Life Model Decoy

Life Model Decoys in Deadpool v5 #22.

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.. In 1961, Nick Fury and his brother Jake Fury along with Thomas Davidson were on a secret mission with the Great Wheel of the Zodiac. They came to find wild self-replicating Renaissance technology which latched onto Davidson and Jake Fury where it created robotic copies of them. This technology came to be the basis of the Life Model Decoy technology used in later years. (Secret Warriors v1 #26)

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) During the same year, Dum Dum Dugan came to be killed from a stray shot to the chest during a secret mission and died from his wounds. Unable to bear the loss of his friend, Nick Fury made use of the most advanced Life-Model Decoys at the time that he kept in secret. With then, he uploaded the mind of Duggan into them but programmed them to be unaware of the fact that he had died. Instead, he made Duggan believe that he had survived over the years and did not age due to the Infinity Formula in him. (Original Sins v1 #5) 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)

When Col. Nick Fury was targeted for assassination by Hydra they used an LMDs as decoys. After he thwarted another attempt on his life he was appointed director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strange Tales v1 #135) S.H.I.E.L.D. sends out a squad of Fury LMDs in hope they can be used to track down who's trying to kill Fury with the Druid's eggs destroying the LMDs. (Strange Tales v1 #145) Dum Dum Dugan was shattered when he thought Fury was killed in a fire-bombing attack by A.I.M., only to discover it was a LMD. Count Royale and his A.I.M. cohorts were amazed at how advanced and convincing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s LMDs were, far more advanced than their own chemical androids, and determined to steal one. A squad of A.I.M. men broke into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s underground base to steal an LMD. (Strange Tales v1 #148) They were stopped by Nick Fury, keeping the LMD technology a secret from them. (Strange Tales v1 #149)

When Iron Man's true identity was discovered by the Mandarin he used an LMD into thinking he was someone else. He wore a prosthetic mask so when the Mandarin unmasked him he looked like another person. At the same time he had the LMD call a press conference. (Iron Man v1 #12) Madame Masque set off an explosion at Stark Industries, which unintentionally reactivated the LMD Stark. When Tony returned to Stark Industries he found the LMD waiting in his office. It explained that it would make a better Tony Stark and Iron Man, and having changed Stark's filed signature and fingerprints, threw Stark out as an impostor. With his identity stolen, Tony couldn't cash checks or buy clothes, and was even kicked out of Avengers Mansion by Jarvis when he couldn't supply the proper entrance code. He was chased by the police and saved by Madame Masque. (Iron Man v1 #17)

S.H.I.E.L.D. enacted an an intricate plan to convince Steve Rogers to become Captain America again. They saved his life using an LMD who was targeted by a sniper agreed to resume his identity of Captain America. (Tales of Suspense v1 #96) China stole plans for the LMD from S.H.I.E.L.D. and used them for Operation: Replica. They used the plans to create an LMD of Captain America. It was sent to the US to battle and replace Cap, but it was easily defeated. (Captain America v1 #106)

Arnim Zola came to design a special Life-Model Decoy called the Deltite whose mind was based on Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. The LMD was then smuggled into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Jake Fury with the intention of activating it at a future date. (Fury v1 #1)

Jake Fury who was one of the surviving members of the Zodiac desired to form a new version of the organization. Using the Zodiac Key, he crafted LMD's to adopt the personas of the other signs with them being made in the Theatre of Genetics. (Defenders v1 #48)

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

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)

Deathlocket managed to commandeer the onboard LMDs of a S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier she'd taken command of while working with the Young Masters. She even gave them extra features in their bionic chassis. (War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery v1 #1)

Overview

Their skin was constructed by a rare element called Epidurium. (Occupy Avengers v1 #3) They were said to be an example of wild self-replicating Renaissance technology. (Secret Warriors v1 #26)

An inherent flaw existed in all of them that meant that they were all mentally very unstable. Through better production measures, the defect was not as pronounced in the later models. (Secret Warriors v1 #26) 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

• Amber D’Alexis :
• 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)
• Joanie : a Life Model Decoy created by A.I.M. to infiltrate the youth culture in the 1970s where she later became an ally of Dimitrios. (Avengers A.I. v1 #2)
• 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 :
• 281 :
• 361 :
• 391 :
• 399 :
• 442 :
• 737 :
• 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)
• Deltite : a male LMD created by Arnim Zola where its mind was based on Baron Strucker and smuggled into S.H.I.E.L.D. with the intention of creating havoc in the organization at a future point. (Fury v1 #1)

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. Billy and Sam Koenig participated in the original Life-Model Decoy Program of S.H.I.E.L.D. as programmers and technicians. However, despite their efforts, they never managed to create a fully functional android, so the project was eventually abandoned by S.H.I.E.L.D.. In "Ascension", Director Holden Radcliffe had begun work on creating Life Model Decoys. He would turn his A.I. assistant AIDA into an LMD, who went on to create more of the robotic copies. Holden Radcliffe created a body for the artificial intelligence that served as his assistant, Aida, based on the old S.H.I.E.L.D. program, believing that it would prevent the deaths that Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, of whom he had grown fond, had to witness. Aida was programmed as a decoy target for agents. Her skills at being a decoy were proved while fighting Eli Morrow when she was shot twice in the chest. Aida also created an LMD of Agent Melinda May, which took the place of the real one. As part of her mission, the May LMD interacted with her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. and assisted in defeating Eli Morrow before returning to the Playground where she continued flirting with Phil Coulson, much like the real May. However, this May LMD soon found herself discovering her true robotic nature, much to her great horror as she was unaware that she was an LMD. May eventually learned that her true mission was in fact to steal the Darkhold from S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to return it to Radcliffe. Aware that his deception would soon be discovered as Aida had tried and failed to take the Darkhold for him, Radcliffe also created an LMD of himself, which he allowed to be captured while he made a deal with Ellen Nadeer and the Superior. While being questioned however, Radcliffe's LMD was soon discovered by Leo Fitz who proceeded to shoot it in the head. Fitz questioned the LMD about Radcliffe's true location, eventually discovering the machine's Quantum Brain. Unable to get the information and unwilling to risk the damage it could do, the Radcliffe LMD was ultimately destroyed along with the original Aida body, with them both being burnt to ashes to avoid the risk of them being repaired. Anton Ivanov who operated as the villainous Superior also controlled a number of LMDs. Later on, an LMD of Phil Coulson was seen that had been enhanced with Chronicom technology.

Films

• In Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., LMDs appeared in the setting of the 1998 live-action film.

Video games

• In n Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, LMDs appeared in the setting of the 2007 action-adventure beat 'em up platform game.
• 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.
• In Marvel Contest of Champions, Life Model Decoys appeared as a signature ability for Nick Fury in the setting of the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Strange Tales v1: (1965)
• New Avengers:
• Iron Man: Legacy v1:
• Marvel Team-Up v3:
• Hulk v2:
• Secret Warriors v1:
• Secret Avengers v1:
• Avengers AI v1:
• Original Sins v1:
• 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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