Superhero Spotlight is a new feature of Forever Geek showcasing interesting, often obscure, characters from the bowels of comic book history. If you know of a Superhero or villain you’d like to see showcased, send us an email and let us know…

Character: Machine Man

Alias: X-51, Aaron Stack

Team Affiliations: Secret Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Avengers, and Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

Other Notes: Created by Jack Kirby

History: Machine Man first appeared in a Jack Kirby issue of the ongoing 2001: A Space Oddyssey series. Issue #8 of that title introduced the world to Machine Man. A year later, in 1978, the character received his own ongoing series. In the new title, Machine Man was integrated with the Marvel Universe of characters…and was a fugitive on the run from the government after the death of his creator. The series lasted only 9 issues.

About a year later, the series picked up with issue 10, and a new creative team. This time Marv Wolfman and Steve Ditko where at the helm and set a much different tone for the series. Still, despite amazing creative teams, the series again came to a close in 1980.

The Character was reinvented several times after his initial series, appearing next in a 1984 mini series that was set in the year 2020. This alternate Marvel history would reappear several times, and it was ultimately written away that this version of the Machine Man might not be the original character, but a copy of him.

Back in the present day, the Machine Man appeared in various Avengers titles until he was given another shot at a series, this time titled X-51. This version of the hero had been infected with Sentinel programming, which resulted in him having a much more robotic look, and made him lose control whenever he was around mutants.

The character’s latest incarnation appeared in the recent Marvel Series “Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.” where his Sentinel woes had apparently been cured, and he had now returned to a more human-like appearance. This version of the character now appears to want to go by simply Aaron, but his design is a very modern version of his original costume.

Aaron, along with the other members of Nextwave all appeared on the Avengers: The Initiative promotional cover, so it appear that he will continue to have SOME presence in the Marvel Universe for the foreseeable future.

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