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Mekanique (New Earth)

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Mekanique was an enemy of the All-Star Squadron from the future, sent to infiltrate and destroy them.

Mekanique comes from the 23rd Century, from a future era that resembles Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, where a small elite ruled despotically over a downtrodden slave race. The elite were in danger of being overthrown due to a woman named Maria, who led the slaves into open rebellion. To combat this, an evil scientist named Rotwang created her, a robot that was disguised to take Maria's place and infiltrate and sabotage the rebellion from inside.

Rotwang's plans fail, the rebellion survives, and the false Maria is destroyed.[1][2] However, Rotwang goes into hiding and succeeds at rebuilding the robot, giving her the ability to travel back in time for the purpose of making sure Maria would never be born.[2]

She arrives damaged in New York in April 1942, and decides to go to the headquarters of the All-Star Squadron in the New York World's Fair Trylon and Perisphere; claiming to have urgent business with the All-Stars, Mekanique confronts and disables their robotic doorkeeper Gernsback, attacks Firebrand on sight, and draws hostility from other All-Stars, mostly notably Liberty Belle and Doctor Fate. When questioned, she can't or won't explain why she invaded the headquarters. Before she can be destroyed by Doctor Fate, Robotman steps in and offered to repair her.[3] Robotman and his fellow All-Stars can't agree on what to do about Mekanique, leading to Robotman rebelling, securing the female android, naming her "Mekanique", and repairing her into a slightly different appearance against the consensus of the All-Star Squadron members. That on turn leads to open conflict and a dangerous power surge threatening to destroy Robotman's laboratory and Mekanique herself, but instead it restores Mekanique.[4]

Mekanique steps in to protect Robotman in the renewed conflict against Green Lantern, Firebrand, Air Wave and Shining Knight. She then claims to be from the far future, returned to the past to prevent a horrible future war. Mekanique shows the heroes an image of a child about to be killed in a car accident, and they save her, thus potentially changing the future. However, she reveals to Robotman secretly that the rescue of the child did not prevent the future war, but instead made certain that it took place. She also reveals that she had been holding back the "sweeping effects" of the Crisis On Infinite Earths from taking place until her mission has been fulfilled, and so causes the effects to take hold, blanking out Robotman's memory so that he cannot warn his fellow Squadron members.[2]

Some time after Johnny Chambers brought Helena Kosmatos to America, she starts having visions of a giant Mekanique attacking and massacring the entire All-Star Squadron.[5] Soon afterward, Mekanique meets Per Degaton while he was still an assistant at the Time Trust. She convinced Degaton to help her in her fight against the All-Star Squadron, in exchange for teaching him the secrets of time travel. It is here where Helena's vision comes true in a different sense -- Mekanique shrinks the entire All-Star Squadron minus the Young All-Stars to doll-size and attacks them in a model of a futuristic metropolis. However, with the help of the Young All-Stars, Robotman was able to activate a destruct mechanism that destroys Mekanique's body, leaving her head intact, thus restoring the All-Star Squadron members to normal size.[6] Degaton managed to escape with Mekanique's head, and keeps it with him for the next five years, during which they fall in love.[7]

By 1947, Professor Malachi Zee has almost managed to build a working time machine. Mekanique gave Degaton a crystal that would give power to the time machine to travel through time. Degaton, wanting the machine for himself, and having always hated Zee, shoots Zee, who falls into the machine and accidentally sends it forty years into the future, to Zee's 100th birthday. Degaton lunged at the machine to prevent it from traveling to the future without him, but fails. When Mekanique suggests they wait forty years for the machine to reappear, Degaton snaps and buries Mekanique's head.[7]

Forty years later, Degaton, now resigned to waiting for the time machine, reconstructed Mekanique.[7] She appeared during the time of the Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985 to manipulate Commander Steel into kidnapping and tampering with his grandson, who at the time became the Justice League hero known as Steel.[8][9] As the Justice League teams together with the Justice Society and Infinity, Inc. to confront Mekanique in order to free the two heroes from her influence, she vanishes.[9] She reappeared in Los Angeles a few years later to bring an aged Degaton who was struck by a car back to life, and the two of them attack Infinity, Inc. at the scheduled return time of the time machine (as per Mekanique, she can move the machine through space, so returning to Gotham City, where Zee's lab was, is unneccesary). Mekanique reveals she feels love for Degaton, due to his genius. When the time machine appears, it contains not only the body of Zee, but a younger Degaton. This duplicate version of Degaton had been created by the chronal energies of the time machine as Degaton had lunged at the machine in 1947. The elder Degaton vanishes from existence at the appearance of his younger self, but realizing that Degaton does not love her, Mekanique activates a self-destruct that kills Degaton along with herself.[7]

Powers

Abilities

Equipment


  • Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and no longer apply.
  • As Mekanique is an automaton, she is technically genderless, however her personality and body design are patterned after that of an adult human female.
  • Mekanique is an adaptation of the character of Maschinenmensch played by Brigitte Helm in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis.

Related

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Metropolis movie.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 All-Star Squadron #60
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 All-Star Squadron #58
  4. ↑ All-Star Squadron #59
  5. ↑ Young All-Stars #1
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Young All-Stars Annual #1
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Infinity Inc. Annual #2
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Infinity Inc. #19
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Justice League of America #244
The Squadron in a V shape over the Pacific Ocean
All-Star Squadron member

This character is or was a member of the All-Star Squadron in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "All-Star Squadron members" category.

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