In 1941 Professor Elton Morrow participated in an Antarctic excavation that unearthed a mysterious blue diamond, which was apparently a fragment of the Lifestone Tree, a collection of extraterrestrial artifacts that had empowered the alien heroes called the Chosen Eight of Faith many millennia before. When Morrow’s party returned to the US, their ship was attacked by a German U-boat, causing the gem to shatter, the pieces embedding themselves in Morrow’s body. Rescued by a British destroyer, Morrow soon discovered that the gem had given him the density and toughness of diamond, and he became a costumed crime fighter: the Blue Diamond.
The Blue Diamond made a reputation battling Nazi spies and others, borrowing “tough guy” dialogue from gangster movies in an effort to seem more convincing. In 1942 his theories about the first humans having originated in Africa made him a target of Nazi assassins, but he soon defeated them and joined several other heroes in response to a distress call from Bucky, forming the Liberty Legion to rescue the Invaders from the Red Skull’s control. The Liberty Legion subsequently battled Master Man, U-Man, Brian Drain, and Skyshark alongside the time-traveling Thing, and they again worked with the invaders against Iron Cross.
The Liberty Legion disbanded shortly after World War II’s end. Morrow retired from heroics shortly after, marrying his childhood sweetheart, and devoting himself to his career, although he briefly revived his costumed identity to attend his second Union Jack’s funeral in 1953. He longed to return to his heroic career but felt that his responsibilities to his wife forbade it. When his wife died, Morrow immersed himself in his work, but his theories won him only ridicule, leaving him lonely and a bitter man.
In recent years, the elderly Morrow witnessed the arrival in Hartsdale of the cosmic-powered Shanga the Star-Dancer, whose efforts sealed off the town for study were opposed by the Thing. Determined to aid his old ally, Morrow donned his Blue Diamond costume again, saving the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, from rioting townspeople. He then convinced the Thing to hurl him as a weapon at Shanga, successfully bringing her down. Examining him, Shanga discovered that Morrow was her psychological match; she transformed him into a being of living diamond to become her perfect mate, and they set off into space together.
In the course of their travels, the Blue Diamond was separated from Shanga when she was captured by the alien scientist called the Stranger; it is unclear if the Diamond was also captured or if he continued his space adventures alone for a time. In either event, he returned to Earth and was among the heroes the Thin Man claimed were allied with his revival of the Invaders. The Blue Diamond was among the heroes who attended the funeral of Jim Hammond.
*Note: Other beings that possessed fragments of the Lifestone are Man-Wolf, Moonstone, the Basilisk, Ulysses Bloodstone, Doctor Spectrum, and the Sphinx.
