History and Origin
Mercury Man is the last survivor of his home planet Mercury. Mercury was far more advanced than Earth but similar in other ways. Most notable the people of Mercury were just as able to kill each other just like Earthling. The advance weapons of Mercury let to a war of Armageddon. This turned the planet into a desolate wasteland. Mercury Man was the only survivor. He was able to survive by literally turning himself into Mercury.
Mercury Man went to Earth after his planet was destroyed and made it his mission to stop earth from making the same mistakes his planet did. This time he had the power to do it. He stopped Communist countries from making any kind of nuclear or atomic weapons of any kind. He also transferred men who didn’t want to stop making these kinds of weapons to Mercury to show them what kind of devastation they can do and what the consequences were. When the refused to change their policy Mercury Man left them behind on the planet.
Appearance
Mercury Man had a few different looks in his limited time as a comic character. In his first Appearance he had a blue costume with black shorts and a red belt on the cover of the comic (similar to Golden Age hero Stardust the Super Wizard). But, on the inside of the comic, he had a metallic skin similar to the Silver Surfer. (or, perhaps more accurately, the Golden Age hero Silver Streak). His skin was made to look like mercury; a substance he was able to transform into. This literally made him a Mercury Man. In Mercury’s second issue, he appeared in a red costume (again, more Silver Streak). and was able to keep his regular skin color without transforming into a Mercury Man.
Another difference from the first two comic Mercury Man was in was his ears. In the First Comic his ears were little wings and he also had wings on his ankles (a la the Sub-mariner). In his second appearance his ears were much more pointed (also, more like the Sub-mariner).
Powers
Mercury Man’s powers are not clearly defined as to how well they all work or at what level. It is not even clear if the powers he had were the only ones that he had. This is due to his limited appearances in the Silver Age that defined him.
- Flight.
- Disintegration bolts that shot from his hands.
- Transform into Mercury.
- A minor Telepathy being able to find people.
- Invulnerability. It is unclear how invulnerable but he is able to survive a nuclear bomb.
- Can survive and travel in the vacuum of space.
- Super-strength.
- Intelligence. Mercury Man was a scientist before the apocalypse of his world and developed a way to transform himself into Mercury.