Long before the term science fiction was coined by Hugo Gernsback, robots were showing up in stories. The idea of mechanical men goes as far back as at least the story "The City of Brass" from the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales One Thousand and One Nights. In the centuries that have passed since then, robots have become stranger, bigger, cooler, and stronger, and Marvel Comics has played a big part in the world's growing love for robots over the last 80 years.
But which of Marvel's synthetic beings are the toughest? Which ones stand out as the ultimate powerhouses of pistons and plastic? Some of them are quite evil, while others prefer to help keep the universe safe, but each of these robots can beat the tar out of a whole lot of super-powered people without too much work. They are the strongest, most powerful artificial lifeforms in the Marvel Universe.
10 Machine Man Shows That Harmony Can Exist Between Man And Machine
Working on a US-military project to create human-like machines that could fight wars, Dr. Abel Stack took one of his robots, X-51, home to see if raising the machine in a natural human environment would help it act more human.
When the government decided to end the program, the robots were all ordered to self destruct, but Dr. Stack was able to pull out the bomb inside of X-51 before it went off. Dr. Stack died in the explosion, but X-51 lives. Now, as Machine Man, X-51 works to show the world that man and robot can live together in harmony.
9 Warlock Gets The Mutant Advantage Due To Him Declining To Participate In Patricide
A sentient form of "techno-organic" life, Warlock came to Earth from his home planet in order to stay alive. On Warlock's planet, when a child comes of age, they either kills their parent, or the parent kills the child but Warlock was born without the urge to kill his father, making him a mutant of his race.
Warlock joined the New Mutants and, using his shapeshifting abilities, often combined with the team's leader, Cypher, during combat. Not long after both Cypher and Warlock died, they returned as one being, Douglock. The who have since separated.
8 Nimrod Can Repair Itself If Injured In Battle
An advanced prototype of a Sentinel from an alternate future, Nimrod was created for a single purpose; to hunt down and kill mutants. As such, Nimrod was built to quickly determine the powers of a mutant and adjust to counter them. In effect, Nimrod can make itself the perfect killer of any of the X-Men.
This ability also allows Nimrod to repair itself during a battle, making it nearly unkillable. If Nimrod is damaged enough, it will teleport away, ensuring that it can survive long enough to fix itself before heading back out to hunt more mutants.
7 Death's Head Went Toe To Toe With The Transformers And The Doctor
A bounty hunting robot that prefers to be called a "Freelance Peace Keeping Agent", Death's Head was built by a mage named Lupex who planned to place his essence into the machine before his ailing body gave out. Lupex was unable to complete his plan after his wife Pyra stole the robot and programmed it to kill her husband. Before Death's Head was able to complete that task, it was stolen and found itself traveling through space and time.
Over the decades, Death's Head has found itself facing off against the Transformers and the Doctor from Doctor Who before it finally ended up in the Marvel Universe.
6 Awesome Andy Can Mimic The Powers Of Anyone It Touches
Originally known as Awesome Android, Awesome Andy was built by the Mad Thinker based on schematics created by Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Along with superhuman strength and durability, Awesome Andy can mimic the characteristics or powers of people it touches. In essence, if Awesome Andy touches the Thing, its skin takes on a similar look to Ben Grimm's rocky exterior.
While Awesome Andy started off as a robot used by villains to take on the Fantastic Four and other heroes, when it made contact with Thor, it absorbed the Thunder God's sense of nobility and switched sides, becoming a hero.
5 Victor Mancha Broke Away From Ultron's Programming To Become A Hero
After a particular nasty defeat at the hands of the West Coast Avengers, a version of Ultron found itself trapped as a head stuck in a landfill. This Ultron head was found by Marianella Mancha, who believed it was a prophet, and she took it home. Ultron made a deal with Marianella, promising to give her the child she had always wanted if she helped him build a new body.
Marianella helped Ultron, and in return, he kept his side of the bargain. Ultron created a new form of cyborg by combining his cybernetics with Marianella's DNA, building a machine that would be indistinguishable from a biological human. This child, Victor Mancha, was programmed by Ultron to one day kill the Avengers, but broke his programming and became a hero in his own right.
4 Vision Became One Of The Greatest Heroes In The Marvel Universe
Long before Ultron created Victor Mancha, he built his first son, Vision. Using the body of the original android Human Torch, Ultron created Vision to work as his own weapon against the Avengers. In order to give Vision a mind of his own, Ultron used the brain-waves of the dead hero Wonder Man, which proved to be a grave mistake on his part.
Vision quickly took on many characteristics of Wonder Man, including the want to do good, and turned on his creator. Since that day, Vision has become one of the greatest heroes of the Marvel Universe, often working alongside his teammates on the Avengers.
3 Ultron Eliminated Every Citizen Of Slorenia
While Ultron was originally built by Hank Pym, the first Ant-Man, the evil machine has gone on to recreate itself a number of times over the years, and with each new version, Ultron has made itself more powerful. Ultron's ultimate goal is to destroy the Avengers - and all of humanity - but each iteration of the vile robot has fallen short of that.
That doesn't mean Ultron hasn't succeeded in becoming a very powerful and very dangerous foe. Since his debut, Ultron has killed countless people, most notably when he killed every citizen of Slorenia and turned them into Ultrons.
2 The Destroyer Can End Planets With A Single Beam
Created by Odin, Zeus, and Brahma to fight against the Celestials, the Destroyer enchanted armor was stored in the Temple of Darkness in the hopes that they would never have to use it. Powered by the energies of the gods and made out of a metal stronger than Uru - the metal that Thor's hammer is made from - the Destroyer is virtually unstoppable.
Along with the basic superpowers of enhanced strength, speed, invulnerability, and flight, the Destroyer comes equipped with an Omni-Atomic blast, a beam so powerful that one blast can destroy a planet.
1 Shaper of Worlds Can Alter Reality To Reflect Its Own Desires
Thousands of years ago, the Skrulls developed a machine powerful enough to alter reality on the whim of whoever held it. This machine, the first Cosmic Cube, would become more powerful than the Skrulls could have conceived. Not only that, but the Cosmic Cube became sentient, taking in the personality of the Skrull Emperor who was mad. The Cosmic Cube began to alter reality to its own wishes, wiping out entire planets.
In time, it created a body for itself and became The Shaper of Worlds. While The Shaper of Worlds may appear to be a living being, it is in fact a robot powered by the first Cosmic Cube.