CIRCUIT BREAKER

Real Name: Josephine "Josie" Beller

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Robot hunter,
   former Blackrock computer technician and inventor/designer

Group Membership: Techno-X (Phase, Rapture/Katrina Vesotsky, Symbiosis, Thunderpunch/Lee Gruber)

Affiliations: G.B. Blackrock;
   formerly Dynamo (Hector Dialonzo)

Enemies: Deathlok (Michael Collins), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Machine Man (X-51), Sentinels, Ultron, Vision ("Victor Shade")

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed 

First Appearance: Secret Wars II#3 (September, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Circuit Breaker's exoskeleton enable her to store and direct large amounts of electricity. Using the atomic-powered micro-batteries incorporated into the circuitry she can also violently discharge large amounts of electricity as an attack. Despite all these special features, her suit's main function is to act as a surrogate nervous system, allowing her complete motion despite her damaged natural nervous system. To an observer the suit appears to be metal tape, but underneath is printed circuitry.

  

Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 140 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
 Hair: Blonde

  

History:
(Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club#41 (fb) - BTS) - After Josie Beller was crippled by Ultron, she came to hate all robots and, after regaining her mobility via a high-tech exoskeleton, she became the vigilante Circuit Breaker.

(Secret Wars II#3) - Circuit Breaker encountered the Beyonder after he had started a multiversal attempt to fulfill his desires by taking over Earths down to the molecular level. When Circuit Breaker, after thanking the Beyonder for his wise rule, commented that she hated robots because they had no free will, the Beyonder began to doubt the wisdom of his actions, and eventually relinquished his control over the Earths.

(Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club#41 - BTS/Transformers I#6-9, Transformers#41 (UK), Transformers I#18, 21-23, 45, 68, 72-75, 77-80) - Having been recruited by Blackrock for his Techno-X team, Circuit Breaker spent time in a simulation created by Rapture, practicing battling robots alongside her teammates.

 (Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club#41 - BTS) - Eventually the training program ended, and the team awoke to begin their battle. To enhance their overall combat readiness, Blackrock equipped Thunderpunch with a semi-sentient gigantic gun called Symbiosis, as well as another teammate, Blackrock's pet project the humanoid supercomputer Phase, who secretly had his own agenda. As they progressed on their mission they clashed with Ultron and Blackrock's rival businessman Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, and eventually discovered Blackrock's dirty secret.

Comments: Created by Bob Budiansky and Mike Manley, first depicted in a story by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom.

   To clarify Circuit Breaker's complicated history, quoting from the entry done years ago for her Transformers universe counterpart:
   This entry serves as a place to address the complicated issue of the relationship between the Transformers and the Marvel Universe-- and for that matter G.I. Joe and the Marvel Universe- specifically Earth-616. The first indication that the Transformers stories took place anywhere remotely within the rubric of the Marvel multiverse first happened with the appearance of Spider-Man in Transformers#3. (A footnote in that story even noted that Spider-Man wore his black symbiote costume because this story took place before Amazing Spider-Man#258!). Brief appearances or mention of Nick Fury with Dum-Dum Dugan (of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dazzler, and Reed Richards occurred in this issue. The Savage Land appeared in Transformers#4 and #8. Circuit Breaker's aforementioned appearance in Secret Wars II#3 came out around the same time as#8, and actually predated her first appearance as Circuit Breaker in the Transformers regular series.

   However, later on, the letters page of Transformers declared that the Transformers stories did not take place on Earth-616, the mainstream universe, and so such references to Marvel-owned properties declined and faded away. The continuing Decepticon/Autobot war was felt to be too disruptive to Earth-616 continuity. However, through a back door, readers eventually discovered that, while not on Earth-616, the Transformers still existed somewhere that could be reached from there.

   The best explanations for her appearance in Secret Wars II#3 entail two possibilities.

1. She had an Earth-616 counterpart whose origin did not connect to the Transformers. Plenty of malfeasant robots exist on Earth-616 (Quasimodo, Ultron, Adam-II, Nimrod, the Super-Adaptoid, the Awesome Android, Tess-One, Kree Sentry#459, the Sentinels, the Prime Mover, etc.) who could serve as substitutes for the Decepticons. Also, since Earth-616 characters such as Spider-Man have been shown to have counterparts in both Transformers continuities, why not vice versa?
--Helllllllllooooooo...Shogun Warriors!--Snood.

2. If you read Secret Wars II#3, it plays out that the Beyonder decides to take over every human being, then every living being, then inanimate objects, and then molecules. The story then shifts to other characters (Molecule Man and Volcana), and we don't pick up with the Beyonder until a few pages later. With such a progression of his thought, the Beyonder could have also said "Hey, why take control of one Earth? Why not go multiversal?" and started hoping around parallel Earths, conquering them. The Beyonder obviously could travel between dimensions (in a story published years later he even visited the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy in#38 of their title), and since Death's Head had proven that you can go from the world of Earth-120185 to Earth-616, and since Earth-120185 has enough elements (the Savage Land, Spider-Man, Mister Fantastic) to possibly qualify it as a world within the Marvel Multiverse, getting there would have been child's play for the Beyonder.

- Per Degaton

   The Beyonder's Handbook entries subsequently confirmed that Circuit Breaker does indeed have a 616 counterpart, and the Beyonder did not travel to Earth-120185 in Secret Wars II#3. This entry also includes information about the series Simon Furman hoped to use Circuit Breaker in subsequently, as part of Techno-X, a team adventuring in the regular Marvel Universe. Circuit Breaker is the only member of Techno-X to have actually appeared on Earth-616 (the mainstream Marvel universe), thanks to her debut appearance in Secret Wars II. 

   To make it clear - the top image is Circuit Breaker as a member of Techno-X; the one to the left is her in Secret Wars II in her less modest pre-team membership outfit; the one to bottom right is her final outfit while in the simulation.

   Calculating her physical stats: We have one option for comparison with a character who has official stats. She's seen standing with the Beyonder. While the position is not ideal it's still useful for approximations, and though it might rightly be pointed out that the Beyonder's official Handbook entry lists his height as variable, at the time he was in a duplicate of Steve Rogers' body, and we know Rogers is 6'2".

    This profile was completed 9/11/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS
Circuit Breaker is an alternate reality counterpart to

but has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club#41, p9, pan1 (main image)
Secret Wars II#3, p21, pan2 (Circuit Breaker meeting the Beyonder)
Transformers I#73, p9, pan5 (Circuit Breaker in simulation)

Appearances:
 Secret Wars II#3 (September, 1985) - writer, pencils, inks, editor
Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club#41 (October/November 2011)

First Posted: 09/17/2021
 Last updated: 09/16/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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