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What’s up, everybody? Welcome back to another fantastic spotlight on a great Marvel character in Marvel Snapshot! This week, I’m doing a request from the minions out there and spotlighting Deathlok the Demolisher! Yes, that crazy cyborg is getting the royal treatment in this column right now, so let’s get to it!

Now, to begin, there have been a few different characters with the name Deathlok. I’m only going to focus on the two most prominent. Luther Manning, the original, and Michael Collins, who came along in the 90s. We’ll start off with the original of course, and then move to the latter.
Luther Manning was a soldier who was mortally wounded in battle, but was brought back to life (sort of) in the form of a cyborg. He resists the control of his creator, Simon Ryker, and flees. He does battle with Ryker a few times before he ends up teaming with a time traveling Spider-Man. He later fights Devil-Slayer, but eventually ends up alongside the mystic. He even comes to blows with Captain America himself, as well. Luther at a later point came to be cured and made human again, but this didn’t last long. He then becomes involved with Daredevil and Kingpin for a short stint. In the end, we saw Luther Manning being auctioned off by the Owl, to the Red Hood, who then uses him as a diversion to get what he wants.

Michael Collins is the gentleman’s name who became the new Deathlok in 1990. This dude was a doctor from Philadelphia, and he had a much different style, and definitely more abilities than his predecessor. He was working for the Roxxon Oil company, in the cybernetics division. They forced him into a brain transplant, and then he was used to kill rebels who were fighting against Roxxon. Collins was able to override his programming, and then set up a no killing parameter as part of his missions. Collins has some adventures with Fury and SHIELD, the Fantastic Four, and so on. This was pretty much the highlight for me, but then again, I’m not a hardcore fan of Deathlok. Collins has had a lot of bad luck in his life, but he always manages to creep right back in. He had an outer space adventure when the Stranger transported him to a distant planet to make his way.
Be sure and checkout my recommended reading list, plus some great pics below. See you next week, right back here in Marvel Snapshot!
Recommended Reading
Astonishing Tales (1970) – #25-36
Captain America (1968) – #286-289, 451
Deathlok (1990) – #1-4 (LS)
Deathlok (1991) – #1-34
Spider-Man (1990) – #20-23, 36, 37
Wolverine: Weapon X (2009) #10-#15
Uncanny X-Force (2011) #5-current)

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Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net