Superman Robots

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Superman Robots in Batman/Superman v2 #21.

Superman Robots are robots that feature in DC Comics.

Contents

History

Pre-Crisis

Superman Robots were a series of humanoid machines that were constructed by Kal-El.

Millionaire John Wiley came to learn the secret identity of Superman after making the Man of Steel confess to the philanthropist on his deathbed. However, the death was faked as Wiley was secretly the head of the Anti-Superman Gang and sought to use this knowledge to eliminate the hero. This involved luring Clark Kent to a Wiley mine that contained a large boulder of Kryptonite. Wiley's men in the mean time directed electronic static machines to jam the circuits of the Superman Robots at Clark Kent's apartment to prevent them from assisting their master. (Action Comics v1 #276)

Robot X35 during patrol found a yacht owned by Mark Vine that came under attack from undersea monsters. It dove underwater and battled the creatures thus saving the crew of the ship but this came at the cost of the Superman Robot. The machine was salvaged by the crew of the ship for Mr. Vine's niece Morna Vine who took the various components to her scientist father. He managed to create specialised equipment from the destroyed robot that replicated each of Superman's various abilities that was used by Morna Vine in her career as a reporter at the Daily Planet. (Superman v1 #181)

The Superman Robots eventually started malfunctioning due to Earth's polluted atmosphere and Superman was forced to retire his robot doubles. (World's Finest v1 #202) However, one rogue Superboy Robot managed to circumvent the pollution-induced corruption of its internal mechanics and operated as the secret guardian of Smallville in the years since the real Superboy's departure, until a hostile encounter with the adult Superman ended in the robot's self-destruction. (Superman v1 #284) One robot was kept operational for special duty in the Fortress of Solitude. This unit was responsible for battling Faora Hu-Ul who knocked its head off whereupon she realized that she was not fighting Superman but a robot. (Action Comics v1 #473)

Superboy Robot X-3 relieved the pressure of a magma flow in the southwestern desert, but burned up in the process. Superboy mused that he’d have to find a way to construct more durable robots, and after using a Kryptonian mind-prober he watched his own infant self observe Joe-El construct a highly advanced robot. Armed with his new knowledge he had the Superboy Robots construct Kator, a robot with different powers than Superboy and far more durable. (New Adventures of Superboy v1 #17)

The Kents did some spring cleaning, and Clark realized how crowded his secret storeroom had gotten. His Superboy Robots, used to pinch-hit for Superboy as need be, took up a lot of space, but they were invaluable. Pa said Superboy Robot no. 1 was obsolete, built of heavy lead instead of lighter alloys, but Clark could not let "Friday" go for sentimental reasons, remembering how the robot saved his life when he first encountered kryptonite. He sent No. 1out on patrol for old-times sake. (Adventure Comics v1 #251)

Superboy volunteered to help the army test a new type of artillery by offering himself as a living target. After the test an adult version of Superboy, a Superman flew down from the sky. He showed Superboy that the artillery had cracked open a nearby mountainside, exposing red kryptonite, and it’s effect was to create the adult duplicate. Superboy introduced the Kents to Superman, and they were thrilled to now have two children. For the Kents’ wedding anniversary Superboy crafted a new line of Superman robots, and Superman concocted a potion that gave the Kents temporary superpowers. Superman told Superboy that his super-intellect had figured out that the two of them coexisting would cause spacetime disruptions that would destroy the solar system unless one of them left Earth in the next 48 hours. They were going to flip a coin to decide who staid, but as it was coming down Superman melted it with his heat vision, claiming it was an accident. They agreed to have the Kents decide, but Superboy used a dream projector on his sleeping parents, saw them dreaming about being superheroes once Superman made the effects of his potion permanent, so the next morning Superboy announced that he’d leave Earth after one last stroll around Smallville. Clark and Superman, posing as his uncle “Charles,” visited Lana Lang who wanted to show off her violin-playing skills, telling them she had an upcoming recital. Her high pitched playing caused the glass around her to break, but she thought her playing was pretty good. Krypto returned from one of his space jaunts in time to say goodbye to Superboy before Superman had him enter a space capsule and hurled him beyond the atmosphere towards a planet with a red sun. The Kents realized Superman was an imposter when the civilian glasses he used as Charles proved to be cracked from Lana’s music, which could never happen to Superboy’s glasses, which were made from unbreakable Kryptonian plastoid from the window of the ship that brought him to Earth. “Superman” revealed that he was actually the Kryptonian criminal Roz-Em, who’d paid a plastic surgeon to make him look like Kal-El’s uncle Nim-El in an attempt to raid the armory of forbidden weapons that Nim-El guarded. His plot was uncovered by Jor-El and Nim-el, and he was put into suspended animation inside a space capsule until it drifted near a yellow sun, giving him superpowers. He’d seen Krypton explode and baby Kal-El rocketed to Earth, so he was determined to avenge himself for his imprisonment by targeting Jor-El’s son, fabricating fake red-K and concocting his spacetime in danger story. Pa Kent had gotten Krypto to fly into space to warn Superboy that they were in danger, and Superboy returned to Earth and used the Phantom Zone Projector to exile Roz-Em. (Adventure Comics v1 #304)

Superman constructed a space station in orbit, saving on the tremendous costs to rocket the building materials into space, and advancing the space program by a decade. As soon as he completed construction a bolt of energy destroyed the space station, and Superman was confronted by a being claiming to be Satan. Satan threatened to destroy Superman unless he agreed to become evil and work with him. Superman refused, and they clashed until Superman made a tactical retreat, flying to his Fortress of Solitude. Satan followed close behind, and transported Superman to a hellish cave, telling him he planned to use Superman to lead an army that would conquer the world, creating a satanic empire. “Superman” collapsed and fell to pieces, turning out to be a Superman Robot that the hero sent to distract Satan so he could get a jump on the villain. Satan turned his trident on Superman, blasting him with energy, but he could not bring himself to finish off Superman. Satan was actually Rol-Nac, who’d been kidnapped by the Marauder, a criminal Superman once sent to space jail years ago. The Marauder brainwashed Rol-Nac into believing he was Satan, and equipped him with his fantastic weaponry to destroy him. Rol-Nac revealed that he was Superman’s godfather. He was a space refuge fleeing the tyranny of his own planet who’d visited Krypton and saved Jor-El from one of his early experimental rockets that almost crashed on his lab. Rol-Nac said Jor-El and Lara were two of the finest people he ever met, and Superman reminded him of them. Superman invited him to stay in the Fortress of Solitude and tell him all about his memories of his parents. (Action Comics v1 #378)

Jimmy showed Superman the mini-computer he built, the J.O. and it predicted that something important was going to happen in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman took Jimmy to his base before he had to leave for a space mission, but while he was gone the J.O., actually Brainiac’s reassembled computer-circuits, made his move. Brainiac used the tele-mento ray to take over one of Superman's robots, who flew to the fortress and feigned death throes, claiming to have been hit by a kryptonite meteor. Jimmy implanted the J.O. inside his 'friend' to save him. The robot began calling himself Computer-Man where it pretended to rage at Jimmy for turning him into a freak, and was prepared to destroy Kandor. Brainiac wanted to break Jimmy's spirit and ruin Superman’s reputation at the same time. Jimmy tried to appeal to him by playing the Kryptonian national anthem, and realized there was something wrong when he didn't recognize it. The Superman Emergency Squad took down Computer-Man and disassembled Brainiac's computer circuits. (Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen v1 #130)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

The damaged robot later sought repairs from Emil Hamilton where it believed it failed in its duty to Superman. He manage to make partial repairs but then an incident nearby resulted in a building that was about to collapse. Th Superman Robot then decided to spring into action where it helped save people but then the building collapsed on it leaving it critically damaged. The unit was happy though to had made Superman proud and went offline with its death being mourned by Hamilton who had witnessed its heroics. (Superman Secret Files and Origins v1 #2)

When Superman fell under the mental sway of Dominus, he came to believe that he needed to police the Earth constantly and in an aggressive manner. To achieve this task, he created an army of robots based on himself that he dispatched to search the planet for Dominus whilst ensuring no crimes were conducted during his watch of the world. This led to them protecting mankind to the point that they employed aggressive actions when necessary and attended crises that were out of Superman's reach. After recovering from his mental possession, Kal-El proceeded to destroy all the robots except for a single one that became both the guardian and playmate to Krypto at the Fortress. (Superman v2 #170)

Though seemingly all deactivated, one such machine was stored at S.T.A.R. Labs facility SJ-1 when the site was infiltrated by a badly damaged and malfunctioning Indigo. She was looking for the aid of a cybernetic life form and came activate the robot which immediately attacked the Titans and Young Justice. Due to its appearance, it managed to ambush the young heroes where it was responsible for killing Lilith Clay with it snapping her neck. It then attacked the other heroes where it was easily able to overpower them. This was until the Amazon Donna Troy engaged it in close combat where she badly damaged it but it came to use its eye beams to kill her. It was then destroyed by a reactivated Indigo after she was reprogrammed to help Earth's heroes by Roy Harper. (Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day v1 #3)

Following the incident with the Teen Titans, Superman dismantled the robots but schematics of their design was with a boy in Tokyo which the robotic Toyman had stolen. (Action Comics v1 #837)

A Superman Robot was called by Kelex when the Fortress was invaded by the hired supervillain NRG-X who easily destroyed it and damaged the Kryptonian service robot. (Superman/Batman v1 #70)

When the Construct came to life, it began taking control of robotic entities from across the world in an attempt to wipe out life on Earth. Among those taken over were the Superman Robots that defended Kelex as the caretaker sought to use the alien weapons in the Fortress of Solitude to wipe out all life on the planet. However, they were attacked by Supergirl and Jessie Quick who managed to defeat them whilst destroying Kelex before the robotic custodian completed his goal. (Justice League of America v2 #60)

Overview

Superman Robots fighting against Kal-El.

They were regarded as marvellous examples of artificial intelligence. (Superman Secret Files and Origins v1 #2)

They were created to wield nearly as much power as Superman himself. (Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day v1 #2)

Beneath their plastic skin, they contained a number of components such as;

  • infra-red coils for heat vision
  • ocular super-lens for telescopic vision
  • X-Ray tube for X-Ray vision
  • sense organ in the nose for super-scent
  • voice amplifier in the mouth
  • transistorised electronic brain that did not allow them to think independently but follow programmed instruction
  • sound receiver for super-hearing
  • voice box allowing them to imitate their creator
  • a power source that was designed to beat like a human heart
  • flight battery that used the same anti-gravity principles as the Legion of Super-Heroes Flight-Rings. (Superboy v1 #161)

Their metallic skeletons closely resembled that of humans allowing them to achieve realistic movements. Over the skeleton were muscles that were composed of a special flexible steel alloy that provided these robots with super-strength. Plastic skin and realistic hair along with a costume allowed the robots to appear like their creator. However, these robots were not as invulnerable as their maker nor were their chemically-treated suits as indestructible as his super-costume. (Superboy v1 #161)

During the Dominus incident, the robots constructed by Kal-El were all evidently mechanical in nature and not exact duplicates of Superman but retained the S shield though had variations of the colors of his costume. They were not realistic copies of their creator as they had no artificial skin but retained copies of some of his abilities such as super-strength, flight and heat vision but these were all inferior to Superman's own powers. Whilst programmed, the automatons retained some degree of sentience that allowed them to operate as independent agents of Kal-El.

Members

  • Adam Newman : a robot built by Clark Kent to protect his secret identity but failed in mimicking his mannerisms until an electrical shock actually increased its cunning and intelligence. When Kal-El believed the android to be destroyed, Newman went to the Fortress of Solitude where it studied Kal-El's mannerisms, removed his powers and usurped his role as Superman until defeated by Kent. (Superman v1 #174)
  • Ajax : a robot on Earth-One which was sent as a double agent in the ranks of the Superman Revenge Squad though the villains programmed a timer on the machine to expire after a set time leading to his death after their defeat. Superman later buried Ajax who was known as the superhero Wonder-Man where he acknowledged his bravery on his tombstone. (Superman v1 #163)
  • Macduff : one of the last of the decommissioned robots who had been reprogrammed to serve as a host to Superman's friends that arrive in the Fortress of Solitude. (Superman v1 #414)
  • Powerman : a robot seen on Earth-One which Superman masks as his new partner in an effort to safeguard his friends from harm such as Batman and Robin though he retires the android after seeing his allies loyalty despite the risks. (World's Finest v1 #94)
  • X-3 : a robot that went to save an astronaut capsule in space when he got hit by a meteor causing the badly damaged machine to crash on the planet Varda where the last mermaid Mooki repaired him before dying. The telepathic command led to X-3 being restored but unable t leave the planet whereupon he created a robotic duplicate of Mooki to be his wife and built a son named Nipper. (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #30)
  • Superman Robot Z : a robot that decided to test Lois Lane's love of Superman by giving her powers similar to him when Kal-El had lost his abilities. (Action Comics v1 #274)
  • Super-Mite : a miniature Superman Robot that was the size of the Kandorians in their shrunken state with him strictly following commands given to him. (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen v1 #60)
  • X35 : a robot that found a yacht owned by Mark Vine that came under attack from sea monsters and saved the crew only to be destroyed in the process. (Superman v1 #181)
  • K-31 : tasked to maintain his duties as Clark Kent whilst Kal-El went into the past to investigate the remains of a caveman that was wearing a Superman costume. (Action Comics v1 #350)

Notes

  • The Superman Robots were created by Al Plastino where they made their first appearance in World's Finest v1 #42 (September, 1949).

Alternate Versions

  • In Superman: Red Son v1 #2 (2003), the term Superman Robot appeared in the setting in the alternate reality setting on a world in the Multiverse. It was a term given to Soviet citizens lobotomized and fitted with cybernetic implants as punishment for speaking or acting against the Soviet regime.
  • In All-Star Superman v1 (2006), Superman Robots appear in the alternate universe setting of the All-Star Superman universe. They were shown to be robotic duplicate of Superman that assisted in operating the Fortress of Solitude. One of their number designated Superman Robot Seven was hacked by Lex Luthor who had the machine smuggle the Exogene formula to him. The substance allowed a human user to be granted Superman-like powers for a twenty four hour period. When Solaris the Tyrant Sun attacked Sol, the Robots along with Seven joined Superman in attacking the cosmic villain whilst one remained behind to guard the Fortress. Superman Robot Seven attempted to redeem himself for his previous betrayal though he and his robotic colleagues were all destroyed in the battle with Solaris.
  • In The Multiversity: The Just v1 #1 (2014), Superman Robots were shown to exist on Earth-16 in the new Multiverse. It was shown that this world's Kal-El had used to bring about a virtual utopia devoid of crime and supervillains. On this Earth, the young generation of superheroes grew that lacked any foes to battle and simply orchestrated recreations of famous battles in order to capture the glory of those years to alleviate the boredom. However, Alexis Luthor usurped control over the robots and turned them against the planet as the Gentry begins its invasion.
  • In Injustice 2 v1 #36 (2017), Superman Robots appeared in the alternate world setting that was based on the video game. They were referred to as Eradicators that were Kryptonian sentinel robots which were strong and fast with them defending the Fortress of Solitude.

In other media

The Robot in Superman: Doomsday.
A Super-Bot in Superman vs. the Elite.

Television

  • In Superman: The Animated Series a Superman Robot appeared in the setting of the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "Legacy". Supergirl used and controlled a Superman robot along with one that resembled Clark Kent in order to maintain his existence on Earth when he had been secretly kidnapped by Darkseid though Lex Luthor determined its mechanized nature.
  • In Justice League, Superman Robots appeared in the setting of the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "A Better World". These unnamed robots were used by the Justice Lords of an alternate Earth where they were used to maintain their version of Arkham Asylum populated by Batman's rogues gallery. These lobotomized prisoners were kept contained by the robots and were encountered by the normal Earth's Justice League leading to a battle with Wonder Woman after she failed to give the correct password.
  • In Legion of Super-Heroes, a Superman Robot appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Message in a Bottle". A Superman robot served as a guardian to the Fortress of Solitude though his appearance resembled the Cyborg Superman. This version was still in operation by the 31st century where it aided the time displaced 21st century Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes to shrink into the Bottle City of Kandor.
  • In Justice League Action, a Superman Robot appeared in the animated television series in the episode "Battle for the Bottle City". One served as a guardian of the Fortress of Solitude that was destroyed by Brainiac who hacked its systems in order to infiltrate the structure. A number of further robots were present in the Fortress where they attempted to stop Brainiac but were defeated with ease.

Films

  • In Superman: Doomsday, a Superman Robot appeared in the setting of the animated film where it was referred to as "The Robot' and was voiced by actor Tomy Kenny. It maintained the Fortress of Solitude and provided information on the creature known as Doomsday. The same machine rescued Kal-El's comatose body from Lex Luthor's building after his apparent death and brought him back to life as well as nursed him to full health.
  • In All Star Superman, the Superman Robots appeared in the setting of the animated film adaptation. They followed a similar role as the comic where the majority work to fight against Solaris whilst one remains behind at the Fortress. A difference between their comic version is that their film counterparts have numbers on the symbols on their chest.
  • In Superman vs. The Elite, the robots made an appearance in the setting of the animated film adaptation. They were shown as faceless humanoid machines with Kal-El's crest on their chest and operated the Fortress of Solitude and its systems. When the Elite appeared, the robots were shown to access information on the threat and provided statistical information for him. During his final confrontation with the Elite, Kal-El enlisted the aid of the Superman Robots to demonstrate the danger of a complete loss of control as he seemingly attacked his foes without any mercy. Though members of the Elite were seemingly killed, in actuality the Superman Robots were being used to save them. They similarly mitigated the damage due to their enhanced speeds to rescue people that could have died from collateral damage in the fight at Metropolis. Through such means, Lois Lane survived when one of the robots saved her from falling debris. All the saved people and the robots appeared to the depowered Manchester Black thus showing that his ruthless approach in combating threats was not the way that should be followed. In addition, it was stated that one of the robots met and spoke to Bunny where it promised her a means to return to her own dimension if she secretly helped Superman in his plan which the sentient starship agreed to do so.

Video games

Superman androids alongside Cyborg in his ending in Injustice: Gods Among Us.
  • In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Cyborg ending shows that Victor worked with the Insurgency forces in battling the evil Superman's regime by attacking the Fortress of Solitude. This led to Cyborg incorporating Kryptonian technology into his cybernetics to the point that he took control of the Fortress's robots and used them to dismantle the One Earth forces.

Appearances

  • World's Finest: v1 #49 (1949)
  • Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1: #30 (1962)
  • Action Comics v1:
  • Superman Secret Files and Origins v1:
  • Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day v1:
  • Superman/Batman v1:
  • Justice League of America v2:

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