WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Man 2020 #1 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Pete Woods and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Marvel is just in the beginning of its Iron Man 2020 event, which sees Tony Stark's brother, Arno Stark, replace him as the Armored Avenger. Arno already comes across as an even bigger jerk and narcissist than Tony, but he does have good intentions. Arno is obsessed with stopping a creature called the Extinction Entity from consuming the Earth. And if that wasn't enough on his plate, there is also the rise of the Robot Rebellion to contend with.
Artificial Intelligence is tired of being treated poorly by humanity, so A.I. and robots from across the Marvel Universe are uniting like never before. One of the key generals in the Robot Revolution is Aaron Stack, aka Machine Man. When he rescues a bomb disposal robot from a life of serving "the man," Machine Man takes it to the Thirteenth Floor, which acts as a secret hideout for Marvel robots. Think of the Thirteenth Floor as one half robo-club scene, another half safe haven.
The bomb disposal robot immediately geeks out over the celebrities walking the halls, from Quasimodo to the Fantastic Four's H.E.R.B.I.E. However, one name stands out from the group: Albert, the easily forgotten robot double of Wolverine.
Meet Albert, Wolverine's Robot Doppelganger
Wolverine has made a lot of enemies over the years, and one in particular, Donald Pierce, decided to strike at Logan by creating his android counterpart, called Albert. Of course, since Pierce and his Reavers are cybernetically enhanced humans, it only makes sense for Pierce to use another robot to strike at Wolverine.
Created by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri, Albert debuted in 1991's Wolverine #37 and was paired with an android girl named Elsie Dee. Elsie's appearance as a regular human girl was meant to draw out Wolverine, then the bomb inside her would explode and theoretically kill the hero. Elsie is the one who names Albert after Albert Einstein. She also uses her vast intelligence to upgrade his brain and strength.
When Marvel brought Wolverine back to life, it launched four different Hunt for Wolverine miniseries to explore his comeback. Hunt for Wolverine: Weapon Lost tasked Daredevil with assembling the investigative team of Misty Knight, the Inhuman detective Frank McGee and the young mutant Cypher to unravel the mystery behind Wolverine's return.
Their search took them to Saskatchewan, Canada, where they found and subdued Albert, though Cypher is injured during the battle. When Cypher used his mutant powers over technology to heal Albert, one of Albert's first acts was to wonder about the whereabouts of Elsie Dee, which means she may still be out in the wild.
Though Albert only made a small cameo appearance in Iron Man 2020 #1, he will have a larger role to play in a spinoff miniseries. The back of the issue provided readers with an Iron Man 2020 checklist, revealing a two-issue iWolverine series that had not been publicly announced by Marvel. iWolverine #1 comes out before Iron Man 2020 #5, the penultimate issue of that event, with the second issue falling right before Iron Man 2020's conclusion.
By the time Iron Man 2020 wraps up, Albert may find himself with a new role in the Marvel Universe. Wolverine already has X-23, Gabby and Daken, but there is always room for another addition to his extended family.