Justice like Lightning Should Ever Appear

"Justice, like lightning, should ever appear... to some men hope, to other men fear". This was the adage upon which 1976 Olympic Medialist turned school teacher Jefferson Pierce centered his life around. Motivated to do more for his community in Metropolis' Suicide Slum on Earth-One, Pierce adopted the alter ego of the Black Lightning to stem out the evil that infected it, inflicted upon it by the criminal cartel known as the 100. On the parallel planet of Earth-Two, Pierce's doppelgänger Will Everett likewise sought justice from racial oppression, following his Olympic medalist performance in the 1936 Olympics. This led to his costumed crusade as Amazing Man, seeking more from life than his current custodial career.

Both men were crafted with electrical-based powers, developed by Jefferson's friend Peter Gambi and Will's employer Terry Curtis. Will Everett. Gambi developed an electric power belt which could envelope its owner in an electro-magnetic force field, allowing its wearer the ability to discharge electrical blasts while augmenting his strength to superhuman levels. Curtis constructed his electro-generator which transformed humans into becoming living electricity emitting batteries. 

Over time, Gambi's belt genetically altered its new owner, as Pierce eventually internalized its energies and no longer needed the belt. However, while the first recipient of Curtis' generator likewise internalized its energies and became the supervillain named Deathbolt, the second person exposed to it did not. When it was Everett's turn, the device exploded and genetically altered Everett into gaining the ability to transform his body into any substance he touched. This is probably due to the source of the generator's power, the ancient artifact which Curtis' employer the Ultra-Humanite had obtained from his henchman, "Fairytales" Fenton. Like the Orb of Ra of Earth-One, this Hammer of Thor had transmutation properties*. Thus, Amazing Man's electrical-based abilities were more similar to those of Black Lightning's Outsiders teammate Metamorpho than to his own.

* Notice that the electrical energy surrounding Deathbolt while on the electo-generator machine was yellow, while the energy surrounding Amazing Man was pinkish-red like Johnny Thunder’sThunderbolt. As Will was exposed to the machine, Fenton’s hammer apparently pulled energy from Thunderbolt into it, granting Everett its metamorphic abilities!