Recorder 451
Recorder 451 is a extraterrestrial robot supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Recorder 451 was a robotic Recorder who was created by the Rigellian race. His kind were created to serve as probes that were sent out to gather data. Upon the completion of their task Recorders had their minds wiped but a bug was present in 451 that meant he was never wiped. As such, he retained eons worth of knowledge where he said that he had seen everything with him having seen many wonders. It was then that he came to realisation that observation alone was not enough with him having to act. He then went rogue where he disguised himself in order to evade his former masters and travelled the universe where he claimed to help people in the best way he could do so. (Iron Man v5 #7)
The Recorder discovered the Earth, a planet he believed had the potential to bring universal peace in the future, and decided it needed a defense. 451 subsequently found out about the Godkiller, a massive armor which had been created by the Aspirants to battle the Celestials, and remained abandoned in a Dyson Sphere in deep space with many of its components missing. As 451 spent hundreds of years looking for the components, he also realized that the Godkiller needed a pilot in order to ensure its effectiveness, because its autopilot was extremely clumsy. (Iron Man v5 #14)
Decades later, 451 decided to bring the son of Howard, Tony Stark aka Iron Man, into his destiny as the pilot of the Godkiller. The Recorder discovered the final piece of the Godkiller in possession of the alien race known as the Voldi, who were using it to cloak themselves from the cosmic beings from whom they drew power. As part of his plan to extract the component, which was now known as the Heart of the Voldi, 451 drew Tony to the Voldi's homeplanet, knowing that his presence would be the perfect distraction, because Iron Man had taken part of an assassination attempt of the Phoenix Force, one of the Voldi's deities, a few months earlier. (Iron Man v5 #8) When Stark was captured by the Voldi to be judged for his crimes, 451 presented himself and posed as an ally, informing him of an ancient Voldi ritual called "Shay-Tah-Run," a trial-by-combat. The event would draw enough attention for 451 to steal the Iron Man Armor from the evidence vault and give it to Stark in order to escape. (Iron Man v5 #7) When the moment to execute the plan came, 451 also used the distraction caused by the Shay-Tah-Run to steal the Heart of the Voldi, leaving the Voldi's existence totally exposed to the Celestials, who arrived to slaughter them. Both 451 and Iron Man managed to escape unharmed, but Stark promised to ultimately make 451 pay for his crime. (Iron Man v5 #8) Iron Man hired the bounty hunter Death's Head to find 451, but the Recorder had previously contracted with him, so upon arriving to 451's location, Death's Head left Iron Man at his mercy. The Recorder hacked Iron Man's armor and forced him to watch a videotape with a message recorded around the time of birth of Howard's baby, which had been created by Howard so he could explain his secret origin to his son in case he wasn't around to do so personally. (Iron Man v5 #9) After Tony watched the tape, the Recorder took Stark to the Dyson Sphere. (Iron Man v5 #12)
Despite Tony confronting the Recorder about it, 451 still did not believe Stark truly could not pilot the Godkiller. After being shown directly that Tony could not interface with the Godkiller, 451 realized his long-time plan had no profit. With no longer a reason to destroy the Earth, the Recorder ordered the Godkiller to abort its mission. 451 realized all his efforts and the beings he killed were in vain as Tony could not pilot the Godkiller, and decided that such weapon or Stark could not be left in existence, for which he commanded the armor to seal his exits and fold out of reality. 451 finally realized he should not have acted, and decided to delete his main error: himself. The Recorder deleted himself, along with Stark's only way to escape. (Iron Man v5 #15) Stark managed to hack into 451's databases and get the access code, and he escaped from the Godkiller just in time as it faded to another dimension. Iron Man took 451's body and planned to use the Recorder's vast database for new purposes. (Iron Man v5 #16) Back on Earth, Tony discovered that he was not able to pilot the Godkiller because he was not the child 451 had modified. In reality, that baby was Arno Stark who was Tony's foster brother and the real biological child of the Starks. Arno's existence was kept a secret because Howard had meddled with 451's modifications and left Arno ill after suppressing a genetic modification which would have killed him when he was an adult. (Iron Man v5 #17)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He had said that he had a very long serial code that was part of his designation but simply preferred to be called 451. (Iron Man v5 #7)
It was said that he acted twitchy but Recorder said that this was because he acted against his core programming every second of the day. Originally, he had the simple mission to observe events but he came to realise that one must act as well. (Iron Man v5 #7)
He claimed he was not a fighter and had no combat capabilities. (Iron Man v5 #7)
Powers and abilities
During his travels, he acquired an extensive knowledge of judicial systems from across the universe. (Iron Man v5 #7)
Notes
- Recorder 451 was created by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land where he made his first appearance in Iron Man v5 #6 (April, 2013).
- Iron Man writer Kieron Gillen was influenced by C-3PO and HAL 9000 in 451's creation.
- On his Workblog, Gillen commented, "451 is more of a creature of passion, which he tries the hardest to hide. He was a machine built to do exactly the opposite of what he's doing, so every single action is hard for him. His body screams that what he's doing is wrong. This makes him a neurotic."
Appearances
- Iron Man v5: (2013)
External Links
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