Many years ago, the soldier of fortune Rex Mason was hired by the millionaire Simon Stagg to retrieve the mystical Orb of Ra. Knowing of the grave dangers involved, Rex took the assignment with the hope that the substantial fee would enable him to marry Stagg's daughter Sapphire. During the undertaking, Rex was betrayed by his resurrected Neanderthal servant Java and abandoned in the pyramid where the orb rested. In his escape from the pyramid, he was exposed to fragments of the meteor from which the orb had been forged. The rays permanently altered Rex' molecular makeup and turned him into Metamorpho- The Element man. Disguising his looks with a mask that resembles his former face, Rex Mason was able to establish a secret identity for himself and even married his love Sapphire. Metamorpho's abilities to morph himself into just about any conceivable element first gained him membership in the Outsiders. Working alongside Batman, who was also the teams leader, Metamorpho was considered the groups second senior member in a bunch of rookie heroes. After the Outsiders disbanded, Rex joined one of the incarnations of the Justice League. In an ever-changing cast of members, Rex was one of the few constantly available. While he and a few other former JLA members were clearing out their things from the JLA satellite, the white Martians began the invasion of Earth. With major damage to the satellites life support system, Rex used his own body to form an escape pod in an attempt to save the others. Morphing into a shock absorbing fluid to prevent their death's on impact, they survived badly injured while Metamorpho paid for this action with his own life. Rex Mason never wanted to be a hero, but saw the potential of his powers. He realized that when used in the fight for justice, his powers could make a difference. With his humanity taken from him, he preserved his soul and gave his life for what he believed in, or so we all believed.

Metamorpho recently confronted a beak-away part of his body which had been believed to have been an amnesiac Metamorpho and had joined the newest incarnation of The Outsiders. After a lengthy battle, the two metamorphs came to an understanding and now treat each other more as brothers than parts of the same being.