CAPTAIN AMERICA MEGA MORPH
Classification: Extradimensional (Earth-50810)
terrestrial technology
Creator: Tony Stark (Iron Man) (Earth-50810)
User/Possessors: Captain America (Earth-50810)
Location:
Stark Industries warehouse, secret location, USA (Earth-50810)
First Appearance: Mega Morphs#1 (October, 2005)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Captain
America model of the Mega Morph, like other Mega Morphs designed and
built by
Tony
Stark, is uniquely tailored to the powers of its singular pilot. It
also amplifies these powers.
The exact composition and how the Mega
Morph achieves such a close match with the pilot is unrevealed (see
comments) and may be unique to Earth-50810, but it
is able to duplicate Captain America enhanced reflexes while
he is piloting it. In its humanoid form, the Mega Morph carries a gun
that discharges concussive energy discs that can rebound off hard
objects; this gun enlarges instantly from a hidden wrist mount
(possibly via Pym Particles). The mecha also carries an giant shield
for additional armor
protection, which hides extendable rotor blades for its secondary
helicopter configuration.
It has two modes:
a giant humanoid mecha battlesuit called "Cap-Bot" (see comments),
which stands about 40' tall, and can transform into "Warbird", a
helicopter jet vehicle that can fly at subsonic speeds. The pilot's
seat at the front appears to have a
simple neural wave interface to link with its pilot's powers, although
intuitive manual
controls are still required to activate certain machine functions, such
as piloting and weapons/defenses,
and to trigger
transformations. The helicopter mode can launch missiles; while these
are nestled in the shoulders in mecha mode, they seem to only be used
in helicopter mode.
Each Mega Morph also has a radio
communications device and a tracking beacon.
History:
(Mega Morphs: Captain America mini comic (fb) - BTS)
- Tony Stark developed next-generation super-hero battle gear he called
Mega Morphs, each powered by the unique abilities of the super-hero it
had been built for. But the plans were stolen by the nefarious Dr.
Octopus, so Stark enlisted five heroes - Captain America,
Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Hulk and Spider-Man - and equipped them with
their own
custom Mega Morphs to counter Dr. Octopus, who was also gathering
components for a secret weapon.
(Mega Morphs: Captain America mini comic) - In his
Mega
Morph's helicopter mode, Captain America tracked down Dr. Octopus to
Liberty Island in New York, where the villain, in his own self-made
Mega Morph, had finished strapping rockets to the Statue of Liberty.
Captain America transformed his machine into mecha mode and challenged
Dr. Octopus, who instead viciously attacked The mecha-to-mecha
duel distracted the hero long enough for Dr. Octopus to launch the
Statue far away while the villain also quickly fled. Captain America
felt helpless as he could not pursue either fast enough; Stark asked
him to return to base.
(Mega Morphs: Dr. Octopus mini comic) - Dr. Octopus
finished creating his weapon to sap the super-powers of every
super-hero on Earth. The five heroes rushed in their Mega Morphs to
stop him atop Mt. Everest, but were too late. Initially, the heroes'
Mega Morphs seemed not to respond to the depowered heroes, but Ghost
Rider rallied them to use their willpower, and the pilots regained
control of their Mega Morphs to smash the weapon, saving the day.
(Mega Morphs#1 (fb) - BTS) - The six Mega Morphs
(including Dr. Octopus') were stored in a secret Stark Industries
warehouse.
(Mega Morphs#1) - Weeks later, the Hulk,
surreptitiously mind-controlled by Dr. Doom, freed Dr. Octopus (Doom's
pawn) and retrieved the Mega Morphs for Hulk and Dr. Octopus, but
smashed the remaining four. Stark and Spider-Man later surveyed the
damage.
(Mega Morphs#1 - BTS) - Stark and his workers quickly
repaired the remaining Mega Morphs.
(Mega Morphs#1) - In
his own Mega Morph, Captain
America carried the Wolverine Mega Morph to the Xavier Institute,
seeking Wolverine's immediate assistance, although Wolverine seemed
embarrassed about it. The two Mega Morphs then rushed off to help
Spider-Man and Ghost Rider, who were under attack by augmented
Doombots.
(Mega Morphs#2) - Captain America and Wolverine
joined the fight against the giant Doombots;
Captain America fired weapons in helicopter mode before transforming
and smashing a Doombot with his shield.
Victorious, they flew up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, parking them
on deck, while the pilots learned of the next threat -- Dr. Octopus and
the mind-controlled Hulk were stealing the giant robot Red Ronin in
Iceland.
(Mega Morphs#3) - The four heroes rushed in their
Mega Morphs, but Dr. Doom had already taken remote control of Red
Ronin. Combined attacks were attempted, even Captain America using his
Mega Morph to throw Wolverine in his machine in a "fastball special",
but Red Ronin's overwhelming
size aced them until the Hulk, now free of mind control and still in
his Mega Morph, delivered the decisive blow in felling the giant robot.
(Mega Morphs#4) - S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered that Dr.
Doom had sent kamikaze Doombots to Washington, DC, and the heroes again
rushed to intercept in their Mega Morphs, only to discover that it was
a trap; the Doombots were exploding only near the Mega Morphs.
The heroes' machines sustained damage, but eventually Stark was able to
override the Doombots' programming and send them back to Latveria. The
pilots followed with Fury in a S.H.I.E.L.D. craft, but left their
mighty mechas behind because of the
threat of the Doombots.
Comments: Developed by Toy Biz and Marvel
Comics.
Comic version adapted by Sean McKeever (writer), Lou Kang (pencils),
Pat Davidson (inks).
The two modes,
"Cap-Bot"(??) and "Warbird" were not used in-story, but came from a
full-page Toy Biz
advert found in contemporary Marvel comics (e.g., Marvel Team-Up
III#12) (see inset at bottom of
page).
Mega Morphs were a 2005 toy line developed by Toy Biz and Marvel incorporating popular Marvel characters (oddly only males), and were similar to the Transformers line of toys in that they were humanoid in shape and, with a few clicks and twists, could turn into a different machine -- but unlike Transformers, these Mega Morphs incorporated pilots (similar to Gundams and other mecha). (Catch the exciting TV ad on YouTube!) The Mega Morphs included mini comics (with nine models produced in total - see image at right for Captain America's). However, it was not confirmed that this took place on an alternate Earth until 10 years later in Web Warriors.
So how did Tony Stark develop Mega Morphs that could be tuned so specifically to a certain hero's powers, be they mutant, cosmic, gamma, serum or hellfire-derived? Could it be similar to the Super-Adaptoid's hypothetical composition of unstable molecules (pioneered by Reed Richards on Earth-616) to mimic the abilities of skilled human beings, albeit at a more primitive level on this Earth? Alternatively, when Dr. Octopus-50810 appeared in his Mega Morph in Web Warriors, crossing into another universe, he lamented the absence of "Funtanium" to build his "accessories" (WW#9), so maybe this hitherto unknown/unique element is the secret to the suits' adaptability (however, Dr. Octopus stole the plans from Stark and built his own Mega Morph, so it's debatable whether it applies to all the Mega Morphs).
The artwork seemed to sometimes vary the height of the Mega Morph, but generally it seemed to be about 40' tall in mecha mode.
Marvel released a four-issue Mega Morphs series
tie-in with the toys, which was later collected in digest form.
Additionally,
each toy came with a mini comic showcasing that mega Morph in action.
The digest included the six mini comics for the first wave of six
Mega Morphs (Series 1: Doc Ock, Spider-Man, Wolverine;
Series 2: Captain America, Ghost Rider, Hulk), but not the last three
(Series 3: Iron Man, Thing,
Venom), which
admittedly have their own short story arc (by a different writer) that
sort of acts like an
epilogue (or post-credits scene). Please note that the mini comics
don't include indicia information, so the comic title is derived from
the cover. I'm not 100% sure on the release dates of the mini
comics (which came with the toys), but as far as I can tell, the first
set was timed with the Marvel limited series.
I imagine they'd be called Smega-Morphs if they
appeared on the UK TV scifi-comedy series "Red Dwarf" (sorry, half the
time that's what goes through my head!).
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Captain America Mega Morph of Earth-50810 has no known connections to:
images: (without
ads)
Mega Morphs: Captain America mini comic, cover (main image)
Mega Morphs#3, p9, pan1 (helicopter mode)
Mega Morphs: Captain America mini comic, cover, p4, pan5 (shield gun)
Mega Morphs#3, p12, pan1 (transforming)
Appearances:
Mega Morphs#1 (October, 2005) - Sean McKeever (writer), Lou Kang
(pencils), Pat Davidson (inks), John Barber (editor)
Mega Morphs: Captain America mini comic (October, 2005) - Sean McKeever
(writer), Lou Kang (pencils), Pat Davidson (inks), John Barber (editor)
Mega Morphs: Dr. Octopus mini comic (October, 2005) - Sean McKeever
(writer), Lou Kang (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inks), John Barber (editor)
Mega Morphs#2 (October, 2005) - Sean McKeever (writer), Lou Kang
(pencils), Pat Davidson (inks), John Barber (editor)
Mega
Morphs#3 (November, 2005) - Sean McKeever (writer), Lou Kang (layouts),
Logan Lubera (pencils), Craig Yeung (inks), John Barber (editor)
Mega Morphs#4 (December, 2005) - Sean McKeever (writer), Lou Kang
(pencils), Pat Davidson (inks), John Barber (editor)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 07/04/2024
Last Updated:
07/04/2024
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