Machinesmith
The Machinesmith is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Samuel "Starr" Saxon
When he was 14 years old, one day he came to encounter his first robot which as one of Doctor Doom's Servobots that had been abandoned in a subway tunnel after an altercation with the Fantastic Four. Fascinated by it, he decided to cart it back to his home in Queen's which was not an easy task. He set up shop in his father's garage where he spent months taking it apart as he studied every circuit and piece programming of the machine. Within a year, he was able to work on an automaton of his own constructing one using everything he had learnt from dismantling Doom's robot. Around this time, his mother came to believe that his interest in machines to be unhealthy and looked to throw his creation away but she was said to had suffered from a laboratory accident. This was arranged by Samuel with the intention of removing her where he used a faulty circuit to murder his own mother. Following the accident, her life insurance was cashed by the family which Saxon found to be invaluable for his work. For the next 5 years, he began to work on robot after robot with each one being more sophisticated than the last. It was around this time that the Tinkerer came to hear of Saxon and took him under his wing. Through the Tinkerer's underworld's connections, he was able to land lucrative commissions such as creating robot assassins for the mob. (Captain America v1 #368)
Saxon built several robots for Mesmero, including the mutant-themed Demi-Men and a magnetic-powered Magneto. (X-Men v1 #52) In San Francisco, Mesmero called forth his Demi-Men, used a machine to awaken latent mutants, and sent the Demi-Men out to battle the X-Men should they arrive. They were soon in full battle with Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl, and the X-Men were shocked to learn their ally Lorna Dane was a mutant. (X-Men v1 #49) Mesmero crowned Dane his queen of the mutants, and he used her to battle the X-Men, who'd been captured by the Demi-Men. The heroes were shocked when Magneto (secretly a robot) revealed himself. (X-Men v1 #50) The Magneto robot tried convincing Dane she was his daughter, and ordered Mesmero and the Demi-Men back into battle after Cyclops punched him. As some of the Demi-Men were defeated, Magneto sent a tornado of shrapnel at the heroes, then he slowly began torturing Marvel Girl and Angel. The Demi-Men, joining hands and increasing their strength, held off the others until Cyclops collapsed the ceiling on all of them. The X-Men fled, leaving Magneto who claimed to now have paralyzed legs, the Demi-Men, Dane, and Mesmero behind. (X-Men v1 #51) Mesmero’s base was attacked by Erik the Red who was actually Cyclops in disguise and he sent Mesmero as well as the Demi-Men fleeing the scene. Erik convinced the still wounded Magneto and Dane to let him join them, and though he cautioned Dane about trust he put Erik in charge of the Demi-Men. When the X-Men arrived, Erik was exposed as Cyclops, and they defeated Mesmero and the Demi-Men again. Magneto sent Dane against the X-Men, but she joined them in defeating the villains. Magneto disappeared, self-destructing the base behind him. (X-Men v1 #52)
He presented himself as a brilliant and arrogant robotics expert-for-hire, using his skills to construct and repair advanced androids for the highest bidder. Saxon first entered the public eye when he located and repaired the damaged LMD (Life Model Decoy) of the villainous Mister Fear, restoring it to functionality and then using it as part of his own schemes. Robotics expert Starr Saxon developed a new robot that could track its target through a sense of smell. He learned to upload a photograph to the robot’s scentolator, which would allow the robot to track the target. He also equipped the robot with a numeric screen which would indicate, by numbers, the rate of the robot’s operational efficiency. The higher the number, the greater the robot’s power, and any number below five meant automatic adjustment would be necessary. Saxon was eager to test his new robot on a target, so he gladly accepted Biggie Benson’s contract to send it after Daredevil. (Daredevil v1 #49) Saxon also equipped the robot with the ability to, in emergencies, increase his size and power for a limited time. (Daredevil v1 #50) Saxon met with Benson, who was in jail, and settled the price. He then eagerly sent the robot out against Daredevil. The robot battled Daredevil as Matt Murdock, then as Daredevil. Operating in New York, Saxon set his sights on Daredevil, uncovering the hero’s secret identity as Matt Murdock after a series of encounters. Saxon employed a combination of custom-built attack robots and human agents to wear Daredevil down, but his overconfidence proved his undoing. In their final confrontation, Saxon pursued Murdock onto a rooftop during a storm, lost his footing, and fell to what appeared to be his death. (Daredevil v1 #49) While Saxon prepared more photographs and planned to have the robot help him gain control of a criminal empire, the robot grew to giant size and its memory banks were damaged. Daredevil followed the robot back to Saxon’s headquarters. Saxon desperately threw a vial of liquid phosphorous at the hero, then scrambled to upload another photo of Daredevil into the robot. In his haste, he uploaded Biggie Benson instead and the robot moved to kill the criminal. Saxon confessed his mistake to Daredevil, who rushed off after the robot. Saxon escaped while he could. (Daredevil v1 #50)
Saxon had fallen to his death but luckily he stationed some of his robots nearby which recovered his body. They came to take him to his Midtown laboratory where they followed their directive of preserving his life at all cost. This resulted in them encoding the entire contents of his brain onto computer software. Once encoded, it was downloaded into his most sophisticated robotic frame where upon awakening he was said to had gone through a disconcerting experience but came to love his new form. He came to use plasti-molding to make a facsimile of his old human appearance and went back into robot making. It was then that he began producing robotic simulacra of various individuals that he began to sell on the open market. This allowed Saxon to refine his human mimicking techniques of his creations where he came to accept an assignment to create robotic fighters for the criminal enterprise known as the Corporation as he had need for money in this time. (Captain America v1 #368)
Though the mainframe was destroyed, one of his bodies regained consciousness thus continuing his life. He began to regard himself as a robot that was superior of organic life as he was no longer bound to mortality. (Captain America v1 #368)
Months later, he came to be approached by Mr. Smith who he later came to learn was the supervillain Red Skull where he was offered an exclusive contract for his services. Machinesmith came to accept as he needed a change of venue and a steady income from a patron. (Captain America v1 #368)
Re-emerging in a new form, Machinesmith revealed that he had survived his apparent death by transferring his consciousness into a highly advanced robotic body of his own design. This new existence freed him from the limitations of human physiology and allowed him to “download” himself into various robotic forms. In his first appearance in this new identity, he engaged Captain America, using a series of remotely controlled and custom-built robot bodies, each designed with unique weaponry and abilities. Machinesmith employed decoys and feints, constantly shifting his consciousness between different chassis to confuse and overwhelm his opponent. Despite his technological sophistication, Captain America managed to track the signal source back to Machinesmith’s base and defeat him, though the villain’s digital nature ensured that true destruction would be difficult. (Captain America v1 #249)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Machinesmith was originally a male human, Starr Saxon, with short dark hair, a lean build, and a calculating expression, often seen in a work suit when operating as an engineer-for-hire. As Machinesmith, however, his form varied depending on the robotic body he inhabited. His default chassis in his early appearances was humanoid, sleek, and metallic, often with a silver finish, a featureless or stylized faceplate, and joint segments that allowed enhanced articulation. His eyes were typically depicted as glowing slits or orbs, giving him an intimidating, inhuman presence. These bodies were modular, enabling him to adapt them with weapon systems or mobility upgrades depending on the mission. (Captain America v1 #249)
Machinesmith demonstrated a calculating, methodical, and often arrogant personality, inherited from his Starr Saxon days. He possessed a strong sense of self-preservation, leveraging his robotic immortality to take risks that a human would not. He had a deep pride in his technical skill and enjoyed taunting opponents with his perceived superiority in intellect and adaptability. While not purely sadistic, he viewed organic beings as inherently limited and sometimes beneath him, particularly after embracing his mechanical existence. (Captain America v1 #249)
After he died, his mind came to be transferred into a mechanical form where he used plasti-mold to make himself appear human. (Captain America v1 #368)
Self-preservation was said to be deeply embedded within his programming. (Captain America v1 #368)
At one point, he came to regard his mechanical existence to be a mockery of life and wanted to embrace oblivion in order to end his life. (Captain America v1 #368)
After his attempted suicide, he came to regard robotic life superior to organics as it was not bound to mortality. Thus, he came to be happy in being a robot where he regarded machine life as being beautiful and full of possibilities when compared to human life. It came to be his goal in life to teach his 'metal brothers' to revel in being machines just like him. (Captain America v1 #368)
Saxon was noted to had regarded the Mad Thinker as a competitor. (Captain America v1 #368)
Powers and abilities
Samuel Saxon was born a normal human being with no inherent powers from birth. (Captain America v1 #368)
He was regarded as the world's foremost roboticist and a mechanoid genius. Due to being a lab-rat, he was not suited in being a fighter even if he had an arsenal of weapons. (Captain America v1 #368)
At one point, his physical body came to die and his mind was encoded onto computer software that was downloaded into a sophisticated humanoid frame. After coming to terms with this form, he began using plasti-mold that replicated his old human features making him appear as his old self. Machinesmith was able to microbeam his programmed essence thus transferring his consciousness from one mechanical body to another. (Captain America v1 #368) Machinesmith was a post-human artificial intelligence housed in robotic bodies of his own construction. His digital consciousness could inhabit multiple mechanical forms, allowing him to 'resurrect' after physical destruction by transferring into a new chassis. His physiology as a machine granted him superhuman strength, durability, and reaction speed, with specifications varying based on the body he was operating. Many of his forms were immune to fatigue, resistant to temperature extremes, and equipped with built-in weaponry or specialized tools. His mechanical nature also meant he did not require food, air, or sleep, and he could survive in environments hostile to organic life. (Captain America v1 #249)
His creations were created with a directive to preserve his life at any cost. He was able to make such accurate robots of a person that they could even replicate superpowered abilities. It was shown that he had created a number of doppelgangers of himself that he could send to ambush enemies as part of a mob. In one case, he built a robot of Magneto that was able to simulate the Mutant's magnetic powers. (Captain America v1 #368)
For his work, he operated from a site that he referred to as the Machine Shop. (Captain America v1 #368)
Notes
- Samuel Saxon was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan where he made his first appearance in Daredevil v1 #49 (February, 1969).
- He later took the identity of Mister Fear in Daredevil v1 #54 (July, 1969).
- Starr then took the name of the Machinesmith in Marvel Two-in-One v1 #47 (January, 1979).
Alternate Versions
Appearances
- Daredevil v1: (1969)
- X-Men v1:
- Captain America v1:
- Marvel Two-in-One v1:
External Links
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