DC Comics'
robotic
superhero team from the
1960s. Created by
Dr. William Magnus, your typical 1960s lantern-jawed, pipe-smoking, ruggedly handsome scientist, the Metal Men were primarily constructed of, and had super powers based on, one type of
metal (the chemical symbol for that metal was engraved on their chest lest anyone get confused). Their personalities were provided by an internal component called a "
responsometer". Whatever damage a Metal Man suffered, he could be resurrected in a new body as long as his responsometer remained intact.
Roster:
- Gold - the leader.
- Platinum - the token female.
- Mercury - the jerk. Think Doctor Smith from Lost In Space.
- Iron - the strongman.
- Lead - the big, dumb, indestructible guy.
- Tin - the nervous, stammering guy who gets dismembered a lot.
All the Metal Men could change shape at will, forming their remarkably elastic metal bodies into walls, bridges, and...um...actually I mostly remember them turning into walls and bridges. Or stretching.
This all may sound kinda dumb, but when I was a little boy reading my first and only Metal Men comic in the mid-1970s (they fought alongside Batman, no less) the idea of a team of super-powered robots sounded VERY COOL.
In 1993 DC decided to rewrite their origins and make them human scientists whose minds were trapped in polymer robot bodies designed to mimic the properties of various metals. Yeahrightwhatever.