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I'm not a member or a subscriber, but this was a damn good breakdown of Metallo. Aside from your mistake on Supergirl's vulnerability to Kryptonite, though, I'm also questioning if Metallo was actually killed off. He could've simply been shut down to the point that retrieving info from him would be impossible without plugging his power source back in. I'm thinking Metallo would be too powerful of a potential ally for a villain to simply kill off.
"I will save this man with this robot body I happen to have. Shame it runs on these tiny batteries instead of anything stable and lasting. Oh well. His problem."
@@SerumLake May I suggest an coverage of General Wade Eiling of the DCAU? From what I see in TV Tropes, in the comics, Eiling was corrupt, as he turned Nathaniel Adams into Captain Atom through experimentation amd stole his wife before he became a supervillain. In the DCAU's Justice League Unlimited, Eiling is an well intentioned extremist who joined Amanda Waller's Project Cadmus to fight against the Justice League after the events of The Justice Lords' atenpt to take over the Justice League's Earth. I remember one episode, Patriot Act where, after Eiling mutated himself so he can attempt to fight The League, he crashes through a parade just so he can kill Superman. What makes the episode special is how Eiling became a hypocrite, going against League Members who are NOT metahumans, especially degrading poor Shining Knight, who fought valiantly. It gets to the point where the citizens stands up and called out Eiling for his hypocrisy. You know it's real bad when one child says that Eiling is quote, "the only one here with superpowwrs." Eiling does admit that he became what he hates, but he stubbornly says that eventually they will see that they need the likes of Eiling for protection from metahumans, before leaving, his fate ambiguous. Meaning he's still out there, still believing all metahumans are the threat, never even mentioned again in Batman Beyond.
@@SerumLake Love the coverage for Metallo, especially his appearance in DCAU's Justice League. Speaking of, can you do an coverage of DCAU's General Wade Eiling? Fromwhat I can see in TV Tropes, in the comics, Eiling was an corrupt military general who turned Nathaniel Adams into Captain Atom, and steals his wife in marriage, and that is before he became a supervillain, Shaggy Man. In DCAU, Eiling was an well intentioned extremist, who joined Amanda waller's Operation Carmus as they fight against the Justice League after the events of The Justice Lords attempt to take over the former's universe. Eiling was consumed by the belief that all metahumans are a threat to the United States, and the world, even when Waller has come to see the error of her ways. I remember the episode Patriot Act, where Eiling's fear and inte tions has lead him to be the worst king of person; a hypocrite. After he admits his hypocrisy, gis fate is left ambiguous, meaning he's still out there, never really mentioned again, even in BTman Beyond.
As a kid Metallo really freaked me out. Not because of his appearance, but the fact that he openly tried to sexually assault Lois. Him being voiced by Caligula didn’t help either. It’s probably why he’s one of my favorite Superman villains, cause he’s the only one to make me afraid
Malcolm McDowell definitely has a type of role - Caligula, A Clockwork Orange, Royal Flash, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead... I swear he even took his clothes off in Star Trek Generations!
Same. I didn't know the words for SA, but I knew it was deeply, horrifically wrong. Unfortunately I now know what it feels like firsthand, and that makes Metallo far more creepy to me than any other Superman villain.
Can you imagine not being able to feel? Never tasting your favorite meal again, never getting to enjoy the smell of the flowers, never being able to feel love in your heart when you embrace a lover? Almost makes me think of Mister Freeze in that way. "To never again walk on a summer's day with a hot wind in your face, and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'd kill for that."
A good example of this would be Baldur from God of War. His mother Freya cast a spell that made him immune to any and all forms of damage, but the catch was that he lost all feeling and sensation, not just pain. He couldn’t taste food, feel the cold of the snow, or the pleasure of women, nothing. Eventually it made him bitter and insane.
Honestly, never spending money on food, not wasting a third of my time on sleep and never having pain or get old is more than a fair trade. Also love is a brain thing, so a sufficiently advanced piece of hardware could simulate it virtually perfectectly.
@@trustme3321 I think it would still suck. Yeah, not being able to feel pain is a huge plus, but not being able to die or feel the pleasant sensations even the slight, minute ones would be literal numbing torture and Hell. I mean Metallo experienced a couple of worse than death fates when he sank to the bottom of the ocean and was buried in lava unable to move in which he was lucky enough to escape both, but if not lucky he would’ve wished for death which at times is a great and comforting escape from very horrible fates like those.
I think part of what messed him up was what emotions and sensations he could feel. He could no longer eat good food, smell sweet objects, feel anything from women... Yet he could feel spite, anger, wrath, delight in others suffering... And to cling to that warped twisted humanity he clung to his vices rather than virtues. Without his memories he felt some good for doing good and didn't seem to have too many issues. Yet with his memories he indulges in the one vice he can still partake in... And that vice is what always defeats him in the end.
It's probably one of the reasons that Cybermen have emotional inhibitors, as it prevents them from having a negative reaction to their eternal suffering. What's worse is that, outside of _very_ specific circumstances, there's no way to avoid suffering without the inhibitor; the earlier versions are exceedingly crude, with rough cybernetics grafted onto your body and covered with what amounts to cloth and foil, and the later versions either transfer your brain into a cold body of steel or replace as much of your organics with cybernetics as possible. The Mondasian Cybermen are the worst though, as there's so much of the body that's left that, under the cloth faces, exposed piping, and medical equipment, they're still very clearly human. What makes their design even more twisted is that _they_ are in constant pain, to the point that the prototypes used text-to-speech programs to beg for _death,_ and the surgeons working on them decided that, instead of refining the process to make the conversion less painful, they made the emotional inhibitors to stop people having a negative _reaction_ to the pain.
What I like about the "King Superman" bit in the comics is that, long before Kill Bill claimed that Clark Kent was Superman's critique of the human race, the comics demonstrated how vital Clark Kent was for Superman to be Superman. Per All-Star Superman, being Clark Kent is what keeps Superman grounded, allowing him to see the world the way the regular human being does. In Superman The Animated Series, Superman once states that he'd go insane if he had to be Superman 24/7. I feel like this is something often overlooked: Bits like Kill Bill's view on Superman tend to overlook the fact that for much of his life, Clark Kent was just Clark Kent. He wasn't super-strong or indestructible until he started reaching adulthood. He wasn't born super, he didn't choose to be super, rather he became super after spending years as a normal person. Superman needs Clark Kent to be human, or as close to human as he can be. Clark Kent isn't Superman's critique of the human race, it's his anchor that keeps him from going Homelander or Omniman on the human race. It is what reminds him that, once upon a time, he was weak and powerless too. Simply put, if you take the Clark Kent out of Superman, you get Homelander; if you take Superman out of Clark Kent, you get Atticus Finch.
Knowing tarantino, I think it was purposly overlooked. In my opinion that part is more to show that bill at heart is an evil man which sees everybody beneath him and projects his twisted view on his favourite character
The thing that makes the Kill Bill critique go from a profound statement to a laughable joke is the fact that it is the exact same thing Lex Luthor would say if he was reading the comics. After all, the only reason why a famous and successful person like Lex could imagine living a unknown and humble life while being one of the most well known people on the planet must be because you believe the average person to be stupid beyond belief and are actively trying to prove it daily. It’s why I believe Hollywood has struggled to make any good Superman anything, because everyone who is in charge of making them all think like Lex Luthor.
@@arrigo9828 I do think that's part of it. Bill sees ordinary people as beneath him, sure, but I think it goes further than that. See, Bill views Superman as the greatest hero, and there are certain parallels to Bill's story that Bill has decided to extrapolate and apply to Superman. See, Bill is a westerner who went to the east and mastered kung fu, mastered swordsmanship and obtained swords from the greatest swordsmith alive, and became one of the deadliest men on the planet. Like Superman, he's an "alien" who went to another "world" and obtained immense power. The problem is that, where Superman decided to use that power for good, Bill basically saw everyone beneath him and decided he had the right to do whatever he wanted. After all, if Bill could rise to become so powerful and dangerous, there's no reason for anyone to be weak asides from just choosing not to be: Everyone else just lacks courage, confidence, and resolve in Bill's mind. The reality is, however, that the reason most people don't do what Bill does is because people have a things like empathy, a conscience, morals, stuff like that. Superman has immense power, but also kindness and compassion. Bill has immense power in a different, but has no problem with doing things like gunning down a church full of innocent people and feels little if any guilt for it.
You can tell how beloved Malcolm McDowell's vocal performance here was by how they kept bringing Metallo back for more no matter how deeply he was buried last time. Further allusions to lust wouldn't make it past BS&P but back then it conveyed just fine how Corben was a hedonist, someone who really enjoys the pleasurable sensations life offers... perhaps a bit too much. Guess Luthor forgot about that part of his guinea pig, or else wasn't aware. A literal man of steel, but a man who cannot feel ends up being nothing but a heel. Like Baldur.
@SerumLake Honestly, The Way of All Flesh is one of my top 10 STAS Episodes and Malcolm McDowell's performance is burned into my brain with how terrifying and horrific it is just because its shown how much he's lost aside from physical pain, and I kind of wish that the GOW writers had leaned into that aspect more with Balder
Intergang being unimaginative makes sense when you consider that they and their leader were specifically chosen by Darkseid to be his pawns. Darkseid didn't want people with brains or imagination working for him, he wanted witless rubes he could manipulate in order to further his goals. After all, people with imagination might imagine that maybe Darkseid would betray them, or imagine using the gifts given to them for something other than Darkseid's purposes.
@@Compucles We don't know that for sure. It's likely that Darkseid was always backing Intergang with weapons and cash, and only upped the ante with tech when Superman showed.
Anytime Metallo appeared on the show, you always knew Superman was going to be locked in a battle of true survival and I thought they did a great job in introducing John Corben before his transformation, it made him have a real personal beef against Superman and with a kryptonite powered heart, he could go after him in a big way. Thanks for an awesome coverage on one of the main heavy hitters of the Superman rogue's gallery. One of my favourite Superman villains.
Superman could’ve easily stopped him in their first battle; he’s 100x faster than him, all he had to do was sprint towards him & hit him with his Orbit Punch technique sending him flying into the vacuum of space. Metallo wouldn’t have seen it coming, but Superman always pulls his punches.
Metallo always freaked me out as a kid. That theme and his sadism always disturbed me. He was also arguably the closest to killing Superman compared to other villains with the exception of Darkseid. If not for his sadism and the assistance of Steel and Jimmy, he could have done it too.
One thing I wish they kept from "The Way of All Flesh" was his hatred of Luthor (have it that once he dealt with the Man of Steel, he'd focus his vendetta on Lex next)
Indeed, while it’s for the best they try to cut the fat. I think metallo’s hatred of luthor would have been good setup for using the kryptonite man as a oneshot villian.
I really love that quote, "At our core when everything is stripped away, we're all decent people deep down inside. It's just our experiences in life that warps us and makes us into bad people." Gives me a sense of hope in humanity :)
It's true. Furthermore, usually bad people (if you can call one of most regular people bad) also justify things to themselves. This shows that for most people they're is an inherent NEED to do good. And, well, if you actually go out and talk to people, you'll quickly find that most people are actually quite nice and kind (I know this from experience).
It's nonsense. Most people have an inherent sense of right and wrong and still choose to do things that are wrong. Children lie and take from their friends at an early age, no one teaches them this, they do it automatically. When we're old enough to "know better" we usually do the morally right thing, not because it's right, but because of consequences for our actions or worse, because we think it makes us morally superior; _"no one is good, not even one."_
I distinctly remember especially loving Metallo's theme. The way it alarmingly builds up always reminds me of a mix between the theme from Jaws and elements of the theme from Psycho.
I still remember Metallo from his first episode and how unsettling it was after his operation how despite looking like himself on the outside, he no longer felt anything on the inside. No longer feeling pain, but no longer feeling pleasure either. Then when his true form finally was revealed after his skin was removed was pretty dark. Not to mention his "defeat" leading to him being lost at sea just to appear in another episode by being found by a kid. The tension I felt as a child when Metallo was being around the children as he starts remembering his past again I still remember pretty well, especially since there was no way of knowing if he would violently lash out as it happened. The imagery of him coming out of the ocean still sticks with me to this day.
One thing I feel I should mention. Supergirl isn't naturally less effected by kryptonite. The wierd magic of the land messed with and reduced her powers in that episode, and consequently reducing how much kryptonite hurt her there. She even mentions when the kryptonite is revealed that if she were at full strength, that much kryptonite would have killed her immediately. Metallo was a great villain. I love how often StAS would introduce a villain in episodes well before they hit their 'villainous moniker'. Corbin, being in the second episode, Manhiem being used to introduce Toyman, and even that crooked cop from 'The Late Mr Kent' shows up in Luminous's pre villain moniker episode.
Yet, it's also established in the DCAU that Supergirl is less affected by Kryptonite than Superman is due to her home planet being Argo rather than Krypton in this continuity.
It would've of been awesome if Metallo somehow survived all the way to the era of "Batman Beyond" where he could've crossed paths with Zeta from the "Zeta Project". Remember Zeta is a robot becoming a man whereas Metallo is a man becoming a robot.
I would’ve loved to seen Metallo’s reaction to Lex Luthor getting Kryptonite poisoning, since that seems like Lex’s karma for having John Corben infected with that rare incurable disease.
Metallo is one those characters who kept getting better and better in each new reinterpretation. Despite appearing for one issue in the silver age, John Corben showed alot of potential (in his debut story he shows to be very cunning, being able to infiltrate the daily planet and stole Superman's identity to commit crimes) In the post-crisis he got the terrifying "terminator" look (which is the definitive look for the character) and was threat to Superman (in his first apperance he almost killed Superman, who was only saved bc Luthor interfered) DCAU gave this tragic aspect that he's man trapped in robotic body. Recent comics (in particular the New 52 Grant Morrison run) had more sympathetic take on Corben, reintroducing as one of general Lane's soldier who, wanting to prove himself to Lois and gain her attention, choose to become a cyborg to beat Superman (who, at time, was still at beginning of his career and distrust by the goverment). Really hope he appears in James Gunn's Superman film. There's alot great story that could be told with him as the main villain
Metallo's origin had one of the best lines: Metallo: "I can't feel anything! I want those adjustments Luthor talked about!" Scientist: "The adjustments were YOURS to make!"
Aesthetically one of my favorite superman villains. The voice acting is perfect, and I'm glad they ended up bringing him back with only half his face every time. Much scarier than just the plain terminator look
I like that the mech he pilots has green lights in the cockpit. It's a nice, subtle touch that hints at his fate.
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the thing with Corbyn and Luthor's relationship prior to his "death" and then his transformation is worth noting due to how part of Luthor's business model was weapon's manufacturing and sales. He sold weapons to Kaznia at the time of STAS, which aired during the Kosovo/Bosnia war in the 1990s (hence Kaznia) and theres no telling how many innocents died during that time no thanks to the partnership they had.
Who knows if said partnership probably helped create villains like Aresia too.
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@@michaelandreipalon359 Yeah, it took me a moment to realize what you ment but I just saw that Justice League episode again the other day. God damn that poor girl never had a chance... That's another thing; a lot of times the trauma of such horrible tragedies bring out the worst in us. We only have to look at what the outcome of World War 1 lead to just a few decades later after all. All because of imperialism and ultra-nationalist nonsense.
Even though he's not English in the comics, I can't help but read him with Malcom McDowell's voice, as it just helps to give him such as distinct sound. Also I wouldn't be surprised if he recovered from his injuries. DCAU ended a lot of episodes without the villain having their brain broken and then they were fine in their next appearence, like with Riddler, Parasite, and even Giganta from the same brain implant.
The amount of actors who had minor screen time in BTAS that would eventually have more prominent roles in STAS surprisingly bigger than one might imagine. From the most famous being Dana Delany going from Andrea Beaumont to Lois Lane, then Bud Cort going from Josiah Wormwood to Toyman, George Dzundza from Ventriloquist/Scarface (and various others) to Perry White and the very subject of this video, Malcolm McDowell going from Arcady Duvall to Metallo. I'm certain I'm forgetting quite a few others as well.
Michael Dorn playing Steel. He'd fight Metallo, then a few years later. Dorn in his iconic make up would be in a shoot out against Malcolm McDowell's character.
One aspect that I've come to appreciate regarding S:TAS was how the early episodes would pay homage to the Fleischer Brothers SUPERMAN animated shorts from the 40's. It took me a while to realize ACTION FIGURES was a nod to VOLCANO, a 1942 short that saw Superman rescue Lois from a research facility on the verge of destruction due to its placement near an active volcano!❤
I think this video impressed upon me that Metallio, at his core, has a code. Like is he a crook? Yeah. A sadistic monster? Yeah. But like, he didn't squeal on Luther. Only went after Luther when he learned that Lex stabbed him in the back. Worked with intergang because he felt he owed them and genuinely tried to be heroic when he /thought/ he was a superhero. Guys lawful evil I think, though the lawful part seems far more core to his character. Edit: I kinda feel like his end was kinda out of character though. Not squealing got him into his state but squealing got him killed.
5:40 The situation of Metallo in Superman the Animated Series, makes me think in Baldur of God of War (2018) As Corben and Baldur for some particulars reasons, they were fated to die; Corben by a disease and Baldur by a prophecy. And to prevent their demises, both were subjected to some processes; Corben's mind was uploaded in an artificial body and Baldur was cursed with inmortality. But later, Corben and Baldur ends finding that this newfound inmortality implied a high price; the lost of capability to feel anything, including any kind of pleasure, leading to that Corben and Baldur gone insane for this torment, turning them in vengeful and ruthless villains in the process.
definitely excited to see it when it goes public. that scene of him realizing his transplant is permanent leading up to him furiously tearing his own face off is... really something! especially when the flanging kicks in just as you see that metallic skull
11:20 I think in one scene Darkseid gets a bit impatient with Mannheim once he realizes Intergang is just using his hardware to crack open banks... 13:16 This frame amuses me.
I always thought Metallo would make for an awesome and terrifying villain to see realized in a live action Superman movie! A genuine threat to the hero, and also a memorable character in his own right with his insanity over losing his humanity and ability to feel.
Good video. I never realized the allegory to his fine living in prison to his hedonism. I just thought him kissing Lois Lane was just a carryover when they first interacted in the 3 part origin and could conveniently use it as a distraction to keep Superman alive. I love the Way of all Flesh in that it represents a side of Superman - have the strength and durability beyond that of a normal human perhaps rivaling Superman - oh but the things that make us human, the ability to smell, taste - the point about enjoying life is denied you. Very Monkey's Paw-ish and clearly a way to make a character who is a villain repentently so. The cool Terminator body horror is also just chef's kiss. Following up with Action Figures where we see at first his inherent willingness to do good only because that seems to be human nature (or in the mind's eye of human nature) only to leave him trapped in igneous rock with no power only the memory forcing the identiy - "I am Metallo" implying that he would return and he would be worse. I loved how they managed to maintain continuity with Metallo through the series this way and that he even showed up in Justice League. Malcolm McDowell was used appropriately - I'd say.
Self awareness and consciousness make us human. I consider him human. When he realized that he couldn't feel sensation he basically went crazy. It was alien to him
I was gonna make a remark on how Metallo was wasted in JLU season 3, but Serum Lake explained it well why his demise proved to be a good end for him. But I still regret he never had any beef with Lex. They could have foreshadowed that Lex put in fail-safes by testing the first one on Metallo, but that never happened. Also, I agree that John forcing himself on Lois was the creepiest thing he ever did. Good on the STAS team for bending the censors.
13:10 i love toyman who's just standing there in his little sweater vest next to all the superpowered and evil members (also that face before the lava washes over him is great 10:08)
Couldn't agree more; DCAU Metallo is a top notch villain. A man sacrificing his humanity for power he couldn't handle is always going to be tragic, but then he still chooses to be evil, so he gets what he paid for. Brilliant. 😆 How and ever, I think you've highlighted an interesting point in the _JLU_ section about how Superman's villains tend to be treated as either *space fillers* or *disposable fodder.* From a certain point in time - post-Crisis, but chiefly during the early 2000s - I'd argue there's a broad issue with writers across DC media having a seeming disdain for Superman's mythos and building upon it. More specifically, no-one's ever had the same success with reinventing all the Super-Villains (exceptions in the DCAU: Lex, Brainiac, Metallo, Toyman) in the same way that _B: TAS_ did with Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Clock King, etc.. There's so much unrealised potential with so many villains that originate from Superman. It's a great pity.
Metallo is one of my favourite villains from STAS. I do like that he in a way is supposed to be a parallel to Superman as a "Man of Steel" but instead of it just being a nickname for how tough he is, it's more literal. Metallo also draws more interesting comparisons with the concept of humanity. He is a literal "Man of Steel" with a human brain so is objectively more "human" than Clark, but even with that brain he lacks a lot of the more genuine traits of humanity that Clark has, even if he is100% not human at all physically as an alien. Metallo is just something in the shape of a man that lacks empathy or compassion outside of the one instance where he had amnesia, perhaps because stripped of his memories he was no longer corrupted by the strength his robotic body gave him and the ego he learned in life. Once he remembers his true self and his past does he reverts to being a heartless monster. Clark however is good hearted because of his past while living among humans and being taught compassion. Learning to live and feel as a human despite his origins and differences.
Cool video. Metallo is probably my favourite Superman villain because he's someone who can plausibly be a serious threat to him without being some sort of big world-ending danger.
Metallo has to be one of my top 3 secondary Superman villains (bit below Luthor, Braniac and Darkseid, bit higher than someone like Mongul) Funnily enough my top 3 all have a sort of body horror-ish bent to them, Metallo's synthetic skin and robot skeleton, Toyman never showing who he is under his doll head to the point the doll head IS his 'real' face and Parasite being a mutated walking corpse whose lack of definition allows him to skirt by the censores because they'd think he's just wearing a skinsuit.
I always like that every appearance I've seen of him in other animated media has every character panic. It really sells the idea that he's particularly dangerous
This version of him was really cool. Clearly a scumbag, but one you can understand his plight to still be a person. His theme or music sting is also pretty memorable.
I too, found Metallo's design incredibly freaky as kid. And his nasty personality didn't help eather. Also, I find it curious how Metallo's origin is very similar to that of General Grievous in the Star Wars Legends continuity. In there, he was a warrior that got into an accident orchestrated by Count Dooku, and later was turned into a cyborg assassin and general
Wish George Lucas and Dave Filoni kept that origin. Arrogant of them not to out of misguided nostalgia for Flash Gordon and personal preference respectively.
@@DonWeaselYeehawEditionDon't forget The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, maybe Static Shock, Gotham Girls, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.
I hope he get to see John Corbin/Metallo in the live action. I wish Metallo, Toy Man, and Parasite get some recognitions. Instead of using Lex Luther over and over again. With a great script, they could make great long term villains in the DCU.
Technically, he has appeared in live action: Metallo has appeared in Superboy, Lois & Clark, Smallville, and Supergirl. I'm guessing that you meant live action theatrical film.
Metallo always freaked me out whenever I caught any of his episodes. He and Parasite were the only ones that genuinely scared me in that show. Especially whenever he ripped off his skin…Shudders. All the damn time.
Metallo is also one of my favorite STAS villains, and I i thought that Malcolm McDowell was perfectly cast to do the voice acting. I need to revisit the JLU episode you covered towards the end, since i don't recall that one as clearly as his other DCAU appearances. I wasn't aware of the background from the comics that you covered during rhe beginning of your video, so thay was also interesting to learn about. The friendly version that helped Superboy was not something I expected to see!
Early Superman comics are really fascinating. The fact that there's three separate continuities, the comics, the weekday newspaper strip, and the Sunday newspaper strip, and that they'd all borrow ideas from each other really muddies the waters.
Heh, you haven't seen the episode. Yep, that's the Cosmic Staff. Stargirl actually tried to take Metallo on earlier, but she was punching above her weight class (which she tended to do pretty often in JLU). Metallo subdued her and knocked her out pretty easily, which left the Staff discarded for Supergirl to use.
Ah, Metallo. The power of a machine and the pettiness of the human mind. Add a little Kryptonite and you have a literal man of steel who Hobbes would pit against Nietzche's finest.
Easily one of my favorite and most chilling Metallo moments for me is when, after realizing he no longer feels touch or any physical pleasure, he looks himself in a mirror and rips off his flesh, yelling out "It's all fake! . . . There is only.... Metallo!" So creepy, but so cool! Great video!
I always knew who metallo was seconds before his reveal in any animated series or movie because if it looks like a normal dude suddenly over powering Superman or guarding lex, that’s metallo
My favorite Superman villain aside from Manchester Black. Still irks me that he never got the chance to be the villain in Man of Steel as was planned. As for his weird sense of ethics, I think it's because of his job as a mercenary. Casual disregard for life is his job, as is honoring deals.
10:13 In a scene like this, you'd either go insane or get humbled enough. For Metallo to not redeem himself after that temporary yet very real hell he went through speaks volumes
wow, okay, i really gotta watch these animated series(big fan of DCAU and animated movies). honestly, i love the way you show emotions in these. might be a standard type of essay(to me, at least), but this spices up things and sometimes even makes me chuckle. great stuff, man.
Weird connection to Justice League Unlimited I never noticed until now: Kryptonite as a power source was established with Metallo and in JLU when Superman fights Shazam in the city Lex built, Lex says the city is powered by a Kryptonite reactor. Makes me wonder if Kryptonite could be a potential clean, nearly infinite energy source but it is hosrded by villains who just wanna use it to kill Superman
Metallo was easily my favorite Superman Baddie and the 1st one to come to mind for his rogues gallery! Played brilliantly by Alex delarge himself,😊, Metallo is an ultimate body horror of having your same mind but knowing you can't feel, touch, or enjoy any of the sensations you previously had- and how that can warp you tremendously! This gave him sympathy for what Luthor did to him but also added to his unhinged nature from this moment on! Also, it kinda makes you wonder, how is it he always has half his face on, no matter what battle he's in?!😂
it really is a shame the live action superman movies only ever use Zod or Lex Luthor, having a more 'obscure' villain like Metallo would be fun. the shedding of his human skin to reveal the metal skeleton underneath is always a great visual. it's a shame the comics and such seem to prefer to use him as a weaker villain or even as a minion, even after he got upgraded to be able to merge with machines or make clones of himself.
One thing that bugged me about him was that he always seemed to have Superman on the ropes until a third party intervened. Made it feel like Superman was kind of a wimp
The flaws of holding back. Say what anyone will of Man of Steel, at least it neatly showcased the might of the Last Son of Krypton better than the DCAU.
I like the detail in Way of All Flesh that the doctor that performed the procedure to create Metallo retired but while Lois and Clark search his offices you see items strewn about like there was a struggle but there's no comment on it. I think the procedure might have implanted Corbin's brain into the body but its sealed to make sure it is impervious and cannot be reversed.
Excellent video, glad you finally Touched on this character. Can you talk about that Poison Ivy episode where she pretends to make a family for herself. Always thought that was a pretty underrated one.
I think Inter-gang is an interesting case, they are incredible organized and have access to extremely advanced tech (in some cases they are even connected to Apocolypse), but in the end like you said... they are petty thieves, and i like that, it shows that even with some great advantages and "opportunities" some people are just simple in their desires.
Do you know what is the most ironic thing about Metallo? He has a kryptonite for a heart because it is Superman's greatest weakness, but the kryptonite is also his greatest weakness as well. For without it, he's essentially a man size ship anchor.
As terrible as Corbin was, I always felt like he got a pretty good deal. An immortal mostly invincible body. Not having to sleep or eat are features, not bugs to me. Though I still wonder if even someone that wasn't a hedonist wouldn't eventually go crazy from the lack of sensory.
Very happy to stumble upon this video, me and my brother were obsessed with the Superman Animated Series and he was one of our favorite villains!! We are from Mexico (so Latinamerican Spanish Dub) tho and in the Action Figures episode his VA changes for whatever reason and ITS SO BAD LIKE WHY DID THEY DO THAT HIIIIM. I think later on he has his original VA again? But I don’t remember and haven’t seen his Justice League appearances. I should do, I love those series very much
You know if I was doing the Justice league I would have Metallo be a member of the Injustice league as the Superman equivalent after replacing Mongul and that he gets his mind expanded into an army of Metallos and that he takes over Superman’s body and he knows that he is Clark Kent making him more dangerous than ever.
Metallo's good streak in Action Figures may be a reference to/partial adaption of the good-natured one that met Superboy, maybe? He even lacks the synthetic skin we last saw him with so he looks all-robot like him.
There was an Outsiders' villain called The Duke Of Oil who was exactly what you theorized about Corben's existence as Metallo. Told that he had survived an accident ala the original Cliff Steele (Robotman 2), and that only his brain remained, leaving him a path to inhabit a body cloned from his old one, he was exposed when Katana threw her blade through his skull, revealing only circuitry. As one can imagine, he did not take it well.
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I'm not a member or a subscriber, but this was a damn good breakdown of Metallo.
Aside from your mistake on Supergirl's vulnerability to Kryptonite, though, I'm also questioning if Metallo was actually killed off. He could've simply been shut down to the point that retrieving info from him would be impossible without plugging his power source back in. I'm thinking Metallo would be too powerful of a potential ally for a villain to simply kill off.
"I will save this man with this robot body I happen to have. Shame it runs on these tiny batteries instead of anything stable and lasting. Oh well. His problem."
perhaps not quite as kindly as I first thought...
@@SerumLake May I suggest an coverage of General Wade Eiling of the DCAU? From what I see in TV Tropes, in the comics, Eiling was corrupt, as he turned Nathaniel Adams into Captain Atom through experimentation amd stole his wife before he became a supervillain.
In the DCAU's Justice League Unlimited, Eiling is an well intentioned extremist who joined Amanda Waller's Project Cadmus to fight against the Justice League after the events of The Justice Lords' atenpt to take over the Justice League's Earth. I remember one episode, Patriot Act where, after Eiling mutated himself so he can attempt to fight The League, he crashes through a parade just so he can kill Superman. What makes the episode special is how Eiling became a hypocrite, going against League Members who are NOT metahumans, especially degrading poor Shining Knight, who fought valiantly.
It gets to the point where the citizens stands up and called out Eiling for his hypocrisy. You know it's real bad when one child says that Eiling is quote, "the only one here with superpowwrs." Eiling does admit that he became what he hates, but he stubbornly says that eventually they will see that they need the likes of Eiling for protection from metahumans, before leaving, his fate ambiguous. Meaning he's still out there, still believing all metahumans are the threat, never even mentioned again in Batman Beyond.
@@SerumLake 14:52, and the fact that he was voiced by Malcolm McDowell makes it an absolute guarantee.
Vale reminds me of those Arkham doctors in "Dreams in Darkness".
@@SerumLake Love the coverage for Metallo, especially his appearance in DCAU's Justice League. Speaking of, can you do an coverage of DCAU's General Wade Eiling?
Fromwhat I can see in TV Tropes, in the comics, Eiling was an corrupt military general who turned Nathaniel Adams into Captain Atom, and steals his wife in marriage, and that is before he became a supervillain, Shaggy Man.
In DCAU, Eiling was an well intentioned extremist, who joined Amanda waller's Operation Carmus as they fight against the Justice League after the events of The Justice Lords attempt to take over the former's universe. Eiling was consumed by the belief that all metahumans are a threat to the United States, and the world, even when Waller has come to see the error of her ways.
I remember the episode Patriot Act, where Eiling's fear and inte tions has lead him to be the worst king of person; a hypocrite. After he admits his hypocrisy, gis fate is left ambiguous, meaning he's still out there, never really mentioned again, even in BTman Beyond.
As a kid Metallo really freaked me out. Not because of his appearance, but the fact that he openly tried to sexually assault Lois. Him being voiced by Caligula didn’t help either.
It’s probably why he’s one of my favorite Superman villains, cause he’s the only one to make me afraid
Malcolm McDowell definitely has a type of role - Caligula, A Clockwork Orange, Royal Flash, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead... I swear he even took his clothes off in Star Trek Generations!
Metallo is similar to the T800.
@@nathancruz9172
The irony is that Metallo predates the T800.
Same. I didn't know the words for SA, but I knew it was deeply, horrifically wrong. Unfortunately I now know what it feels like firsthand, and that makes Metallo far more creepy to me than any other Superman villain.
Same. I was always scared for Lois because he wouldn’t leave her alone.
Can you imagine not being able to feel? Never tasting your favorite meal again, never getting to enjoy the smell of the flowers, never being able to feel love in your heart when you embrace a lover? Almost makes me think of Mister Freeze in that way.
"To never again walk on a summer's day with a hot wind in your face, and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'd kill for that."
Freeze was a tragic being, Metallo is a cold man. One didn;t deserve his fate, the other pretty much brought his own with his own karma
A good example of this would be Baldur from God of War. His mother Freya cast a spell that made him immune to any and all forms of damage, but the catch was that he lost all feeling and sensation, not just pain. He couldn’t taste food, feel the cold of the snow, or the pleasure of women, nothing. Eventually it made him bitter and insane.
Honestly, never spending money on food, not wasting a third of my time on sleep and never having pain or get old is more than a fair trade. Also love is a brain thing, so a sufficiently advanced piece of hardware could simulate it virtually perfectectly.
He’s basically Hector Barbossa and his Black Pearl pirate crew after being cursed in Pirates of the Caribbean.
@@trustme3321 I think it would still suck. Yeah, not being able to feel pain is a huge plus, but not being able to die or feel the pleasant sensations even the slight, minute ones would be literal numbing torture and Hell. I mean Metallo experienced a couple of worse than death fates when he sank to the bottom of the ocean and was buried in lava unable to move in which he was lucky enough to escape both, but if not lucky he would’ve wished for death which at times is a great and comforting escape from very horrible fates like those.
I think part of what messed him up was what emotions and sensations he could feel.
He could no longer eat good food, smell sweet objects, feel anything from women...
Yet he could feel spite, anger, wrath, delight in others suffering...
And to cling to that warped twisted humanity he clung to his vices rather than virtues.
Without his memories he felt some good for doing good and didn't seem to have too many issues.
Yet with his memories he indulges in the one vice he can still partake in... And that vice is what always defeats him in the end.
It's probably one of the reasons that Cybermen have emotional inhibitors, as it prevents them from having a negative reaction to their eternal suffering. What's worse is that, outside of _very_ specific circumstances, there's no way to avoid suffering without the inhibitor; the earlier versions are exceedingly crude, with rough cybernetics grafted onto your body and covered with what amounts to cloth and foil, and the later versions either transfer your brain into a cold body of steel or replace as much of your organics with cybernetics as possible.
The Mondasian Cybermen are the worst though, as there's so much of the body that's left that, under the cloth faces, exposed piping, and medical equipment, they're still very clearly human. What makes their design even more twisted is that _they_ are in constant pain, to the point that the prototypes used text-to-speech programs to beg for _death,_ and the surgeons working on them decided that, instead of refining the process to make the conversion less painful, they made the emotional inhibitors to stop people having a negative _reaction_ to the pain.
Basically wiping metalos memories is probrably a good thing.
What I like about the "King Superman" bit in the comics is that, long before Kill Bill claimed that Clark Kent was Superman's critique of the human race, the comics demonstrated how vital Clark Kent was for Superman to be Superman. Per All-Star Superman, being Clark Kent is what keeps Superman grounded, allowing him to see the world the way the regular human being does. In Superman The Animated Series, Superman once states that he'd go insane if he had to be Superman 24/7.
I feel like this is something often overlooked: Bits like Kill Bill's view on Superman tend to overlook the fact that for much of his life, Clark Kent was just Clark Kent. He wasn't super-strong or indestructible until he started reaching adulthood. He wasn't born super, he didn't choose to be super, rather he became super after spending years as a normal person. Superman needs Clark Kent to be human, or as close to human as he can be. Clark Kent isn't Superman's critique of the human race, it's his anchor that keeps him from going Homelander or Omniman on the human race. It is what reminds him that, once upon a time, he was weak and powerless too.
Simply put, if you take the Clark Kent out of Superman, you get Homelander; if you take Superman out of Clark Kent, you get Atticus Finch.
Knowing tarantino, I think it was purposly overlooked.
In my opinion that part is more to show that bill at heart is an evil man which sees everybody beneath him and projects his twisted view on his favourite character
@@arrigo9828 Yeah, Bill is absolutely wrong to show the viewers how twisted his worldview is.
The thing that makes the Kill Bill critique go from a profound statement to a laughable joke is the fact that it is the exact same thing Lex Luthor would say if he was reading the comics.
After all, the only reason why a famous and successful person like Lex could imagine living a unknown and humble life while being one of the most well known people on the planet must be because you believe the average person to be stupid beyond belief and are actively trying to prove it daily.
It’s why I believe Hollywood has struggled to make any good Superman anything, because everyone who is in charge of making them all think like Lex Luthor.
@@arrigo9828 I do think that's part of it. Bill sees ordinary people as beneath him, sure, but I think it goes further than that. See, Bill views Superman as the greatest hero, and there are certain parallels to Bill's story that Bill has decided to extrapolate and apply to Superman. See, Bill is a westerner who went to the east and mastered kung fu, mastered swordsmanship and obtained swords from the greatest swordsmith alive, and became one of the deadliest men on the planet. Like Superman, he's an "alien" who went to another "world" and obtained immense power. The problem is that, where Superman decided to use that power for good, Bill basically saw everyone beneath him and decided he had the right to do whatever he wanted.
After all, if Bill could rise to become so powerful and dangerous, there's no reason for anyone to be weak asides from just choosing not to be: Everyone else just lacks courage, confidence, and resolve in Bill's mind. The reality is, however, that the reason most people don't do what Bill does is because people have a things like empathy, a conscience, morals, stuff like that. Superman has immense power, but also kindness and compassion. Bill has immense power in a different, but has no problem with doing things like gunning down a church full of innocent people and feels little if any guilt for it.
Either way things go, still love the Kill Bill duology, and I actually hope it doesn't get a Part 3. Too late for that to be quite a treat.
You can tell how beloved Malcolm McDowell's vocal performance here was by how they kept bringing Metallo back for more no matter how deeply he was buried last time. Further allusions to lust wouldn't make it past BS&P but back then it conveyed just fine how Corben was a hedonist, someone who really enjoys the pleasurable sensations life offers... perhaps a bit too much. Guess Luthor forgot about that part of his guinea pig, or else wasn't aware. A literal man of steel, but a man who cannot feel ends up being nothing but a heel. Like Baldur.
I never made the connection to Baldur before, but it seems so obvious now that you've pointed it out
Ah, Baldur the Viking god, right?
@SerumLake Honestly, The Way of All Flesh is one of my top 10 STAS Episodes and Malcolm McDowell's performance is burned into my brain with how terrifying and horrific it is just because its shown how much he's lost aside from physical pain, and I kind of wish that the GOW writers had leaned into that aspect more with Balder
Intergang being unimaginative makes sense when you consider that they and their leader were specifically chosen by Darkseid to be his pawns. Darkseid didn't want people with brains or imagination working for him, he wanted witless rubes he could manipulate in order to further his goals. After all, people with imagination might imagine that maybe Darkseid would betray them, or imagine using the gifts given to them for something other than Darkseid's purposes.
Hope they finally toppled come the Justice League era.
Basically expendable dumbass, from Apokolip's point of view
Manheim was running Intergang long before he met Darkseid, and he was already attempting extravagant robberies like using a giant tank.
@@Compucles We don't know that for sure. It's likely that Darkseid was always backing Intergang with weapons and cash, and only upped the ante with tech when Superman showed.
Anytime Metallo appeared on the show, you always knew Superman was going to be locked in a battle of true survival and I thought they did a great job in introducing John Corben before his transformation, it made him have a real personal beef against Superman and with a kryptonite powered heart, he could go after him in a big way. Thanks for an awesome coverage on one of the main heavy hitters of the Superman rogue's gallery. One of my favourite Superman villains.
Glad you enjoyed it
Superman could’ve easily stopped him in their first battle; he’s 100x faster than him, all he had to do was sprint towards him & hit him with his Orbit Punch technique sending him flying into the vacuum of space. Metallo wouldn’t have seen it coming, but Superman always pulls his punches.
Yeah, it's either Metallo using kryptonite on Superman or Parasite draining him of his power
Metallo always freaked me out as a kid. That theme and his sadism always disturbed me. He was also arguably the closest to killing Superman compared to other villains with the exception of Darkseid. If not for his sadism and the assistance of Steel and Jimmy, he could have done it too.
One thing I wish they kept from "The Way of All Flesh" was his hatred of Luthor (have it that once he dealt with the Man of Steel, he'd focus his vendetta on Lex next)
Interestingly they referenced it a few times in the tie-in comics, but it's a shame they dropped it for JLU.
@@SerumLakeI like to think Grodd threatened to crush his brain if he did
Indeed, while it’s for the best they try to cut the fat. I think metallo’s hatred of luthor would have been good setup for using the kryptonite man as a oneshot villian.
I really love that quote, "At our core when everything is stripped away, we're all decent people deep down inside. It's just our experiences in life that warps us and makes us into bad people." Gives me a sense of hope in humanity :)
It's true.
Furthermore, usually bad people (if you can call one of most regular people bad) also justify things to themselves. This shows that for most people they're is an inherent NEED to do good.
And, well, if you actually go out and talk to people, you'll quickly find that most people are actually quite nice and kind (I know this from experience).
It's nonsense.
Most people have an inherent sense of right and wrong and still choose to do things that are wrong. Children lie and take from their friends at an early age, no one teaches them this, they do it automatically. When we're old enough to "know better" we usually do the morally right thing, not because it's right, but because of consequences for our actions or worse, because we think it makes us morally superior; _"no one is good, not even one."_
"All it takes is one bad day." Kinda odd moral for a superhero comic.
Have you ever seen or heard of an evil baby?
You haven't.
Do you know why?
Humans are not born evil or corrupt. We are born good.
@@PaladinLevi little too far in the other direction there.
I distinctly remember especially loving Metallo's theme. The way it alarmingly builds up always reminds me of a mix between the theme from Jaws and elements of the theme from Psycho.
Wow, great analysis of metallo. The irony of his downfall was that despite being a cyborg, his human flaws were his undoing.
Still, what makes him dangerous and scary is his human desire. Both strength and flaw
@@hafirenggayuda yeah
I still remember Metallo from his first episode and how unsettling it was after his operation how despite looking like himself on the outside, he no longer felt anything on the inside. No longer feeling pain, but no longer feeling pleasure either. Then when his true form finally was revealed after his skin was removed was pretty dark. Not to mention his "defeat" leading to him being lost at sea just to appear in another episode by being found by a kid. The tension I felt as a child when Metallo was being around the children as he starts remembering his past again I still remember pretty well, especially since there was no way of knowing if he would violently lash out as it happened. The imagery of him coming out of the ocean still sticks with me to this day.
One thing I feel I should mention. Supergirl isn't naturally less effected by kryptonite. The wierd magic of the land messed with and reduced her powers in that episode, and consequently reducing how much kryptonite hurt her there. She even mentions when the kryptonite is revealed that if she were at full strength, that much kryptonite would have killed her immediately.
Metallo was a great villain. I love how often StAS would introduce a villain in episodes well before they hit their 'villainous moniker'. Corbin, being in the second episode, Manhiem being used to introduce Toyman, and even that crooked cop from 'The Late Mr Kent' shows up in Luminous's pre villain moniker episode.
Yet, it's also established in the DCAU that Supergirl is less affected by Kryptonite than Superman is due to her home planet being Argo rather than Krypton in this continuity.
It would've of been awesome if Metallo somehow survived all the way to the era of "Batman Beyond" where he could've crossed paths with Zeta from the "Zeta Project". Remember Zeta is a robot becoming a man whereas Metallo is a man becoming a robot.
that would've been pretty cool
I am surprised they did not think of that.
His end is kind of poetic. His start was because he kept quiet. His end was because he didn’t.
Let us not forget Metallo’s most sinister trait, he sounds like Malcolm McDowell!
Malcolm McDowell is a force of nature!
@@SerumLake "He's enterprising, aggressive, outgoing, young, bold, vicious."
I would’ve loved to seen Metallo’s reaction to Lex Luthor getting Kryptonite poisoning, since that seems like Lex’s karma for having John Corben infected with that rare incurable disease.
Metallo is one those characters who kept getting better and better in each new reinterpretation.
Despite appearing for one issue in the silver age, John Corben showed alot of potential (in his debut story he shows to be very cunning, being able to infiltrate the daily planet and stole Superman's identity to commit crimes)
In the post-crisis he got the terrifying "terminator" look (which is the definitive look for the character) and was threat to Superman (in his first apperance he almost killed Superman, who was only saved bc Luthor interfered)
DCAU gave this tragic aspect that he's man trapped in robotic body.
Recent comics (in particular the New 52 Grant Morrison run) had more sympathetic take on Corben, reintroducing as one of general Lane's soldier who, wanting to prove himself to Lois and gain her attention, choose to become a cyborg to beat Superman (who, at time, was still at beginning of his career and distrust by the goverment).
Really hope he appears in James Gunn's Superman film. There's alot great story that could be told with him as the main villain
I don't. When characters get in James Gunn hands they become caricatures for the sake of Hollywoodian banter.
Metallo's origin had one of the best lines:
Metallo: "I can't feel anything! I want those adjustments Luthor talked about!"
Scientist: "The adjustments were YOURS to make!"
Aesthetically one of my favorite superman villains. The voice acting is perfect, and I'm glad they ended up bringing him back with only half his face every time. Much scarier than just the plain terminator look
I like that the mech he pilots has green lights in the cockpit. It's a nice, subtle touch that hints at his fate.
the thing with Corbyn and Luthor's relationship prior to his "death" and then his transformation is worth noting due to how part of Luthor's business model was weapon's manufacturing and sales. He sold weapons to Kaznia at the time of STAS, which aired during the Kosovo/Bosnia war in the 1990s (hence Kaznia) and theres no telling how many innocents died during that time no thanks to the partnership they had.
Who knows if said partnership probably helped create villains like Aresia too.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Yeah, it took me a moment to realize what you ment but I just saw that Justice League episode again the other day. God damn that poor girl never had a chance... That's another thing; a lot of times the trauma of such horrible tragedies bring out the worst in us. We only have to look at what the outcome of World War 1 lead to just a few decades later after all. All because of imperialism and ultra-nationalist nonsense.
It’s a shame that the superman films have never strayed much beyond lex and Zod
It’s why I love how Metallo was the Superman villain chosen for JL Doom.
Even though he's not English in the comics, I can't help but read him with Malcom McDowell's voice, as it just helps to give him such as distinct sound. Also I wouldn't be surprised if he recovered from his injuries. DCAU ended a lot of episodes without the villain having their brain broken and then they were fine in their next appearence, like with Riddler, Parasite, and even Giganta from the same brain implant.
The amount of actors who had minor screen time in BTAS that would eventually have more prominent roles in STAS surprisingly bigger than one might imagine. From the most famous being Dana Delany going from Andrea Beaumont to Lois Lane, then Bud Cort going from Josiah Wormwood to Toyman, George Dzundza from Ventriloquist/Scarface (and various others) to Perry White and the very subject of this video, Malcolm McDowell going from Arcady Duvall to Metallo. I'm certain I'm forgetting quite a few others as well.
Michael Dorn playing Steel. He'd fight Metallo, then a few years later. Dorn in his iconic make up would be in a shoot out against Malcolm McDowell's character.
@@jonmcgee6987 If you're referring to Star Trek Generations that movie came out in 1994 before "Heavy Metal Wars" which aired in 1997.
Thank Andrea Beaumont for recycling talent in the best way
One aspect that I've come to appreciate regarding S:TAS was how the early episodes would pay homage to the Fleischer Brothers SUPERMAN animated shorts from the 40's.
It took me a while to realize ACTION FIGURES was a nod to VOLCANO, a 1942 short that saw Superman rescue Lois from a research facility on the verge of destruction due to its placement near an active volcano!❤
I think this video impressed upon me that Metallio, at his core, has a code.
Like is he a crook? Yeah. A sadistic monster? Yeah.
But like, he didn't squeal on Luther. Only went after Luther when he learned that Lex stabbed him in the back. Worked with intergang because he felt he owed them and genuinely tried to be heroic when he /thought/ he was a superhero.
Guys lawful evil I think, though the lawful part seems far more core to his character.
Edit: I kinda feel like his end was kinda out of character though. Not squealing got him into his state but squealing got him killed.
5:40
The situation of Metallo in Superman the Animated Series, makes me think in Baldur of God of War (2018)
As Corben and Baldur for some particulars reasons, they were fated to die; Corben by a disease and Baldur by a prophecy. And to prevent their demises, both were subjected to some processes; Corben's mind was uploaded in an artificial body and Baldur was cursed with inmortality.
But later, Corben and Baldur ends finding that this newfound inmortality implied a high price; the lost of capability to feel anything, including any kind of pleasure, leading to that Corben and Baldur gone insane for this torment, turning them in vengeful and ruthless villains in the process.
definitely excited to see it when it goes public. that scene of him realizing his transplant is permanent leading up to him furiously tearing his own face off is... really something! especially when the flanging kicks in just as you see that metallic skull
11:20 I think in one scene Darkseid gets a bit impatient with Mannheim once he realizes Intergang is just using his hardware to crack open banks...
13:16 This frame amuses me.
The guy was basically a Terminator with personality, and I'd love it if he was adapted in future Superman stories 😊
Metallo’s sadistic nature was played to perfection by Malcolm McDowell.
I always thought Metallo would make for an awesome and terrifying villain to see realized in a live action Superman movie! A genuine threat to the hero, and also a memorable character in his own right with his insanity over losing his humanity and ability to feel.
Robotic Endoskeletons have always been so cool to me.
Same.
Good video.
I never realized the allegory to his fine living in prison to his hedonism. I just thought him kissing Lois Lane was just a carryover when they first interacted in the 3 part origin and could conveniently use it as a distraction to keep Superman alive.
I love the Way of all Flesh in that it represents a side of Superman - have the strength and durability beyond that of a normal human perhaps rivaling Superman - oh but the things that make us human, the ability to smell, taste - the point about enjoying life is denied you. Very Monkey's Paw-ish and clearly a way to make a character who is a villain repentently so. The cool Terminator body horror is also just chef's kiss.
Following up with Action Figures where we see at first his inherent willingness to do good only because that seems to be human nature (or in the mind's eye of human nature) only to leave him trapped in igneous rock with no power only the memory forcing the identiy - "I am Metallo" implying that he would return and he would be worse.
I loved how they managed to maintain continuity with Metallo through the series this way and that he even showed up in Justice League. Malcolm McDowell was used appropriately - I'd say.
Self awareness and consciousness make us human. I consider him human. When he realized that he couldn't feel sensation he basically went crazy. It was alien to him
Metallo and parasite have to be my favorite villains from Stas. Mostly cus of their va's performance. 😃
I was gonna make a remark on how Metallo was wasted in JLU season 3, but Serum Lake explained it well why his demise proved to be a good end for him. But I still regret he never had any beef with Lex. They could have foreshadowed that Lex put in fail-safes by testing the first one on Metallo, but that never happened.
Also, I agree that John forcing himself on Lois was the creepiest thing he ever did. Good on the STAS team for bending the censors.
13:10 i love toyman who's just standing there in his little sweater vest next to all the superpowered and evil members (also that face before the lava washes over him is great 10:08)
10:08 is justified, since "Action Figures" was animated by none other than Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
This guy was probably my favorite villain in the show. Tragic, fun, horrific, and interesting
I've been looking forward to this video since you started covering STAS, Metallo is my favorite villain from it.
Lex probably bought the robot body at HARDAC's yard sale.
Metallo is incredibly underrated as a villain.
Would love to see him shine in a superman movie one day.
It's kinda sad he gets pushed to the side.
I’d wish we could see more of Metallo, and I hope to see him in the movies eventually
The sentence 'I think so I am' take another dimension when we consider artificial bodies and copies of consciousness
Couldn't agree more; DCAU Metallo is a top notch villain. A man sacrificing his humanity for power he couldn't handle is always going to be tragic, but then he still chooses to be evil, so he gets what he paid for. Brilliant. 😆
How and ever, I think you've highlighted an interesting point in the _JLU_ section about how Superman's villains tend to be treated as either *space fillers* or *disposable fodder.*
From a certain point in time - post-Crisis, but chiefly during the early 2000s - I'd argue there's a broad issue with writers across DC media having a seeming disdain for Superman's mythos and building upon it. More specifically, no-one's ever had the same success with reinventing all the Super-Villains (exceptions in the DCAU: Lex, Brainiac, Metallo, Toyman) in the same way that _B: TAS_ did with Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Clock King, etc.. There's so much unrealised potential with so many villains that originate from Superman. It's a great pity.
Metallo is one of my favourite villains from STAS. I do like that he in a way is supposed to be a parallel to Superman as a "Man of Steel" but instead of it just being a nickname for how tough he is, it's more literal.
Metallo also draws more interesting comparisons with the concept of humanity. He is a literal "Man of Steel" with a human brain so is objectively more "human" than Clark, but even with that brain he lacks a lot of the more genuine traits of humanity that Clark has, even if he is100% not human at all physically as an alien. Metallo is just something in the shape of a man that lacks empathy or compassion outside of the one instance where he had amnesia, perhaps because stripped of his memories he was no longer corrupted by the strength his robotic body gave him and the ego he learned in life. Once he remembers his true self and his past does he reverts to being a heartless monster. Clark however is good hearted because of his past while living among humans and being taught compassion. Learning to live and feel as a human despite his origins and differences.
the amount of times I thought "oh, I remember that!" is incredible.
Great analysis not only of his iconic DCAU aopearances, but his comic book history as well. Definitely earned a like.
Cool video.
Metallo is probably my favourite Superman villain because he's someone who can plausibly be a serious threat to him without being some sort of big world-ending danger.
When Corben ripped the synthetic skin off parts of his body, I admit to being a little creeped out.
Metallo has to be one of my top 3 secondary Superman villains (bit below Luthor, Braniac and Darkseid, bit higher than someone like Mongul)
Funnily enough my top 3 all have a sort of body horror-ish bent to them, Metallo's synthetic skin and robot skeleton, Toyman never showing who he is under his doll head to the point the doll head IS his 'real' face and Parasite being a mutated walking corpse whose lack of definition allows him to skirt by the censores because they'd think he's just wearing a skinsuit.
I can already see the "How do people posting comments Earlier than me!?" Users.
They out themselves as people that don’t watch the whole video (or read my community posts…)
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I always like that every appearance I've seen of him in other animated media has every character panic. It really sells the idea that he's particularly dangerous
This version of him was really cool. Clearly a scumbag, but one you can understand his plight to still be a person. His theme or music sting is also pretty memorable.
I too, found Metallo's design incredibly freaky as kid. And his nasty personality didn't help eather.
Also, I find it curious how Metallo's origin is very similar to that of General Grievous in the Star Wars Legends continuity. In there, he was a warrior that got into an accident orchestrated by Count Dooku, and later was turned into a cyborg assassin and general
Wish George Lucas and Dave Filoni kept that origin. Arrogant of them not to out of misguided nostalgia for Flash Gordon and personal preference respectively.
Man, Metallo seems so creepy and badass. I can’t wait to watch STAS once I get to it!
You’ve never watched it?!
@@SerumLake nope! Gonna watch all of BTAS, then move on to STAS 👍
@@DonWeaselYeehawEditionDon't forget The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, maybe Static Shock, Gotham Girls, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.
I hope he get to see John Corbin/Metallo in the live action. I wish Metallo, Toy Man, and Parasite get some recognitions. Instead of using Lex Luther over and over again. With a great script, they could make great long term villains in the DCU.
Technically, he has appeared in live action: Metallo has appeared in Superboy, Lois & Clark, Smallville, and Supergirl. I'm guessing that you meant live action theatrical film.
Metallo always freaked me out whenever I caught any of his episodes. He and Parasite were the only ones that genuinely scared me in that show.
Especially whenever he ripped off his skin…Shudders. All the damn time.
Metallo is also one of my favorite STAS villains, and I i thought that Malcolm McDowell was perfectly cast to do the voice acting. I need to revisit the JLU episode you covered towards the end, since i don't recall that one as clearly as his other DCAU appearances.
I wasn't aware of the background from the comics that you covered during rhe beginning of your video, so thay was also interesting to learn about. The friendly version that helped Superboy was not something I expected to see!
Early Superman comics are really fascinating. The fact that there's three separate continuities, the comics, the weekday newspaper strip, and the Sunday newspaper strip, and that they'd all borrow ideas from each other really muddies the waters.
@@SerumLake That definitely muddies the waters! Also, I'm looking forward to your upcoming Joker video. 👍🏻
@@SerumLake Spider-Man also has several newspaper runs alongside the main comics.
I can't help but notice supergirl holding what appears to be the Cosmic Staff, Stargirl's weapon.
Heh, you haven't seen the episode.
Yep, that's the Cosmic Staff. Stargirl actually tried to take Metallo on earlier, but she was punching above her weight class (which she tended to do pretty often in JLU). Metallo subdued her and knocked her out pretty easily, which left the Staff discarded for Supergirl to use.
I hope you do more superman villains because I almost always see people talk about Batman villains and not enough about Superman villains
Metallo always game me a "ship of thesues" feeling
Ah, Metallo. The power of a machine and the pettiness of the human mind. Add a little Kryptonite and you have a literal man of steel who Hobbes would pit against Nietzche's finest.
Easily one of my favorite and most chilling Metallo moments for me is when, after realizing he no longer feels touch or any physical pleasure, he looks himself in a mirror and rips off his flesh, yelling out "It's all fake! . . . There is only.... Metallo!" So creepy, but so cool! Great video!
I always knew who metallo was seconds before his reveal in any animated series or movie because if it looks like a normal dude suddenly over powering Superman or guarding lex, that’s metallo
Bro I just finished watching the episode and you uploaded this! Amazing timing.
love your content, keep up the good work!
If you need someone to play a sadist, can't do any better than the star of "A Clockwork Orange" and "Calligula".
My wife and I joke that he has something written into his movie contracts. I swear he even stripped off in Star Trek Generations!
My favorite Superman villain aside from Manchester Black. Still irks me that he never got the chance to be the villain in Man of Steel as was planned.
As for his weird sense of ethics, I think it's because of his job as a mercenary. Casual disregard for life is his job, as is honoring deals.
Good point. He’s all business, especially when his business is murdering and groping!
He should have been the villain for BVS. That guy in the wheelchair was the perfect set up for Metallo
Pity he's not the kind of good mercenary in fiction like the Soldier of Fortune video game.
@@michaelandreipalon359 "good kind of mercenary"
10:13 In a scene like this, you'd either go insane or get humbled enough. For Metallo to not redeem himself after that temporary yet very real hell he went through speaks volumes
Honestly one essay I would like to see: Livewire, Superman’s Harley Quinn
I feel that titles more apt for mercy but you have a point
@@1heKing I am meaning in terms of being a actual super villain, not a glorified uber
@@dejaypage1575
But Quinn has no super powers.
@@curtisleblanc5897 she has a similar personality though.
At least she became a hero in the Superman Adventures comics, even if those certain issues aren't canon.
Why am I so late in finding this UA-cam channel?!? I've binged all these villain vids from BTAS and STAS! ❤ I hope to see Darkseid soon
He is on the list!
Your video segment about Tina makes me want to know more about her relationship with Metallo
The mention of the ring giving cancer to Lex was used in the DCAU in one of the stories.
wow, okay, i really gotta watch these animated series(big fan of DCAU and animated movies). honestly, i love the way you show emotions in these. might be a standard type of essay(to me, at least), but this spices up things and sometimes even makes me chuckle. great stuff, man.
It is funny how when the Corben was the least himself without memories or even face he was the most humane.
Weird connection to Justice League Unlimited I never noticed until now: Kryptonite as a power source was established with Metallo and in JLU when Superman fights Shazam in the city Lex built, Lex says the city is powered by a Kryptonite reactor. Makes me wonder if Kryptonite could be a potential clean, nearly infinite energy source but it is hosrded by villains who just wanna use it to kill Superman
Metallo was easily my favorite Superman Baddie and the 1st one to come to mind for his rogues gallery! Played brilliantly by Alex delarge himself,😊, Metallo is an ultimate body horror of having your same mind but knowing you can't feel, touch, or enjoy any of the sensations you previously had- and how that can warp you tremendously! This gave him sympathy for what Luthor did to him but also added to his unhinged nature from this moment on! Also, it kinda makes you wonder, how is it he always has half his face on, no matter what battle he's in?!😂
14:07 you’re terminated, metallo.
I think an additional episode of StAS where Metallo teams up with Toyman would sound pretty interesting honestly. 👍
it really is a shame the live action superman movies only ever use Zod or Lex Luthor, having a more 'obscure' villain like Metallo would be fun. the shedding of his human skin to reveal the metal skeleton underneath is always a great visual.
it's a shame the comics and such seem to prefer to use him as a weaker villain or even as a minion, even after he got upgraded to be able to merge with machines or make clones of himself.
It's interesting how only until 2016, the only Superman villains from the comics to appear in movies have been, repeatedly, Lex Luthor and Zod.
One thing that bugged me about him was that he always seemed to have Superman on the ropes until a third party intervened. Made it feel like Superman was kind of a wimp
The flaws of holding back. Say what anyone will of Man of Steel, at least it neatly showcased the might of the Last Son of Krypton better than the DCAU.
I like the detail in Way of All Flesh that the doctor that performed the procedure to create Metallo retired but while Lois and Clark search his offices you see items strewn about like there was a struggle but there's no comment on it.
I think the procedure might have implanted Corbin's brain into the body but its sealed to make sure it is impervious and cannot be reversed.
Excellent video, glad you finally Touched on this character. Can you talk about that Poison Ivy episode where she pretends to make a family for herself. Always thought that was a pretty underrated one.
That’s a good candidate for this year’s Halloween video
I think Inter-gang is an interesting case, they are incredible organized and have access to extremely advanced tech (in some cases they are even connected to Apocolypse), but in the end like you said... they are petty thieves, and i like that, it shows that even with some great advantages and "opportunities" some people are just simple in their desires.
Do you know what is the most ironic thing about Metallo? He has a kryptonite for a heart because it is Superman's greatest weakness, but the kryptonite is also his greatest weakness as well. For without it, he's essentially a man size ship anchor.
As terrible as Corbin was, I always felt like he got a pretty good deal. An immortal mostly invincible body. Not having to sleep or eat are features, not bugs to me. Though I still wonder if even someone that wasn't a hedonist wouldn't eventually go crazy from the lack of sensory.
Real "Ship of Thesius" thinking in this one with the whole, is he the real John Corban or not
Very happy to stumble upon this video, me and my brother were obsessed with the Superman Animated Series and he was one of our favorite villains!! We are from Mexico (so Latinamerican Spanish Dub) tho and in the Action Figures episode his VA changes for whatever reason and ITS SO BAD LIKE WHY DID THEY DO THAT HIIIIM. I think later on he has his original VA again? But I don’t remember and haven’t seen his Justice League appearances. I should do, I love those series very much
7:08 That's basically "Ghost In The Shell".
Gotta love the first movie and the Stand Alone Complex series.
Wait a second. A villain in a DCAU show who bemoans the loss of his manhood…I really hope that I only get 2 nickels from this revelation, dang it!
My dad had the dvds and I would watch through them all the time, out of all the visuals the half robot face always stuck with me
In the end Crobin tried to squeel and it ended him. The last of his integrity leaving. Thanks for the video.
As far as I know DCAU Metallo is the only one with more character than "Kryptonite powered robot thug."
You know if I was doing the Justice league I would have Metallo be a member of the Injustice league as the Superman equivalent after replacing Mongul and that he gets his mind expanded into an army of Metallos and that he takes over Superman’s body and he knows that he is Clark Kent making him more dangerous than ever.
Metallo's good streak in Action Figures may be a reference to/partial adaption of the good-natured one that met Superboy, maybe? He even lacks the synthetic skin we last saw him with so he looks all-robot like him.
There was an Outsiders' villain called The Duke Of Oil who was exactly what you theorized about Corben's existence as Metallo. Told that he had survived an accident ala the original Cliff Steele (Robotman 2), and that only his brain remained, leaving him a path to inhabit a body cloned from his old one, he was exposed when Katana threw her blade through his skull, revealing only circuitry. As one can imagine, he did not take it well.