MANIPULATOR

Real Name: Inapplicable

Identity/Class: Terrestrial robot

Occupation: Manipulating others to examine their personalities

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: "The Company" ([possibly CIA or FBI?] including agent Marsden, agent Stern), Machinesmith (creator);
    formerly Mr. Gottlieb, Mr. Jackson, Brian Muldoon (limited profile under Cowled Commander), Winnie, two unidentified crimelords

Enemies: Beast (Hank McCoy), Captain America (Steve Rogers)

Known Relatives: "Parents" (false programmed memories, see comments)

Aliases: Two-Face (as called by a crimelord)

Base of Operations: His base, presumably within Manhattan, New York

First Appearance: Avengers I#178 (December, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: The Manipulator used knowledge of his opponents to make them pawns of their innermost longings and unconscious motives. As a robot, he was immune to aging, conventional disease, toxins, and some forms of injury. He had no need for food, air, water, etc., although his power source was unrevealed.

He used a memory stimulator device that affected a massive indiscriminate stimulation of memory cells, causing the target to re-experience a deluge of past events and to be unable to distinguish them from the present. The target was prone to obeying the Manipulator because he or she thought that he or she was simply living out a past memory. In addition, the subject was exceptionally responsive to new conditioning when the memories subsided; this memory stimulator could be fired from a small handheld box or from the Manipulator's own right eye.

He also used holographic equipment and/or other technology to affect the emotions of others.

Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Strawberry-blond (only in false memory as a child)

Distinguishing Features: The Manipulator had fully functional faces on the front and back of his head; both were capable of speaking and showing facial expressions.

History:
(Captain America I#249 (fb) - BTS) - The Machinesmith created the Manipulator robot and programmed it to believe it was human, and even gave it false childhood memories of having a dis-functional family (see comments).

(Avengers I#178 (fb) - BTS) - The Manipulator allied himself with "the Company's" agents Marsden and Stern, plotting to convict a quartet of crimelords. The Manipulator employed the woman Winnie as part of his plan to use the Beast to accomplish his mission.

(Avengers I#178) - The Manipulator sent the image of a messianic figure to appear before the Beast, which claimed to be dying to expunge the desolation in the Beast's soul. The messianic figure spoke several truths about the Beast's insecurities and emotional concerns before being seemingly disintegrated by a lightning bolt. The Beast was haunted by the experience, leaving him unnerved. A week later, the Beast shared his concerns with Winnie while they were on a date; he told her that he thought it was his own disconnectedness from human beings that was what needed to die. Wishing he could help an individual rather than the world, the Beast readily agreed to Winnie's request to steal a certain little black box--which she claimed had belonged to her father--from a penthouse apartment at 477 York Avenue.

   At the same time, the Manipulator met with Mr. Gottlieb, Mr. Jackson, and two other crimelords, offering to share his manipulation techniques with them for 10 million dollars (split four ways). They were reluctant until the Beast arrived and fell into the Manipulator's trap; after being caught in an electrified cage and then opening the box, the Beast was blasted with the memory stimulator, which temporarily put him under the Manipulator's control. After the Manipulator revealed how the device worked, the crimelords were more than happy to pay his fee. However, no sooner had he received their payments (in check form), then he blasted them all with the memory stimulator in his eye. The Manipulator then invited Marsden and Stern in--Stern made an anonymous phone-call to the police, which would lead to the arrest of the four crimelords. The two agents paid the Manipulator a hefty sum of cash before departing, thinking that the Manipulator's technology would be useful in case super-heroes ever turned against the government.

   The Manipulator was long gone as the Beast regained his mind and departed, while Marsden and Stern were visited by the messianic figure, who told them he had come to die for them...

(Captain America I#242 (fb) - BTS) - The Manipulator accepted payment from Brian Muldoon to "bump off" Captain America.

(Captain America I#242) - The Manipulator brought Captain America to his base, where he used robots and illusions to pit Captain America's nature as the living symbol of freedom against his nature as the ultimate soldier. The Manipulator used false versions of the Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Vision), Peggy Carter, Sharon Carter, Dum Dum Dugan, the Falcon, Nick Fury, Gabe Jones, and the Red Skull against Captain America, all the while trying to calm Muldoon, who was furious when the Manipulator kept letting chances to kill Captain America pass. Eventually Muldoon got tired of waiting and went after Captain America himself, when the hero seemed to collapse in despair after witnessing a re-creation of Sharon Carter's seeming death by fire. Captain America, who had been faking, dropped Muldoon, after which the Manipulator--who claimed to have known Captain America would not fall for his tricks, and to have actually been studying Muldoon rather than Cap--revealed his presence. The Manipulator explained how he was interested in seeing how helpless Captain America would have to appear before Muldoon overcame his fear of him enough to personally attack him. The Manipulator further explained that he had committed no crime, and had actually helped Captain America by flushing Muldoon out in a controlled situation.

   Muldoon revived and shot at Captain America, who deflected the bullet with his shield and then knocked out Muldoon. However, Cap was then surprised to see that the bullet had hit the Manipulator in the face, revealing him to be a robot. The Manipulator mocked Captain America's claims, fully believing himself to be as human as Captain America himself, until he reached up and touched the exposed circuitry on his face. Unable to cope with not being human and to have been the ultimate victim of manipulation, the Manipulator shut down and collapsed.

(Captain America I#247) - The remains of the Manipulator robot were seen on one of the Machinesmith's work-benches.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Carmine Infantino, and Rudy Nebres.
    Revealed as robot by Steven Grant.






The Manipulator told Muldoon a false origin, which he himself believed to be true:

His father was the world to him, but while he was growing up, his father was being slowly destroyed by his unfulfilled dreams and fears, and by forces and pressures he couldn't understand. He was destroyed by a nagging wife and an over-bearing boss and a world that ate his fears and needs. After his father killed himself, the young boy vowed he would not follow in his father's footsteps. He fully mastered himself--through the study and application of behavioral sciences. Now, having no desires of his own, he used his knowledge to earn a living..."even I must eat, after all."

I wonder if this history could have come from Machinesmith's past?

That coiled snake emblem that was originally on the Manipulator's chest was later depicted as only a spiraling circle in Captain America I#242.

Thanks to John Kaminski for pointing out the appearance in Captain America I#247.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Manipulator (Machinesmith's robot) has known connection to:

Messianic figure

Wearing rags and bearing scars, it was hologram, illusion, robot, or other; it appeared before the Manipulator's victims, claiming to be dying to save them from themselves. It first confronted the Beast before seemingly being consumed by a lighting bolt.

It would later appear before agents Marsden and Stern, with the same claim for them.

--Avengers I#178

(Comment: While telling his doubting fellow Avengers about his experience involving the figure, the Beast mentioned, "I felt his weight against my body!"--that would seem to imply that the figure had substance, so it may have been a robot.)

crimelords

Mr. Gottlieb (bald), Mr. Jackson (light brown hair), and two other crimelords (Warington mentioned), each was the leader of some unspecified criminal organization

They were summoned by the Manipulator, allegedly to be sold the means to control the Beast and other super-humans; but upon paying up, they were stunned by the Manipulator's eye-beam. Agents Marsden and Stern then arrived and made an anonymous phone-call to the police, telling them where they could find the crimelords and the evidence of their crimes.

--Avengers I#178

agents Marsden and Stern

Agents of "the Company," Marsden (blue suit) and Stern (brown suit) worked with the Manipulator to bring in the crimelords and discussed how his technology could be used to control super-heroes if they ever turned against the government.

They later became pawns of the Manipulator and were visited by his Messianic figure.

--Avengers I#178

Winnie

Winnie (last name unrevealed) was an apparent employee of the Manipulator; she went on a date with the Beast and played on his insecurities.

She later manipulated the Beast into stealing a little black box from a penthouse apartment by telling him that it had been stolen from her father.

--Avengers I#178

images: (without ads)
Avengers I#178, p11, pan3 (main image - Manipulator)
Avengers I#178, p11, pan4 (profile headshot - Manipulator's two faces)
Avengers I#178, p12, pan2 (headshot - Manipulator)
Avengers I#178, p12, pan1 (Manipulator's face and coiled snake chest emblem)
Captain America I#242, p17, pan1-2 (Manipulator revealed to be a robot)
Captain America I#247, p17, pan2 (Manipulator robot on work-bench, amongst Machinesmith's other robots)
Captain America I#242, p4, pan2 (Manipulator's false childhood memories of his parents)
Captain America I#242, p3, pan3 (Manipulator with spiraling circle chest emblem)
Avengers I#178, p5, pan4 (Messianic figure confronts Beast [left])
Avengers I#178, p14, pan4 (crimelords; Gottlieb [bald], Jackson [light brown hair] [background])
Avengers I#178, p16, pan3 (Marsden, Stern)
Avengers I#178, p17, pan5 (Marsden and Stern encounter Messianic figure)
Avengers I#178, p11, pan2 (Winnie manipulates Beast into stealing black box)

Appearances:
Avengers I#178 (December, 1978) - Steve Gerber (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks), Nel Yomtov (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Roger Stern (editor)
Captain America I#242 (February, 1980) - Steven Grant (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), George Roussos (colors), Clem Robins (letters), Roger Stern (editor)
Captain America I#247 (July, 1980) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (writer/pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), George Roussos (colors), Jim Novak (letters), Jim Salicrup (editor)

First posted: 06/14/2005
Last updated: 09/19/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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