Life Model Decoy

Life Model Decoys are robots that feature in Marvel Comics.

History

Life Model Decoys were a series of robotic replicas of people with the technology being used by S.H.I.E.L.D..

During one of Advanced Idea Mechanics many implosions, the Bostrom-class model scattered around the world. (Avengers AI v1 #6)

In 1966, the subjects of the Sym-Soldier Program had gone rogue with Fury along with Logan attempting to stop them in Vietnam. However, the Fury present was actually an LMD that became incapacitated where it activated its self-destruct mode where it rendered the Symbiotes unconscious allowing for them to be recaptured. (Web of Venom: Ve'Nam v1 #1) Years ago, Richard Parker and Mary Parker were assigned to Project Doppelganger by Nick Fury to help in the creation of a new high-end type of Life-Model Decoys. The basis for this was a unique Life-Model Decoy named the Matrix Master who showed traits of being a living being. (Spider-Man/Deadpool v1 #33)

Stark made use of a Life Model Decoy disguised as a receptionist at Stark Enterprises at a time when a protest erupted over the new Starktech Arc Reactor technology. Big Oil lobbyists had secretly hired mercenaries disguised as protestors to attack the company in order to create a public scandal to shutdown the project. This saw them attack the receptionist who was killed only for it to be revealed as a LMD as Stark had anticipated the attack and prepared an ambush by Iron Man for the attackers. (Iron Man: Legacy v1 #1) Afterwards, Stark went into Transia to stop militants wearing Iron Man Armor suits with him leaving an L.M.D. to maintain his public persona at Stark Enterprises. (Iron Man: Legacy v1 #2)

Around 10-12 years ago, Jake Fury as Scorpio broke into L.M.D. storage in order to steal one of the robot prototypes whereupon he used a science team to use the Zodiac Key to reprogram it. This transformed the L.M.D. into an accurate copy of Nick Fury to the point that it did not even realise that it was a machine. After learning it was a machine, the artificial intelligence of the synthetic man lost its mind where it became a anomaly that thought for itself. Taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, the L.M.D. managed to escape from the Helicarrier where it waged a war against terrorists until it was eventually caught by the real Nick Fury who intended to cremate the machine. Unknown to him, an operative for the Shadow Council freed the synthetic man and even gave it a name where he became known as Max Fury. (Secret Avengers v1 #5)

After the attempted Kree-Skrull invasion of Earth, Colonel Nick Fury had a specially fitted Helicarrier launched into space with it containing an army of LMD units modeled after himself and fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. These robots behaved as the originals and were programmed to continue the war against the fractured Skrull Empire. (Guardians of the Galaxy Annual v3 #1)

An alternate version of Tony Stark released the Diamondback L.M.D. from stasis where he hijacked her mechanical systems and reset her body thus effectively killing her. This returned her to her default state which he then refashioned into a new suit of Iron Man Armor that he used to defeat all those that opposed him as he escaped the Helicarrier. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22)

Following the Superhuman Registration Act, Commander Maria Hill had activated a new LMD model with this one being based on Nick Fury. The robot was dispatched to the whereabouts of Jessica Drew who was in hiding. It attempted to trick her into believing it was Nick Fury with Hill observing the exchange but Spider-Woman managed to determine the LMD was a fake. However, the incident was simply used as an excuse by Commander Hill to find any signs of Agent Drew being a traitor leading to Jessica's swift arrest by S.H.I.E.L.D. forces. (New Avengers v1 #23) During the Secret Invasion, Skrull forces surrounded the disabled Helicarrier where they intended to capture Director Maria Hill. However, she heeded Fury's earlier warning and had begun to use the robotic replicas as duplicates allowing her to escape the alien invaders. (Secret Invasion v1 #5)

During the Intelligencia's alliance with General Ross, they used L.M.D.s to masquerade as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to staff Gamma Base that was used to hold the Hulk allowing them to siphon him of gamma energy. In addition, they helped transform him into the Red Hulk and used an L.M.D. to maintain his military identity so that no one could guess at his true nature. This L.M.D. was intended to become the President of the United States but was eventually destroyed on the Helicarrier. The Intelligencia then proceeded with making another L.M.D. this time in the guise of Glenn Talbot who was manoeuvred into a position of becoming the President thgouh the Red Hulk destroyed this one after his supervillain allies had betrayed him. (Hulk v2 #23) After the defeat of the Leader and M.O.D.O.K., a number of A.I.M. L.M.D.s continued to operate as part of the Scorched Earth project that were a series of doomsday plans to be used against the world in case the Intelligencia lost. One among these saw the L.M.D.s tend to the cluster of M.O.D.O.K. brains that resided on Monster Island that intended to unleash the beasts there onto the world. These L.M.D.s were defeated by the Hulk and the Red Hulk who were shutting down the Scorched Earth program. Unknown to the heroes, a separate cadre of A.I.M. L.M.D.s tended to a cloned brain of M.O.D.O.K. that was allowed to develop to maturity where he took the name of M.O.D.O.K. Superior who replaced the original. (Hulk v2 #29)

After the emergence of the threat of Dimitrios, Doctrine 47 that was a legal document that classified all artificial intelligences as property that allowed for missions to forcibly deactivate them. Among the first targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. was a Bostrom-class LMD that masqueraded as an old man feeding birds. (Avengers AI v1 #6) Following Bruce Banner's life being saved by Extremis, the Hulk developed a new highly intelligent persona known as Doc Green. During the course of his operations, Green modeled an AI after his own intellect known as Project: Omega. The AI aided Doc Green in de-powering gamma empowered individuals but went rogue where he conducted his actions through any means necessary even against the wishes of his creator. Before Doc Green could destroy him, Omega uploaded himself to a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation where he took control over an L.M.D. to be his physical avatar. With it, he targeted the Gamma Corps leading to a confrontation with Doc Green where the AI detonated his L.M.D. body but not before uploading himself to a new location. (Hulk v3 #12)

The restored Phillip Coulson came to operate for the U.S. government after the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he utilised a number of L.M.D.s of Nick Fury that were in storage. These were used as his personal bodyguards but were in limited supply. (Avengers v8 #21)

A rogue nanotech program came to subvert Stem Cell and used her to recreate her fellow members of Project Livewire at an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. installation in Death Valley. Once there, the program manifested as an L.M.D. copy of Nick Fury who intended to launch a mass attack against threats around the world. The plan was thwarted by the intervention of Deadpool and Black Panther alongside his Agents of Wakanda. The facility was then destroyed but not before the L.M.D. beamed the nanotech program to another hidden facility located in Australia. (Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda v1 #6)

Overview

Their skin was constructed by a rare element called Epidurium. (Occupy Avengers v1 #3)

Their systems included self-determination software but also included an embedded secret kill-chip that could be activated though a comm-signal. (Hulk v3 #12) Nick Fury maintained a killswitch code for all LMD's with his being Santora Killo Jane Nuggets. (New Avengers v1 #62)

Among the different models of Life Model Decoys was the Bostrom-class. (Avengers AI v1 #6) Another were the Red Eyes that was a slang term for units not designated for impersonation duties with their named derived from their glowing red eyes on-top of their skeletal frames which could be re-tasked for high-risk operations. (Iron Man: Hypervelocity v1 #3) Advanced prototypes were not simply robots but more akin to a synthetic man. (Secret Avengers v1 #5)

Deactivating certain L.M.D.s could see the machines revert to their default state where they turned into a mechanical cube shaped construct. Such an act can see the effective 'death' of the artificial intelligence that had gained sentience. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22)

Members

• Nick Fury :
• Dum Dum Dugan : male S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague of Nick Fury who was actually killed in 1966 from weapon fire ricochet with Fury creating an LMD duplicate constantly over the years who believed he was the original that simply survived over the years through the Infinity Formula. (Original Sins v1 #5)
• Rachel Leighton :
• Cheesecake :
• Annie : a female L.M.D. designed that worked for Bruce Banner and tasked with monitoring Thaddeus Ross when he was the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #30)
• Max Fury : a male L.M.D. prototype that was a synthetic man who was stolen by Jake Fury who embedded the personality of his brother Nick Fury into the machine. Believing himself to be the real Fury, he operated for Scorpio until the death of Jake Fury and he was confronted with the truth of his machine origins. He was eventually captured and set for cremation until he was freed by the Shadow Council who recruited him into their ranks with him being given the name Max Fury. (Secret Avengers v1 #5)
• Eric O'Grady :
• Thunderbolt Ross : a duplicate of General Ross created by the Intelligencia to maintain his military persona whilst the real one operated secretly as the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #23)
• Glen Talbot :
• Deltite :
• Master Matrix : a Life-Model Decoy that was discovered on an uncharted island alongside other technology with him being reassembled by Richard and Mary Parker. (Spider-Man/Deadpool v1 #35)

Notes

• Life Model Decoys were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where they made their first appearance in Strange Tales v1 #135 (August, 1965).

In other media

Television

• In Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Life Model Decoys made a number of appearances in the animated television series. Nick Fury makes use of a Life Model Decoy which he sends to confront the supervillain Graviton. The villain in his anger believed it to be the real Fury and used his powers to crush it only to realize it was a robot.
• In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, a Life Model Decoy made an appearance in the animated television series starting in the episode "Extremis". This one appeared in the form of Nick Fury and sent to meet with former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Mallen during a confrontation with him. However, the Extremis infected Mallen attacked the LMD feeling it was Nick Fury and destroyed it.
• In Ultimate Spider-Man, Life Model Decoys made an appearance in the animated television series second season of the show in the episode "The Man Wolf". They were part of the new training facility within the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. These bipedal robots remain white faceless skeletal machines with holographic projectors allowing them to transform into various beings and transform limbs into weapons. In "New Warriors", Amadeus Cho activates a number of LMDs to take Spider-Mans form to battle a group of freed villains on the Tricarrier.
• In Avengers Assemble, Life Model Decoys made an appearance in the animated television series in the episode "Avengers Disassembled". After Captain America left the Avengers over the leadership of Tony Stark, he joined with S.H.I.E.L.D. forces in battling the AI Ultron that was active in the world. He was accompanied by a squad of Life Model Decoys in military gear that approached a Roxxon facility that Ultron in the body of the Super-Adaptoid had been attacking. To prevent the LMDs from being controlled, Captain America battled Ultron alongside his former team mates in the Avengers. However, Ultron hijacked Captain America's communication signal ordering the deployment of his squad whereupon he took over the LMDs that he turned against the heroes who were forced to destroy them.
• In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., references were made to Life Model Decoys during the live-action series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In "Ascension", Director Holden Radcliffe had begun work on creating Life Model Decoys.

Video games

• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Life Model Decoys appeared in the cooperative video game. Nick Fury had numerous Life Model Decoys after he began operating in the shadows during the Civil War. A group of them designed to appear as Fury were used to rescue a group of heroes during war after the Fold began to emerge.
• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, LMDs made multiple appearances in the setting of the Facebook video game. In "Special Operations - Enter Ant-Man", Agent Coulson said that there were established protocols for the construction of LMDs. Hank Pym did not follow those protocols and built several at his research lab that were patterened after the Avengers to be used for training exercises but were stolen.

Appearances

• Strange Tales v1: (1965)
• New Avengers:
• Iron Man: Legacy v1:
• Marvel Team-Up v3:
• Hulk v2:
• Secret Avengers v1:
• Avengers AI v1: #6
• Occupy Avengers v1:
• Spider-Man/Deadpool v1: (2018)
• Web of Venom: Ve'Nam v1:
• Avengers v8:
• Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda v1:

External Link

• Marvel Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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