AMERIDROID

Real Name: Lyle Dekker

Identity/Class: Human scientific genius, mind transferred into android;
   German citizen;
   active during World War II (and perhaps 25-35 years before that) to modern era

Occupation: Madman; former criminal scientist employed by Corporation;
    formerly employed as Director of Special Effects for Democracy Studios, former Nazi scientist and spy

Group Membership: None; former member of Nazi Party, Nihilist Order

Affiliations: None;
    former pawn of Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo) & Red Skull (Johann Shmidt);
    former ally of Codename: Bravo, Nomad (Edward Ferbel), Queen Hydra

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Codename: Bravo, Nomad (Edward Ferbel)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: General Dekker, Pupil

Base of Operations: Land of Nowhere (Jimmy Jupiter's world);
   formerly Democracy Studios lot in Hollywood, California, USA;
   formerly a base in Newfoundland;
   formerly Germany

First Appearance: (Dekker and Ameridroid) Captain America I#218 (February, 1978); (Dekker's mind in Ameridroid) Captain America I#220 (April, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: In human form, Dekker possessed no superhuman powers, but was a brilliant scientist able to design all manner of advanced weaponry. Some of his more prominent inventions include: the Memory Machine, able to recover memories or induce false memories in others; his Heat Ray, an early form of the laser (possibly adapted from Zemo's Death Ray); and his Nerve Gas, which could induce unconsciousness and make others subject to his will. He also employed a number of soldiers utilizing conventional weaponry and trained in combat.

As the Ameridroid, he was an 18' tall (originally 12') android possessing Captain America's physical capabilities (strength, stamina, agility, etc.) multiplied in direct proportion to his size. He possessed minimal combat training.

 

Height: (Ameridroid) 18'; (Dekker) 5'9"
Weight: (Ameridroid) 1320 lbs.; (Dekker) 154 lbs.
Eyes: (Ameridroid) blue; (Dekker) blue
Hair: (Ameridroid) blond, if any; (Dekker) white (formerly brown)

 

History:
(Captain America I#219 (fb) ) - Lyle Dekker was a Nazi scientist serving under the original Red Skull during World War II.

(Captain America VI#3 (fb) ) - At some point he built an 12' tall android for the Nazis.

(Captain America I#219 (fb) ) - In 1944, he was sent to the United States of America as part of a plot to destroy the original Captain America. He posed as a special effects designer and was hired by Democracy Studios to work in the "The Adventures of Captain America" movie in order to sabotage it. He arranged a number of on-site accidents in an effort to shut it down. The actual Captain America investigated the site, and when the actor playing his role was injured so he could no longer act, Captain America himself volunteered to fill the role. In the final act, Dekker substituted a real laser for a fake heat ray to kill the lead actress. Captain America and Bucky saved the actress and confronted Dekker, who escaped by knocking out Bucky and driving himself and Bucky off a cliff into water.

(Captain America I#220 (fb) ) - Dekker was believed to have drowned. However, he had made plans for his escape and boarded a waiting German U-Boat. The Red Skull was aboard the submarine and punished Dekker for his failure by beating and torturing him. They then jettisoned him through a torpedo tube and left him for dead in the waters of Newfoundland. He was rescued by a fishing boat, and set up a new base using secret Swiss Bank accounts. Now hated by both the Allied and Axis powers, Dekker set up an army of followers made up of other criminals without any national affinity, and gave himself the rank of General.

   In 1945 Dekker and his men were in a U-Boat in the English Channel when a report came via his spies on land of two American soldiers displaying superhuman prowess while trying to stop Baron (Heinrich) Zemo from launching a drone plane bomb. When the older of the two men fell into the sea, he was recovered by Dekker's men, who upon discovering their prize was Captain America delivered him straight to Dekker. Taking his captive back to his base in Newfoundland Dekker sought to use one of his inventions to transfer his own mind into Captain America's body and use a nerve gas of his own design to turn the victors/survivors of World War II into mindless zombies he could control. However, Captain America broke free and attempted to escape in a plane, which unknown to him was stocked with Dekker's nerve gas. Dekker's soldiers used a heat-ray to cripple the plane to force him to land, but the nerve gas was released, mixing with Captain America's super soldier serum to send him into suspended animation while simultaneously robbing him of his most recent memories, notably the entire encounter with Dekker. Captain America slipped out of the plane's wreckage, was not found by Dekker's men, and drifted towards his fate in the Arctic Circle (see comments).

(Captain America VI#3 (fb) ) - Dekker turned the android into a 12' tall copy of Captain America.

(Captain America I#218) - In the modern era, Captain America uncovered information that led him to believe he had a previously unremembered encounter in Newfoundland, which led him to investigate. Cap located Dekker's base, defeated some of his soldiers, and confronted Dekker, who proudly showed his old foe the completed Ameridroid.

(Captain America I#219) - Dekker reminded Captain America of their first encounter at Democracy Studios, then knocked the hero out with electrical blasters built into the base's walls.

(Captain America I#220) - Dekker placed Captain America in restraints, and when the hero awoke Dekker used his memory machine to stimulate Captain America to remember (see comments) their 1945 encounter, and then revealed his plan to siphon Captain America's power into his 3.5 meter tall Ameridroid. He succeeded in doing so and transferred his own mind into the Ameridroid. The loss of his mind caused his body to fail, and his original form died, but the jubilant Dekker in his new body didn't care, declaring to his men that he was the vanguard of a New World Order.

(Captain America I#221) - Dekker briefly reveled in his newfound power until he realized that he was now trapped in a freakish form and could never again interact with normal society. Demoralized and temporarily insane, Dekker returned to his laboratory and attacked his own lifeless body. Captain America convinced him that he had conquered his previous obsession, and now had the opportunity to begin anew. Dekker wandered out into the woods to seek out his soul in solitude.

(Captain America I#261 (fb)) - Dekker, as the Ameridroid, was later found by agents of the Red Skull, who was at the time using the guise of the Teacher, leader of the Nihilist Order.

(Captain America I#261) - The Teacher, using Dekker's own memory machine, brainwashed Dekker into believing that Captain America had forcibly transferred him into the form of the Ameridroid. The Ameridroid joined Teacher's Project: Desecration, designed to discredit Captain America and ultimately to brainwash America with special film used in a new Captain America movie. As part of this plot, Teacher also trained a man called Edward Ferbel to take up the mantle of Nomad, an identity Steve Rogers had briefly used when he had temporarily quit as Captain America; as Nomad, it was Ferbel's role to convince the public he was a new hero and upstage Captain America.

(Captain America I#262) - Ameridroid led the Nihilist Order in an attack on a "Captain America Day" parade that had been set up to publicize the movie, and succeeded in capturing Captain America by using nerve gas. The Ameridroid also shot and killed Nomad (Ferbel) while Captain America stood paralyzed from the gas, making it appear he had allowed it to happen. However, when Captain America revived in Teacher's base, he forced Dekker to remember that he had placed himself in the form of the Ameridroid, and that Teacher had brainwashed him. Dekker turned on Teacher, who incapacitated him with a pre-designed energy blast. Teacher then revealed himself as the Red Skull.

(Captain America #263) - Red Skull took control of the Ameridroid, forcing it to attack Captain America. Cap again convinced Dekker to turn against the Skull, and he succeeded in breaking out of the Red Skull's barrier, but was apparently destroyed. However, Dekker recovered one final time, and managed to force himself and the Red Skull into some delicate machinery that then exploded, apparently killing them both. The Red Skull managed to escape death, but Dekker apparently met his final fate.

(Captain America I#350/2 (fb) - BTS) - After having his consciousness downloaded into a cloned body of Steve Rogers by Arnim Zola, the Red Skull sought to dispel the disorientation brought about by the process by recounting his memories, which included forcing Captain America to fight the Ameridroid.

(Captain America I#370) - Red Skull kept Ameridroid's head stored in a room filled with his past glories at his private estate Skullhouse.

(Captain America VI#2 (fb) - BTS) - Revived or recreated by Baron Zemo (see comments), Ameridroid was told by Zemo that Captain America had stolen his dream.

(Captain America VI#3 (fb) - BTS) - Zemo somehow made Ameridroid forget his time with the Nihilist Order (including his destruction; see comments). He also promised Dekker he would regain his own body and youth in the Land of Nowhere and then sent Ameridroid to attack Captain America.

(Captain America VI#2) - At Captain America's home Ameridroid punched through a window and pulled Captain America through it to get revenge on Captain America for stealing his dream.

(Captain America VI#3) - Angered that Captain America had left him to wander in the wilderness Ameridroid fought Captain America. Meanwhile Zemo attacked Sharon Carter in Cap's apartment. When Cap caused Ameridroid's systems to shut down by attacking the robot's head, Zeom fled.

(Captain America VI#3 - BTS) - The inert Ameridroid was taken to Project: PEGASUS.

(Captain America VI#3) - Cap, Nick Fury and Sharon Carter looked at the inert robot. Cap was still couldn't believe he had done enough damage to cause the robot to shut down. He told Nick how erratic and angry Dekker seemed and was sure Zemo had done something to him to cause this. When Queen Hydra and Codename: Bravo parked nearby with the aged Jimmy Jupiter in an ambulance the Ameridroid suddenly reactivated and jumped Captain America, pushing him through a window. They fell through a portal to the Land of Nowhere, opened by Jimmy Jupiter, who was under the control of Queen Hydra. Upon arriving in the Land of Nowhere Dekker was back in his own young body and already made plans for his new chance at life, but Codename: Bravo shot him in the head because he believed Nazis didn't deserve a second chance.

Comments: Created by Don Glut, Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito, and John Tartag.

      When Captain America fell into the English Channel after the death of Bucky, he was believed to have entered suspended animation and remained there until he was found in the Arctic Circle in the modern era by Namor the Sub-Mariner, and subsequently revived by the Avengers. The retcon revealing that Dekker pulled Captain America out of the water was designed to explain how Captain America ended up in the Arctic Circle after being dumped in the English Channel following his battle with Zemo. But did Dekker actually have a second encounter with Captain America, in 1945? After all, Captain America "remembered" it with the aid of Dekker's "Memory Machine." I can't remember if a subsequent story revealed this to be a false memory implant. It's never been mentioned since, so take it for what you will.
   I suspect the false memory implant that Snood might be thinking of was another set of recovered memories, seen in Captain America I#225, which were revealed in Captain America I#247 to be implanted fallacies; conversely, afaik Dekker's story has never been disproven, and though admittedly the fact that it was Dekker's memory machine that restored the memories might suggest the possibility they could be faked, this is rendered less likely by Cap recalling part of the story (that he ended up in the waters off Newfoundland, despite the plane that he fell from having taken off only moments earlier in England) as early as Avengers I#4. As such, it seems that the events did actually happen as depicted, and indeed Cap's most recent handbook entry includes the encounter with Dekker as part of his history. - Loki

  Lyle Dekker was named in homage to the Lydecker brothers, who worked on various serials--docsavage80

   Howard and Theodore Lydecker were known for their realistic, miniature special effects work in films while working for Republic Pictures. One of Republic's movie serials featured Captain America. While standing near their miniatures, they, like the Ameridroid, appeared to be larger than life.--Kyle

   Brubaker did the right thing mentioning Ameridroid's destruction and his head's subsequent appearance as a trophy of the Red Skull. Going from there we have several possibilities how the Ameridroid could have returned. We don't know if Zemo was responsible for the memory loss of the Ameridroid or if it was caused by his apparent destruction in Captain America I#263. We don't know if Zemo put Dekker's memories into a new Ameridroid or just had the old one repaired and upgraded (he was a few feet taller). We don't know how Zemo acquired Dekker's memories if it was a new body, but he could've extracted the memories from the head stored at Skullhouse or have found a copy of Dekker's memories at Dekker's old base in Newfoundland. All viable options IMHO.

   During the series Captain America Corps#1-5 (August-December, 2011) the Ameridroid of Earth-81223 was controlled by this world's version of Machinesmith.

   Ameridroid had an entry in Captain America: Americ's Avenger handbook, with new main image art by Gus Vasquez (though without anything next to Ameridroid to show off the true scale, he just looks like Captain America.

   Captain America: The Legend included a list of Cap's "Lamest Foes," which perhaps a tad unfairly included Ameridroid; for the record, the other seven on the list were Animus, Blistik, Brother Nature, Every-Man (sic), Gamecock, Mister X (though the accompanying text reveals they actually meant King Arthur) and Peeper. - Loki

Profile by Snood.

Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims using info from Per Degaton (docsavage80). Further updated by Markus Raymond (Captain America 2011).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ameridroid should not be confused with

Dekker's soldiers

(Captain America I#218) - While investigating a previously unremembered encounter with Dekker in Newfoundland, Rogers saw some of Dekker's soldiers lurking through the streets and followed them to Dekker's base where he defeated them.

(Captain America I#220-221) - After Dekker had transfered his mind into the Ameridroid his soldiers joined him in an attack on the Newfoundland village they were based in until Dekker abandoned his plans for conquest because he felt like a freak and wandered into the woods.

--Captain America I#218 (Captain America I#218, 220-221

images: (without ads)
Captain America I#262, cover (main)
Captain America I#219, p10, pan5 (Decker 1940s headshot)
Captain America VI#3, p5, pan3 (Lyle Dekker & Ameridroid)
Captain America I#219, p1, left bottom corner (Lyle Dekker modern era)
Captain America I#220, p13, pan2 (Dekker's body dies; "the lights are on, but no-one's home, your mind...is not your own")
Captain America VI#3, p16, pan4 (Ameridroid head, skin removed)
Captain America VI#3, p19, pan3-4 (Dekker, young again, dead again)
Captain America I#218, p15, pan1 (Dekker's spiked knuckled soldier)
Captain America I#218, p13, pan1 (Dekker's other soldiers)
Captain America: America's Avenger, Ameridroid entry

Appearances:
Captain America I#218 (February, 1978) - Don Glut (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito & John Tartaglione (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain America I#219 (March-April, 1978) - Don Glut (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain America I#220 (March-April, 1978) - Don Glut (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito & John Tartaglione (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain America I#221 (May, 1978) - Steve Gerber & David Kraft (writers), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Captain America I#261-263 (September-November, 1981) - J.M. DeMatteis (writers), Mike Zeck (pencils), Quickdraw Studios (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#370 (May, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America VI#2 (October, 2011) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Steve McNiven (pencils), Jay Leisten & Dexter Vines (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain America VI#3 (November, 2011) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Steve McNiven (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 10/06/2001
Last updated: 10/02/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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