DEATHLOK: HIS 1970s STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel’s short-lived dystopian sci-fi series Deathlok the Demolisher.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #25 (Aug 1974)

Title: A Cold Knight’s Frenzy

Villain: Simon Ryker

Synopsis: This was another of Marvel’s inventive but short-lived sci-fi series of the 1970s and it introduced the character Deathlok (spelled without the “c” for style points I guess). This was the original Deathlok, Colonel Luther Manning, a slain American army officer brought back to life as part-cyborg, part preserved corpse.

Manning is brought back in this tormented form by Simon Ryker, one of the oppressive rulers of 1990s America. Remember, in 1974 the 1990s were still in the future. The premise of this Deathlok series was that a failed corporate coup during the 1980s had caused America to splinter into rival factions, some ruled by the military, some by the C.I.A. and some by other groups we meet as the series progresses.

Luther Manning as Deathlok is an antihero fighting the many forces of evil in the dystopian America of his time period. He uses his military savvy, high-tech weapons and cyborg abilities in that struggle.

In this debut adventure, the villainous Simon Ryker learns that Deathlok – the first success in his Project Alpha Mech – is effective in combat but he is gradually breaking free of computerized control. That is due to Colonel Manning’s mind and personality reasserting themselves.

Manning’s mind was not wiped clean because that would have left him as a reanimated husk. Simon Ryker wanted Deathlok to retain Luther Manning’s tactical and strategic genius but be completely controlled.   

Deathlok rebels completely instead, fighting his way out of Ryker’s faction’s headquarters and coming to grips with the dystopian mess that the country has become while he was “dead.” Our cyborg hero learns that enough money can pay for a download of his mind into another body, free of the computerized voice he calls ‘Puter, with which he has constant internal arguments.  

Deathlok is hired by black market kingpin Julian Biggs to kill two men, which he does, only to learn they were enemies of Simon Ryker like he is. Unfortunately, it turns out Biggs is working for Ryker, who finds it convenient to covertly run elements of organized crime amid the nationwide battlefield of 1990s America. Ryker tells Luther that he will never let him find a new human body.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #26 (Oct 1974)

Title: The Enemy: Us

Villain: Simon Ryker

Synopsis: Deathlok learns that his old army friend from when he was alive, Mike Travers, has been taken captive by Ryker’s troops and taken to an undisclosed location. He sets out to find and free Travers.

The cyborg searches what’s left of New York City using his massive strength, laser pistol, knife and all his built-in tracking equipment (think Terminator POV visuals but obviously this was long before Terminator).

At last, Deathlok fights his way to where Simon Ryker is holding Travers – a secret installation inside the base of the Statue of Liberty. Colonel Manning fights his way inside past Ryker’s security. Simon greets Deathlok and shows him he has transformed Mike Travers into a mutated creation called War-Wolf.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #27 (Dec 1974)

Title: Dead Reckoning

Villains: War-Wolf and Simon Ryker

Synopsis: While Simon Ryker looks on, Deathlok fights War-Wolf, who is as strong as the cyborg is and also wields a laser pistol.

Deathlok at first holds back because he doesn’t want to hurt his friend Mike Travers but ultimately lets loose and kills War-Wolf. Thinking Travers is dead, a damaged Luther steals a helicopter from Ryker’s installation and flies off.

Simon gloats to himself that War-Wolf wasn’t really Mike Travers, who remains his prisoner. Deathlok pilots the helicopter to his old home, which is in one of the “safe” suburbs.

His wife/ widow Janice is too terrified by his horrific appearance to believe Deathlok is really her five-year dead husband. Luther leaves in despair. He tries to kill himself with his laser pistol but learns it will not fire at its designated owner. In anger he crushes the weapon with his cyborg hand and walks off.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #28 (Feb 1975)

Title: No One Here Gets Out Alive

Villains: The Think-Tank and Simon Ryker

Synopsis: Landing his helicopter, Deathlok wanders the battle-scarred ruins of New York City loading up on futuristic rifles and other firearms now that he no longer has a laser pistol. The damage to his cyborg parts that he suffered last issue “feels” worse and worse.

Through his and ‘Puter’s, his built-in computer’s ongoing shared internal thoughts Luther learns that among Simon Ryker’s organization there were only three scientists high enough in tech clearance to repair Deathlok’s cyborg anatomy – and two of them were the men Julian Biggs had him kill in Astonishing Tales #25.   

The third scientist – Hellinger – is still at large but ‘Puter doesn’t know where. Our protagonist starts looking for clues while fighting irradiated cannibal gangs who dwell in this part of New York. The next day or so, a detachment of Ryker’s human troops show up, searching for Deathlok and led by a high-tech “Think-Tank”.

That futuristic tank is “operated” by a partially organic computer linked to the brain of Simon Ryker’s imprisoned former lover Nina Ferry in a twisted I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream way. During his running fight with the troops and the Think-Tank, Luther is befriended by Linc Shane, a soldier from one of the armies opposing Ryker’s faction.

The pair try to get back to where Deathlok landed his helicopter but once there the Think-Tank and company destroy the aircraft. Luther and Linc are now pinned down against a wall being fired upon by their foes and with no way of reaching Linc’s comrades. 

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #29 (Apr 1975) – Not all of the artwork for the next installment of Deathlok’s series was ready before deadline, so this issue of Astonishing Tales reprinted the first tale of the Guardians of the Galaxy from 1969.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #30 (Jun 1975)

Title: The Soft Parade of Slow, Sliding Death

Villains: The Think-Tank, Ryker’s troops and Simon Ryker

Synopsis: Deathlok and Linc Shane continue returning fire in their increasingly hopeless situation. In desperation, Linc suicidally charges Ryker’s men and the Think-Tank and is severely injured.

Luther fights his way to him and carries him away under fire. He gets on the other side of the wall blocking him and Linc by pushing his bionic legs to their utmost in one spectacular leap. Linc catches another bullet in the process and is now dead.

Deathlok continues being pursued by the smart tank and the troops. During his long fighting retreat he comes across a former armory and breaks in to load up on more ammo. The Think-Tank and the soldiers have caught up with Deathlok.

He gets an idea and from the adjoining ruins he hurriedly improvises a bow with which he fires a steel girder (remember, he has incredible strength) at the Think-Tank, managing to immobilize the tank but not destroy it. He escapes.  

At Simon Ryker’s original HQ from issue 25, the villain has his computers with artificial limbs begin operating on him to power him up into what he calls a “Savior Machine.” With Ryker’s soldiers distracted by the delicate procedure, Mike Travers manages to escape.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #31 (Aug 1975)

Title: Yesterday Dies Today

Villains: Irradiated cannibals and Ryker’s troops

Synopsis: Deathlok puts plenty of distance between himself and Ryker’s troops but is now close enough to Ryker’s original HQ that he and Mike Travers come across each other. Luther is glad to see Mike is still alive after all, but as they update each other on their recent experiences Travers has no choice but to let Luther know that he and Luther’s presumed widow Janice married six months ago.

Deathlok despairs again and nearly kills Mike, but his conscience and the never-ending internal dialogue between him and ‘Puter prevent him from doing so. He warns Travers that if he ever sees him again he’ll kill him and Mike runs off. 

Our protagonist resumes his life of scavenging, dodging Ryker’s troops and fighting irradiated cannibal gangs. One day Deathlok spots a helicopter about to land on the roof of one of the still-standing skyscrapers in No Man’s Land New York.

Luther’s bionic legs let him climb the skyscraper’s stairs quickly enough to get to the roof, where he plans to commandeer the helicopter, before it lands. He VERY conveniently overhears the disembarking passengers mention that Hellinger, the third scientist who can finish repairing Deathlok, is being held at their employer’s faraway mansion.

The cyborg wins a firefight with the mercenaries, killing them all, but the pilot takes off. Deathlok is about to make a desperate leap to the copter which will be further than he has ever leapt before.   

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #32 (Nov 1975)

Title: The Man Who Sold the World

Villains: Cannibals and Ryker’s troops

Synopsis: Deathlok listens for once to ‘Puter when it internally warns him that he can’t make the jump and to instead throw his heavy, high-tech alloy knife at the helicopter’s rear rotors. He does so and the disabled copter starts descending.

Luther gets back down to street level as quickly as possible so he can follow the descending helicopter and interrogate the pilot about Hellinger and his boss’ mansion. Meanwhile, Mike Travers has infiltrated Ryker’s HQ while Ryker himself is still undergoing the days-long Savior Machine process.

NOTE: These types of rambling, repetitive story elements are part of what led to this series’ early cancellation. At any rate, Travers finds Nina Ferry still strapped to the device which let her brain remotely run the Think-Tank. Her body is fully intact, contradicting part of what we were told before, and Mike unhooks her and they escape. We readers learn that she is still mentally linked to Ryker’s computers, however.  

Back with Deathlok, he at last reaches the downed copter but notes the pilot was dragged away by a gang of irradiated cannibals. The cyborg’s Terminator-like sensors let him follow the trail to the subway but when he catches up with the cannibals they have already killed the pilot.

The infuriated Deathlok slaughters the entire gang of cannibals. Fights with cannibals have gotten repetitive, too. In the grounded helicopter Luther finds a suitcase full of money which ‘Puter informs him are counterfeit bills. Deathlok determines to find the third scientist, get a new body and learn which of the factions fighting over the remains of the United States is behind the counterfeiting ring.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #33 (Jan 1976)

Title: Reflections in a Crimson Eye

Villains: Simon Ryker and the People’s Revolutionary Army

Synopsis: Deathlok repairs the helicopter enough so that it can transport him to its preprogrammed destination. Taking the suitcase full of counterfeit money with him, Luther rides along in the copter as it takes him to a Long Island mansion owned by Simon Ryker.

Our protagonist fights and kills all of Ryker’s troops and enters the mansion. Inside he sees a mindless clone of his old human body and meets Hellinger, who explains he has been imprisoned here by Simon.

Hellinger’s scientific genius has let him covertly reconfigure some of Ryker’s surveillance computers to let him keep track of what Deathlok, Simon Ryker and Mike Travers have been up to. Deathlok asks if his mind can be downloaded into Hellinger’s clone of his original human body, but the scientist says not enough of Luther’s original brain tissue survived for that to be possible. 

Hellinger does offer to help Deathlok destroy Ryker, so he provides him with a new laser pistol and a small but incredibly powerful bomb attached to his wrist. He sends Luther on a covert mission to free Mike Travers and Nina Ferry from the Provisional Revolutionary Army, the rival faction which have captured them since their escape from Ryker’s HQ.

Deathlok agrees only when Hellinger tells him that Nina’s link to Ryker’s computer systems will provide him (Hellinger) with data to take down the villain. Luther departs and we readers see that Hellinger is secretly Simon Ryker’s hated brother Harlan, who sheds his human appearance to show his true form.

He has succeeded in making himself a transhumanist avatar that he calls Homo Ascendant, part man and part machine. He considers himself able to destroy Simon Ryker’s own transhuman form – the Savior Machine. We are also shown that Simon’s metamorphosis into that Savior Machine has been a success. 

Back with Deathlok, he succeeds in raiding the PRA’s base and freeing Mike Travers and Nina Ferry in some action-packed scenes. When he prepares to plant the bomb intended to destroy the PRA troops so they cannot pursue them, Deathlok sees that Hellinger lied about the detonation time and the bomb will go off in a few seconds.   

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #34 (Mar 1976)

Title: And All the King’s Madmen Couldn’t Put Deathlok Back Together Again

Villains: Harlan Ryker/ Homo Ascendant, Simon Ryker/ Savior Machine and Simon’s troops

Synopsis: Deathlok tears off his bionic arm and tosses it into the midst of the PRA troops, killing them all and destroying their base as the bomb attached to it goes off. Mike Travers and Nina Ferry were far enough away from the explosion that they are wounded but alive.

When Luther regains consciousness, he is in what Mike Travers and his allies tell him is the HQ of the CIA faction of the multi-sided war tearing America to pieces. Mike was able to contact them to get Deathlok to their laboratory in time to be saved and given a new bionic arm.

Luther learns that the CIA faction – including Mike Travers – have been fighting Simon Ryker’s faction for years. With the information they extracted from Nina’s link with Ryker’s computers and with the repaired Deathlok at their side they hope to defeat Ryker’s faction.  

Our protagonist has also been inserted with programming which will force him to carry out the CIA’s attack on Ryker, but since Deathlok wants Ryker dead himself he’s willing to tolerate that for now. He fights his way into Simon’s original HQ and finds the villain’s dead body, discarded now that Ryker has become the Savior Machine. 

Driven by his new CIA-implanted imperatives, Luther plans to try entering the same cyberspace that Ryker’s consciousness now inhabits. In a rushed bit of business, he meets the clone of himself created by Hellinger, who claims he is actually Dr. Wilcox, the REAL third scientist. Hellinger transferred his mind into his clone of Luther Manning’s body.

He further claims the transfer was done so he could infiltrate Simon Ryker’s HQ, but that makes no sense. Why would a human looking Luther Manning go unnoticed, when even the living Manning was known to Simon and his colleagues? Oh, well, it’s just a comic book.

Dr. Wilcox in Luther’s Clone’s Body hooks Deathlok up to the equipment which will let him confront Simon/ Savior Machine in cyberspace rather than the physical realm, in which Simon would drastically outpower him.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #35 (May 1976)

Title: … And Once Removed From Never

Villain: The Savior Machine 

Synopsis: Deathlok and Simon Ryker/ Savior Machine battle in cyberspace “wearing” virtual skins of their physical forms. Disappointingly for a series in which the writing has strived for originality, Simon/ Savior Machine justifies Simon’s actions by claiming he can now “save” America by taking absolute control of it.   

Savior Machine builds on that pop fiction villain trope by claiming he will take over the U.S. and reunite it by controlling all of its computer systems as our AI/ transhumanist dictator. The battle between the villain and Deathlok eventually threatens to destroy them both.

Dr. Wilcox stops that by pulling both minds out of cyberspace, putting Deathlok back in his cyborg body and Simon Ryker back in his abandoned human body. Ryker’s mind collapses at the trauma of being detached from the transhuman being he had turned himself into and is taken into custody by the CIA, who have raided the facility and taken control.

With Ryker and his faction defeated, CIA Director Devereaux lets Deathlok tear out the control chip which had been planted in him.

*** The Deathlok series, already facing decreasing sales figures, limped along for a couple more issues which tried adding some new adventures in war-torn 1990s America but then was canceled.

After a few guest appearances in other titles like Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two in One during the 70s, 1983 saw Deathlok sent back in time to the present day. He and Captain America prevented the events that led to the corporate coup, thus preventing the dystopian “future” of the Deathlok series from ever happening.

Before you try saying that sending a hero back in time to prevent a tech-driven nightmare was imitating Terminator, remember that 1983 was still BEFORE Terminator. At any rate, after that multi-part story with Cap, Marvel brought back Deathlok multiple times in other scenarios in the decades ahead, but always with different people as the cyborg character, NOT Luther Manning.