Bartholomew Aaron Stack (Earth-166)

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Machine Man

Gallery

Real Name

Bartholomew "Barry" Aaron Stack (legally changed from Z2P45-9)

Current Alias

Machine Man

Aliases

X-51, Barry Witherspoon, Aaron Stack

Identity

Known to Authorities

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

A.R.M.O.R., formerly Avengers A.I., Secret Avengers, 50-State Initiative (Homefront), Nextwave, Heroes for Hire, West Coast Avengers, Heavy Metal, Machine Men project

Relatives

Dr. David Stack (father),
Aaron Stack ("brother") (formerly thought to be his previous form)

Universe

Earth-166

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

6' 1"

Weight

286 lbs (130 kg)

Eyes

Red, (formerly gold due to artists' error)

Hair

Black

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Separated

Occupation

Adventurer, formerly employee of an insurance agency

Origin

Origin

Robotic body seemingly filled with a human soul, now acts as a vessel of the heroic world.

Place of Birth

Unknown

Creators

Uncanny X-Factor

First appearance

Machine Man Vol 1 #1

History

No, I don't care. I am not here to care. I am here to be a machine.

— Barry Stack

Origin

After suffering the worst bipolar episode of his life and making threats on his life, David Stack realized that the best way to balance his son and his work would be to literally fuse them. He brought his son to his work after hours, and hooked him up to the Adamantium prototype Machine Man Z2P45-9. He attempted to transfer his son into the robot by electrocuting him and placing the currents from his son into the robot, powering it up with Aaron's thoughts inside. However, Stack's colleague Joe Kragg was also at the lab late, and noticed what the doctor was doing. He decided to blow the lab's electrical power in order to ensure the robot depowered. Instead, the lab was overloaded with electricity, killing both of the Stacks and awakening the robot, seemingly successfully containing the soul of Aaron Stack.

Undead, Orphaned Runaway Cyborg

Irrevocably shaped by his father's last words of wanting peace for the world, Aaron resolved to try to bring this wish to fruition. With no ties left, "Aaron" roamed the wilderness, helping others and, plagued by Aaron's fractured psyche, trying to destroy himself. He was repeatedly hounded, however, by the military and by Colonel Kragg. Being his first new interactions with humanity, the "robot side" of Aaron grew to mistrust his new peers. He only found solace when he was aided and offered a home by Doctor Leonard Samson, who had found the robot and didn't seek to turn him in. He acted as field support for him sometimes as Doctor Samson, the superhero, but mostly stayed in the background. Either way, he managed to dispatch Colonel Kragg, seemingly for good, while restoring Aaron's faith in humanity in the process.

During this time, Doctor Samson acted as a good friend and psychiatrist, trying to heal the robot's broken psyche and finding him employment at an insurance agency. He had to learn to manage his self-destructive tendencies, even though they tended to aid him in battle since he couldn't be destroyed. But when seeking a job, a former aide of Samson's known as the Binary Bug was seeking his revenge against the world, starting with this company. Aaron managed to stop him, but at the cost of his life. Aaron would go on to work at Delmar, and would secretly handle their cases involving superhumans as Machine Man.

Spreading His Business Around

Aaron first encountered other superheroes when he was tracking the recently-revealed supervillainess known as Ion due to the property damage she was causing. Terrified by her condition, she sought out the scientific aid of the Fantastic Four to help cure her. She caused a rampage in the Four's lab and was stopped by the Human Torch and Machine Man working in conjunction. He left afterwards on good terms, and the team said they owed him one for his help.

Machine Man next found himself fighting with the strangest of possible foes: the Hulk. At Doctor Samson's request, Barry tried to bring Banner in for psychological evaluation/therapy, outside the hands of the government. Banner said no, and a feud ensued. Machine Man proved the victor, gaining Hulk's respect. He would later battle the Hulk again alongside the Heroes for Hire before the four would unite to take down the crime lord known as Nightshade.

Before long, however, he found that his old foe Baron Brimstone had allied with the Sandman. It was up to he and Spidey to team up and stop them. TO BE CONTINUED...

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Current body

Former Bodies/Powers

Original Form Z2P45-9 is the peak specimen of the Machine Man program. As such, his body has the following capabilities. Enhanced Durability: Barry is composed of an Adamantium-titanium alloy he affectionately refers to as "Adamantitanium." This makes Barry indestructible by all conventional means, and highly resistant to all other forms of damage. Wave-Modifying Coating: The external layers of Barry's body have been covered in an unknown coating that internalizes all energy attacks, whether kinetic, electrical, energetic, thermal, or magical. The energy can then be reflected back upon the original attacker or absorbed for further "sustenance." He has also proven capable of creating a reversed charge upon contact with metal, magnetizing anything metal he touches. Superhuman Strength/Stamina: Machine Man has robotic tissue in place of human muscle, enabling him to work or fight tirelessly, as well as lift roughly 4 tons (limited to 1 ton when his hands are extended). He once aided a stranded couple my lifting a car one-handed to change their tire. Forelimb Extension: Barry's hands and feet can separate from his body and extend to around 100 feet in length. Manuel Bio-Weapons: Barry has several weapon attachments for his fingers and hands in his belt including, but not limited to, computer ports for knowledge transition, small blades, energy blasters, and blowtorches. He also had retractable springs in his feet for leaping long distances. Computer Brain: Having a computer brain, Barry has declared himself "smarter than the average synthetic man." Bodily Rotation: Barry could rotate his upper or lower halves at incredible speeds, a feat he used to become a human drill or to throw attackers off his person. By learning how to rotate both halves in tandem, he could hover slightly above the ground. Flight: Barry has retractable turbines/propellers enabling him to fly. Nextwave modification When Barry joined Nextwave, his robotic form was given many upgrades, and though not a power per se, he was given a more humanoid appearance. He had all of his previous powers, plus the following additions: Superhuman Vision: Barry was capable of producing various attachments that he could add onto his eyes. These allowed him the ability to see through walls, at a microscopic level, or for a tremendously long distance. When one was forcefully ripped from his eye by a Nextwave teammate, they proved capable of using them to the same effect that he could. Manuel Shapeshifting: Barry was capable of morphing his hands into different weapons, no longer needing to manually add attachments. He could anything from torches to blades of varying size to chainsaws to guns. My extending his pinkie finger and thumb, he created a working phone. He seemed to also have some kind of cannon implant in his chest, but he never used it and it was ripped out by an enemy shortly after being installed. Technopathic Immortality: In the event of possible destruction, Barry's consciousness can separate from his body and infiltrate other pieces of tech. He can also do this at other times, subduing any technology and taking complete control of it. Sentinel infection After being infected with Sentinel Prime technology, Barry gained a whole new set of abilities in addition to his old ones. Increased Super-Strength: Barry could then lift in excess of 80 tons. Gravitikinesis: Ironically seemingly a mutant ability of sorts, Barry could control gravity in his local vicinity, altering how heavy other objects were, reversing the polarity of gravity, as well as more efficient flight. Increased Flight Capacity: By altering his own gravity, Barry could fly at much faster speeds and fully under his own power. Reconstruction: Barry, when damaged, was capable of repairing the damage very quickly. If the wound was metal-inflicted, he could simply absorb the metal. Otherwise, the self-repairing nanobots would heal most damage almost instantly. Appearance Modification: Barry was capable of altering his appearance into that of a Sentinel, as well as various relatively thin disguises. X-Gene Nullification: Being a Sentinel, Barry could find, target, and negate the mutant gene, cancelling out or developing countermeasures for mutant abilities in his vicinity.

Power Grid
Intelligence	3
Strength	4
Speed	3
Durability	4
Energy Projection	6
Fighting Skills	4

Abilities

None known.

Strength level

Unknown.

Weaknesses

• Disassembling: Machine Man is capable of being disassembled in order to perform maintenance. If someone else figured out the exact way to disassemble Barry, they could do so without his consent.
  • Internal Attacks: Machine Man's wave-modifying coat was not extended to the inside of his body. As such, if disassembled, his internal parts are vulnerable to any form of energy attacks.
• (Formerly) Mutants: After being infected with Sentinel technology, Barry would lose control and attack any mutants in his presence as the technology would override his free will. He lost this weakness upon adapting his current form.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Personality

Unknown.

Notes

• Bartholomew Aaron Stack is the Earth-166 counterpart of X-51 (Earth-616) (better known as Machine Man).
  • This character's idea came about when trying to figure out a way to incorporate Draft227's alternate version of Amygdala into the strictly-Marvel SigmaVerse. Given the common first name, X-Factor had the idea to merge them. The resulting idea involved a mentally ill patient who was experimented on by the Leader, and later placed into a robot body. The Hulk aspect was removed to create the full Machine Man seen here, and the Hulk aspects were solely retained for SigmaVerse's Aaron Stack.
  • In canon, Z2P45-9 took the name "Bartholomew" because Barry sounded like Aaron. In our world, it's to match the Barry Witherspoon aspect of his counterpart.
    • Whenever Aaron is forced to use a different name to go undercover, he uses the name "Barry Witherspoon." This is a further allusion to the Earth-616 character.
      

Trivia

• In researching the character, Machine Man became one of Uncanny X-Factor's new favorite characters.
• Barry's role in the Heroes for Hire replaces that of Dane Whitman in Earth-616's continuity.
• As soon as he hit the public radar, Barry was inducted into SHIELD's superhuman index. It has been hinted on more than one occasion that SHIELD is responsible for the Machine Man project, meaning they would have known of him even before he was created.
• Due to his encounters with The One Above All, Barry Stack believes in God.
• Barry Stack is intended to be a full reboot of the Machine Man, while the Ultimate version stays closer to the classic version.
• Uncanny X-Factor has condemned the song written for the character by the band Powerman 5000.
  • Uncanny X-Factor claims to have written his own song in response. It was never released. He has also claimed it's simply a reworded Mr. Roboto by Styx, but neither piece has ever been seen by human eyes.
  • X-Factor also tried to remove all "metallic" references to/origins of the character, but included the mental illness intentionally to make him more realistic.
• Barry has openly admitted that if he were a human, he would be an alcoholic.
• When Barry realized he no longer contained the essence of Aaron Stack, he went into isolation in the desert for a week and did nothing but drink and cry. When he returned, he only allowed people to call him Bartholomew. He told no one of this.

See Also

• Appearances of Bartholomew Aaron Stack (Earth-166)
• Character Gallery: Bartholomew Aaron Stack (Earth-166)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Bartholomew Aaron Stack (Earth-166)
• Quotations by Bartholomew Aaron Stack (Earth-166)