Machine Man

A government project was established to produce a robot capable of handling complex decision making and arming it with cutting edge weaponry. The goal was to create a type of robot soldier that would give those nations that possessed them a clear advantage over their foes.

The project was headed by Dr. Broadhurst and was comprised of the best and brightest minds that America had to offer. Fifty-one robots were created and tested. One of the men on the project, a computer specialist named Able Stack, decided that the best way to train such a robot would be to treat as a real person. To this end he took X-51 to his home and began to treat it as if it were his son. Stack created a mask to give it a human appearance and put a wig on it.

Stack's experiment seemed to work and X-51 developed well. However, the other 50 robots experienced severe problems. Many of them developed psychosis and were deemed too unstable and dangerous to continue to exist. Dr. Broadhurst ordered that the self-destruct mechanism in each of the robots be activated. Stack rushed to remove the device from X-51 and did so, but it detonated in Stack's hands, killing him.

X-51 decided to try and pass as human, to continue Stack's work. He adopted the identity of Aaron Stack and became an insurance investigator. He met and became friends with a number of humans including a mechanic named Gears Garvin. X-51 or as he was now known Machine Man was not without problems. He was hunted by those who did not trust that he was not a threat. These included a U.S. Senator named Miles Brickman and a villainess named Madame Menace, who was really industrialist Sunset Bain.

Machine Man had a number of adventures. He successfully stopped the rampaging Hulk at one point, earning him a full pardon by the government. He also fell in love with fellow robot Jocasta, a creation of the evil robot Ultron. She was subsequently destroyed.

Eventually, he fell into the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. who were redesigning the assassin cyborg Deathlok. While these experiments were going on, the Red Skull, Captain America's foe, took over the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier with the help of the Phalanx creature Douglock. Machine Man aided the mutant heroes, the X-Men in defeating the Red Skull.

Two alternate timelines exist in which Machine Man has a part. In one, Machine Man is deactivated by his old nemesis Sunset Bain, but he is revived and goes on to aid a group of rebels in that time. In another time line (Earth-X), Machine Man will become the new Watcher, when Uatu goes blind.