In Star Spangled Comics 81 (June 1948), DC’s Robotman faced the inevitable mirror-image foe, an evil Robotman.
In his secret identity, Paul Dennis, Robotman learns that his inventor friend Russel Carter has perfected a humanoid robot to handle household tasks. When thugs kidnap Carter to learn his secrets, Robotman goes after them but overhears the criminals saying they’ll murder Carter at the first sign of trouble.
So instead of smashing his way in, Robotman disguises himself as Carter’s prototype robot. But then the prototype shows up and throws a piano at the Man of Metal, following up with a blowtorch attack. No matter. Robotman tosses him onto the scrap heap.
“The word ‘robot’ entered the English language in 1923, with the opening of Karel Capek’s famous play about them in New York and London,” recalled comics historian Don Markstein. “Almost immediately, they began turning up in science fiction stories of all types, frequently in minor, menial positions (the word means ‘worker’ in Czech).”
“Sci-fi writer Otto Binder … was probably the first to humanize them, in his short stories about a robot named Adam Link. The first of which hit print at the start of 1939.”
In Star Spangled Comics 7 (April 1942), writer Jerry Siegel and artists Leo Nowak and Paul Cassidy launched the feature, telling us how scientist Robert Crane was fatally shot by a criminal named Mason. Like the later RoboCop, Crane’s brain is implanted in a robot body. Losing some of his humanity, the cyborg gains super strength and durability, as well as extendable limbs and the power to emit thermal blasts.
“Siegel includes an amusing reference to Siegel’s most famous hero Superman, and an accurate comparison of Robotman to Superman,” noted comics historian Michael E. Grost. “Superman is described as ‘the Superman we read about in the funnies.’ The tale does NOT try to make Robotman and Superman share the same ‘universe.’ Instead, Robotman is seen as analogous to an earlier comics hero.”
The Man of Metal proved nearly as durable in reality as he was in fiction, starring in 140 stories over 11 years. The feature appeared in Star Spangled Comics from issue 7 (April 1942) to 82 (July 1948), then in Detective Comics from issue 138 (Aug. 1948) to 202 (Dec. 1953).
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