Most casual fans know about Cyborg through actor Ray Fisher’s portrayal in Zack Snyder’s DCEU films. Cyborg made his first live-action TV debut on a 2006 episode of Smallville. The character was also popular in the Teen Titans cartoon and the Titans and Doom Patrol streaming shows. However, most people don’t know that the character is almost 50 years old.
Most casual readers don’t appreciate that Victor Stone was a young black man who lost his humanity and blackness in a horrific science experiment. In recent decades, writers and artists have examined what it is like for Stone to entirely lose his humanity. Is Victor Stone a man or a machine? Does it matter?
If he is a machine, doesn’t that mean he lost his humanity and Blackness? Why have these themes not been more examined with more emphasis? There have only been two major comic book storylines in which Victor Stone reverts to his humanity within the last decade.
The Cyborg Who Remembered He Was Human
Stone made his debut in DC Comics Presents #26. His scientist parents, Silas and Elinore, bring a monster through a portal in their lab. The monster kills Elinore and mortally injures Victor. Victor Stone lost most of his body under the chest, half his head, and most of his limbs in a lab accident. Stone was just a collection of body parts that his father incorporated into a cybernetic body using alien technology.
Victor has always been more machine than human, more machine than a man, and more machine than a Black man. As Cyborg, Stone does not need to sleep, eat, or function as a human. Whether we realize it or not, readers can’t relate to him in the same way they do to other heroes.
As writer David Walker infamously explained at a 2015 comic convention, Victor Stone was castrated when he became Cyborg. Stone’s sex life has always been lightly hinted at in the comics; his love interest is the character Sarah Charles, but he is still seen as a machine. Walker was just starting a new run on the character where he wanted to explore Cyborg’s humanity.
How do readers relate to a machine? We often see flashbacks of Stone’s humanity or his youth. But we take it for granted that he is a machine. It’s easy to say it doesn’t matter when characters like Scarlet Witch, Nightwing, and Doctor Doom are lauded for celebrating their Romani roots.
Imagine Peter Parker, Logan, Matt Murdock, and Tony Stark. Black Widow, Nightwing, and countless other superheroes are not enjoying their sexuality, even if by PG-13 standards. Tony Stark has “Womanizer” in his DNA. Why must Stone miss out on such characterizations?
Here are two storylines where Stone became a human again.
“Wretched of the Earth”
Filmmaker and writer Kevin Grevioux wrote issues #19 and #20 of Cyborg in 2017. Stone was in Sudan with Sarah Charles on a scientific expedition. They come across a village where meteors have fallen. The meteors contain precious metals, which the local warlords target. Meanwhile, Stone comes across a magic rhinoceros horn that can grant magic wishes. Unfortunately, the magic horn is a variation of the Monkey’s Paw curse, where every benefit comes with major drawbacks.
Stone wishes to become human and then becomes human. However, the local warlord begins exploiting the local children and grooming them into soldiers. Stone falls ill with malaria and suffers a bad injury. He has to use a wish to become Cyborg again to save the day. The story offers readers a chance to see Victor Stone as a human making human choices, not only as a calculating machine.
“Unplugged”
In 2015, writer David Walker began his run by examining how Cyborg could become Victor Stone, and a human, again. Earth is under threat from the Technosapiens. Think of them like the Borg from Star Trek: TNG. Technosapiens infect humanoid beings with cyber parasites that change them into Technosapien variants. Stone is infected and almost dies after regenerating his body. Stone develops a counter-virus that makes the Technosapiens destroy themselves.
However, Stone contemplates his own humanity in the process. He realizes that he is not so different from the Technosapiens. He thinks about all the times people ask him if he eats, sleeps, or if he’s capable of human intimacy. After defeating the Technosapien infection, Stone regenerates into a completely human form. He still is a cybernetic being, but his nanites can now regenerate his body into a human form.
Cyborg Vol. 1: Unplugged is a 152-page paperback that collects the first six issues of Walker’s run. Get it now on Amazon for $22.
Man or Machine, Which Fits Best?
Unfortunately, the version of Victor Stone from Walker’s run is no longer considered canon. He is now basically a living machine all the time. I don’t know when we will get the definitive run of Cyborg, but it cannot come soon enough. Stone is an incredible character who deserves a character-defining run based on his humanity, not only the physical loss of it.
This post includes affiliate links. If you purchase anything through these affiliated links, the author/website may earn a commission.
You May Also Like…
- Get a Grip: The 8 Most Memorable Comic Book Cliffhangers of All Time
- From Garage Sale to Goldmine: When a $1 Comic Becomes a $10,000 Find
- 10 Superhero Replicas, Memorabilia, and Masks for Hardcore Comic Book Fans
- 9 Superhero Omnibus Collections for New and Casual Readers
- Webs Won’t Stick: 8 Reasons Marvel Comics is Struggling to Keep Peter Parker Relevant
The post Blood Circuit: The Cyborg Who Remembered He Was Human appeared first on Personal Finance Advice.
