John Corben

John Corben is an international assassin-for-hire. He was hired by Lex Luthor to kill his adoptive sister Lena, but in doing so was nearly fatally shot. Corben was subsequently saved by Project Cadmus and injected with something, becoming known as Metallo.

Previous jobs
John Corben had links to Intergang, Kasnian terrorists and a genocide that occurred in Corto Maltese.

Attempted assassination of Lena Luthor
Corben was hired by Lex Luthor, who was in maximum security prison, to assassinate his adoptive sister, Lena Luthor. He began by tampering with the oscillator of the Venture space craft, which would be located directly beneath Lena. However, after she couldn't make it due to an important business meeting, subsequently missing the explosion of the craft, Corben had to use an alternate plan to kill her. He took a Heavy Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle from its owner, using it to target Lena's helicopter, while planting additional drones throughout National City to shoot random civilians; Superman and Supergirl ultimately destroyed all of them, saving Lena. The following day, he planted explosives beneath a plaque at Luthor's ceremony to rename her company. They detonated, along with others planted in the Luthor Corp building. Corben, dressed as a police officer, attempted to approach Lena directly but was intercepted by Alex Danvers. After a brief fight, he took her hostage, threatening to shoot her if Supergirl intervened. He was promptly shot from behind by Lena Luthor, dropping Alex. Sometime later, John found himself connected to medical equipment inside Project Cadmus. A woman approached him, offering to let him live, to which he agreed, and he was injected with something, causing his veins to glow and his eyes to cloud over. The woman dubbed him "Metallo".

Abilities

 * Expert assassin: Working as an assassin-for-hire, Corben is an expert at his profession, having been hired by terrorists and businessman alike.
 * Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Corben has been shown to be able to hold his own in a fight, being able to overpower D.E.O. agent Alex Danvers.