The Water Attractor
"METAL MEN"
Membership: Unidentified humanoid robots (possibly Kree built - see comments)
Purpose: Survival
Affiliations: Moon-Men (creators)
Enemies: Namor
Base of Operations: Moon (Post-World War II era)
First Appearance: Blonde Phantom I#21/4 (January, 1949)
Characteristics: The "Metal Men" were metal of construction, about 6' 4" tall, and were possibly steam-powered due to their reliance on water. The self-aware human-like robots existed on the moon for many centuries and had various devices at their disposal, including a ray, the Water Attractor, that could channel water from Earth to their base on the moon, plus the Memory Destroyer to selectively eliminate a human's memories.
History:
(Blonde Phantom I#21/4 (fb) - BTS) - "Centuries" ago, the original inhabitants of a city on the moon created the so-called Metal Men, but the race of Moon-Men died out, leaving the robots behind. However, they continued to exist but relied on water to continue and would steal water from the Earth through a longer geyser using a ray device on a monthly basis to fill up their reservoir. They observed Earth and learned the languages of the planet.
(Blonde Phantom I#21/4) - One of the Metal Men's raids of Earth's seas inadvertently captured Namor and they helped him out of their reservoir. They explained the situation and showed him around their environment, which seemed to have sufficient oxygen for Namor to survive. When he said he would relate their existence back on Earth, one of the Metal Men was concerned that Earthlings would interfere by conquering them or demanding payment, so the Metal Man clubbed Namor and he fell unconscious. Not wishing to kill him, they took him to their Memory Destroyer device to wipe Namor's memory of them before sending him back to Earth by reversing their ray machine, sacrificing some of their water to do so. They then watched Namor back in the ocean comment on an uneventful evening and were satisfied that they could be left in peace.
Comments: Created by unrevealed writer and penciler, with Al Gabriele (inks).
"The Metal Men of the Moon" is the name of the story and they do not directly call themselves that.
The "original Moon-Men"? Could these Metal Men have been created eons ago by the Kree when they had a city on Earth's moon? Perhaps they were all later crushed when Attilan landed (@ Fantastic Four I#240). However, it's not confirmed at all that this was in the Blue Area of the Moon. There were very few buildings shown and so it contrasts with later grander images of the Kree city, so it's only speculation. There were a couple of small pointy mountain peaks in the Namor story colored in pastel blue...
If this was the Kree city, then
Namor was the first person from Earth to visit the Blue Area of the
Moon or that this is the first appearance of the Blue Area of the Moon.
Plus I assume that the Metal Men figured out that they could get their
water from comets, otherwise there would have been other encounters
with Earth Heroes.
---John Holstein
Electro
the Marvel of the Age fought a Moon alien named Gnorr and his Moon
Robots in Marvel Mystery Comics#13 (November, 1940), which could mean
that Electro might have been to the Blue Area or Blue City first. Could
there be a connection between the Moon Robots and the "Metal Men"?
--Gammatotem
The "Metal Men" have a
slight resemblance to the Kree Mandroids...
perhaps they are an earlier model?
--John Kaminski
The "Metal Men" that
dwelled on the moon could also have been created by the S'raphh, and
have encountered Namor between the race's collective suicide and their
unconsciousness forming Null the Living Darkness. If so, then Null
presumably destroyed the "Metal Men" as part of his battle against all
creation prior to leaving for Earth.
--adam craik
The name Metal Men was used only in the title of the story; they
referred to themselves as robots.
Probably the Memory Destroyer slightly damaged Namor's brain, and years later
increased his amnesia until the Human Torch/Johnny
Storm reawakened him.
--Spidermay
I've lost count of the number of times that Namor's had his memory wiped.
Thanks to Grand Comics Database Project for identifying the credits. They suggest that Al Bellman may have been the penciler.
With additions by Spidermay
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Metal Men of the Moon has no known connections to:
The Memory Destroyer, which was a helmet-like device, was used by the Metal Men to wipe Namor's memories of his encounter with them on the moon.
--Blonde Phantom I#21/4
The
water attractor was a powerful device generating a ray that created a
vortex. The vortex enveloped great amounts of water, taken from the sea,
and water path had such a strength that even Namor the Sub-Mariner could
not swim out from it.
The water was dragged out of the
atmosphere to the Moon, at great (but unrevealed) speed, filling a cylindrical container.
The Attractor could also function in the opposite way.
images:
(without ads)
Blonde Phantom I#21/4, p1, pan1 (main image)
Appearances:
Blonde Phantom#21 (January, 1948) - Al Gabriele (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 07/25/09.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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