In honor of African-American History Month, DC Comics News presents the characters, artists, writers and actors of color that helped to shape the DC Universe. Today Staff Writer Roemello McKay takes us in-depth into the making and history of the robotic hero known as Cyborg.
The character was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, and first appears in a special insert in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980). Cyborg is best known as a member of the Teen Titans. However, in September 2011, Cyborg was established as a founding member of the Justice League as part of DC’s 2011 reboot of its continuity.
Origin
This heavy-metal hero would first appear in 1980’s DC Comics Presents #26. Victor Stone is the son of S.T.A.R Labs scientists Silas and Elinore Stone, who often used Victor as a test subject for their experiments which were meant to benefit mankind. Early in his life, young Victor was revealed to have a genius IQ of 170, due to intelligence boosting experiments they performed on him.
Silas and Elinore’s scientific adventures often estranged their son, as they would sometime dedicate more time and toward their work, opposed to him.
Growing up, his parents taught him everything from home. This inexperience in the real world led him to almost get hit by a car as a young boy but at the last second, he was saved by another boy named Ron Evers. Making his first real friend and joining his race based gang, he was goaded into bad behavior. This brought his parents to realize that he needed to socialize more, resulting in them allowing him to attend public school.
While attending public school, he gained an interest in sports while Ron remained his best friend. Becoming a rebel who disobeyed his parents at every turn, Victor’s father became frustrated at his son for not following in his footsteps.
Soon after, Victor was approached by Ron and his gang and was asked to help them fight a rival white gang called “The Hawks.” Though Victor did not recognize people’s differences based on color, he agreed to help them. Unknown to him, this was a real 50s-style rumble, complete with knives. Soon after, the fight was broken up due to the arrival of the police. Victor fled the scene and returned home.
His parents were disappointed and his mother accused him of not knowing what he wanted. In a fit, Victor returned to Ron where he was notified of another scheme based on racial struggle, and immediately walked away which resulted in their friendship ending.
Sometime later, Victor paid a visit to his parents at S.T.A.R Labs. When he opened the door to their lab, he was shocked to see that their dimensional probing machine experiment had gone horribly wrong. A creature had come through the portal and had already consumed his mother then began attacking Victor, dissolving portions of his body before his father was able to shut down the machine.
Refusing to lose his son as well as his wife, Silas Stone decided to use Victor as the test subject for a new cybernetic suit that he had been working on, which was meant for soldiers whose bodies were destroyed in war.
When he came to, Victor was horrified at his new appearance. Victor saw himself as a guinea pig once again. A proverbial Frankenstein’s monster, and wished that he had not survived the accident. After recovering, Victor attempted to return to his normal life but was feared and shunned by the public.
Feeling like an outcast, he ran away from home to live in Hell’s Kitchen. Sometime after, Victor was found by Ron, who wanted Victor’s help in committing a terrorist act on the United Nations. Ron had attempted to blame Victor’s accident on “The man.”
Angered, Victor scolded Ron and ordered him to leave him be before Ron tried to recruit him once again, giving Victor the details of the terrorists’ plot.
Meeting the group of terrorists at the location, Victor revealed that he was there to stop them. This heroic stance was the act that resulted in Victor gaining the attention of Raven, who would eventually gather the other Teen Titans to form The New Teen Titans super-team. Since then, Cyborg has continued to appear in various comics and forms of popular media, most notably the insanely popular Teen Titans animated series and he will soon be a character in DC’s Cinematic Universe.
Media Appearances
Teen Titans
Smallville
Teen Titans GO!
Justice League Doom
Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox
Justice League War
Injustice: Gods Among Us
The Super Powers Team
Lego Batman Video Game Series
Lego DC Comics Animated Films
Soon to be a character in DC’s Cinematic Universe.
Source(s): Comic Vine, DC Comics Database
