ROBOT X

Real Name: X

Identity/Class: Robot (pre-modern to modern era)

Occupation: Servant of mankind

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Jonathan Wilkes, its own robot creations (including Mister Smith, "X2" and its robot army)

Enemies: Doc Samson (Leonard Samson), Jack Holyoak, Living Totem (Whistle Pig), Tina Punnett, Charles J. Wentworth

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Doc Samson's trophy room;
   formerly a factory near an unidentified American city (see comments)

First Appearance: Amazing Adventures I#4/1 (September, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: Robot X was sentient and capable of creative thought; it possessed a powerful intellect, which included skills such as mathematics and robotics; it also had artistic abilities, such as playing a piano.

Built from strong metals, and endowed with enormous strength, Robot X could easily bend an iron pipe and smash through a brick wall.

Having three fingers (including opposing thumb) on each hand, Robot X seemed to be propelled by some sort of single multi-tread wheel or roller-ball at its base.

Height: 7' (by approximation)
Weight: 1200 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Inapplicable

History:
(Amazing Adventures I#4/1) - For years, mankind had been using non-sentient robot laborers that could act only in response to human commands (see comments); but Jonathan Wilkes built Robot X as the first robot which could think for itself--Wilkes hoped the robot would be a boon to mankind.

   Although the scientific community was thrilled by Robot X's capabilities, Charles J. Wentworth, publisher of the Daily Clarion newspaper, began running editorials against the cybernetic marvel, riling the public against it; Robot X suspected that Wentworth was not what he appeared, but when the public turned on Robot X, the automaton was forced to flee and plan to expose Wentworth on its own.

   Robot X built Mr. Smith, a robot in the form of a man, and sent it to obtain equipment and an abandoned factory, where they began constructing an army of robots. Robot X then led the robot army to the Daily Clarion building, using them to fight off the robot laborers sent to defend humanity.

   Robot X reached the offices of the Daily Clarion and chased down Wentworth; after unmasking the newspaper publisher before the public and exposing him as a Martian invader, Robot X revealed that Wentworth's staff were all Martians as well (see comments).

   With its task complete, Robot X realized that humans would always mistrust anything more powerful and intelligent than themselves, and it could not allow its own robot army to remain and sow fear amongst humanity, so Robot X first destroyed all of its robot "brothers," then deactivated itself.

(Doc Samson II#2) - Robot X wound up in the trophy room of Doc Samson. Samson's associate Tina Punnett attempted to swap its ego core's "Wilkes Freewill Nucleus" with a new model (Asimov Restraint Unit) so that it could help them out. But when the novice mystic Jack Holyoak tried to help, he accidentally revived Robot X, and it started to attack them. The Living Totem attempted to aid the pair, but Robot X brushed him aside. Robot X was finally taken out by Doc Samson with a single punch, but Tina still hoped to complete repairs.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer), Jack Kirby (pencils) and Dick Ayers (inker).

Doc Samson II#2 claimed that Robot X "once destroyed half of Cleveland!"--this could be a reference to the battle with the robots in Amazing Adventures I#4.

Of course, the one problem with bringing the original story into regular Marvel continuity is that Earth-616 (mainstream Marvel Universe) doesn't have a handy supply of worker robots for general use by the public.

My guess is that the events depicted in Amazing Adventures I#4 actually took place on an alternate Earth where robots were commonplace, and that the Earth-616 Robot X (seen in Doc Samson's trophy room) had a slightly different back-story.
--Ron Fredricks

I haven't read the original story, but it might seem possible that Wentworth, the Martian invader, could have supplied his own non-sentient robots, presumably passing them off as defenders, but eventually intending to use them in his strike against humanity.

Those "Martians" looked very similar to Skrulls (who would first appear a few months later in Fantastic Four I#2 (January, 1962)--since these "Martians" never actually identified themselves as such (that was only the term by which Robot X referred to them), then maybe they were really Skrulls.

And Wentworth's anti-Robot X editorials remind me of J. Jonah Jameson's later anti-Spider-Man tirades--you don't suppose...?
--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Prime Eternal (original profile) & Ron Fredricks (expansion).

CLARIFICATIONS: Robot X has no known connections to

Jonathan Wilkes has no known connections to:

Charles J. Wentworth has no known connections to:

Jonathan Wilkes

Professor Jonathan Wilkes was the creator of Robot X, and became reviled by the public when it seemed that his creation had turned against humanity. Although his faith in Robot X was ultimately vindicated when Robot X exposed a Martian invasion plot, Wilkes decided that he would abandon the field of robotics.

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

Mister Smith

Robot X scavenged parts from a junkyard to build a robot resembling a human being, then covered it with clay to simulate human flesh. The robot (known as Mister Smith) would do X's bidding among humans according to orders.

Mister Smith went to a real estate office and purchased an abandoned factory building on the outskirts of town.

Inside the factory, Mister Smith assisted Robot X in first building a second Robot X ("X2"), then the trio constructed an army of robot soldiers.

Mister Smith's final fate is unrevealed, but presumably he was destroyed along with the rest of the robots.

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

Robot X's factory

An abandoned factory building on the outskirts of an unidentified American city (see comments), it was purchased by Mister Smith at a real estate office.

Within the facility, Robot X and Mister Smith first built "X2", then the trio constructed Robot X's robot army.

To prevent intrusion by humans, Robot X installed technology that surrounded the exterior of the factory with an impenetrable and invisible "hyper-electromagnetic energy" force-field, which was impervious to bullets and explosives.

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

"X2"

Built by Robot X and Mister Smith, "X2" was an identical duplicate of Robot X; although autonomous, it was under the command of Robot X.

"X2" assisted Robot X and Mister Smith in constructing Robot X's robot army.

"X2" did not appear to be present during Robot X's assault on the Daily Clarion building, and its final fate is unrevealed--presumably, it was destroyed along with the rest of the robot army.

(Note: The name of this duplicate of Robot X was never mentioned, so I just called it "X2" to identify it for this profile.)

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

Robot X's robot army

In an abandoned factory purchased by Mister Smith, Robot X--along with Mister Smith, and "X2"--built an unspecified number of independently thinking robot soldiers to help Robot X expose the Martian plot within the Daily Clarion newspaper.

Robot X led the army of robots into the city for an assault on the Daily Clarion newspaper building--because they were not dependent upon human control, X's robots fared well against the non-sentient robot laborers sent to block their advance. The robots then disarmed the human soldiers who tried to stop them.

After the Martian plot was exposed, Robot X activated a stud which destroyed all of the robots.

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

Charles J. Wentworth

Martians (see comments) were secretly planted on Earth as fifth-columnists for a mission of conquest-- they planned to ultimately take control of influential newspapers and use their propaganda to play upon the fears and prejudices of the readers, to weaken and undermine the defenses of the planet, leaving it ripe for conquest. Wearing face-masks to disguise themselves as publisher Charles J. Wentworth and his staff of writers and editors, the invaders first took control of the Daily Clarion.

But fearing that thinking robots would not be deceived by their plot, Wentworth wrote editorials which attacked Robot X, claiming that thinking robots would put men out of work; he even appeared on television to voice his opposition against Robot X, and he claimed robots would endanger mankind's entire civilization. Wentworth's constant cries of alarm began to convince the public of the menace presented by robots. 

But having read Wentworth's propaganda, Robot X was suspicious of him from the start; the more the publisher raved, the more X's suspicions increased, until the robot became determined to expose Wentworth.

Wentworth and his staff were finally caught by Robot X, who exposed their plot to the world and ruined the Martians' attempted invasion.

--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

Robot laborers

For years, mankind had been using lifeless robots that could only respond to human voice-commands (see comments).

When Robot X led an army of its own robots during an assault on the Daily Clarion newspaper building, the human-controlled, non-thinking robot laborers were used as the first line of defense. But because they were dependent upon the transmitted orders of their human masters, the robot laborers proved to be inferior to Robot X's army, who were capable of independent thought. Many of the robot laborers were destroyed by Robot X's army.


--Amazing Adventures I#4/1

images: (without ads)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Robot X)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p12, pan6 (Headshot - Robot X explains Martians plot)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p2, pan5 (Robot X (rear view), Jonathan Wilkes (left))
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p3, pan1 (Robot X (side view) plays piano; Jonathan Wilkes (right))
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p2, pan4 (Jonathan Wilkes)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p3, pan4 (Jonathan Wilkes reads copy of Daily Clarion newspaper; Robot X (background) )
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p5, pan2 (Mister Smith; Robot X (background) )
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p6, pan3 (Mister Smith and Robot X build "X2")
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p5, pan5 (Robot X and Mister Smith inside factory)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p6, pan4 (Robot X (left) and "X2" (right) )
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p8, pan1 (Robot X, Mister Smith, and "X2" working on robot army)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p10, pan1 (Robot X's robot army fights non-sentient robots)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p10, pan4 (Robot X's robot army disarms human soldiers)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p3, pan5 (Charles J. Wentworth, speaking to Jonathan Wilkes)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p3, pan6 (Jonathan Wilkes and Charles J. Wentworth talking in Daily Clarion building)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p12, pan4 (Charles J. Wentworth, unmasked as a Martian by Robot X)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p12, pan5 (staff of Daily Clarion, unmasked as Martians; one of Robot X's robot soldiers (background) )
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p2, pan6 (non-sentient robot laborers constructing a building)
Amazing Adventures I#4/1, p9, pan6 (man orders non-sentient robot laborers to defend city from Robot X's robot army)

Appearances:
Amazing Adventures I#4 (September, 1961) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks)
Doc Samson II#2 (April, 2006) - Paul Di Filippo (writer), Fabrizio Fiorentino (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First Posted: 02/26/2006
Last updated: 06/05/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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