DR. DOOM'S KILLER ROBOTS

Membership: Initially, twelve models; several destroyed since, current number unknown

Purpose: To destroy the enemies of Latveria

Affiliations: Ted Castleand his robot army (Arsenal robots, Awesome Androids, Dreadnoughts, Humanoids, Mek-Men, Murder Machine, Punishers, Sentinels, Tomazooma, others), Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Gustav Hauptmann (creators);
   formerly Prince Zorba

Enemies: Avengers Support Crew (Peggy Carter, Kenneth Kincaid, M'Daka, Michael O'Brien, Fabian Stankowicz), Fantastic Force of Earth-807128 (Robert Bruce Banner Jr., Hooded Man/James Howlett, Lightwave, Natalie X, Psionics/Cindy, Alex Ultron), Fantastic Four (Crystal, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Lyja, Psi-Lord (Franklin Richards), Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Dum-Dum Dugan, Nick Fury);
   formerly Doctor Doom;
   (MC-2) Avengers (American Dream/Shannon Carter, Bluestreak, Crimson Curse, Freebooter, Stinger/Cassie Lang), S.H.I.E.L.D.

Aliases: Super-Robots

Base of Operations: Doomstadt, Latveria

First Appearance: (Arm seen) Fantastic Four I#84 (March, 1969); (fully seen) Fantastic Four I#85 (April,1969)

Powers/Abilities: The original dozen Killer Robots were programmed with no sentience, only the command to destroy. Their armored shells could withstand the fire of rocket launchers, and even when their bodies had been destroyed, any single piece of their form could still act independently. They also had approximately Class 50 superhuman strength.

Later models employed by Doom during "Acts of Vengeance" possessed these same attributes (although with much less armor), but could also fly, and project blasts of energy from their hands. There also appeared to be a much greater number of them active at once.

History:
(Fantastic Four I#84 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Doom designed a new series of robots in Latveria with the assistance of the Nazi scientist Gustav Hauptmann. The robots were built to cause massive destruction, and serve as his personal army. An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who had infiltrated Latveria managed to smuggle one of the robots' arms back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

(Fantastic Four I#84) - Nick Fury summoned the Fantastic Four to meet with him, and he displayed the arm to them. Once it had been removed from its protective package, the arm came to life, and attacked the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D., managing to obtain a blaster pistol. It was destroyed by the Human Torch, but the exhibition was enough to prove to the Fantastic Four that they should head to Latveria to stop the army from being completed.

(Fantastic Four I#85) - In Latveria, Dr. Doom tested one of the robots out by allowing two of his more rebellious citizens to escape, and leaving a heavily-armed dreadnought for them to use against it. Although the men unleashed all the armament they could, nothing proved capable of damaging the robot. Doom was pleased with the results, and decided he would use the twelve robots he had designed thus far to destroy an entire village.

   At last, the robots became so restless that Doom's Servo-Guards could no longer hold them back -- they broke free from the confines of his laboratories, and into a tunnel leading straight for a Latverian village, where Doom had already placed the Fantastic Four, who now believed they had lost their powers due to the influence of the Hypno-Persuader!

Fantastic Four I#86)- As the robots bore down upon the village, the Fantastic Four stood side-by-side with the Latverian citizenry, and as they fought, their powers returned. They managed to destroy the first wave of robots, but Doom had already set a second wave upon them... and he intended to explode the village should they fail!

   However, Mr. Fantastic had discovered a control device hidden inside of a bell tower the robots had ravaged, and with it, he activated a turbulence pressure engine. When the second wave of robots arrived, the engine tossed them into the air, and into a nearby lake, where they sank to the bottom. Doom activated the explosives to destroy the village, but the Fantastic Four and Latverians were protected by the Invisible Girl's force field.

BTS - In the years that passed, Dr. Doom lost the throne of Latveria to Prince Zorba, the hereditary ruler. But Zorba proved unable to provide the stability Latveria required, and the streets soon became a war-zone, as he unleashed Doom's arsenals upon them. At some point, he also obtained Doom's Killer Robots, which he held onto in case of need.

(Fantastic Four I#247) - Ultimately, Dr. Doom returned to Latveria to reclaim his throne, with the assistance of the Fantastic Four themselves. When Zorba learned of the super-human assistance the citizens had obtained, he unleashed the Killer Robots upon them. Joining forces, Doom and the Fantastic Four destroyed many of the robots, and Doom finally reclaimed his throne after killing Zorba.

(Avengers I#311) - During the so-called "Acts of Vengeance" affair, Dr. Doom (or one of his Doombots) employed an army of Killer Robots to destroy the Avengers then-headquarters, the floating Avengers Island. Dozens of the robots flew into the island and broke through its hull, and caused it to sink. At the time, the only Avenger present was Quasar, who joined forces with the Avengers' Support Crew in fighting off the robots. Although they fought the robots bravely, they had difficulty keeping track of all of them, and two planted explosives next to the Quinjets' fuel tanks. When the explosives went off, it became too much for even Quasar to bear, and the Island sank.

(Fantastic Four I#350) - After luring Sharon Ventura to Latveria, promising to cure her, Dr. Doom dispatched one of his Killer Robots to the Fantastic Four to inform them that Ventura was in his clutches. The robot then self-destructed.

(Fantastic Four I#352) - Several of Doom's Killer Robots battled the Thing at Castle Doom while Doom engaged in personal combat against Mr. Fantastic, but the Thing had recently become so strong that he could smash the robots with little effort.

(Fantastic Four I#381) - Several of the Killer Robots opposed the Fantastic Four, Lyja, and Psi-Lord as they searched Latveria for the Thing. They were easily destroyed by the FF, with Mr. Fantastic advising his teammates to remove their electromagnetic stabilizers.

(Fantastic Force II#1) - While trying to arrest the time-traveling Fantastic Force, Ted Castle used Killer Robots as part of his own army of robots.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The flashback origin of Machinesmith in Captain America I#368/2 depicted one of Dr. Doom's Killer Robots, claiming that its discovery by Starr Saxon following one of the Fantastic Four's clashes with Dr. Doom was what set him on the road towards becoming a master of robotics. However, considering that Saxon made his first appearance almost simultaneously with the publication of Fantastic Four I#84-86, this was probably not of the Killer Robot variety.

See, the original Killer Robot story is why I could never buy Dr. Doom's appearance in Amazing Spider-Man II#36, where he was crying at the site of the World Trade Center. No one who builds killer robots to slaughter his own people goes about sobbing when total strangers die.
    --Yes, but in that case, it was artistic license and perhaps topical, but the story and the events were more important than the fictional characters. The whole point was to express the tragedy of the events--Snood.

The Killer Robots are so popular with writers (and artists) that they even appeared in a parody-- the "Fantastical Four World Tour, 1992" from What The --?!#17 (by Kurt Busiek, of all people).

Profile by Prime Eternal. Update by Ron Fredricks (Fantastic Force).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dr. Doom's Killer Robots should not be confused with:

Killer Robots of Earth-MC2

In an alternate future, Dr. Doom was seemingly slain following a confrontation with the Sub-Mariner in Latveria, which reduced a great deal of the nation to ruin. Doom's robots, including the Killer Robots, remained active, attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. forces who had occupied Latveria. When rumors circulated that Dr. Doom might still be alive, the Avengers investigated. In the course of their investigation, they fought a number of the Killer Robots, most of which were thrown into the air by a gust of wind, generated by the Crimson Curse. Ultimately, the Dr. Doom sighted proved to be his young ward, Kristoff Vernard, who had dedicated himself to ridding Latveria of Doom's taint. He finally destroyed Doom's castle, presumably ridding Latveria of any remaining Killer Robots in the process.

--A-Next#5

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#86, p7, pan3 (Killer Robots)
Fantastic Four I#86, p10, pan1 (pieces of smashed Killer Robots independently attack Thing)
Fantastic Four I#247, p16, pan1 (Killer Robots rampaging through Latverian village)
Avengers I#311, p16, pan4 (Killer Robots leaving sinking Avengers Island; Quasar, Avengers Support Crew [background])
A-Next#5, p7, pan3 (Killer Robots smashing through wall; American Dream, Stinger, Freebooter, Crimson Curse, Bluestreak [background])

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#84-86 (March-May, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inkser)
Fantastic Four I#247 (October, 1982) - John Byrne (story/art), Glynis Wein (colors), Jim Novak (letters), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Avengers I#311 (December, 1989) - John Byrne (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Bill Oakley (letters), Howard Mackie (editor)
Fantastic Four I#350 (March, 1991) - Walt Simonson (story/pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Brad Vancata (colors), Bill Oakley (letters), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#352 (May, 1991) - Walt Simonson (story/art), Marie Javins (colors), Bill Oakley (letters), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#381 (October, 1993) - Paul Ryan (story/pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Gina Going (colors), Jack Morelli (letters), Ralph Macchio (editor)
A-Next#5 (February, 1999) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Novak (letters), Pete Franco (editor)
Fantastic Force II#1 (June, 2009) - Joe Ahearne (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Serge LaPointe (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Rus Wooton (letters), Jeanine Schaefer (editor)

First Posted: 12/07/2002
Last updated: 11/20/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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