Metallo
| Metallo | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Action Comics #252 (May 1959) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | John Corben |
| Abilities | Super-strength, durability, can use his kryptonite power source as a weapon against Superman. |
Metallo is a fictional supervillain and cyborg who appears in Superman stories published by DC Comics. Metallo's trademark is his kryptonite power source, which he often uses as a weapon against Superman. His traditional identity is John Corben. Metallo first appeared in Action Comics #252, May 1959.
History
The Golden Age Metalo
The Golden Age Superman battled an unnamed scientist calling himself "Metalo" (note the alternate spelling) who wore a powered suit of steel armor (World's Finest Comics #6, Summer 1942) in a story titled "Man of Steel Versus Man of Metal". Years later, Superman encountered the villain a second time in Superman Family #217 (April 1982) in a story with the same title, in clear tribute to the story published forty years earlier. Metalo, his real name now revealed as George Grant, had a new suit of armor and had also taken a serum to increase his personal strength to superhuman levels. He exposed Superman to a ray that reduced the hero's 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 easily defeated Metalo.
The Silver Age Metallo
John Corben was originally a journalist (and secretly a thief and murderer) who had just committed what he thought was the perfect murder. While fleeing from the scene of the crime, Corben suffered a near-fatal accident that mangled his body beyond repair. However, elderly scientist Professor Vale happened to come upon Corben, and used his scientific skill to transfer Corben's brain into a robotic body covered by a fleshlike artificial skin. However, Corben discovered that his power source, a capsule of uranium, would only last a day, but was told by Vale that kryptonite would provide him an indefinite power supply.
After obtaining a job with the Daily Planet, Corben briefly tried to romance Lois Lane, while deciding that he'd 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 in reality a fake prop; this mistake caused him to die. Superman eventually escaped from the kryptonite trap.
A second Metallo, John's brother Roger, debuted in Superman #310 (April 1977). This Metallo was created by a secret organization that transferred Roger's brain into a new robotic body, so that Roger could get revenge on Superman for his brother's death. Like the previous Metallo, this one was also powered by kryptonite.
The Modern Age Metallo
After John Byrne rewrote Superman's origins in the 1986 miniseries The Man of Steel, Metallo was also given an altered backstory.
In the current version, John Corben was a small-time con man who was fatally injured in a car crash, but to his luck Professor Emmet Vale happened to pass by. Professor Vale was a pioneer in robotics, and erroneously believed that Superman was the first in a wave of superpowered Kryptonian invaders. Vale transplanted Corben's brain into a robotic body, which was powered by a two-pound chunk of kryptonite, and instructed him to kill Superman. Metallo—the alloy his body was made of, and now Corben's new moniker—thanked Vale by snapping his neck, killing him.
Despite ignoring Vale's commands, Metallo came into conflict with Superman on various occasions, in large part to his continued activities as a petty thug. Metallo later lost his kryptonite heart to Lex Luthor, though back-up life support systems allowed Metallo to reactivate himself and escape. He remained a thorn in Superman's side, and due to his sheer power no other superhero save Superman could quickly and effectively handle him although an Indian-born woman named Arani Desai who called herself Celsius blew him apart with her thermal powers. Metallo later received a major upgrade via an unholy bargain with the demon Neron. As a result, Metallo was now able to morph his body into any mechanical shape he could imagine (turning his hands into guns or "growing" a jet-pack from his back) and project his consciousness into any technological or metallic device (powers very similar to those of the Cyborg Superman). He could also now grow to monstrous size. During one battle, his gigantic fists were separated and later actually turned into housing by other superheros. 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 recent comics, evidence was uncovered that implicated John Corben as the criminal who shot and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, the parents of Bruce Wayne. This proved to be a ruse by Lex Luthor, however, orchestrated in order to lure both the Dark Knight and Superman into a "final" confrontation. More recently, Corben's mind was removed from the Metallo body, and placed into a cloned version of his original human body, by the (second, post-Crisis) Toyman, Hiro Okamura, whose family had invented the metallo alloy. Despite the fact he is once again just a man, he is still a dangerous foe to Superman. It is unknown if Corben retained any of his Neron-granted abilities.
It is widely believed that the modernized Metallo was influenced by the film The Terminator. Metallo's mechanical design, as well as his fake human skin, greatly resemble the Terminator's endoskeleton and Arnold Schwarzenegger's body.
One Year Later
One year after the events of Infinite Crisis Metallo resurfaced, now in a fully human looking body with an enhanced titanium-alloy frame and plastisteel musculature over forced-growth vat-clone organics (Action Comics #837). In a plan engineered by Lex Luthor (who needed vast quantities of Kryptonite), Metallo was incapacitated and Lex, with the help of another Toyman, removed his Kryptonite energy core. The fact that Metallo was captured at all and helpless against the Toyman and Lex Luthor would indicate that Corben has lost the ability to control and possess machinery.
Recently in Action Comics Annual #10, Luthor gave Metallo an upgrade by placing green, blue, gold, and red kryptonite into Metallo's chest cavity for what looks to be the beginning of a new Superman Revenge Squad.
In Superman/Batman #34 Metallo resurfaced, his new body now appearing to be rotting, attempting to steal a new alloy from Waynetech to replace his skin. He was captured, but indicated to be working for someone else.
Metallo is later seen amongst the new Injustice League members, in the Justice League of America Wedding Special.
In other media
In the Amalgam Comics universe, Metallo was fused with Marvel Comics' Ultron to create Ultra-Metallo.
One version of Metallo appeared in a single episode of the show Super Friends. This version also had a brief appearance in the show Harvey Birdman, also made by Hanna-Barbera.
In the second-season Superboy episode "Metallo", John Corben (played by Michael Callan), a bungling bank robber, tries to rob an armored car even though he is having extreme chest pains. Superboy arrives and apprehends the bank robber, but the small time crook has a heart attack and is taken to a hospital. After being there a while he recovers and escapes by murdering his doctor. After he leaves he suffers another attack and his car crashes into a tree and explodes. The police presume he is dead, but journalist Clark Kent is not so sure. Meanwhile, Corben is actually alive, having fallen into the hands of a mentally-unbalanced doctor who turns him into more of a machine than human being, and replaces his failing human heart with the radioactive power source Kryptonite. The unearthly power source transforms the villain into the powerful cyborg Metallo. Metallo made several more appearances in the Superboy series, specifically in the episodes "Super Menace", "People Vs. Metallo", "Threesome" (parts 1 and 2), and "Obituary for A Super-Hero".
In the Lois & Clark episode Metallo, Johnny Corben was the boyfriend of Lucy Lane and, unknown to her, a petty criminal. Corben was shot when a holdup went wrong. Dr. Emmett Vale, formerly a Lexcorp scientist, rebuilt him into a Kryptonite-powered cyborg. He was played by Scott Valentine.
Metallo appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, and was voiced by Malcolm McDowell.
John Corben was an Australian criminal-for-hire who was involved in a plot by Lex Luthor to sell the LEXO-SKEL SUIT 5000 to Kasnian terrorists (Luthor knew that the Pentagon would want him to design something bigger and better to combat the suit the terrorists had "stolen"). Corben was caught by Superman and jailed, but while in jail he contracted a rare and lethal disease. Luthor offered him a chance at new life, as a cyborg, by having his mind transplanted into a robotic body; a Dr. Vale assisted in the procedure. Corben's new body, made of a revolutionary new metal called Metallo, was powered by a kryptonite "heart", which Corben was eager to use against Superman. Metallo is also almost as strong as Superman in series. At first, Corben revelled in his new body, but when he learned it had no sense of touch, no way to sense even a simple kiss, the sensory deprivation drove him insane and he took to referring to himself as Metallo. When Superman later revealed to Corben that Luthor himself had arranged for Corben to get ill while in prison, Corben turned on Luthor, but in the battle he was thrown off of Lex's yacht, and his non-buoyant body sank.
Metallo walked across the ocean floor, eventually reaching the shore of a small island that Superman was helping to evacuate due to an impending volcanic eruption. Initially, Metallo had no memory of who he or Superman were, and befriended two children on the island (the son and daughter of one of the seismologists studying the eruption). Metallo eventually did regain his memory, however, and attacked Superman, but was caught in the lava flow. It cooled around him, leaving only part of his head and one arm exposed, the rest trapped in rock. Unable to free himself, he began to recite his name and history to himself, so he would not forget again. Metallo was eventually rescued and repaired by Intergang, who modified him with Kryptonite Vision, and he returned to plague Superman repeatedly. He even had a battle against Steel III (John Henry Irons).
Metallo has also appeared in an episode of Justice League as a member of the Superman Revenge Squad but was defeated by Wonder Woman and the Flash. He was voiced by Corey Burton.
He later returned in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Legion of Doom, once more voiced by McDowell. He, along with Silver Banshee, were sent on a mission to Skartaris (an area in the center of the Earth) to obtain a large kryptonite rock, but were thwarted by the Justice League, when Supergirl removed his kryptonite power supply. He was coerced to give them information in exchange for his power source, but just before divulging the information, he was forcibly shut down by an outside source. He was taken to the Watchtower waiting so that his mind could be probed for information. Malcolm McDowell reprises his vocals.
In the Superman DVD sets, the producers noted that the character was difficult to write for since his kryptonite power source would logically enable him to kill Superman easily. As a result, plots had to be carefully contrived to give the superhero believable means to fight him.
He also appears in Superman: Shadow of Apokolips as a final boss for GameCube and PlayStation 2. Most recently, Metallo has appeared in the Superman Returns video game as a recurring villain throughout the game. In the game he was able to assemble metal cars, light poles, etc. to become a larger and stronger version of himself.
Metallo is also slated to appear in season 5 of the animated series The Batman. He will be voiced by Lex Lang.
See also
References
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