Metallo

Metallo
Metallo and Titano exposing Superman to lethal Kryptonite radiation. From Action Comics Annual #10 (March 2007). Art by Art Adams.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #252 (May 1959)
Created by	Robert Bernstein, Al Plastino
In-story information
Alter ego	John Corben
Team affiliations	Injustice League Underground Society
Abilities	Superhuman strength and durability Can use his kryptonite power source as a weapon against Superman.

Metallo (John Corben) is a comic book 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. The character first appeared in Action Comics #252 (May 1959).

In 2009, Metallo was ranked as IGN's 52nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

Fictional character biography

The Golden Age Metalo

Cover of Superman Family #217 (April 1982). Artwork by Rich Buckler (pencils) and Dick Giordano (inks).

The Golden Age Superman battled an unnamed scientist calling himself "Metalo" (note the alternate spelling) who wore a powered suit of steel armor in a story titled "Man of Steel Versus Man of Metal". Years later, Superman encountered the villain a second time in a story with the same title. 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

Metallo appeared as Jor-El's robot to battle Superboy, in Superboy #45 (1956), but this version of Metallo is not to be confused with the better known John Corben version, who would appear later in the Silver Age.

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. An 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. 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.

The Bronze Age Metallo

A second Metallo, John's brother Roger Corben, debuted in Superman #310 (April 1977). This Metallo was created by a secret organization named "Skull" 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, although this newer version wore orange and green armor, as well as a green helmet to conceal his "new" identity that he had created using plastic surgery (which turned out to be WGBS Staffer Martin Korda).

This version of Metallo returned throughout the Bronze Age. His final appearance was featured in Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" (1986).

The Modern Age Metallo

File:Metallo.jpg

Metallo as drawn by John Byrne in Superman (volume 2) #1 (January 1987).

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 after recovering Superman's ship and erroneously translating Jor-El's message to his son. 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 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 Metallo to reactivate himself and escape. He remained a thorn in Superman's side, and is 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 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 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), 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, orchestrated in order to lure both Batman and Superman into a "final" confrontation. Later 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 still intended to oppose Superman.

One Year Later

One year after the events of Infinite Crisis Metallo resurfaces, now in a fully human-looking body with an enhanced titanium-alloy frame and plastisteel musculature covered with forced-growth vat-clone organics. Luthor, needing vast quantities of Kryptonite, incapacitated Metallo and removed his Kryptonite energy core (pulling the exact same stunt on him as he had before). Luthor upgrades Metallo by placing green, blue, gold, and red kryptonite into Metallo's chest cavity, which he could individually expose at will. Metallo was recruited to be in Lex Luthor's Superman Revenge Squad along with Parasite and Bizarro. After General Zod and his fellow renegade Kryptonians escaped from the Phantom Zone they instead all teamed up with Superman to battle Zod and his minions. Metallo was able to kill six of the evil Kryptonians. Five were killed when he exposed them to power-draining gold kryptonite while in mid flight and they fell to their deaths and one was exposed to red kryptonite, turning into a giant ant-like creature, and Metallo stomped him to death.

When Metallo resurfaces, his new body appears to be rotting. He attempts to steal a new alloy from Waynetech to replace his skin. When he is captured, he indicates that he is working for Brainiac. Metallo is amongst the villains in the Justice League of America Wedding Special. He was seen in Salvation Run where he was burned through by Martian Manhunter eye blasts. He later popped up as a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains presumably rebuilt.

In the New Krypton story arc, Metallo was later recruited by the U.S. government to destroy the citizens of Kandor after the newly arriving Kryptonians killed five prison guards while breaking the Parasite out of prison so that they could instead place him within the Phantom Zone. Metallo is now portrayed as a normal man wearing a lead alloy armor with only a green kryptonite heart again. He is accompanied by Reactron, a character who is similar to this Metallo, except that he possess a gold kryptonite heart. The pair allow themselves to be captured by the Kandorians and then, while in Kandor, they expose the Kryptonians to their hidden kryptonite hearts and killing several of them, and then escape soon after. Metallo and Reactron later disguise themselves as Kryptonian sleeper agents, in order to capture Nightwing and Flamebird.

Superman: Secret Origin

In the 2009-10 miniseries Superman: Secret Origin, (which retells the origins of Superman and his supporting cast), Metallo is Sgt. John Corben. He serves under Lois Lane's father, General Sam Lane. General Lane is trying to push his daughter, Lois into a relationship with Corben. Though they had one date, she does not return his feelings for her. Corben is next seen signing up for a military option to neutralize Superman (ostensibly with the help of a powersuit built by LexCorp). However, in his first encounter with Superman, a stray bullet hit the Kryptonite rock inside the suit, leading to a disastrous energy cascade within the battlesuit which almost killed Corben. But through the efforts of Lex Luthor and a crack team of scientists, Corben survived, part-man, part-machine. Driven by a hatred for this alien invader, he became the villain known as Metallo.

Powers and abilities

Metallo’s metallic body offers him a high degree of protection from physical and energy attacks. He has enhanced abilities. Metallo 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.

Metallo sold his soul (or what was left of it) to Neron in order to gain the ability to absorb any mechanical or metal object he touches. He can transform any machine into an extension of his exo-skeleton(an ability similar to the Cyborg Superman).

Brainiac 13 upgraded Metallo to tap into light spectra and energy frequencies. Metallo also used the technology to upgrade his body to monolithic proportions.

Other versions

Metallo appeared in Superman: Red Son as a project (among many others) invented by Dr. Lex Luthor for the US government to combat Superman, who serves Communist Russia.

In other media

Super Friends

One version of Metallo appeared in a single episode of the show Super Friends.

Live action

Superboy

In the second-season Superboy episode "Metallo", Roger 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. He falls into the hands of a mentally-unbalanced doctor who turns Corben into more of a machine than human being and replaces his failing human heart with the radioactive power source Kryptonite. As Metallo, Corben 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".

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

In the second-season Lois & Clark episode "Metallo", Johnny Corben (played by Scott Valentine) was the boyfriend of Lucy Lane and, unknown to her, a petty criminal. Not only does he have a criminal past, but he's hitting up Lucy for money. Lois Lane tries to convince her sister that Johnny's no good, but Lucy will hear none of it. Johnny was shot when a holdup went wrong and having fallen into the hands of Dr. Emmett Vale, a former Lexcorp scientist with the help of his brother Rollie Vale, rebuilt Johnny into a Kryptonite-powered cyborg named Metallo and begins causing havoc in Metropolis. And, since Metallo is powered by Kryptonite, even Superman can't stop him. When Metallo kidnaps Clark to use him as bait for luring Superman, it's up to Lois and Jimmy Olsen to save Clark, but nothing can save Metallo after a final run-in with Superman, who, now aware of his Kryptonite power source, keeps his distance, using his super breath and heat vision to defeat him. Emmett is captured, but Rollie manages to escape with Metallo's Kryptonite, leaving Metallo lifeless.

Smallville

Brian Austin Green as John Corben on Smallville.

Brian Austin Green portrays John Corben/Metallo in three episodes in Smallville's ninth season. His first appearance was in the ninth season premiere episode "Savior". In Smallville, he is a war time reporter, which is similar to the Silver Age John Corben. As a back-story for this version, he had been recently stationed in Afghanistan. When he meets Lois Lane, he expresses his distaste for vigilantes, particularly "the Blur" (Clark Kent).

In the next episode "Metallo", John Corben is hit by a truck. He wakes up with bionic additions, including the Kryptonite powered matrix that replaced his heart and now powers his body. He seeks assistance in a hospital, with Dr. Emil Hamilton attending to him, but Corben loses control when they attempt to sedate him. With new power due to the implants, Corben begins a hunt for the Blur, blaming the Blur for his sister's murder. Later it is revealed that the Blur had saved a prison bus full of convicts from a crash, one of which escaped and went on to kill John Corben's sister. Corben overhears Lois Lane telling the Blur/Clark that Corben is the person from the hospital incident, and he kidnaps her. Clark confronts Corben and attempts to disable his cybernetics using a short-range EMP. Corben revives from the EMP after only a few moments, throws Clark and then turns to an unconscious Lois. Clark heats a lead door from a nearby boiler and quickly fixes it to Corben's chest, covering the heart. When Corben attempts to remove it, the heart is ripped from his chest and he appears to die. Later, it is revealed that Tess Mercer has both the kryptonite core and Corben. She asks one of her scientists if Corben can be revived and he states that since he is more machine than man, he has simply gone "offline."

At the conclusion of the episode "Echo", Tess takes Metallo's kryptonite heart to the incarcerated villain Toyman. She instructs him that he is going to tell her how the kryptonite heart functions, which he agrees to do.

He is "reactivated" in the episode "Upgrade" after Tess' scientists are able to correct the initial design flaw in the Kryptonite heart that causes an adrenal overload and resulting psychosis. Tess intends to use him has a defensive weapon against the Kandorians, implanting a control chip that can make him a mindless drone.

Corben is spared this fate when Lois infiltrates the base he is imprisoned within. She is on an undercover mission for the Blur and is discovered. The commotion gives Corben a chance to escape his restraints and flee the base in an explosion. Freed of his psychosis and mind-control and feeling obligated to Lois he saves her when the explosion throws her down an elevator shaft where he is hiding.

Lois later discovers him in the basement of the Talon. He collapsed the night before as Tess had drained his Kryptonite heart to keep him contained. While skeptical after their previous encounter, the revelation he has saved her and the discovery of the port in his neck (similar to that of Wes in the Ares Project) makes Lois sympathetic.

DC animated universe

Metallo as he appeared in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited.

Superman: The Animated Series

Metallo appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, and was portrayed by voice actor Malcolm McDowell.

John Corben was an English 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 in revenge for taking him in. Metallo is also almost as strong as Superman in the series.

At first, Corben reveled in his new body, but when he learned it had no sense of touch - no way to sense even a simple kiss or the taste of an apple -, 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 did eventually regain his memory 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 once more. In the course of this encounter, he had a battle against Steel (John Henry Irons), who had come to Superman's aid, and was defeated by him when Irons' hammer smashed his kryptonite heart.

Metallo reappears once more in the final season, when he uses Jimmy Olsen's new-found fame as Superman's friend to lure the latter to a junkyard in order to take revenge. Jimmy saves the day however, when he sprays battery acid in the direction of Metallo's heart and disconnects the kryptonite energy source from his body, thus rendering him defenseless.

Justice League

Metallo has also appeared in the Justice League episode "Hereafter" voiced by Corey Burton. He appears as a member of the Superman Revenge Squad but was defeated by Wonder Woman and the Flash after telling Martian Manhunter to "make himself scarce."

Justice League Unlimited

Malcom McDowell reprised his role as Metallo in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. 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.

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.

The Batman

Metallo (John Corben) also appeared in season 5 of the animated series The Batman, portrayed by voice actor Lex Lang. His kryptonite heart is not in his center, but in the upper left quadrant of his chest. Also, Metallo has a back-up power source and can operate without the kryptonite heart. Metallo was paid by Lex Luthor to kill Superman. Because of the Kryptonite, Superman fought a losing battle until Batman and Robin showed up. They managed to get the Kryptonite out of Metallo long enough for Superman to recover. After he recovered, Superman defeated Metallo by trapping him in a hydraulic compactor, although it is said that a certain type of battery keeps him alive. His origin is not given.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

Metallo appears in the animated movie Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, which is based on Jeph Loeb's 2003 comic book story arc of the same name that appeared in the Superman/Batman comic book. In the movie, Metallo is voiced by John C. McGinley. He acts as Lex Luthor's bodyguard who then fights with both Superman and Batman. After they escape him, he is killed by Major Force and his death is used to frame Superman.

Radio

Dirk Maggs' 1990 BBC Radio adaptation of The Man of Steel included Metallo as a major character. In this version, Corben (played by Simon Treves) was wearing the suit of battle armour that Lex Luthor sent up against Superman. In order to cover his tracks, Luthor ensured that the suit's psionic interface was unstable, leaving Corben a complete vegetable. He was 'rescued' by Doctor Schwarz, a disgruntled former Lexcorp employee, who had been tracking the capsule that brought the infant Superman to Earth and stole this from the Kents' farm. Having built Corben an android body powered by the capsule's Kryptonite power source, they hatched a plan to kill Lex Luthor and Superman. Metallo double-crosses Schwarz and breaks his neck. Kidnapping Lois Lane, Metallo holes up at the power station at Two Mile Island waiting for Superman to face him. During the ensuring battle, Lex Luthor steps in and tears out Metallo's Kryptonite heart.

Video games

• Malcom McDowell rerpises his role as Metallo in Superman: Shadow of Apokolips as a final boss for GameCube and PlayStation 2.

• Metallo is one of the bosses in the Superman Xbox video game.

• Metallo appears as a recurring boss in the Superman Returns video game, voiced by John Billingsley. In the game, he was able to assemble metal cars, light poles, etc. to become a larger and stronger version of himself.

See also

• List of Superman enemies