Origin
Credited as the world’s first android, Amazo was built by the deranged Professor Ivo. He set his creation on the Justice League in the hopes that their defeat would be a testament to his genius, and grant him immortality.
Character Evolution
Originally built with the powers and skills of the original Justice League ( Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter) preinstalled, as well as a duplicate Lantern Power Ring and Lasso of Truth. As such he was a formidable adversary.
The powers and programming of Amazo have varied over time. Some incarnations of Amazo are pre-installed with the powers of members of the Justice League of America (often Superman and Flash with the fighting skill of Wonder Woman). Other times the programming of Amazo varies. For instance, the programming and absorption cell technology was implanted into the body of fellow android Red Tornado after the Red Tornado’s soul moved on to a human body. This led to a conflict as part of the Red Tornado’s spirit became ingrained in the android circuitry. On one occasion he was only able to duplicate the powers of the members in the Justice League, adapting as the roster grew (this Amazo was defeated when Superman disbanded the Justice League, leaving Amazo without any sources to copy). And in one example Amazo was able to steal the powers of the Justice League as well as their humanity, leaving the Justice League powerless androids. Amazo returned the League to normal when he couldn’t reconcile his actions with his new emotions. These diverging programming and power fluctuations have not been officially reconciled within DC continuity.
Notably, Amazo has held a grudge with the Hourman of the 853rd century. When the temporal powered android travelled back in time and joined with the JSA, Amazo was jealous of how advanced in both technology and sentience Hourman was. They had a bitter feud until Hourman returned to his correct timeline.
All incarnations of Amazo have the strength and invulnerability that comes with being an android. More recent incarnations of Amazo has the robot built with the ability to adapt and counter metahuman attacks through an internal database much like OMACs. In this manner, Amazo can be considered to have the knowledge and planning of Batman. Unlike the OMACs Amazo can replicate powers to counter attacks instead of using pre-built defenses.
This unpredictability is one of the threats of Amazo. It’s always a gamble for any hero to encounter an Amazo as they can never be sure what powers the Amazo currently has.
The appearance of Amazo usually involves a pointy-eared monster android with the ability to replicate the powers of nearby metahumans and a heartless or downright evil sentience. Recently, through poorly explained science, a boy was revealed to be Amazo’s son KID AMAZO. Rather than join his father as a villain, Kid Amazo fought the urges programmed into his genetic code and used his powers to stop his father.
Amazo joined Alexander Luthor‘s Secret Society of Super-Villains.
Flashpoint
In the Flashpoint universe, Amazo works as a prison guard. He strips metahuman prisoners of their powers and keeps the inmates in line. But is this reality he is actually being operated by a shrunken down Atom.
The New 52
Amazo is seen defeated and badly beaten by the Justice League in issue 8.
Powers and Abilities
Amazo has the ability to replicate the other abilities of superheroes or villains in his vicinity and can also amplify and/or combine those powers. He has absorbed the powers of superheroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. He has even replicated weapons such as Green Lantern’s power ring and Wonder Woman’s magic lasso as well as her fighting style.
Weaknesses
The power Amazo replicates are not permanently gained and at least one version was limited to only the powers and abilities possessed by members of the Justice League. This iteration was forced into dormancy in the middle of combat by a founding member of the League disbanding the team.
Originally Amazo could only use powers based on one person at a time. Later iterations had removed this limitation.
Animated Version
Amazo becomes nigh-omnipotent in Justice League unlimited after leaving Earth into space. Returning, he has evolved to a point of complete invulnerability to any form of attack. Amazo can teleport untold distances across the universe. When The Atom shrunk himself and Luthor to molecular size, Amazo has demonstrated his ability to communicate with The Atom and Lex Luthor. He states that no dimension is hidden from him. Amazo then proceeds to end all creation, at the start of which, even the molecular dimension starts to stir. It is not known whether or not Amazo has the power to really destroy the universe, but it is quite possibly the case.
Amazo in this gold colored form laid waste to an entire army of Justice League superheroes single-handedly without so much as a scratch on him. He displays teleportation skills on a planetary scale. He displaced Oa simply because the planet was in his way to Earth. He smashed through a shield created by half a dozen lanterns on his way of doing so.
Amazo’s speed in Justice League Unlimited far surpasses light speed. He is arguably faster than even the Lanterns. It took him moments to get from planet Oa to Earth. Amazo has displayed psychic, psionic and telekinetic abilities. Despite this, he has never been seen using his psychic powers other than to converse mentally. Amazo does not have any mouth in his design, just a set of eyes. Even in this form, Amazo retains the powers of the Justice League that he had copied.
Other Media
A.M.A.Z.O.
In the Justice League two-part episode “Tabula Rasa“, there was a project created by Professor Ivo called Project A.M.A.Z.O. With the fundings from Lex Luthor the purpose of the android was to have the Justice League destroyed. With Lex Luthor’s sickness taking its toll on him due to him being around Kryptonite for so long he needed Amazo to help him in order to get the things necessary for him to survive. Lex persuaded the Android to help him and wanting to be more like his creator he shapes his face like Lex and he speaks for the first time. This version of the Android possessed nanotechnology which gave him the ability to copy the powers of the Justice League. He developed the weaknesses as well but eventually evolved into something which the vulnerabilities of the superheroes didn’t affect him. After getting the Martian Manhunter abilities he was able to find out the real intentions of Lex. Lex knowing that the Android figured out what he had been up to attempted to destroy the robot with the eternal time bomb which he could have set off any minute with the press of a button did so. Thinking that he was gone Lex had his little moment until the Android assembled itself and destroyed the power suit that Lex had worked so hard to build. After realizing the pettiness of how humans can be the Android leaves Earth in search for more. He then wanders the universe. The television version of the Amazo character and his story itself is more akin to the Marvel character Alpha the Ultimate Mutant.
The Justice League Unlimited
In the episode “The Return” the Android return back to Earth to search for Lex Luthor. On Amazo’s way back, the planet Oa was in his way and despite the attempts of the Green Lantern Corps to try and stop the android, the planet and its entire population were apparently destroyed. So in order to defend Earth and Luthor, the League calls almost every hero to try and stop him. The plan was to have three front line in which to fight the Android. The first was in space, the second was in the skies above Earth, and the final one was near Luthor’s hideout. The first line had Superman, Green Lantern John Stewart, Orion, Captain Atom, Doctor Light, Stripe and the League’s entire fleet of Javelin spacecraft. The Second line consisted of Supergirl, Rocket Red, Ice and Red Tornado, and Fire. Upon Lex’s hideout was guarded by Wonder Woman, Flash, Steel and Ice. All of these attempts of stopping the Android had failed. When finally getting to Lex the Android asked Lex what was his purpose. At first Lex was scared of the Android but then had told him that he actually felt sorry for him. Luthor tells the Android that it must forge its own destiny. Surrounded by the last member of the Green Lanterns Corps, they were going to kill the Android by combining the power from their rings until Doctor Fate offers to help the Android find its destiny. The Android tell John that he made Oa disappear because it was in his way and he returns it back to where it was before. Amazo moves into Doctor Fate’s tower.
The Return
Amazo appears in the episode “Wake the Dead” where he tries to help the League with the return of Solomon Grundy. After touching him he realizes that Grundy was absorbing his powers had left light years away from Earth because he knows that him being there would be a threat since Grundy was made by “chaos magic”. This was the last they had ever saw him.
Batman: Under The Red Hood
Amazo is a secondary villain appearing the animated film Batman: Under The Red Hood, after Batman prevents a group of criminals from fleeing Gotham Harbor with a stolen cargo container. The container is thrown from their truck after Batman forces them to crash and soon releases Amazo, who quickly engages Batman and later, Nightwing, who was in Gotham on his own mission. Amazo demonstrates abilities similar to Superman (strength, invulnerability, heat vision and flight) and proves to be a dangerous adversary, withstanding explosions and stabbing with no ill effect. He is eventually defeated however when Batman sticks plastic explosives to his eyes, which then blow his head off.
Young Justice
Amazo appears in the Young Justice episode ‘Schooled‘, ambushing Green Arrow and Black Canary off screen prior to the start of the episode. Superman is called in by Green Arrow to provide assistance which is later described by Batman as ‘disastrous’ as Amazo duplicated each new combatant’s abilities. It took eight League members four hours to defeat and dismantle Amazo, whose parts were to be shipped to separate STAR Labs locations for evaluation while being escorted by Young Justice. However Professor Ivo, who was presumed to be dead, sent robotic monkeys to retrieve the parts so that he could reassemble them, but Superboy followed the parts to Ivo’s mobile workshop aboard a freight train, where he was quickly beaten by the now reassembled Amazo. After their battle moved to a Gotham City high school, Amazo was about to kill Superboy when Robin and Kid Flash arrived but even then, Amazo still proved to be a match for them all, and was only defeated when Superboy punched him through the head while the android was using Martian Manhunter’s intangibility. When Amazo returned to a corporeal form to use his super strength with Superboy’s fist still inside his head, he exploded and was promptly taken apart by Young Justice once more.