All throughout December, we will be examining comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked.

Today we look at the short-lived changes to the Metal Men status quo from their 1993 mini-series.

Enjoy!

The Metal Men mini-series from 1993 by Mike Carlin, Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding changed the Metal Men status quo dramatically.

First off, the Metal Men learn that they are all actually based on real life people (who promptly are killed right after this discovery)...

This leads to the revelation in the second issue of the Metal Men's REAL origin. They were humans who had their minds/souls/whatever sucked into the robots....

Pretty crazy, huh?

It got even crazier. Now, with the human bodies dead, if a Metal Men is destroyed, their is no coming back for them. This, of course, happens in the mini-series as Gold is killed for good. Will Magnus, though, goes through the process, as well, to become the NEW leader of the Metal Men and one of the Metal Men himself!!

This was not exactly a popular change, and the Metal Men made very limited appearances in this new incarnation. 52 took the opportunity to write it all off as a drug-induced hallucination by Will Magnus. Here is the explanation from 52 Week 22...

And that has been the status quo ever since.