10 Criminally Overlooked Characters In Comics
8. Machine Man
Machine Man was created by the legendary Jack Kirby and was based on concepts from both the Arthur C. Clarke book and Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey." The robot known as X-51 and later Aaron Stack was the last in a series created for an experiment to see if an artificial life form raised as a human would act human. After being exposed to one of the alien Monoliths, Machine Man developed human characteristics. Professor Abel Stack died removing the self-destruct mechanism from Aaron’s head, leaving the robot to try to fit in within a world of human beings.
Wearing a sophisticated human face mask, Machine Man took the “day job” as an insurance investigator at the Delmar Insurance Company. X-51 also found himself drawn into the world of superheroes, fighting with and aiding the Hulk, meeting the Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight, and confusing Iron Man for a robot.
A very different Machine Man emerged in Nextwave: Agents of Hate. He referred to humans as “Fleshy Ones” and had a fondness for beer that bordered on obsession. He was lazy, lethargic, insulting self-superior, and hilarious in the hands of Warren Ellis. He can be a hero or a villain, he can be the prism to look at the human condition or he can burst the bubble of our own pomposity. How many others have that unique perspective?