Posted in: Comics | Tagged: #MeToo, dan didio, metal men, platinum, shane davis

Are Dan DiDio and Shane Davis Giving Us the #MeToo Metal Men?

Doctor Will Magnus is a long-standing DC Comics character, one of the most educated and intelligent men in the DC universe, and the creator of the Metal Men, sentient super-powered robots made of a variety of metals, named Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Platinum and Tin. Tin was in love with Will Magnus.

…even if he treated her shockingly.

Each of the Metal Men had a personality based in part on their individual metals aside from Platinum – or Tina – who was basically just obsessed with Doctor Magnus. And Magnus treats her abominably, telling her she is faulty and demanding she be more like a robot.

Which, you know, the sixties. But it's not like it stopped there. The method of their creation has changed with each origin rewrite, at once point turning Magnus into the bad guy, a mad scientist looking to rule the world. At one point he became a Metal Man himself, Veridium. The nineties saw the origin of the Metal Men rewritten, no longer due to their 'responsometers' gaining sentience, but by having personalities from other people associated with Magnus imprinted upon them. But thirty years didn't make it much better for Platinum.

And it's that version of the Metal Men which seems to be being revisited by DC Comics right now, by way of #MeToo. The New 52 saw them rebooted as creatures created to perform rescue and search missions, but who went into hiding alongside Magnus to avoid being turned into government assassins. A new series following after that by former publisher Dan Didio and Earth One Superman artist Shane Davis himself, but we didn't see much of them. Heroes In Crisis #9 also featured a confession to camera, Will Magnus' testimonial to Sanctuary, saying 'I created her. And I'm… I love her.'

Which suggests he may be talking about the only female-presenting member of the Metal Men, Platinum. Who originally believed herself to be alive and in love with Magnus herself. With Heroes In Crisis suggesting things could be about to be reciprocated. The new Metal Men #1 from Dan DiDio and Shane Davis, had a Doctor Magnus manipulating his creations. Deleting them, Resetting them. Rebooting them.

The repair shop. With many other damaged, junked, destroyed versions of the Metal Men. And other versions of Magnus is seems – past continuities piling up. Even as Platinum calls him 'darling'.

With Magnus telling his creation that they do not have sentience, that the responsometers just give them action and reaction, not independent, sentient thought. I think therefore I am, but if you only think you think, maybe you aren't.

So it doesn't go down to well with Platinum. With new Metal Man, The Nth Man using fictitious DC Comics element Nth metal as a base component to jiggle things up a bit. So while Platinum continues to express her love for Magnus..

The Nth Man wants her to see the truth. Discover who Christina Novak.

File in hands, Platinum takes a trip, dressed as incognito as she can, using public transport. And, out in the sticks, she finds Christina, only to discover that Christina has been waiting for her for a long time. After all, she knows Doctor Will Magnus of old.

Like looking in a shimmery, polished, metal mirror. Tina and Christina. With a story to be told.

Including her relationship with Doctor Will Magnus.

Such that it was, of course.

Doctor Will Magnus, creeping onto Christina so much that she had to take out a restraining order. So to find a way past that, he created an artificial Tina and made her love him.

I mean, whichever way this goes, it can't be good. Not for anyone.

There are indeed all sorts of legal possibilities over likeness rights. One wonders if that restraining order is still in force? Could even this visit, a robot created by Magnus, infringe upon it? More to come, as DiDio and Davis still have another 6 issues of this comic to write and draw…

METAL MEN #6 (OF 12)
(W) Dan DiDio (A/CA) Shane Davis, Michelle Delecki
After Platinum finds out that she is based on a real woman Magnus used to know in college, she sneaks away to search for her human counterpart…and learns the twisted reason for why she "loves" Magnus so much. Meanwhile, back at Magnus Mountain, Nth Metal Man seems to have some bigger plans of his own with someone else from the Dark Multiverse…In Shops: May 12/27, 2020 SRP: $3.99

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