Death, Where is Thy Sting?

Captain America is caught in the death grip of the android monster known as Dragon Man. Struggling to get free, the hero removes one of his gloves and throws it into the creature’s eye causing it recoil in pain, dropping him in the process. Deducing that a floating orb is some how manipulating the monster, Cap smashes it with his shield. Once the device is destroyed, Dragon Man stops attack and begins flying away. Wanting to see where it goes, Captain America uses a nearby clothes line to rope up the android and ride it back to where it came from.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Josh Cooper and Bernie Rosenthal watch as fire crews put out the fires caused by Dragon Man. One of the firemen is Mike Farrel, another neighbor of Steve Rogers who tells them what caused the fire. ernie exporesses concern that Steve might have been caught up in the attack making her realize that she has feelings for him and wonders if she is getting caught up too soon after meeting Rogers.

Meanwhile, Dragon Man returns to the Machinesmith’s hideout, which is hidden beneath an abandoned barn in upstate New York.[1] When the monster comes crashing into the lab, the Machinesmith uses a trio of his mechanical orbs to incapacitate the monster. That’s when Captain America enters and confronts him. Suddenly, the Machinesmith’s head pops off, revealing that it was just a robot. The supposedly real Machinesmith emerges from a secret passage way and activates his army of partially assembled robots to deal with the Avenger. Although they include incomplete robots of Spider-Man, the Thing, and Magneto, they are no match for Captain America.

Following the Machinesmith through his secret passage, Cap manages to catch him and demands to know who he is. The Machinesmith explains that he was once a foe of Daredevil and took on the identity of Mister Fear before plummeting to his demise.[2] This only serves as a distraction for more of Machinesmith’s automations to start attacking Captain America. As Cap fights for his life, the Machinesmith continues explaining his origins. He explains that he was near death following his battle with Daredevil but was saved when his robots brought him back to his lab and transferred his mind into a robotic body. Although he managed to cheat death, the Machinesmith found that his new existence was almost impossible to bear. Still he reinvented himself and began creating more and more advanced robots and sending them out into the world, such as the Manipulator whom Captain America recently fought.[3]

By this point, Cap has fought off the Machinesmith’s traps and tackles his foe into the next room. There he finds himself surrounded by a whole army of Machinesmith duplicates. During the fight, Cap realizes that the Machinesmith is spreading his mind across all the automations and that they seem to be keeping him away from a central computer. Realizing that this must be vital for their operation, Captain America smashes the computer causing the robots to all deactivate. Appearing as a digital representation of himself on the shattered computer screen, the Machinesmith reveals that his existence was a tortured one and he wanted to end his life, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he manipulated events to force Captain America to do what he himself could not do and thanks Cap for saving his soul before the flames totally destroy the computer.[4] Captain America, who believes all life is sacred, isn’t sure if this was the only solution and considers the Machinesmith’s death a waste and vows to do whatever it takes to preserve life and liberty.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Machinesmith, Bernie Rosenthal, Mike Farrel, Josh Cooper, Dragon Man, Air-Walker

Continuity Notes

1. The wall of his hideout is lined with various robots. Two stand out, here are the facts about them:

   • One is of the Air-Walker, a former herald of Galactus. This is not a creation of the Machinesmith, but the salvaged form of the robot. It was destroyed in Fantastic Four #120-121. This will be revealed when the robot reactivates itself in Thor #305-306.

   • The second is of Magneto. In X-Men #50-52 and 58, Magneto appeared to ally himself with another mutant named Mesmero. However, in X-Men #111-112 it was revealed that this was actually a robotic impostor. The Machinesmith profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #7 reveals that he created that robot.

2. Before becoming the Machinesmith he was a blackmailer named Saxon Starr who made life miserable for Daredevil before adopting the Mister Fear identity and doing a nose dive off a floating platform to his apparent death. See Daredevil #49-56.

3. The Manipulator discovered that he was a robot during a battle with Cap in issue #242. This revelation caused the Manipulator to short circuit.

4. This is not the end of the Machinesmith, he will turn up alive again in Captain America #354. It’s later explained in issue #368 that his mind endured in one of his spare bodies and that his “death” made him come to accept his new life and continue his criminal career.