The Origin of Machine Man ☆ History of the Marvel Universe

Hey, heroes! On this week's episode of History of the Marvel Universe, we're looking at the origin of X-51, AKA Aaron Stack, the Machine Man!

Sources:
2001: A Space Odyssey (Treasury Special) 001 (1976)
2001: A Space Odyssey 008-010 (1977)
X-Men: First Class (Vol 2) 012-014 (2008)
Avengers 162 (1977)
Avengers 170-171 (1978)
Machine Man 001-009 (1978)
Incredible Hulk 235-237 (1979)
Machine Man 010-019 (1979-1981)
Marvel Team-Up 099 (1980)
Marvel Two-In-One 092-093 (1982)
Iron Man 168 (1983)
Avengers Annual 017 (1988)
Avengers 287-290 (1988)
Captain America Annual 009 (1990)
Iron Man Annual 011 (1990)
Thor Annual 015 (1990)
Avengers West Coast Annual 005 (1990)
Avengers Annual 019 (1990)
Deathlok 002-004 (1991)
Avengers: West Coast 083 (1992)
Avengers (Vol. 3) 001-003 (1998)
Cable & Machine Man Annual (1998)
Machine Man & Bastion Annual (1998)
Uncanny X-Men 371 (1999)
X-Men (Vol. 2) 091 (1999)
X-Men Annual '99 (1999)
X-51 001-012 (1999-2000)
Nextwave 001 (2006)
Nextwave 005 (2006)
Marvel Comics Presents 008-012 (2008)
Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) 018 (2007)
Marvel Zombies 3 001-004 (2008-2009)
Mighty Avengers 035-036 (2010)
Marvel Zombies 5 001-005 (2010)
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 006 (2015)
Marvel Comics 1001 (2019)

Additional Reading:
Hulk 042-057 (2011-2012)
Red She-Hulk 058-067 (2012-2013)
Deadpool & the Mercs for Money 001-010 (2016-2017)
Tony Stark, Iron Man 001-019 (2018-2020)

Additional information from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

#Marvel #2001ASpaceOdyssey #MachineMan

[MerryMarvelite]

Hey, heroes! Thanks for watching another video! If you enjoyed it, please consider supporting me on Patreon so you can vote in monthly polls to add video topics to the schedule!

[dexdavison]

Machine Man would be an interesting character to add to the MCU. Thanks for this fascinating history of one of the most intriguing lesser known characters from the Marvel Comics Universe.

[JPTyler]

YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! I absolutely love this character and the numerous storylines that accompanied it throughout the marvel universe.

[TheTiger]

That was my favorite comic back in the day.

[NintendoPrincess]

I had never heard of this character till Marvel zombies so I’m so glad you included that in this video! It’s always amazing how marvel can write around their older works into a larger origin

[vincentfranklin]

I've always liked Machine Man, but didn't know much about him. Great video!
I learned a lot!

[gokugoma]

To make a long story short.. machine man has been through hell and back! He is always been one of my favorite marvel characters

[mattwilson]

Wow, I knew Machine Man had been around for a while but I didn't realize how much he had done. Thanks for enlightening me!

[jimmybiscuit]

It'd be cool to see this guy in the MCU, his saw arm would be so sick, I love seeing lesser known characters get more recognition like Shuma Gorath even tho his name was changed sadly, and I wanna see Orb and Rocket Racer

[MattMcIrvin]

The Kirby "2001: A Space Odyssey" has to be one of the weirdest things ever done in mainstream comics.
Those monoliths... In the books, Arthur C. Clarke describes them as having proportions 1:4:9 (the first three perfect squares, a sequence that, he adds, continues into higher dimensions). Kubrick didn't actually stick with those proportions because he wanted his monoliths to look sleeker and thinner, almost like a Super Panavision movie screen.
But Kirby goes the other way and draws his as these squat, massive-looking things, maybe 1:4:6, more book-shaped. Because *of course* that's what Jack Kirby would do. Everything in his world had to be really robust.

[pauljohnson]

This was a great summary of the history of Machine Man. A lot of this I was already aware of, (Old guy here), but there were sections that were surprisingly new to me. You learn something new everyday. Great content and narration. It looks like I got a new channel to follow. Kudos to you, my good man.

[keithdrummond]

It's so neat to see how the character evolved in appearance over the years.

[GodLovesComics]

Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur sort of represented the nadir of Jack Kirby's art for me. While there was still power there, the skill and vision were nowhere near his awe-inspiring peak in the 60's nor certainly his subsequent Fourth World stuff after he left Marvel. I always find it ironic that just as Ditko replaced Kirby on Spider-man, that surprisingly he was tapped again to replace him on Machine Man. You can see the somewhat jarring shift of Kirby's blocky, brutish figures, to Ditko's goofy, even more cartoony work between the 8 and 10 minute marks.

[kalvindotcom]

Picked up Earth X at a comic shop a few days ago which starts off with The Watcher talking to X-51 and had no idea who this was. The origin and subsequent story sounds so interesting!! Although if comparing to MCU, sounds a little bit like vision (robot created by scientist to think individually) but without the infinity stone. Still very cool!!

[rafaelcotero]

Machine man sounds like an interesting character, he would be a great addition to any marvel heroes and stories

[thecat]

Wow I read this comic in the early 80s both Kirby and Ditko drew and wrote for Double M in his series, just a great summary of his origins and adventures and yes he was a spin-off of the film 2001. I just forgot how cool he was, heres hoping someone at the MCU studios watches your podcast and brings Mr stack to the big or small screen someday, thanks for profiling this incredible forgotten tech hero.

[TheRealVicSage]

Video just started but I’m hyped for this

[christopherulichney]

Great video. I hope you have a deep dive on Jocasta planned for the future. After seeing her involvement with Machine Man and previously in the War Toy video she needs her own dedicated video.

[josephel]

In my youth I'd managed to collect a few issues of Machine Man. Interesting reading.

[andresmarrero]

The heavy metals seem to be an interesting team and I wish they did more with the concept.