It's Elemental: Portrayals of Metamorpho and Element Girl

As Julie D. O’Reilly succinctly points out in her article ‘The Wonder Woman Precedent: Female (Super)Heroism on Trial’, most superheroines, especially true of Golden and Silver Age characters are mere extensions of their male counterparts (273). Apart from Wonder Woman, many of the female characters’ monikers are suffixed with the adolescent title of girl – Supergirl, Batgirl, Element Girl, for example – as opposed to the male characters’ man. While the male hero graduates from boy to man, the female hero remains stuck in a kind of permanent adolescence. For example, while Peter Parker is still a teenager his rise to the level of superhero sees him becoming Spiderman. In contrast Jean Grey of the X-Men was still only Marvel Girl when Professor Xavier deemed the X-Men worthy of hero status. For the male readership (of all ages), the male superhero is to be idealised and aspired to, while the female superheroine, the girl, is to be gazed at, dominated, and acquired. If the superheroine is merely an extension of the superhero, then becoming a superhero also means “getting the girl” – the male superhero naturally attracts his female counterpart, and in doing so reinforces his own status as the primary hero. As Elizabeth Grosz states:

male self-definitions require and produce definitions of the female as their inverted or complementary counterparts. This implies… an analysis of the ways in which masculine or phallocentric discourses and knowledges rely on images, metaphors and figures of woman and femininity to support and justify their definitions. It also… implies an exploration of the disavowed corporeal and psychic dependence of the masculine, with its necessary foundation in women’s bodies, on the female corporeality it cannot claim as its own territory (the maternal body) (74).

Element Girl is one of these female others to the male hero’s one. Element Girl, a.k.a. Urania Blackwell, first appeared as a counterpart to Metamorpho in Metamorpho #10 (1967). Treasure hunter Rex Mason became Metamorpho, the Element Man, after exposure to the Orb of Ra in an Egyptian pyramid. He gained the ability to change into any element or compound contained in the human body allowing him to turn parts or the whole of his body into a variety of gases or objects such as blades, springs, or hammers. Rex’s dashing good looks were ruined during the transformation as were his intentions of marrying his beautiful girlfriend, Sapphire. However Rex takes to using rubber masks to cover his face. Element Girl volunteered to be exposed to the Orb of Ra and received a coloured body, disfigured face, and abilities, similar to Metamorpho. After a number of adventures together, Element Girl fell in love with Metamorpho, pursuing him vigorously, becoming a rival to Sapphire. While the last issue of Metamorpho (#17 March/April 1968) has Rex and Element Girl together, the storyline is clearly not complete. Element Girl was not seen again until an appearance in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (‘Facade’ #20 October 1990). By this time she has become unable to leave her apartment because of her hideous appearance. Like Rex once did, Urania now uses masks to cover her face, which is in contrast to her initial portrayal where she appeared quite proud to accept her freakish appearance. But it seems that without Metamorpho around, everything is different. Urania produces silicate masks using her elemental ability, but they fall off after a short period and flesh masks composed of her own elemental makeup quickly rot. Terribly depressed without virtually any human contact, she had failed to commit suicide on several occasions due to her body’s natural defences (Wallace 104). 

A minor comic character at best, Element Girl’s story in the Metamorpho and Sandman titles provides contrasting portrayals of men and women’s personal appearance. In the original Metamorpho series Element Girl is a headstrong, confident, intelligent, and resourceful woman. As rival to Sapphire for Rex’s affections (citing their similarities as freaks would make them a perfect couple) she provides a stark contrast to the spoiled, rich, and passive, Sapphire. In her coloured and changing body Element Girl is definitely presented as other, and in her desire for Rex’s affection she can also be seen as an interloper who tries to break up the potential family unit. Rex had always planned to marry Sapphire before becoming the disfigured Metamorpho and it is Sapphire who continually re-emerges as Rex’s true love, even though she remains a continually passive character. Interestingly Metamorpho’s appearance becomes more comely over the years meaning the rubber masks he uses are eventually discarded. He is never hideous enough to shut himself away like Element Girl eventually does. Rex is concerned with his looks but this is not the sum total of his identity. This wouldn’t be the actions of a hero. Nor does he lose Sapphire’s love after his transformation. Indeed Rex ends up with two women fighting over his disfigured form and affections, a situation which would rarely occur if the genders were reversed.

Element Girl has a confident nature in her superhero role, though when fighting alongside Rex she constantly tries to convince him of her worth. By the time the Metamorpho series was cancelled, Metamorpho and Element Girl’s relationship seemed to be in the ascendency. In Sandman #20 her circumstances are quite different. Unwanted as an operative at her former government agency, unable to procure other ongoing work due to her disfigured appearance, and with Rex nowhere to be seen, she has essentially become a shut-in. Element Girl’s appearance has become the be all and end all of her life. With her self-esteem seriously low, she is certainly no hero, and the story shows the reality/absurdity of a “pensioned-off” hero. When she finds that her own body prevents her from committing suicide, Gaiman introduces the character, Death, to help dispatch her. Gaiman is determined to get rid of Element Girl one way or another. Death simply tells Urania to ask Ra to help take her life, which he does.

While Gaiman’s story comments on the abundance of pneumatically enhanced female characters that populated (and to an extent still continue to populate) contemporary superhero comics, there is a more disturbing subtext playing out. Gaiman’s depiction of Element Girl reads that once a woman’s youthful looks, and therefore her usefulness, are gone, she will effectively be abandoned by society. However Gaiman doesn’t address how this problem can be overcome. His solution to her predicament is to make her suicidal. This other female presence must be dispatched. Without looks, a job, or a male superheroic counterpart, it seems there is little else left except suicide for Element Girl.

Reference

Gaiman, N. (w), Doran, C. (p), and Jones III, M. (i). 'Facade' Sandman. v1 #20 (Oct. 1990). New York: DC Comics,1990.

Grosz, E. Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction. London and New York: Routledge,1990.

O’Reilly, J.D. ‘The Wonder Woman Precedent: Female (Super)Heroism on Trial’ in The Journal of American Culture. 28, 3, 2005.

Wallace, D. ‘Element Girl’ in Dougall, A. (ed.) The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: DC Comics, Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2004.