XTT-4
Real Name: XTT-4
Identity/Class: Robot
Occupation: Exhibition robot, would-be world dictator
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Professor Jonas Weems; mankind in general
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout an unidentified Earth city in the 26th Century
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#53/5 (July, 1959)
Powers/Abilities: XTT-4 was a robot built in human form and could easily pass for a human, the only distinguishing feature being it had two metal studs on either side of the temples of its head, the left stud being its de-activation switch.
Although XTT-4 had a creative free will of its own and could think like a human, it had no conscience, no sense of right and wrong, and no compassion.
XTT-4 could discharge electricity, which it used to open an electro-sealed lock on a door. Further, XTT-4 could release energy in the form of "electrochemical waves" which disrupted the machines of the world, causing them to go mad.
History: (Journey Into Mystery I#53/5) - By the year 2500, the world was a technological utopia where machines tended to man's every need. At the World Mechanical Exhibition, Professor Jonas Weems demonstrated his new invention -- the world's first humanoid robot, XTT-4. The robot was the first to have a will of its own, and it could think creatively -- Weems demonstrated this by having the robot paint a picture on canvas at record speed. This caused great excitement in the crowd watching -- the people could not wait until the robot was mass-produced!
Several days later, when Weems went home for the night, XTT-4 blasted the door lock and walked away. XTT-4 saw itself as the greatest machine ever created, and it was going to become master of the entire world's other machines and become dictator of the planet. XTT-4 went to the top of the city's tallest building and sent out "electrochemical waves" and by doing so, it made the machines go mad. All around the world, computers went berserk in factories, and even vehicles wouldn't function properly, crippling the transportation system. The World Council called an emergency session to investigate the matter, but they had no idea what was causing the trouble. Watching a news report, Jonas Weems suspected that XTT-4 was responsible for the crisis, so he used an "impulse tracker" to locate it before it destroyed civilization.
XTT-4 knew that it had the world in the palm of its hand and that humans would make it dictator of the world to get it to stop. But Weems finally tracked XTT-4 to the top of the building. As the two struggled, Weems pushed the de-activation button on XTT-4's head; immobilized, the robot plunged from the building and the machines of the world ran smoothly again.
Jonas Weems was left to think of how man must not rely on machines -- "For it is only man who has a conscience! Only man who can be trusted to know right from wrong! Only man who must rule his own world -- forever!"
Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Don Heck.
This is another case where the character featured on the Jack Kirby cover of the issue bears no resemblance to the character in the story itself.
I would say that XTT-4's "electrochemical waves" probably downloaded a computer virus into the computer-dependent machines of that future world to take them over -- remember, this story was written in 1959, years before the term "computer virus" was even coined.
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
XTT-4 has no known connections to:
Professor Jonas Weems has no known connection to:
The creator of XTT-4, he tracked his creation down when it ran amok and made the machines of the world go mad. He defeated XTT-4 by hitting its de-activation switch.
--Journey Into Mystery I#53/5
images: (without ads)
Journey Into Mystery I#53, p19, pan1 (main image)
Last updated: 08/22/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com