Amalak's planet was once conquered by the planet Krypton during an imperial phase during Krypton's past. He became a bounty hunter and a space pirate. During his final revenge against his sworn enemies the two remaining Kryptonians Superman and Supergirl he used the space alien Jevik to spread a deadly Plague on the Earth known as the "Journalist Disease". Superman defeated Amalak by using Kanjar Ro's Gamma Gong to incapacitate Amalak. While Superman was occupied with making an antedote for the deadly plague; Amalak used an Alien Death Ray on himself and tried to make his death look like Superman actually killed him. In the post-Crisis universe would later die during The Third Kryptonian storyline.