Every week, a secret cabal of Marvel staffers gathers to discuss the best of the best when it comes to the House of Ideas.Marvel goes back to the future this week as Charlie Huston and Lan Medina present DEATHLOK #1, bringing the coolest killing machine of tomorrow back into the spotlight.
To coincide with the return of Deathlok, the Secret Cabal dialed up a list of Marvel's 10 finest man-machine mash-ups.
For each character you get the quick rundown as well as a special spotlight comic courtesy of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
As always, these picks reflect the personal choices of the Secret Cabal, not the official opinion of Marvel or Marvel.com, and can be considered subjective at best. Enjoy!
10. SILVERMANE
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #73 (1969)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: Silvio Manfredi vowed to stop at nothing in his pursuit of power, so when his advanced age began to hinder him and other avenues to restore his lost youth failed, he willingly sacrificed his human body, replacing it with a more durable robotic frame. Now more removed from the common man than ever, Silvermane's morals have become even looser, allowing him to become ever more ruthless in his quest for dominance over New York City and beyond.
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #179-Spidey gets caught in a turf war between Silvermane and the Green Goblin!
9. FORGE
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #184 (1984)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: After losing his right arm and leg as well as the rest of his troop in Vietnam, Forge turned his back on his mystical heritage as a Cheyenne and fully embraced his mutant gift for understanding technology, replacing his lost limbs and eventually joining the X-Men. Though a romance with Storm drew Forge out of his shell for a time, "The Maker" generally lives in his own head, able to relate to machines more easily than to people.
Spotlight Comic: NEW X-MEN #31 (2006)-Forge and the New X-Men team against Nimrod!
8. MISTY KNIGHT
First Appearance: MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 (1972)
Learn More About Her...here
Why She Makes the List: When NYPD officer Misty Knight lost her right arm to an explosion, rather than accept a cushy pension and quiet job behind a desk, she left the force, petitioned Tony Stark for a new bionic limb, and set about proving she could be a hero regardless of her circumstances. Working with her best friend Colleen Wing, lover Iron Fist, and their ally Luke Cage, Misty has more than lived up to the vow she took not to let any obstacle derail her from the good fight.
Spotlight Comic: DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #1-Misty Knight and Colleen Wing return to the high stakes world of bounty hunting!
7. BISHOP
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #282 (1991)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: Nothing embodies Lucas Bishop's single-minded belief that the young mutant called Hope will bring about the apocalyptic future he grew up in better than the arm and eye he sacrificed in his efforts to slay his would-be destroyer. In choosing to betray the X-Men and chase Cable and Hope through time, Bishop lost his friends and an existence he had grown to cherish, but he need only run his left hand down his metallic right arm to realize he sacrificed his humanity as well.
Spotlight Comic: KING-SIZE CABLE SPECTACULAR #1-Bishop's relentless pursuit of Cable through the timestream continues!
6. DEATHLOK (Luther Manning)
First Appearance: ASTONISHING TALES #25 (1974)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: In a nightmarish future where war is a way of life, military hero Luther Manning is brutally injured in battle, his life saved only by infusing his brain into a garish half-robot body codenamed Deathlok the Demolisher. Manning would adventure across time and space, encountering heroes and villains alike as he struggled to understand his fractured existence and regain some shard of his lost humanity.
Spotlight Comic: BLACK PANTHER #1 (2005)-Deathlok technology rears its ugly head in the Marvel Universe proper!
5. DEATHLOK (Michael Collins)
First Appearance: MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #62 (1990)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: A pacifist and family man pleased with his average life, Michael Collins found himself forced into a living nightmare when his mind was forcibly placed within a robotic body designed for mass violence. Collins valiantly raged against the machine, imposing his strict no-killing stance on the computer with which he shard a body, but every day as Deathlok was a battle. In the end, after years away on a distant planet, Michael Collins was able to reclaim his true body and gain the happy ending he deserved.
Spotlight Comic: BEYOND! #3-Michael Collins returns from a decade in exile!
4. LADY DEATHSTRIKE
First Appearance: DAREDEVIL #197 (1983)
Learn More About Her...here
Why She Makes the List: Shaped by a harsh childhood that included being scarred by her father as he processed his own sense of failure, Yuriko Oyama mortgaged her humanity to avenge that self-same patriarch's ambition despite being the one who killed him. A twisted mix of honor and emotion, Lady Deathstrike embraces samurai ideals but will cross whatever line she sees necessary to reclaim her birthright and her family's reputation by pulling the adamantium her father helped create from Wolverine's body-dead or alive.
Spotlight Comic: ROGUE #10 (2005)-Lady Deathstrike tangles with Rogue in Japan!
3. M.O.D.O.K.
First Appearance: TALES OF SUSPENSE #93 (1967)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: While his outlandish appearance garners both stares and giggles from readers and henchmen alike, M.O.D.O.K. has proven himself as one of the most dangerous threats in the Marvel Universe more than once over the years. Combining the ruthless ambition of formerly-human George Tarleton with robotic callousness and computing abilities, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing lives up to his advance billing and commands respect in spite of his tiny floating chair.
Spotlight Comic: SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1 (2007)-M.O.D.O.K. assembles the perfect team for the ultimate heist!
2. WAR MACHINE
First Appearance: IRON MAN #118 (1979)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: For years James Rhodes was perhaps the most human part of Tony Stark's life, the down-to-earth buddy who kept Iron Man from losing himself in a world of technology. Ironically, recent injuries have forced Rhodes to embrace those same mechanical advances he kept his friend grounded against, becoming as much machine as man in the process. These days, War Machine isn't just sporting plug-and-play spare parts on his body, his mind and morality has grown detached from the homespun ideals he once embraced.
Spotlight Comic: WAR MACHINE #2 (2008)-James Rhodes launches his war on global terror!
1. CABLE
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #201 (1986)
Learn More About Him...here
Why He Makes the List: Since boyhood, Nathan Christopher Summers, aka the man called Cable, has lived with the curse of a techno-organic virus surging through his body. Never fully human, Cable has struggled against his mechanical side over the years, not just in terms of coming to grips mentally with his plight, but also battling to protect his biological side from technological incursion. These struggles have helped to shape Cable into the fierce and unrelenting warrior dedicated to safeguarding dreams of peace-and also gave him a rad metal arm and cybernetic eye.
Spotlight Comic: CABLE #1 (1993)-Take a tour of the catastrophic future that crafted Cable!
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