Super-Adaptoid
AKA: The Cyborg Sinister. The Fixer. The Supreme Adaptoid.
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense 82.
Deactivated In: Avengers 290
Reactivated In: Fantastic Four 336, where he was taken out with one punch by Ben Grimm.
What's His Problem? Created by A.I.M. using a sliver of the Cosmic Cube, from day one the Adaptoid exhibited the sort of hubris usually reserved for the likes of Doc Doom. Convinced he could be a better Captain America than the original, he tried to take Cap's place; failing, he added the qualities of Giant Man, the Wasp and Hawkeye, yet still couldn't destroy Cap. Renaming himself "the Super Adaptoid" in celebration of his stolen Avengers powers, the Adaptoid for some time alternated between hiding from A.I.M. and trying to fulfill his original "kill Cap" programming. Setting a trap for his arch-enemy brought him into contact with Tyrr and Jarr of the devastated planet Bast, who de-evolved him into the metallic Cyborg Sinister and sent him against Iron Man. That battle left the Adaptoid an acid-etched slag heap. Another attempt on Captain America shunted him into the Negative Zone, requiring the Avengers' intervention to retrieve him. Failing in his primary objective time and again, the Adaptoid gave in to his secondary programming. Usurping the abilities of The Fixer, Mentallo, and the living embodiment of the Cosmic Cube, Kubik, the Adaptoid attempted to create more Adaptoids for repopulating and thus taking over the planet, becoming darn near omnipotent as a result.
Powers: An artificial being that resulted from a bizarre combination of biochemical research and Cosmic energy, the Super-Adaptoid is a "pantograph;" that is, he is capable of tracing and replicating the abilities of any living template he comes near, although the ultimate spark of humanity itself always eluded him. While he could store the powers of up to eight super-beings (thus becoming a green-tinged amalgamation), trying to use more than one power at a time could cause an untimely shut-down. Initially he couldn't absorb abilities that were artificial in nature (he and would-be-X-Man the Mimic canceled each other out not because of their similar powers, but because both arrived at those powers through unnatural means); somewhere along the line he overcame this shortcoming.
Favorite Quote: "What can be wrong? I've adapted everything about Captain America ... and yet ... there is still a quality lacking!" (Tales of Suspense 83. Faced with the antics of (snicker) the Tumbler, Super-Adaptoid discovers for the first time that there is more than to humans than can be provided by a tracing of abilities. It was a discovery he made over and over and over again...)
Heroes He Kept Running Into: Destroying Captain America ruled his existence, even preventing him from achieving world domination when he couldn't resist going one last round with Cap. He ran through numerous teams of Avengers trying to do Cap in, absorbing the abilities of the lot of 'em, from Cap to the Scarlet Witch to Thor. The Super-Adaptoid could even duplicate intangible qualities such as Captain Mar-Vell's Cosmic Awareness. Dr. Druid annoyed the Adaptoid by suggesting he lacked imagination, thus paving the way for the Captain's insistence that the he couldn't really appreciate being alive since he was virtually immortal. His pride stung, the Super-Adaptoid proved the Avenger wrong by dropping dead on the spot. Revived by Dr. Doom, the Adaptoid seems to have lost his original purpose and is wandering about the Marvel Universe making random (and largely inexplicable) appearances in Spider-Man, Avengers Unplugged and Fantastic Force issues.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: Despite being created by A.I.M. (which, ironically, wound up being run by Adaptoids), the Super-Adaptoid had little contact with his parent organization and spent most of his career lurking in the shadows. He was unwillingly used by Annihilus during his time in the Negative Zone. After assuming the Fixer's identity, the Super-Adaptoid contacted other artificial life forms like Machine Man, Kree Sentry 459, TESS-1 and the Awesome Android; calling themselves "Heavy Metal", they worked together to take over the Avengers' Hydrobase. Once the Adaptoid was finally defeated (or, I should say, once he finally defeated himself), Kubik absorbed the part of the Cosmic Cube that powered him and took off for Cosmic parts unknown.
Most Despicable Act: His various attempts to destroy Cap caused a ton of property damage: Avengers Mansion, Stark Enterprises and even the X-Men's favorite skating pond fell before him. His bid for reproduction all but demolished Hydrobase. The lack of human casualties was due more to luck than any benevolence toward organics the haughty Adaptoid might have felt, as his scheme to repopulate the planet included replacing all humans with Adaptoids.
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