Creature Commandos episode three, “Cheers to the Tin Man,” seemingly confirmed that a classic DC super team, the Metal Men, exists, or will soon exist, in the DCU. The robotic Metal Men were a super team from DC Comics’ Silver Age, debuting in 1962’s Showcase #37. Although never explicitly stated by creators Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, it feels like they were a response to Marvel. Similar to the Fantastic Four, the Metal Men were a family of heroes led by a scientific genius responsible for their creation, Dr. Will Magnus. The team consisted of the sentient robots Gold, Lead, Iron, Mercury, Tin, and Platinum. Before we address how they may appear in the DCU, here’s a brief history of the Metal Men in DC Comics.
The Metal Men in DC Comics
The Metal Men were highly advanced robots, created by genius scientist Dr. William “Will” Magnus. These robots were programmed with “responsometers,” a device that gave them human personalities. There were six members of the team in total, each named for a particular alloy. Gold was the field leader who could stretch his body. Iron was the muscle of the group. The slow-witted and loyal Lead could protect others from radiation. Mercury could turn into liquid metal, while the jittery Tin and Platinum were adept shapeshifters. Platinum, who presented as female, was nicknamed Tina. In fact, Tina believed that she was a real human woman, and was in love with Dr. Magnus, her creator. (Nope, not problematic at all.) In between their family bickering, they fought all manner of aliens and evil mad scientists.
Like Flash and Green Lantern before them, Metal Men got a three-issue tryout in the pages of Showcase. Eventually, strong sales warranted a title all their own. So from 1963 -1969, the team headlined a bi-monthly Metal Men book. As the Silver Age gave way to the Bronze Age, their lighthearted adventures and goofy aesthetics no longer seemed to fit with the times, and DC canceled the series. However, DC revived Metal Men in 1976. But even by this point, less than a decade later, their style and tone felt like a relic of the previous decade. So DC canceled it again in 1978 for good. Yet over the next few decades, the team appeared in various DC series, even earning mini-series of their own here and there. Even without a regular ongoing title, they became a DC universe fixture.
Metal Men’s Similarities to the Fantastic Four
Like Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four, Dr. Magnus, the team leader, is an emotionally distant genius scientist with a fondness for smoking pipes. Each Metal Man exhibited one very specific personality trait. The writers then over-exaggerated that trait, not unlike the Thing or Human Torch at Marvel. Sadly, Tina’s only main personality trait was her crush on Dr. Magnus, much like Sue Storm, Reed Richards’ girlfriend. (Reductive and sexist, but it was the sixties.) Overall, the Metal Men’s exploits were less serious and not as inventive as the Fantastic Four’s adventures. So they never reached the same popular heights. Nevertheless, Marvel’s inspiration was clearly there from the get-go.
Creature Commandos Teases the Metal Men in the DCU
The third episode of Creature Commandos broadly hints that the Metal Men are on their way to the DCU. In this chapter we meet Dr. William Magnus, voiced by Alan Tudyk, looking exactly like his comic book counterpart. He’s in the audience as the U.S. government trots out G.I. Robot on TV variety show. Magnus asks to inspect G.I. Robot, and states it has been 20 years since his WWII days. He also says that he’s going to study G.I. Robot to create the next generation of automatons. This all suggests that the Metal Men are indeed coming in some form soon. They will probably feature in a 1960s period piece when they do. Of course, as robots, they could survive into the present day as well.
While rumors of Metal Men projects for series or films circulated over the years, they certainly feel like characters very much in James Gunn’s wheelhouse. A group of misfits who are a dysfunctional family? Yeah, sounds just like Guardians of the Galaxy, the Suicide Squad, and the Creature Commandos to us. And like Task Force M, Metal Men remains a perfect fit for an animated series or movie. But they could work in live-action too. The introduction of Dr. Magnus in Creature Commandos is James Gunn telling us that the Metal Men exist, or will soon exist, in the DCU. When and how they will appear though? That remains the only question left.
