Living Brain
| Living Brain | |
|---|---|
 The Living Brain's original appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #8. Art by Steve Ditko. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Jan. 1964) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Steve Ditko (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations | Sinister Six Parker Industries |
| Supporting character of | Spider-Man Doctor Octopus |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength and speed Flight Clawed hands Limbs that can rotate at nearly 360 degrees Ability to analyze any situation and determine how best to achieve its goals, process and collate large amounts of information and find any weaknesses in a being or structure Originally: External controls on its thorax |
The Living Brain is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the original Living Brain first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #8 and has made few subsequent appearances since.[1]
A foe of the superhero Spider-Man, the original Living Brain was created by the fictional International Computing Machines Corporation and billed as the most intelligent computer and robot in existence, capable of solving virtually any question asked. In more recent times, the Superior Spider-Man reprogrammed it to serve as a laboratory assistant at Parker Industries, with it remaining in that role after Peter Parker returned.
Publication history
[edit]Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the original Living Brain's first appearance was in The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Jan. 1964).[2][3]
The second Living Brain appears in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #6.
Fictional character history
[edit]Original Living Brain
[edit]
The Living Brain, soon after its creation, is brought to Midtown High School by its creator Dr. Petty as a part of a demonstration of its renowned ability to solve any problem. The students agreed to ask the machine what is Spider-Man's secret identity, and a nervous Peter Parker, the volunteer for the demonstration, fed it all of the given known information from the students concerning the wall-crawler, relievingly finding the answer to be in a mathematical code for Peter to decode overnight. During the Living Brain's demonstration, the two workmen hired to transport it overhear how the Living Brain has the ability to answer anything and they decide to steal it to use this ability for gambling purposes. Caught in the middle of their stealing it by Petty, one of the workmen quickly knocks him out, but by doing so bumps the other one into the Living Brain's control panel on its chest, causing the Living Brain to malfunction. Going on a rampage through Midtown High, the Living Brain is confronted by Spider-Man, who eventually shuts it down. At the end of the day as Peter is walking back home, he plans on telling everyone the next day he'd lost the code during the confusion.[3]
The Living Brain reappears several years later, now discredited and broken-down. Petty plans to donate it to Midtown High School's science lab. The Living Brain ends up being stolen by Petty's son Steve Petty who modifies the robot, giving it a gold and red color scheme, clawed hands, and the ability to fly. Remotely controlling the Living Brain to attack a bully who had been tormenting him, Steve is eventually defeated by Spider-Man (who had been on a visit to Midtown High as Peter Parker) and the Living Brain is shut down once more.[4] The Living Brain, restored to its pre-upgrade appearance, was then acquired by a group of criminals, who used it to commit robberies. The robot and its controllers were apprehended by Spider-Man, who mockingly referred to the Living Brain as "a talking gumball machine".[5]
The Beyond Corporation somehow created duplicates of Living Brain and unleashed them upon Nextwave when they invaded the Beyond Corporation's State 51 base. Nextwave managed to make short work of the Living Brain duplicates.[6]
In Marvel Now!, Living Brain appears as a member of Boomerang's incarnation of the Sinister Six. The Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius' mind in Peter Parker's body) defeats the Sinister Six, captures the Living Brain, and reprograms it to serve him. After Peter returns to his body, the Living Brain remains as an assistant at Parker Industries.[7][8][9]
Chinese Living Brain
[edit]A new Living Brain appears in the Bar with No Name. It is a Chinese knockoff of the Living Brain, which the Answer unconvincingly denies when introducing it.[10]
Powers and abilities
[edit]The Living Brain has the ability to analyze any situation and determine how best to achieve its goals. Like any computer, the Living Brain can process and collate large amounts of information. The Living Brain can find any weaknesses in a being or structure as well as determining the best situation to overcome this obstacle. The Living Brain has a dense metal exo-skeleton and possesses super-strength and speed. It can also fly and has clawed hands. The joints of the Living Brain's limbs can rotate nearly 360 degrees. Originally, the Living Brain had external controls on its thorax with which it could be deactivated, yet it has always countered any attempts to reach them. The Living Brain was later operated by remote-control. The Living Brain has great strength, the ability to move upon command and its limbs can perform various motions.
Other versions
[edit]- An alternate universe variant of the Living Brain from Earth-50302 appears in Marvel Age. This version possesses a more humanoid appearance and was created by Roxxon.[11]
- An alternate universe variant of the Living Brain from Earth-96282 makes a minor appearance in What If...? #82.[12]
In other media
[edit]The Living Brain appears in Spider-Man, voiced by Scott Menville.[13] This version was created by Horizon High's students to serve as a housing unit for the school's Neuro Cortex device.
References
[edit]- ^ Comtois, Pierre (2015). Marvel Comics in the 1960s: An Issue By Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-60549-016-8.
- ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Gilbert, Laura (2012). "1960s". Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. Dorling Kindersley. p. 24. ISBN 978-0756692360.
The Brain is an early Mobile Computer prototype built by I.C.M. in Midtown High School, where Peter Parker attended, it was deemed obsolete after Spidey's first encounter with it but it came back again.
- ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (January 1964)
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #35 (February 1988)
- ^ Spider-Man (vol. 2) #20 (August 2000)
- ^ Nextwave #11 (February 2007)
- ^ The Superior Spider-Man #1 (March 2013)
- ^ Superior Spider-Man #2 (March 2013)
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #1 (June 2014)
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #6 (November 2018)
- ^ Marvel Age Spider-Man #7 (September 2004)
- ^ What If? (vol. 2) #82 (February 1996)
- ^ "The Living Brain Voice - Spider-Man (2017) (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved January 20, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
External links
[edit]- Living Brain at Marvel Wiki
- Living Brain at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
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