Outsiders Week: Magnificent Metamophs

Earths One and Two both had a pair of elemental enigmas, and tragic troubleshooters. The former were tied to them were two objects of power, the Orb of Ra and the Hammer of Thor... designed from alien metals that imbued upon those exposed to them awesome abilities. The latter two lost their humanity when white glowing orbs transformed them into metamorphic men.Rex Mason was a world traveling treasure hunter who found himself in the employ of the greedy Simon Stagg. On one assignment, Rex was trapped inside an Egyptian pyramid, due to machinations of his mischievous boss. This left him exposed to the meteorite known as the Orb of Ra.

The Orb of Ra was made of an alien alloy in an Egyptian pyramid, while the equally ancient Hammer of Thor was discovered by archaeologist Carter Hall. As Hawkman, Hall used the hammer an early adventure when his alter ego battled the evil Mazda. Like the Orb of Earth-One, the Hammer of Earth-Two could alter elemental properties... as witnessed by its transforming Will Everett into the shape-shifting Amazing Man, Carter was unaware of its properties and so used it as a blunt instrument rather than a skilled tool. And another hammer built around the same principles would irradiate an All-Star Squadron teammate of Everett's, transforming that lad into an Elemental Man himself!

From this irradiation, Metamorpho was born, capable of altering and transforming his body into any variation of the scores of elements found in nature. Until a cure was found, Rex agreed to become a reluctant superhero on Earth-One.

Thor's Hammer would later be acquired by metalurist turned criminal Fairytales Fenton... whose adversary was the teenage hero known as Sandy the Golden Boy along wih the lad's mentor Wesley Dodds aka Sandman. Irradiated and empowered by his copycat Hanmer of Thor, Fenton used this energy to severely injury Sandy. Although the boy soon recovered from his wounds, exposure to the hammer's radiation through physical contact with Fenton left Sandy susceptible to another form of radiation years later!

Metamorpho the element man as a new life form with Mason's memories was the counterpart of the Silicon Creature that possessed the memories of Sandy Hawkins. When his guardian Sandman tested a silicoid gun which prematurely detonated, bathing his young ward in its radiations which along with the Orb’s lighting, the gigantic sand monster was born. Kept in suspended animation for decades, he was revived when the Justice Society aided Dodds in reuniting with Hawkins and soon regained his humanity. The Silicoid Creature then reverted back to Sandy Hawkins, the counterpart of Metamorpho's Outsiders teammate Prince Brion "Geo-Force" Marcov.

Around this time, Rex Mason's Earth-Two counterpart Joe Morgan encountered another alien orb. This transformed the boxing trainer into a multi-colored man much like Metamorpho, only he was spurred by the ancient white globe's evil to seek out his three former protegees in Ted "Wildcat" Grant, Al "Atom" Pratt and Jim "Guardian" Harper as pawns to use again Alan "Green Lantern" Scott. Scott's green lantern and Mason's evil-globe originated from the Guardians of Earth-One's universe, each exiled to Earth-Two. When his scheme failed, Joe perished as the globe was banished into space for eternity.

While Rex's initial transformation within an Egyptian pyramid was initiated by the glowing white orb, months afterward scientist Will Magnus developed the means of reversing the process and restoring humanity to Mason. However, when a professional rival of Magnus took control of Will's Metal Men, in order to save Sapphire and her father... Rex agreed to reverse Magnus' process. This second transformation mirrored that of Sandy Hawkins when he was exposed to Wesley Dodd's experimental silicon gun which mutated him into the Silicoid Creature for decades.