in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "All-Star Squadron members" category. |