In one installment of Metamorpho, The Element Man, his father-in-law (an antagonist who was the cause of Metamorpho becoming what he is) goes against type to help save him and his daughter, Metamorpho's wife, from some enemy who has immersed Metamorpho and the woman in a swimming pool full of sulphuric acid. Our Hero is frantically transforming himself into this and that element to try to stave off acidic dissolution, the while holding his wife up out of the vat on his right hand transformed into a big flat metal platform.
They are having to act all this out right in front of the evil character perpetrating the scene, so must speak in code. The father-in-law, an expert chemist, says to Metamorpho (in a scene that it just now strikes me the writer must have modeled on the climactic scene in 'Forbidden Planet'):
"Son! Can you forgive me for that lie [lye] that came between us? You know! That base lie! That caustic lie!"
Finally Metamorpho gets it, turns part of himself into a lye to neutralize the acid, saves the day.
Fictional character biography
Rex Mason is an adventurer who is hired by Stagg Enterprises CEO, Simon Stagg, to retrieve a rare Egyptian artifact, the Orb of Ra. Shortly after hiring him, Simon Stagg learns that Mason has been dating his daughter, Sapphire Stagg. This and other incidents begin to fuel in Stagg a dislike for Mason that ultimately leads to a plot to kill him.
In an Egyptian pyramid, Rex Mason is knocked out by Simon's brutish bodyguard, Java, and is eventually exposed to a radioactive meteorite from which the Orb of Ra was fashioned. A tremendous flare-up of its radiation transforms Mason into Metamorpho, the Element Man. He gains the ability to shapeshift and change himself into any element or combination of elements found in the human body. It is also established in his origin story (see: The Brave & The Bold #57) that Metamorpho is virtually invulnerable in his inert (untransformed) state, when Stagg, afraid that Rex is going to kill him, shoots him point-blank without effect. The Orb of Ra, however, has the same effect on Rex that kryptonite has on Superman. Thus Stagg continues to control Metamorpho using the Orb. Later, it is revealed that Mason is but one of many metamorphae, created by the sun god Ra – using the meteorite – to serve as warriors in his battle against the god Apep, "the serpent who never dies."[7]
Metamorpho, unlike most super-humanoids described in DC Comics, cannot assume a normal, fully human appearance, being no longer composed of flesh, blood and bone. As such, he regards his metamorphic powers as a disease and seeks a cure for his condition. Because he considers himself a freak and wishes only to be restored to his former human state, he rejects an offer of membership from the Justice League of America. Green Lantern attempts to change him back using his power ring, but due to a "yellow" component of the meteorite radiation, is unable to make him normal again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorpho
