Amazing-Man is the name used by four

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

characters published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. The first three are

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

and are members of the same family. The first Amazing-Man debuted in ''

All-Star Squadron The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in ''Justice League, Justice League of America'' #193 (August 1981) and was created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway. Although the team was introduced in the 1980s, its s ...

'' #23 (July 1983), and was created by

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

and

Jerry Ordway Jeremiah Joseph Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books. He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining ''Crisis on Infinite E ...

. The second Amazing-Man debuted in ''

Justice League America Justice League International (JLI) is a fictional DC Comics, DC comics superhero team that succeeded the original Justice League from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The team enjoyed several comic books runs, the first being written by Keith ...

'' #86 (March 1994), and was created by Dan Vado and Marc Campos. The third Amazing-Man debuted in ''

Justice Society of America The Justice Society of America (JSA) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It first appeared in '' ...

'' vol. 3 #12 (March 2008), and was created by

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash (comics), Flash, and Superman has drawn critical accl ...

and

Dale Eaglesham Dale Eaglesham is a Canadian comic book illustrator who has been working in the American industry since 1986. He is best known for his work on titles like '' Conan'', '' Punisher'', ''Green Lantern'', ''Villains United'', ''Justice Society of Amer ...

. The fourth Amazing Man debuted in '' OMAC'' vol. 3 #2 (December 2011), and was created by

Dan DiDio Dan DiDio (; born October 13, 1959) is an American writer, editor, and publisher who has worked in the television and comic book industries. From February 2010 until February 2020, he was the co-publisher of DC Comics, along with Jim Lee. '' Wizar ...

and

Keith Giffen Keith Ian Giffen (November 30, 1952 – October 9, 2023) was an American comics artist and writer. He was known for his work for DC Comics on their ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' and ''Justice League'' titles as well as for being the co-creator of ...

Publication history

Although a 1980s creation of writer

, the Amazing-Man published by

was placed in the 1940s and made a contemporary of various

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

superheroes. The character was created by Roy Thomas as a tribute to

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie (comics), Zombie and Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), Daredevil ...

's Amazing-Man, a character he created for

Centaur Publications Centaur Publications (also known as Centaur Comics) was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing-Man (Centaur Publications), Amazi ...

during the so-called

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...

Fictional character biography

Will Everett

Will Everett is a promising young

Olympian who competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Following this, he becomes a janitor at a laboratory owned by Terry Curtis. After an accident where his equipment explodes, Everett develops the ability to mimic whatever properties he touched. The

Ultra-Humanite Ultra-Humanite (Gerard Shugel) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared as a recurring adversary of Superman, and was among the first villains faced by him. He was designed to be the polar oppos ...

initially employs Everett as a henchman along with Curtis (as Cyclotron) and

Deathbolt Deathbolt (Jake Simmons) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by the Ultra-Humanite to fight the All-Star Squadron. Deathbolt appeared in the Arrowverse series ''Arrow'' and ''The Flash'', por ...

. He later reforms and joins the All-Star Squadron. During ''

Crisis on Infinite Earths ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' is a 1985 to 1986 American comic book fictional crossover, crossover series published by DC Comics. Written by Marv Wolfman and penciller, pencilled by George Pérez, it was first released as a 12-issue limited ser ...

'', Amazing-Man is among the heroes chosen by the

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

to stop the

Anti-Monitor The Anti-Monitor is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He served as the main antagonist of the 1985 DC Comics miniseries ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' and later appears as an enemy to the Green Lantern Corps ...

. He loses his original abilities and gains the ability to manipulate

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...

. In the 1950s,

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

reveals Everett's secret identity to the public, which endangers his family. He becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement after his nephew is murdered before dying from cancer.''Justice Society of America'' vol. 3 #12 (March 2008)

Will Everett III

Will Everett III is Will Everett's grandson and his successor. As a member of the

Justice League The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...

, he is instrumental in defeating the Overmaster alongside the other members of the League and reformed members of the Cadre. Soon after this, Will joins a splinter group of the JLA nicknamed

Extreme Justice Extreme Justice is a monthly Justice League spin-off title in the DC Comics universe. It replaced the cancelled '' Justice League International'' (formerly '' Justice League Europe'') and ran for nineteen issues from 1994 to 1996. Overview Seve ...

. Later, Will joins the

Crimson Fox Crimson Fox is a codename for two superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Publication history The first two holders of the Crimson Fox moniker first appeared in ''Justice League Europe'' #6 and were created by Kei ...

's unofficial re-grouping of

Justice League Europe ''Justice League Europe'' (''JLE'') is a comic book series published by DC Comics that was a spin-off of the comic book '' Justice League America'' (which was then named '' Justice League International'' (vol. 1) for issues #7 to #25). ''Justic ...

, during which he is killed by

Mist Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a Dispersion (chemistry), dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets ...

Markus Clay

The third Amazing-Man is Markus Clay, Will Everett III's cousin and a member of the

Rocker Bonn

A fourth incarnation of Amazing-Man, Rocker Bonn, is introduced following ''

The New 52 The New 52 was the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero American comic books, comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint (comics), Flashpoint" Fictional crossover, cros ...

'' continuity reboot. He is a former

Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

agent who was given

metahuman In the DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with the terms '' mutant'', '' inhuman'' and '' mutate'' in the Marvel Universe and '' posthuman'' in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In ...

abilities by

Project Cadmus This is a list of teams and organizations that appear in various DC Comics publications. Note: Please check :DC Comics superhero teams before adding any redundant entries for superhero teams to the page. 0-9 100 1,000 2000 Committee A ...

Powers and abilities

All versions of Amazing-Man can mimic other materials via touch. The Will Everett Sr. incarnation later developed the ability to manipulate magnetism.

In other media

The Will Everett incarnation of Amazing-Man appears in '' Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths'', voiced by

Ike Amadi Ikechukwu Prince Amadi (born 26 November 1979) is a Nigerian voice actor. He is known for voicing Javik in ''Mass Effect 3'', Jameson Locke in '' Halo 5: Guardians'', Atriox in ''Halo Infinite'', Shao Kahn in ''Mortal Kombat 11'' and ''Mortal ...

References

External links

World of Black Heroes: Amazing man 1 Biography

World of Black Heroes: Amazing Man 2 Biography

World of Black Heroes: Amazing Man 3 Biography

DCU Guide: Amazing-Man

DCU Guide: Amazing-Man

2009-10-25) {{Justice League characters African-American superheroes Characters created by Geoff Johns Characters created by Jerry Ordway Characters created by Keith Giffen Characters created by Roy Thomas Comics characters introduced in 1983 Comics characters introduced in 1994 Comics characters introduced in 2008 Comics characters introduced in 2011 DC Comics male superheroes DC Comics metahumans DC Comics shapeshifters Earth-Two Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities Groups of fictional characters