Ladytron (comics)
| Ladytron | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm (DC Comics) |
| First appearance | WildC.A.T.S. #21 (July, 1995) |
| Created by | Alan Moore and Travis Charest |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Maxine Manchester |
| Team affiliations |
Wildcats Church of Gort |
| Abilities |
Cybernetic body that includes built-in weaponry Superhuman strength and durability |
Ladytron is a fictional character in the Wildstorm and currently, DC Comics universe. In addition to her character appearances, Ladytron's likeness was used in-universe by Jack Marlowe's Halo Corporation as a mascot in various commercials.[1]
Fictional character biography
Maxine Manchester was abused by her father as a young teenager. She fled from home and turned to a life of crime, robbing stores and killing anybody who got in her way. Soon, the government caught up with her and she was hit several times during a gunfight with the FBI. Her wounded body was handed over to Doctor Khaz, a mad scientist, who enhanced her body, replacing most of it with robotic parts. She escaped and continued her crime spree as a cyborg. Khaz recaptured her and told her about Stanley, a robot he had created before her. Khaz saw himself as father to Stanley and Maxine and sent her out to bring back Stanley. Maxine and Stanley shared the same psychopathic mentality and soon married between crime sprees. Maxine and Stanley decided to kill Khaz, but Khaz had an override in Stanley's brain. The brainless Stanley turned on Maxine and she killed him. She then killed Khaz and returned to her life of crime.
Tao
At this time, Savant and Mister Majestic were trying to rebuild the WildC.A.T.s after the previous team were nearly all presumed killed. They convinced Max Cash, alias Condition Red, to join and acquired the Tactical Augmented Organism (T.A.O., later called simply Tao) for their team. Savant wanted another woman for the team and decided upon Maxine. Majestic didn't want to be associated with a criminal like Maxine, but T.A.O. managed to change his mind through his hypnotic abilities.
The new WildC.A.T.s captured Maxine while she attempt to rob both sides of a drug transaction and T.A.O. built a virtual reality-program to reeducate Maxine. The program worked and Maxine joined the WildC.A.T.s, but still remained violent and anti-social. She became romantically interested in Max Cash, but he was turned off by her robotic body and her abrasive personality.
Around this time Ladytron and her team appeared in issue 2 of the Image series 'New Man'.[2]
When Max got wounded in a bombing, he used the opportunity to avoid her by sneaking out of the hospital. Maxine was furious and took out her anger on the man responsible for wounding Max (despite flirting with the cyborg OvertKill moments before). The man told her and Spartan that T.A.O. had ordered him to bomb the building.
The WildC.A.T.s confronted T.A.O. who turned out to be an evil mastermind after all. T.A.O. inflicted heavy casualties on the team, including Maxine. He managed to remove her cooling systems so that her internal nuclear reactor overheated. Majestic removed her nuclear reactor, but Maxine was heavily damaged. She was taken to the Church of Gort, a cult for cyborgs, robots and Artificial Intelligences, for repairs. T.A.O. was seemingly slain in the sewers underneath the Halo building.
Gort
During her stay with the Church of Gort, Maxine became a convert and started to follow the teachings of the Church of Gort. Mister Majestic who had become somewhat of a father figure to Maxine was pleased to see her embrace the tenet "all life is sacred", though she only seemed to recognize mechanical life as sacred. As she stated in 'WildC.A.T.S.' #50, harming a toaster would be the same as harming a sentient. Still, according to Majestic, it was a step in the right direction. It was in the same issue that T.A.O. was revealed to be alive; he had brainwashed a shapeshifter named Mr. White who was then damaged, not slain, in the sewers.
After a schism within the Church, Maxine was targeted by other members for having too many organic parts.
Maxine fled the Church of Gort and met up with Max's brother Cole Cash. Cole was annoyed by Maxine and left her with the Halo Corporation. There, she overheard that former WildC.A.T.s-member Voodoo had been injured by serial killer Samuel Smith and decided to take vengeance upon him.
Her plan was simple-minded: she visited all hotels and motels in the area to fight anybody listed under the name "Smith". After attacking a few innocents, Maxine met with Samuel Smith, whose superhuman powers turned out to be more than she could handle. The damage was so great that she was deactivated.
Later, her body was reprogrammed and adapted into a more scorpion-like form by Wildcat-traitor Noir to attack Spartan, now known as Jack Marlowe, but Marlowe easily defeated the body. Her body was then used by Grifter, whose legs were broken, as a remote-controlled body. Her personality was encrypted and filed away in the Halo Corporation's mainframe. When Grifter's legs healed, he no longer needed her robotic body.
The future
In an alternate future (2006), Mister Majestic found Maxine Manchester as the sole surviving Wildcat. She revealed that Daemonites had taken over the planet and that she herself was a trap, set by the Daemonites to kill Majestic. Her nuclear reactor exploded, but was incapable of seriously injuring Majestic. Majestic went back in time to prevent this future.
The New 52
Maxine makes her appearance in issue #5 of Team 7 as an injured soldier undergoing cybernetic limb replacement at the Advanced Prosthesis Research Center while a Gamorran program associated with the Spartan Project goes awry turning the personnel into biomechanical killers. In the catastrophe, Maxine is extensively transformed into a cyborg. She later reappeared in Teen Titans "Blinded by the light" as a pawn of Manchester Black. She was defeated multiple times as part of his plans before being betrayed and shut down for good by Red Robin
Powers and abilities
As a cyborg, Maxine is very strong and durable. She is capable of lifting and throwing a car and completely bullet-proof. Her arms have built-in guns and her mouth can open up to reveal a sonic blaster. During the time Grifter used her as a remote-body, Ladytron also was capable of flight by extending a rocketpack inside her back.
References
- ↑ Jason Brice. "Wildcats: Ladytron Review - Silver Bullet Comics". Comicsbulletin.com. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
- ↑ "New Man" #2 (1996)