DC Comics character From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metallo (/məˈtæloʊ/) is the name of different supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of Superman. All versions of the character are powered by Kryptonite and are partially or completely mechanical.
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| Metallo | |
|---|---|
.png) Metallo as depicted in Action Comics Annual #10 (March 2007). Art by Art Adams and Alex Sinclair. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Action Comics #252 (May 1959) |
| Created by | Robert Bernstein (writer) Al Plastino (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | John Corben |
| Species | Human Cyborg |
| Team affiliations | |
| Notable aliases | Metal Zero (Metal-0) |
| Abilities | Current: Bionic Surgery
Former: Cyborg Physiology
|
In 2009, Metallo was ranked as IGN's 52nd-greatest comic book villain of all time.[1]
Metallo has been adapted into numerous media outside comics, primarily in association with Superman. Malcolm McDowell, Lex Lang, Jim Rash, Paul Blackthorne, and John C. McGinley have voiced the character in animation. Furthermore, several versions of Metallo appear in the live-action series Supergirl.
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There was an earlier "Metalo" who appeared in World's Finest #6 (Summer 1942). This version was a man named George Grant who discovered the most powerful metal on Earth and invented a strength serum.[2]
John Corben and Metallo first appeared in the Superman comic strip storyline "The Menace of Metallo", which ran from 15 December 1958 to 4 April 1959. The character debuted in comic books in Action Comics #252 (May 1959), in a story by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino.[3]
The Roger Corben version of Metallo debuted in Superman #310 and was created by Curt Swan and Martin Pasko.
Metalo (alternate spelling) is the identity of an inventor/scientist named George Grant who had built a powered suit of armor made from "the most powerful metal on Earth" as well as a "strength serum" that made him a near-match for Superman. To draw him out, Metalo captured Lois Lane. At the end of their battle, Metalo fell into a crevice to what Superman assumed would be his death. Metalo was revealed to the reader to have "narrowly escaped destruction" and vowed to take revenge.[4]
Nearly 40 years would pass before the character reappeared in print to challenge Superman again. Metalo had improved his armor and serum and also exposed Superman to a ray that reduced his power significantly, giving Metalo superior strength in their first battle. Superman engaged in a lengthy regimen of exercise and training to restore his powers and returned to easily defeat Metalo.[5][6]
A different Metallo appeared as Jor-El's robot to battle Superboy.[7]
John Corben is a criminal and journalist who is involved in a fatal car accident while fleeing the scene of a murder he committed.[8] Professor Vale encounters Corben and transfers his brain into a robotic body covered by a flesh-like artificial skin and powered by kryptonite.[9][10]
After obtaining a job with the Daily Planet, Corben briefly tried to romance Lois Lane, while deciding that he would use his powers to eliminate Superman, the one person who might expose his criminal deeds. After setting a kryptonite death-trap for Superman, Corben stole what he thought was another sample of kryptonite from a museum as a new power supply, not knowing it was a fake prop; this mistake caused him to die just as he was about to kill Lois Lane for discovering that he was not Superman (as he had pretended to be, being super-strong and invulnerable as a cyborg). Superman eventually escaped from the kryptonite trap and arrived just after Metallo (John Corben) had died.[11][12]
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After John Byrne rewrote Superman's origins in the 1986 miniseries The Man of Steel, Metallo was also given an altered backstory. In this version, Corben is inspired to battle Superman because Vale believes him to be an invader.[13]
Despite ignoring Vale's commands, Metallo came into conflict with Superman on various occasions, largely due to his continued activities as a petty thug. Metallo later lost his kryptonite heart to Lex Luthor, though back-up life support systems allowed him to reactivate himself and escape. He remained a thorn in Superman's side and was powerful enough to cripple the Doom Patrol. Still, the Indian-born hero who called herself Celsius did blow him apart with her thermal powers. Metallo later received a major upgrade via an unholy bargain with the demon Neron. As a result, Metallo could morph his body into any mechanical shape he could imagine (such as turning his hands into guns or "growing" a jet pack from his back) and project his consciousness into any technological or metallic device. He could also grow to monstrous size. During one battle, his gigantic fists were separated and later turned into housing by other superheroes. In another incident, Metallo was rendered more insane by the Joker and used his height to destroy an elevated train of commuters.
As Superman and others learned on various occasions, the most effective way to neutralize Metallo was to remove his (largely invulnerable) head and isolate it from other metallic items.
In Superman/Batman #2 (November 2003), Lex Luthor fabricated evidence implicating John Corben as the criminal who shot and killed Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne instead of Joe Chill.[14]
In the 2009–10 miniseries Superman: Secret Origin, which retells the origins of Superman and his supporting cast, Corben is an Army sergeant who works for General Sam Lane. He is enlisted to battle Superman and is transformed into a cyborg to save his life after his suit is damaged and malfunctions.
In The New 52 continuity reboot, Corben is possessed by Brainiac. However, Superman reasons with him and he helps fight Brainiac before being rendered comatose.[15][16] Corben later recovers and becomes an ally of Superman before sacrificing himself so Superman can use his kryptonite heart to regain his powers.[17]
In DC Rebirth, Metallo is resurrected and joins the Superman Revenge Squad.[18]
Roger Corben is John Corben's brother, who works with the secret organization SKULL to avenge his death.[19][20]
Metallo's metallic body offers him a high degree of protection from physical and energy attacks. He has enhanced abilities and no longer needs to eat, sleep, or breathe. His brain is hermetically sealed inside a shielded alloy skull that has its own power supply. When he was first created, he was powered by a kryptonite heart; losing that, he subsisted on plutonium instead. Additionally, because of his cyborg body, Metallo possesses superhuman strength and speed, enough to pose a challenge and even a threat to opponents such as Superman (in that case, he also takes advantage of the weakening power of kryptonite besides his own strength).
Over the course of his criminal career, Metallo's body would be decimated constantly by various circumstances. As such he would receive numerous upgrades or whole new chassis' to replace his damaged parts, such as by the obscure supervillain organization Cerberus, which modified him with a vastly superior body, one with lead-lined skull-plating and an anatomic layer that even Superman could not demolish.[21] This gave him greatly enhanced strength and durability, coupled with moderate mechanical regeneration to repair internal damage.[22] He was later outfitted with a larger LexCorp tech body, which gave him laser vision and further augmented his physical abilities.[23] Soon after it was destroyed, Corben had received a new body from a fellow Kryptonite-powered supervillain Conduit; which gave Metallo radioactive blasts from his hands and could utilize geomagnetism to make him physically immovable, even by the Man of Steel, so long as he stood on solid ground or flooring within a building complex.[24]
Metallo would eventually sell his soul (or what was left of it) to the demon Neron in return for increased power,[25] gaining the abilities to mentally control and absorb any mechanical or metal object he focuses on and transforming any technology (himself included) into an extension of his exoskeleton (an ability similar to Cyborg Superman).
In experimenting with his newfound abilities, Metallo found he could alternate differing energy frequencies for harnessing and redistributing it from various power sources.[26] Brainiac 13 upgraded Metallo to tap into various light spectra to better utilize his kryptonite-charged abilities. His mechanical body was also upgraded to be able to grow towards monolithic proportions.[27] He is also occasionally portrayed as having a liquid metal-based endoskeleton, possessing the ability to morph parts of his body, specifically his limbs, into different weapons or tools, such as chainsaws, shovels, hammers, etc. While not a genius like Lex Luthor or Brainiac, Corben's time spent with machines has given him a gifted understanding of how they work, enabling him to tinker with their mechanical functions even before gaining his technomorphing capabilities.[28]
Salvation Run reveals that Metallo possesses a high-calculus cyber-mind with which to run the numbers of possible and probable outcomes as well as success ratios through. In the previous continuity, the pre-Flashpoint Lex Luthor modified Corben to holster and utilize different forms of kryptonite; boasting mutagenic red-k, inverted blue-k and lastly, artificial depowering gold-k on top of the green he already possessed.[29] He could even power a great many anti-Kryptonian armaments developed by Luthor through it.[30]
Six different incarnations of Metallo appear in media set in the Arrowverse:
The John Corben incarnation of Metallo appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), primarily voiced by Malcolm McDowell.[37]
The John Corben incarnation of Metallo received a "Collect and Connect" figure in Wave 5 of the DC Universe Classics line.
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