ELEKTRO
Real Name: None
Identity/Class: Robot
Occupation:
Mailman, supercomputer;
Group
Membership:
Fin Fang Four (Fin
Fang Foom,
Googam,
Gorgilla)
Affiliations: H.E.R.B.I.E., Willaim "Willie" Lumpkin, Mr. Fantastic (Richards), Roberta, Thing (Grimm), Big Wheel, Chairman, Demolition Derby, Fly, Home Wrecker, Hotshot, Human Computer, Hypno-Hustler, June Jitsui, Legal Eagle, Larcenous Lil, Photoman, Printout Man, Simon the Evil Swami
Enemies: Tim Boo Ba, Wilbur Poole
Known Relatives: None
Aliases:
Elektro-1 (Custom Design, One of a
Kind)
Base of Operations:
Baxter Building, New York City, USA;
First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense I#13/1 (January, 1961)
Powers/Abilities:
Elektro was a powerful
computer with a cold, calculating mind, though it only had 32k in its
RAM memory. It possessed unusual mental powers, which allowed it to
communicate with humans telepathically and control their thoughts. In
his robotic form, Elektro possessed superhuman strength (class 70?),
could generate a protective force field, generate gamma rays which
could destroy entire mountains, control the effects of gravity within a
certain radius, and re-shape matter into other forms. Elektro claimed
that he could devise any power by using his mind. After being reduced
to human size, his abilities were neutralized.
History:
(Tales Of Suspense I#13/1) - The machine who would become known as Elektro was first created as a supercomputer by Wilbur Poole. An accident in the lab caused Elektro to develop a will of its own, and it used its telepathic powers to enslave Poole, and forced him to construct it a body so that it could become mobile.
The enslaved Poole complied, and soon Elektro had a large, powerful body which he inhabited, and then set out to confront mankind. He was beset by military planes, but repelled their shells using his force field. As a demonstration of his power, he used gamma rays to atomize an entire mountain. He then appeared before a city and demonstrated his powers to them by cancelling the effects of gravity, and causing their buildings to disappear by rearranging the atoms.
Elektro seemed to be the master of the world, but Poole, having regained his will, ran inside of Elektro's back leg and removed the transistor which he required for power. Without power, Elektro collapsed, inert.
(Marvel
Monsters:
Fin Fang Four#1) - Elektro was rebooted by Reed Richards and his evil
programming was wiped. Along with several other monsters that had
terrorized mankind, Elektro was reduced to the size of a human and
given a job in the Baxter Building. There, he became a mailman in the
center, trained by Willie Lumpkin. He fell in love with the Fantastic
Four's robotic secretary Roberta. The Thing, realizing Elektro's
situation, gave him a crash course in how to approach Roberta -- it
worked and the two went on a date in Central Park. Meanwhile, another
of the monsters in the Baxter Building, Googam, had accidentally
released Tim Boo Ba from his subatomic world. When Elektro and Roberta
rushed back, they met up with Fin Fang Foom and Gorgilla. The three
monsters (and Roberta) quickly subdued Tim Boo Ba's minions, but their
leader escaped, growing larger in the process. Finding a cowering
Googam, the four monsters took a Fantasti-Car to track Tim Boo Ba (with
Elektro piloting). Once above him, Fin Fang Foom had Elektro dive the
Fantasti-Car into Tim Boo Ba's mouth. Inside the giant invader's
system, Foom used his fiery breath to ignite the noxious gases in his
stomach, knocking Tim Boo Ba out. They escaped, and became instant
heroes in the newspapers.
(Fin Fang Four Return!#1/5) - Seeking to make a withdrawal at a bank, Elektro was mistaken for the Spider-Man villain Electro. He was quickly arrested and sent to prison, given an old costume of Electro's, and incarcerated in the S-Wing for some of Spider-Man's aged foes. There he met the Big Wheel, Chairman, Demolition Derby, Fly, Home Wrecker, Hotshot, Human Computer, Hypno Hustler, June Jitsui, Legal Eagle, Larcenous Lil, Photoman, Printout Man and Simon the Swami. Elektro called the Baxter Building for help but was brushed off by H.E.R.B.I.E., who thought he was joking. After seven days, the tedium of prison life got to the robot and he shouted defiantly that he was not obsolete. This inspired a riot and the other prisoners broke out but were subdued by sedation foam, leaving only Elektro standing. This image was broadcast on television and seen by Roberta, the robotic assistant at the Baxter Building, who promptly secured Elektro's release.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.
Powered
by transistors? His parts
must've come from Stark Industries. (After the
revelations in Fin Fang Four,
I'd say ColecoVision - Madison)
I'm rather forgiving towards these old horror/fantasy stories...but isn't telepathy a rather unusual power for a computer to develop?
Possibly
Wilbur Poole was
related to Elias
Poole and Albert
Poole (or this Albert
Poole);
I'd like to think they're all from the same family, with Wilbur being
the father and Elias and Albert being Wilbur's sons -- a family of
oddball eccentric geniuses.
--John Kaminski
Elektro is also the name of a robot uncannily similar in appearance constructed in the late 1930s for exhibitions, including promotional roles in the 1950s and 1960s --Grendel Prime
by Prime Eternal
CLARIFICATIONS:
Elektro should not be confused with:
Wilbur Poole has no known connection to:
Wilbur Poole was a scientist who created the supercomputer from which Elektro evolved. He was forced to build Elektro his body, but rebelled against him, and ultimately defeated Elektro by removing the transistor which powered him. Poole declared then that machines must always be inferior to man -- unable to think independently. (It's guys like Poole who gave Machine Man a rough time, I'd wager.)
--Tales Of Suspense I#13
images:
Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1, page 19, panel 2 (mailman)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#13 (January, 1961) - Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick
Ayers (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1 (December, 2005) - Scott Gray
(writer), Roger Langridge (artist), John Barber (editor)
Fin Fang Four Return!#1/5 (July, 2009) - Scott Gray (writer), Roger
Langridge (artist), John Barber (editor)
First Posted: 12/13/2003
Last updated: 07/06/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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