MIDNIGHT WRECKERS 2020MIDNIGHT WRECKERS 2020
Membership: Ancient Wrecker, Bones, Brain, Hassle, Machine Man, Slick, Swift
Purpose: Providing so-called forbidden technology to the people the megacorps didn't want to have it.
Affiliations: Spider-Man of Earth-616;
possibly Aliya of Earth-Aliya, and
Cable (the version active on Earth-616)
Enemies: Sunset Bain, Baintronics, Broadani, Iron Man (Arno Stark), and the Iron-Bots, Kang, Spider-Girl 2020, Stark-Fujikawa;
megacorps (in general)
Base of Operations: Sanctuary, presumably formerly high above the Canadian North
Woods (almost assuredly it relocated after being discovered by
the Bainies);
The four most prominent Wreckers (Brain,
Hassle, Slick, and Swift) are based out of Manhattan, New York;
they formerly used a condemned McDonald's restaurant as their
base.
Earth-8410
First Appearance: Machine Man II#1 (1984)
History: The Midnight Wreckers are a section of society who shun the corporate world that dominates the rest of modern society. Instead, they salvage any material they can get their hands on, in order to build lives for themselves. They were apparently formed by a man known as the Ancient Wrecker, and many of them dwell in--or are based out of--Sanctuary.
(Avengers III#42) - Kang mentioned the timelime of the Midnight Wreckers (who were shown in a cameo) as one
of several dystopic futures that he could prevent, as part of
his attempt at seizing political power over the whole Earth.
(Machine Man II#1) - A quartet of Midnight
Wreckers--Brain, Hassle, Slick, and Swift--salvaged a priority
red package from a Baintronics waste site. Escaping the Bainies (Baintronics
security), they took the package back to their base, a condemned
McDonald's restaurant. Brain rebuilt the contents of the package
into Machine Man, who had been inert for nearly 40 years. The
package's label had been left behind when the Wreckers fled, and
Sunset Bain recognized its significance. Soon, a C-28 Death-Dealer
had tracked Machine Man's energies to their base, and led a squad
of Bainies to neutralize the Wreckers and their new ally. Working
together, Machine Man and the Wreckers destroyed their attackers
and fled their former base. (Machine Man II#2) - The Wreckers were pursued
by another squad of Bainies, but they escaped into the subway and
met up with Broadani in Forest Hills, Queens, who was to provide
them with safe transport out of town. Broadani betrayed them to
the Bainies, but the Wreckers and Machine Man fought their way to
freedom yet again--though Hassle was captured. The Wreckers left
Hassle behind rather than risk being captured (though they had to
incapacitate Machine Man to force him to leave her), and headed
for Sanctuary--the only place they might be safe from the Bainies.
However, as they approached where Sanctuary was rumored to be,
they were caught in a trap and captured. (Machine Man II#3) - Machine Man and his allies
were taken to guests quarters, where they were recognized as
friendly by the Ancient Wrecker, who had been an ally of Machine
Man in the distant past. There was a large party on Sanctuary
that night, and Hassle arrived right in the middle of it. Her
friends were delighted to see her, but the entire fortress was
soon under assault by Iron Man 2020, who led a Stark Enterprises
assault on them. Machine Man defeated Iron Man, and the Wreckers
fought off the rest of their attackers, but Sanctuary was badly
damaged and began to drop. Machine Man linked his systems to
Sanctuary's core and stabilized it, but almost burnt himself out
in the process. (Machine Man II#4) - Wishing to end the attacks
on him, Machine Man led his four new Wrecker allies to confront
Sunset Bain herself, at Baintronics Central. The Wreckers tried
to convince him that this was a bad idea, but he was not to be
denied, so they followed him there. Machine Man just wanted to
talk to Bain, but she unleashed the full force of her security
against him, including Iron Man. After Machine Man forced Bain to
cease attacks on himself or the Wreckers, he left with his new
allies. (Fantastic Four I#405 - BTS) - Just as Arno
unleashed a blast at Machine Man, he was plucked from that Earth
to Earth-616 by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, "Where is Machine
Man? The blast should have destroyed him! The metal monster was
standing right in front of me moments ago!" (Thor Corps#2) - Iron Man an his Ironbots
fought Machine Man and the Midnight Wreckers. A time-traveling
Thunderstrike briefly popped onto the scene, dodging blasts from
the Ironbots and Iron Man, and then returning fire with an energy
blast from his mace that sent Iron Man flying. Thunderstrike then
vanished through another portal, pulled by Beta Ray Bill. (Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three)
- A time-traveling Spider-Man and Cable, as well as their
ally, Aliya of Earth-Aliya had come to Earth 2020 in search of
one of Kang's Time Platforms, which would lead them to Kang's
fortress, so that they could stop his current plot. Iron Man had
led a group of Iron-Bots to join forces with Spider-Girl, the
heroine of that part of town. Upon confronting the time-displaced
heroes, Iron Man had collapsed the roof one them, leaving them
for dead. (Paradise X: Heralds#1
- BTS) - Iron Man 2020 was brought to the Earth X moonbase of
that timeline's X-51, where he revealed that he had murdered his
reality's Machine Man. COMMENTS: Created by Tom DeFalco and
Herb Trimpe. Earth 2020 is a dimension
common to a number of beings. It was first seen in Machine Man
II#1, but it soon came to be seen to be temporary home of Death's
Head (Freelance Peacekeeping Agent), the home of Dr. Evelyn
Necker (and thus Death's Head (Minion) and his prequels, sequels,
etc.), and presumably of Wild Thing (Nikki Doyle). Unlike Earth-616
and its sliding timescale, the world of Earth 2020 seems to be
focused around the specific era of 2020 AD, with the heroic era (equivalent
to the "Modern Era" on Earth-616) having occurred @ 40
years in the past. Essentially, events in the MU occurred as they
did on Earth-616 up to the stories published in the mid-1980s.
After that, it's up for debate. The closest spin-off point one can see for
Earth 2020 is Iron Man Annual#11. As pointed out by our own Luis
Dantas, in that issue, Sunset Bain obtained the original Machine
Man for repairs, and took advantage of the occasion to duplicate
Aaron. IIRC there were significative hints that the
duplicate was in fact the 2020 version of Machine Man: Chronology of Machine Man 2020 Courtesy of a VH1 site "Formed in 1979 in New York City, USA,
the Plasmatics were a theatrical hardcore band that incorporated
into its performances such violent acts as blowing up Cadillacs
and chainsawing guitars in half...."
Meanwhile, Hassle was tortured by Bain's
agent, Dr. Cyclobe, but she refused to yield any info on the
location of Sanctuary. After her first session, she escaped from
a pair of guards, grabbed a skycycle, and headed to Sanctuary--little
realizing that she had been "bugged" and was actually
providing Sanctuary's location by traveling there.
Does anyone know where we're headed?
East, my friend...
East--?! Why East?
Why not?
Zarrko then transferred Iron Man back to 2020.
Machine Man and his four Wrecker allies found
the buried heroes and rescued them. The Wreckers helped them find
the Time Platform, and when Iron Man and his allies approached,
they were convinced to avoid the fight--after a lengthy argument--by
Cable. They left to fight another day.
http://www.plasmatics.com/
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Ancient Wrecker is the future incarnation of:
Bones
Brain
Machine Man is the future incarnation of:
Sanctuary
Slick
Swift
Ancient Wrecker
The alternate future incarnation of Machine Man's old ally, "Gears" Garvin, he founded the Midnight Wreckers and Sanctuary.
--Machine Man II#3 (November, 1984);
(Machine Man II#3,4
The leader of the field Wreckers based at Sanctuary, he headed up the capture of Machine Man's group. After the Ancient Wrecker gave them the ok, he attended a party in their honor, and helped fight off the attack by Iron Man and his allies.
--Machine Man II#3 (November, 1984)
Surprisingly enough, the brains of the Midnight Wreckers, it was he who rebuilt Machine Man. Though he tried to appear objective, analytical, and cold, he clearly carried a torch for Hassle, which he expressed to her after she returned from being captured by the Bainies. He was never shy about combat, and was always in the heart of any battle, using conventional weapons, or using advanced technology to shut down robot attackers.
--Machine Man II#1 (2-4, Thor Corps#2, Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three
The most conservative of the Midnight Wreckers, she was always aware of the potential dangers. She warned the other Wreckers of these risks, hence her nickname. The one threat she missed was the possibility that the Bainies had wanted her to escape from them, and she unwittingly led them back to the Sancturary. She and Brain had an obvious attraction. Despite her awareness of risks, she always fought hard for herself and her allies. It was her sacrifice that enabled the other Wreckers to escape the Bainies summoned by Broadani.
--Machine Man II#1 (2-4, Thor Corps#2, Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three
Machine Man
Defeated in the mid-1980s (or
about 40 years before the "2020" era), Machine Man was
captured by his old enemy, Sunset Bain (formerly Madame Menace),
who had him dismantled and kept in storage. When the code on his
packaging became outdated in September, 2020, a mindless servo-drone
of Baintronics had him cast into a dump, from which he was
salvaged by the Midnight Wreckers. He was rebuilt by Brain, who
gave him a fresh coat of red paint, to replace his faded purple.
His presence (or should it be absence?) was detected by Sunset
Bain, who sent her Bainies and the mercenary Iron Man after him.
With the aid of his new allies, the Wreckers, he fought off a
series of attacks and ultimately confronted Sunset and forced her
to agree to cease her attacks. Machine Man was somewhat
distraught to find his old confidant Jocasta at Bain's side, but
headed off to find a purpose in his new world when she elected to
stay by Sunset's side.
He stayed by the Wreckers' side and had
several more encounters with Iron Man, who eventually claimed to
have killed him.
--Machine Man II#1 (2-4, [Fantastic four I#405 (fb)], Thor Corps#2, Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three, [Paradise X: The Heralds#1 (fb)]
The floating fortress of the Midnight Wreckers, it was first established by the Ancient Wrecker and existed high above the Canadian North Woods. Brain, Slick, and Swift fled with Machine Man here in order to hide out from the Bainies, but Hassle unwittingly led their enemies to it. The fortress was crippled by an assault by Iron Man and his agents, but Machine Man saved it from crashing to the ground. Presumably, after Machine Man and his allies left, the Sanctuary was relocated to prevent the Bainies from attacking it again.
--Machine Man II#3 (November, 1984);
(Machine Man II#3, 4
He engaged in a regular regimen of physical fitness and was a skilled combatant. He had an interest in retro (or classical, as he referred to it) music, such as the Plasmatics.
--Machine Man II#1 (2-4, Thor Corps#2, Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three
The wild one of the group, she took any risk, engaged any foe, often just for the heck of it. Still, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and allies.
"Do you want to live forever?"
--Machine Man II#1 (2-4, Thor Corps#2, Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three
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Other appearances:
Machine Man II#2-4 (November, 1984 - January, 1985) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Barry Windsor-Smith (inks), Larry Hama (editor)
Fantastic Four I#405 (October, 1995) - Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan (writers), Paul Ryan (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks),
Thor Corps#2 (October, 1993) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Pat Oliffe (artist), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow: Book Three
Paradise X: Heralds#1 (December, 2001) - Jim Krueger & Alex Ross (writers), Steve Pugh (artist), Mike Marts (editor)
Avengers III#42 (July, 2001) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 12/22/2003
Last updated: 12/26/2003
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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