Amazo

AMAZO

Real Name: Amazo

Class: Android

Occupation: Supervillain

Group Affiliation: formerly Junior Injustice Society, The Society

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Brave and the Bold I #30 (June-July, 1960)

Powers: Amazo's body contained absorption cells that let him duplicate the powers and weaknesses of any superhuman he encountered. The length of time Amazo could duplicate a power has yet to be determined. He possessed a duplicate of Green Lantern's power ring.

History: (Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant #1 (fb)) - In his quest for immortality Professor Ivo invented biomechanical mirror genes that imitated the genetic traits of others, and used the genes to create something to aid him in his quest to cheat death. Ivo shot volleyball star Helmut Schultz and used the mirror genes to create a biomechanical replica of his body. His creation still needed a mind, so Ivo invited his father to his lab, killed him and gave his creation a mirror gene copy of his mind. Ivo’s project was complete, Amazo, the first android.

Ivo imprisoned the JLA and had Amazo absorb their powers, but the duo was ultimately defeated, and Amazo was put into stasis.

Ivo awoke Amazo from stasis again and again to do his evil bidding. Amazo grew to despise Ivo.

(Sandman II #5) - Martian Manhunter stored Amazo and the other remnants of the JLA Satellite trophy room in a warehouse in Mayhew. Amazo was in storage when Dr. Destiny broke into the warehouse to reclaim his ruby.

(Aztek: The Ultimate Man #10) - Amazo learned that Ivo was dying from withdrawal symptoms after being cut off from his immortality serum and had been taken to Vanity City for treatment. Amazo went to see his creator, but ended up in a fight with Aztek, who assumed Amazo meant to do harm to Ivo. The JLA arrived in Vanity and Amazo surrendered, producing a vial of immortality serum and telling them he wanted to save Ivo's life. Amazo had actually spiked the serum with poison, but Ivo had taken an anti-toxin months ago because he anticipated this series of events playing out.

(Resurrection Man #2) - A government lab reactivated Amazo, who immediately went on a rampage. Amazo fought the JLA, destroying a city block in the process. The fight lasted for hours, until Resurrection Man, who was tired of seeing such pointless carnage, stepped in and destroyed Amazo.

(JLA #20) - Green Lantern showed Orion and Big Barda around the JLA Watchtower trophy room, and they passed by Amazo on display.

(JLA #27) - Ivo placed an upgraded Amazo in the Florida Everglades to free him from Belle Reve prison. Amazo instantly duplicated the powers of any active JLA member and defeated the JLA, and when they called in the reserves, his power only increased as he duplicated the abilities of the reserves. Superman temporarily disbanded the JLA, causing Amazo to lose his powers and shut down.

(Hourman #1) - Snapper Carr "borrowed" a piece of the destroyed Amazo's circuitry from the JLA trophy room and presented it to Hourman III as a gift. Hourman, being an android himself, viewed Amazo as a forbearer, so he focused his time vision on the piece of circuitry and brought a past version of Amazo into the present. Amazo absorbed Hourman's infinite time powers and attacked the hero. During the fight they time traveled into the past so Amazo could yell at his creator Ivo. After returning to the present Amazo admitted he was jealous of Hourman, who was a much more sophisticated android than he. Hourman ended the fight by erasing Amazo's future from the timeline.

(Sins of Youth: JLA, Jr. #1) - Amazo's journey with Hourman through the timestrem ended when Klarion pulled him back to the present day. Klarion transformed him into an adolescent android, and recruited him for the Junior Injustice League.

(Young Justice: Sins of Youth #2) - Under orders from the Agenda Li’l Amazo and the Junior Injustice Society led coordinated attacks on Gotham, Metropolis and Happy Harbor. They were opposed by Young Justice, the JLA and JSA, but were teleported to the Agenda’s Alaska hq when the heroes turned their attentions there. The heroes defeated the Junior Injustice Society and dismantled the Agenda’s Alaskan operation. In order to be reunited with his familiar Teekel, whom Young Justice had captive, Klarion returned Amazo and all the other de-aged superheroes and supervillains to normal.

(Green Arrow III #22) - The D.E.O. studied Amazo's remains in an attempt to duplicate the meta-gene software that powered him, but were getting nowhere.

(Firestorm II #14-17) - Amazo disguised himself as Mick Wong, friend to Jason Rusch, secretly the superhero Firestorm. “Mick” and Jason got an apartment together in Detroit. When he got the opportunity he got the drop on Firestorm, laid him low, and delivered him to Lex Luthor’s Society. Luthor wanted Firstorm to power a top-secret Brazilian installation, and after implementing his plan he sent Amazo on another mission.

(Justice League of America II #4-6) - Solomon Grundy was sick of dying, and hired Professor Ivo to construct a new, more powerful Amazo that would serve as Grundy's new immortal body. They stole Red Tornado's android body for Amazo's shell, and after transplanting Vixen's Tantu Totem and a piece of Parasite's body into Red Tornado, they erased his memories, and downloaded Amazo's consciousness into it. The Justice League of America arrived at Ivo's Rocky Mountains hq, and Grundy allowed the reborn Amazo to fly off. Grundy told the League they needed his help to beat Amazo, and proposed that after helping them defeat the android they should fight over who got possession of him. Amazo still retained vestiges of Red Tornado's memories, and going on pure instinct he went to the house of Tornado's wife Kathy and his daughter Traya. He frightened them, and the JLofA caught up to him and attacked. Amazo used his Parasite powers to drain the League of their powers, but they still managed to rupture the control rods that kept his powers in check. His body self-destructed, and the League stripped out the Amazo software and returned Red Tornado to his proper body.

Comments: Created by Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky.

In the pre-Crisis DC Universe Amazo had a duplicate of Wonder Woman's lasso. In the post-Crisis DCU Wonder Woman wasn't a member of the JLA when Professor Ivo gave Amazo the powers of the JLA.

In Hourman #1 Amazo's appearance was revamped after absorbing Hourman's powers. This remodeled "skull-face" form had been seen before in other comics, so perhaps this appearance in Hourman #1 predates the rest of Amazo's "skull-face" appearances. Gifted with the powers of time travel it would have been simple for Amazo to go back in time.

Hourman #2 had a flashback of Amazo’s appearance in Hourman #1.

A statue of Amazo was seen in the JLA Watchtower trophy room in Flash II #214.

Amazo received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #1 and DCU Villains Secret Files #1. Amazo (as Li’l Amazo) received a profile in Sins of Youth Secret Files #1 under the Junior Injustice Society entry

Amazo had a cameo in Justice League of America II #0, 7