Luther Manning
Colonel Luther Manning is an American soldier from Detroit, Michigan, who, after being fatally injured, is reanimated as a cyborg by Simon Ryker in a post-apocalyptic future. He verbally communicates with his symbiotic computer, to which he refers as the abbreviated "'Puter".[8] After escaping from Ryker's control,[9] Manning battles the evil corporate and military regimes that have taken over the US, while simultaneously struggling to retain his humanity. He battles Ryker and the first Warwolf, and he encounters his wife and son for the first time after becoming a cyborg.[10]
After being transported to the present day,[11] Deathlok is controlled by Mentallo and the Fixer and is sent to assassinate the President, but is stopped by the Thing and Nick Fury.[12] After his capture, he becomes catatonic and is taken to England for treatment.[13] Roxxon creates a fully robotic clone of Deathlok, who is sent to sabotage Project Pegasus. The robot battles the Thing and Quasar before self-destructing.[14]
The real Deathlok, now working for the Brand Corporation, battles Captain America and a time-traveling clone of himself.[15] Some time later, the "mainstream timeline" Luther Manning begins dreaming that he is Deathlok.[16]
Manning eventually returns to his own time and overthrows the megalomaniac who had taken over the country. Manning remains in his near-future alternate reality, searching for a purpose in life and unable to disconnect himself from the machine bonded to him.
Manning later returns to the present day, where he lives in solitude until he is apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. Manning is kidnapped by the supervillain Owl and put up for auction as a weapon. Before a sale can be completed, he is stolen by the Hood and sent on a kamikaze decoy run.
During the "One World Under Doom" storyline, Deathlok is abducted from his reality by Doctor Doom and imprisoned in an underground facility in Latveria to serve as part of Doom's think tank. Deathlok, Thunderbolt Ross, Simon Ryker, and Machine Man escape the facility and travel to the border of Latveria, only to be arrested for treason.[17]
John Kelly
Kelly first appeared as Deathlok in Marvel Comics Presents #62. This version of Deathlok was originally controlled by Kelly until its systems determined that Kelly's brain function was detrimental to its completion of the "First Run" program. The Deathlok unit then completed its mission. Kelly's brain was removed from the cyborg and disposed of. One of Simon Ryker's assistants took the brain presumably for use in the SIEGE unit. This version was made for the United States Army by Harlan Ryker, the CIA's Deathlok-program co-head and Ryker's brother, after studying Luther Manning's cyborg body. The Kelly Deathlok later became known as Siege.[18]
Michael Collins
Professor Michael Collins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a pacifist working for the Roxxon cybernetics corporation Cybertek. Upon discovery of the Deathlok program, he is shot with a sedative by Harlan Ryker and his brain is transplanted into the body of the John Kelly Deathlok cyborg. The machine is used against rebels fighting against Roxxon's influence in the fictional South American country of Estrella. Collins regains his consciousness during this mission and stops himself from killing a small child.
Although his brain was intended to serve only as a medium for the robot's programming, Collins is able to assert his will over it, installing a "no-killing parameter" into its programming.[19] The computer is fully willing to listen to Collins, though he must take care to present his orders in a way that helps fulfill the mission and keep people from dying.[20] Collins learns that his human body is still alive, and encounters Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.[21]
In miniseries Beyond!, the cosmic being the Stranger (pretending to be the Beyonder
Jack Truman/Larry Young
Jack Truman, also known as Agent 18, is an agent of the international espionage outfit S.H.I.E.L.D. who was transformed into a cyborg to battle the Red Skull. Through telepathic means, he swaps his consciousness with that of Larry Young, his rival and a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Young is considered as a "potential recruit" for the Initiative program.[23]
In the Vengeance mini-series, Truman is still trapped in Larry Young's body, while Young is unable to adapt to Truman's cyborg body. He is unable to function without appropriate maintenance, with his body seen rusting in a junk yard.
Project: Deathlok
During the "Dark Reign" storyline, a H.A.M.M.E.R. strike force consisting of corpses animated with crude bionics was sent to capture a super-soldier research center known as "The World". These models acted like traditional zombies, craving brains. Their mission was unsuccessful and as a result, the research group which produced them, called "Project: Deathlok", was scrapped.[24]
Death Locket
In the Avengers Arena series, part of the Marvel NOW! event, a female teenage version of Deathlok dubbed Death Locket is introduced. She is revealed to be Rebecca Ryker, the daughter of Harlan Ryker. After being maimed in an explosion that killed her mother and brother, Rebecca was rebuilt using the Deathlok technology that her father developed.[25] Arcade later kidnaps her alongside the students of the Avengers Academy and Braddock Academy and forces them to fight other teenage superhumans in his latest version of Murderworld.[26]
Henry Hayes
A new Deathlok debuted during the "Original Sin" storyline. Henry Hayes worked at Doctors Without Borders. During his duty, he lost a leg in a suicide bomber attack in Kandahar (or was brainwashed into thinking he did). Hayes was taken care of by the company Biotek, who provided him with a composite fiber prosthesis. Upon being placed under mind-control, Hayes became Deathlok, where he was used as an assassin, a soldier, a killer, a fighter, and an operative. He had participated in at least one armed conflict alongside organized troops, and assassinated countless people even in populated areas. Hayes was often memory-wiped and did not remember his assignments. While at MTA Metro-North station, he tried to engage discussion with another leg amputee and advised him to contact Biotek, as his own prosthesis (plastic ones, as it was the only kind his pension afforded him) forced the man to use crutches. This man left, seemingly displeased with the discussion. Immediately afterward, he met Seth Horne, an off-duty S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was present when the Eye of the Watcher exploded, releasing a blast of energy which revealed deep secrets to anyone in its radius. To Horne, it revealed Hayes' true story. This level 4 agent wanted to congratulate him, stating that S.H.I.E.L.D. would wish to have him in their ranks. As Hayes really did not know what Horne was talking about, he threatened to call the authorities, forcing the agent to leave after a last congratulations. Immediately, Hayes was ordered to kill him as the announcement board of the station indicated the words "Whiskey David", triggering Hayes' Deathlok persona. After following Seth Horne into the restroom, Deathlok quickly executed him, left, took some medications, and returned to his civilian life heading to the train to join his daughter Aria.[27]
Jemma Simmons
In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic book, Jemma Simmons is transformed into a Deathlok by Henry Hayes to save her life after she is infected with an unknown substance and rendered comatose.[28]
Deathloks of Lingares
During the "Iron Man 2020" event, Force Works encounters a group of Deathloks on the island of Lingares who overwhelm and capture them. War Machine is rescued by MODOK Superior, who is revealed to have created the Deathloks to help him gain control of Ultimo and transform into Ulti-MODOK. War Machine briefly transforms himself into a Deathlok to control the other Deathloks, who follow Ulti-MODOK into a lava-filled chasm.[29]
