In Ancient Egypt during the reign of Ramses II, an alchemist discovered a fallen meteor and took a shattered fragment which he used as the headpiece to a scepter. He presented the scepter as well as the rest of the meteorite to the pharaoh Ahk-Ton. The scepter was named the Orb of Ra. Exposure to the radiation from the meteor had a transmutative effect on Akh-Ton's body and he became the first Metamorpho. [1]
Ahk-Ton sent the Orb of Ra into the future, calculating for its return as a powerful weapon against the king. When Batman and the Outsiders arrived from the future, Ahk-ton used the Orb to enslave Rex Mason, the current Metamorpho. Once Metamorpho was freed, Ahk-ton was defeated and taken by Ramses, who intended to slay Ahk-ton. Apparently this execution was stayed. Ahk-ton soon resurfaced. This time, he himself had been transformed by exposure to the metor into "the Metamorph."
Vandar Adg (Vandal Savage) used the Orb of Ra to enslave Ahk-Ton and war against the prince, Khufu. This transformation was later reversed, and Ahk-Ton slain and buried along with the artifacts.
Millennia later, Rex Mason, a soldier for hire, was contracted by Simon Stagg to find the Orb of Ra. When he found it, his cohort, Java, stole it and left Rex in the light of an ancient meteor. This meteor transformed Mason into Metamorpho, the Element Man. Soon after, he sought the Justice League's help in restoring him to normal. This failed, and Rex also rejected the JLA's offer of membership. He teamed on other time during the "Silver Age" of heroes when Deadman coerced a group of heroes to form a task force against Agamemno and the Injustice League.
The Orb of Ra eventually came into the hands of Simon Stagg who used it to manipulate Metamorpho into continuing to work for him.
Years later, a member of the Irish Republican Army named Peter O'Grady stole the Orb of Ra and sold it to an Egyptian collector named Delacroix. Delacroix, in turn, sold a fake version of the Orb to Emir Abd-Al-Aziz. Delacroix had the Orb for only a short period of time, and it was returned to its original resting place in the Pyramid of Ahk-Ton in Egypt. Simon Stagg hired the metamorphae Jillian Conway to recover the Orb. He intended on using it to cure Metamorpho, thus making him vulnerable to attack. What Jillian failed to tell him though was that the restorative power of the Orb could only be used once. Intercepting Metamorpho in Egypt, Jillian gained possession of the Orb and attempted to use it to cure her own condition. Conway mis-interpreted the instructions on the hieroglyphics though. Instead of reversing her elemental transformation, it actually completed it, ultimately killing her in the process. [2]
References:
| Metamorpho | |
|---|---|
| Characters | Metamorpho | Sapphire Stagg | Simon Stagg | Java | Element Girl | Joey Mason |
| Teams | Justice League America | Justice League Europe | Outsiders | Doom Patrol |
| Villains | Doc Dread | The Thunderer | Maxwell Tremaine | Ahk-Ton | The Phantom of Washington | Jillian Conway |
| Miscellanea | Metamorphae | Elemental Transmutation | Orb of Ra | Stagg Mansion | Stagg Enterprises |
| Creators | Bob Haney | Ramona Fradon | Sal Trapani | Mark Waid | Graham Nolan | Dan Jurgens |
| Comics | Metamorpho (Volume 1) | Metamorpho (Volume 2) | Metamorpho: Year One | Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 1) | Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 2) | Outsiders (Volume 1) | Outsiders (Volume 3) | Justice League Europe |
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The Orb of Ra is an ancient mystical artifact dating back to the time of the Egyptian necromancer, Rakses (c. 1051-1047 BC). According to Egyptian mythology, the Orb was crafted from the right eye of Hathor in order to prevent her from transforming into the war goddess, Sekmet. A device of immeasurable power, the full extent of its capabilities is unknown, but it has demonstrated the ability to raise the dead, as well as to take command over the living.
A few years ago, an ambitious revolutionary named Mister Fazil discovered the tomb of Rakses and recovered the Orb of Ra. Working alongside his associate Doctor Minkly, Fazil used the orb to reanimate Rakses personal bodyguards. He then used it as the focal point in a ceremony to resurrect Rakses himself. Fazil misspoke the incantation however, and he was unable to maintain control over Rakses. Rakses killed Fazil and recovered the Orb.
N'Kantu, the Living Mummy and monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone arrived at the pyramid and fought with Rakses. Rakses used the orb to summon the Demon of the Sands as well as a monstrous scarab to attack them, but N'Kantu managed to distract the necromancer long enough for Elsa to snatch the Orb. With the aid of the Frankenstein Monster (known only as Adam at this time), the three were able to destroy Rakses and the Living Mummy used the orb to dispel Rakses' creation. He took it upon himself to become the caretaker of the Orb of Ra.
As the Living Mummy had since been incarcerated for refusing to register his identity in accordance with the Superhuman Registration Act, the Orb of Ra was presumably taken away from him. Through a means as yet unrevealed, the Mummy is no longer imprisoned and has regained possession of the Orb. He recently used it to summon the spirit of Nephrus, the ancient wizard responsible for transforming him into a living mummy.
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