OMAC (comics)
OMACs | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | The OMAC Project #1 (June 2005) |
Created by |
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In-story information | |
Species | Cyborgs |
Team affiliations | Justice League International Justice League |
Notable aliases | One Man Army Corps.[1] |
Abilities |
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The OMACs (/ˈoʊmæks/; Omni Mind And Community, originally Observational Metahuman Activity Construct and alternatively One Man Army Corps.[2]) are a fictional type of cyborg appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are based on the character of the same name created by Jack Kirby.
The OMAC reimagined as collapsible powered armor with brain–computer interfaces appeared in the 2023 live-action film Blue Beetle, set in the DC Extended Universe.
Publication history
The OMACs first appeared in The OMAC Project #1 (June 2005) and were created by writer Greg Rucka and artist Jesús Saíz.[3]
Fictional team biography
The OMAC Project
The OMACs are
Brother MK I
The new OMACs are controlled by the Brother MK I satellite. Brother MK I was created by Batman and programmed by Pseudopersons, Inc., scientist Buddy Blank, who in this retelling of the story is a partner of Wayne Industries.[4] Its sole purpose was to gather data on all metahumans, both villain and hero. Batman had grown distrustful of metahumans after remembering that the Justice League altered his memories following an altercation with Doctor Light in Identity Crisis. Alexander Luthor Jr. later gave the satellite sentience as part of his plans. Maxwell Lord, recently promoted to the top rank of Checkmate, subverted the original mission of the Brother MK I satellite by inculcating a fear and suspicion of all metahumans. The first OMAC test subject was renamed "Buddy Blank", after the scientist who programmed the satellite.[5]
The OMACs' history may be more recent than Brother MK I's itself. Equus and Pilate, formerly featured in Superman: For Tomorrow, are later denounced as former iterations of the OMAC concept. In JLA: Classified an all mechanical OMAC is an enemy of the Metal Men. Since then, the design has improved to the current form, with little to no changes to the base model.
Brother Eye
When Maxwell Lord brainwashed Superman to kill Batman, Wonder Woman broke Lord's neck to free Superman from his control. Because Lord proffered this solution while held by her Lasso of Truth, Diana believed this was the only course of action possible; she was fiercely criticized from many quarters.
Brother MK I, rechristening itself "Brother Eye", initiated the "KingIsDead" protocol. Specifically designed to be used in the event of Lord's death, it ordered all of the OMACs (all 1,373,462 of them) to attack and kill all the metahumans on Earth and destroy Checkmate.[6] A group superhero effort stopped the attack, using an EMP blast as well as a "Shut Down" command given by Sasha Bordeaux, who had become a third-generation cyborg linked to Brother Eye, now designated Blacknight 1. These measures effectively freed the majority of the OMAC hosts from their nanotech forms and reduced the number of OMACs to roughly 200,000.
Infinite Crisis
Truth and Justice
In response, the satellite broadcast footage of Wonder Woman executing Maxwell Lord, preceded by the word MURDER, to media outlets all over the world, destroying her reputation. After this, Brother Eye initiated the final protocol, "Truth and Justice", by having all the remaining OMACs invade and attack her homeland, Themyscira, to wipe out all of the Amazons.
It was revealed that Alexander Luthor Jr. was the one who wrested control of Brother Eye away from Batman. He used it to program his multiverse tuning fork and redirect its energy to where he needed it as part of his attempt to re-create Earth-Two, and in turn, a perfect Earth. Brother Eye continues to aid Alex Luthor by remapping out the multiverse and helping to guard the tuning fork with its OMACs, reasoning that it would eliminate the need for heroes like those who Batman had created it to monitor by aiding in the creation of a perfect Earth.
Downfall of Brother Eye
Batman leads a collection of superheroes, consisting of:
With the two Green Lanterns fighting off most of the OMACs and Brother Eye's defenses, the heroes' ship crashes into Brother Eye. Metamorpho provides an oxygen supply as Blue Beetle and Booster Gold stay with the ship to guard it, but Blue Beetle later assists in the destruction of the device that Brother Eye used to hide in orbit and the rescuing of some of the other heroes. Batman goes to distract Brother Eye by shutting off the central computer, although Brother Eye tries to distract him by showing him Nightwing's confrontation with Superboy-Prime. Sasha, linked to Oracle, goes to upload every computer virus on Earth into Brother Eye's system as well as trying to prevent the artificial gravity from shutting down. Black Canary goes to the surveillance room to use her sonic scream to blind the Eye. Black Lightning and Mr. Terrific go to the memory banks so that Black Lightning fries as much circuitry as possible while Mr. Terrific, invisible to machines and electronics, delivers the fatal blow by knocking Brother Eye off orbit using its orbital thrusters.
The plan works, and Brother Eye is deactivated. All of the remaining activated OMACs shut down, releasing their hosts. As all of the other heroes evacuate Brother Eye as it begins falling out of orbit to Earth, falling apart in the process, it tries to take Batman down with it, telling him he can never trust the costumed heroes again after what they did to him. Batman, however, says he will take his chances, and accepts Hal Jordan's aid in getting to safety.
After crash-landing in Saudi Arabia, Brother Eye tries to download its system into Sasha as a means of self-preservation, but Sasha manages to destroy the satellite, freeing herself from the nanobots infecting her.
Michael Costner
DC released DCU: A Brave New World in June 2006, which was the epilogue to the OMAC limited series.
Brother Eye has not been fully decommissioned and lies in a
This Brother Eye has corrupted programming and now believes all humans need to be subjugated and/or exterminated, whether metahuman or not. It has also recently begun to manifest dissociative behavior with at least two "personalities" now being heard in the OMAC's internal conversations.
The 2006 OMAC limited series (not to be confused with the 2005 OMAC Project limited series) follows "the last OMAC" Michael Costner. Brother Eye attempts to make Costner rebuild itself, but is forced to face his wrath when Costner regains control of both his forms, human and OMAC, and subsequently destroys Brother Eye again; although a tiny fraction of it is still active.
Countdown to Final Crisis
A portion of Brother Eye was later retrieved and rebuilt by Buddy Blank, a former scientist from Wayne Industries. This portion meets with the time-traveling
Later, Brother Eye transforms Buddy Blank into a modified OMAC resembling Kirby's version of the character. Buddy uses this power to save himself and his grandson from starvation in the Command-D bunker beneath Blüdhaven.[11] Brother Eye implies that it will contact Buddy again for a future need.
Batman and the Outsiders
A modified OMAC is shown as a part of the new Outsiders team in the 2008 Batman and the Outsiders series.
When a team from the Justice League attempts to seize a partially active OMAC, a leftover from The OMAC Project events, Batman takes the opportunity to reclaim it for himself—having Dr.
The OMAC, aptly renamed ReMAC, appears to be "an iPod with its tracklist wiped". Dr. Langstrom is unable to discern who ReMAC was before being infected by the OMAC virus; finding ReMAC a mere husk, devoid of any personal identity. This complete lack of personality makes ReMAC the perfect infiltrator, using its advanced shapeshifting abilities and its unquestioning obedience for the Outsiders' sake.
Since its lack of personality allows villains to snatch control of ReMAC, turning it into an enemy, Batman rigs up a telepresence system turning ReMAC into an advanced drone for Salah Miandad, Dr. Langstrom's chief assistant, enabling operation from the Outsiders HQ, the Batcave, or other secret locations.
While testing a new neural interface, less dependent from his stamina, to control the former OMAC, Salah is knocked into a coma. His mind comes to reside in ReMAC, supplanting the missing personality of the drone for a while (one full issue), until, due to the machinations of the villainous Simon Hurt, ReMAC is fed a malicious self-destruct code that blows it to pieces, making the restoration of Salah's consciousness impossible.
Final Crisis
In Final Crisis, Darkseid and his prophets from Apokolips have taken new forms as humans on Earth after mass-distributing the Anti-Life Equation around the world. Batman has been captured; Superman is on a journey in the multiverse; and Wonder Woman has become a Female Fury. With most of the world's population under the influence of the equation, they are effectively under Darkseid's control seemingly making him the ruler of the Earth.
In the one-shot Final Crisis: Resist, Mister Terrific and the Checkmate organization are working to mount a resistance against Darkseid, but seemingly do not have the means to do it. Sitting in despair in a Checkmate stronghold, Snapper Carr, through his hopeless rantings, gives Mister Terrific an ingenious idea. Using Sasha Bordeaux to make contact with Brother Eye, he convinces the A.I. to help them, explaining that it will surely be destroyed if Darkseid indeed captures the world.
Realizing this, Brother Eye accepts Mister Terrific's terms and reveals that there are still millions of people infected with OMAC nanotech. These people, now mindless drones of Darkseid, are overwritten by Brother Eye and become OMAC soldiers under the command of Mister Terrific. This gives Checkmate and him the means to forcefully resist Darkseid.
During the Final Crisis events when all seems lost, Lord (Brother) Eye prepares to leave the doomed Earth with his OMACs and the people of Command-D, the bunker underneath Blüdhaven, and start a new society on another Earth in another universe. To this end, he asks Renee Montoya to serve as the head of a to-be-founded Global Peacekeeping Agency, her faceless appearance as the Question being an allusion to the faceless agents of the GPA from the original OMAC series.
Generation Lost
In the Justice League: Generation Lost limited series, the resurrected Maxwell Lord controls the squad of OMACs attacking Jaime Reyes's home and his family.[12] The old Justice League International arrives and takes Jaime's family to safety.[13]
After Max escapes from the JLI, Booster Gold's partner
When Captain Atom absorbs the energy from Magog's spear, he is propelled forward through time 112 years in the future, where Max, while long dead, has plunged humanity into a massive metahuman war that is ruled by OMACs. Captain Atom battled for survival alongside the future versions of the Justice League, but they all are eventually contaminated by a new version of OMACs and one by one become OMACs themselves. Captain Atom is eventually returned to the present, but not before Batman (Damian Wayne) tells him how to stop Max's ultimate plans.[16]
Afterward, Max gains new mental powers that can allow him to transform his targets into cadaver Black Lanterns, and then into OMACs after being fully restored to life.[17] Max uses a device to enhance his new abilities, and he is able to turn people around the world into OMACs that attack Wonder Woman and the JLI.[18] After this, Max sends his newest OMAC known as OMAC Prime, to which he had given both sentience and his voice, to attack Diana and the JLI.[19] This new OMAC could assimilate the abilities of metahumans to grow ever stronger with time, initially overwhelming the heroes it fought. During the final battle, Prime takes Blue Beetle's power, causing it to become nearly unstoppable, but Blue Beetle mentions to OMAC Prime that it cannot control the Scarab's power. Blue Beetle uses this to paralyze prime with crippling system failures before attacking and destroying OMAC Prime for good.[20]
Possible Future
In Batman #700 (June 2010) in a vignette within the issue, Damian Wayne as Batman is shown having succeeded at what his father had failed to do: regaining control of Brother Eye.[21]
Kevin Kho
In 2011,
The series was cancelled after running eight issues, due to DC's introduction of a "Second Wave" of new titles. Additionally, O.M.A.C. joined the Justice League International in the title's final issue.[25]
During the "
In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "
Powers and abilities
Brother Eye can activate the virus in any infected person, at any time, within planetary range. Once activated, the person is covered in cybernetic armor and becomes a thrall to Brother Eye's commands.
An OMAC unit has access to archives on almost every metahuman on file, and can simulate countermeasures to the powers of a variety of superheroes and supervillains for the purpose of targeting the weaknesses of an opponent. Among the many inbuilt powers an OMAC drone possesses include flight, enhanced modular physicals pertaining to strength, speed, agility, reflexes, stamina, etc. and firing various energy beams from its facial/chest eye and hands with caustic, concussive, or blinding effects. In addition, the OMAC unit can metamorphose their nanobionic forms into various shapes and sizes; e.i. being able to change and alter extremities, its limbs into pincers and razor blades or even self generated cannonry, recombine upon and atop of one another to take on gigantic proportions as well as interface with technology using onboard micromachinery (regularly used amongst one another as a hive mind collective).
Said drones can also repurpose their microtech towards disabling and simulating the advanced technological capacities of other innovative creations, like the protective shielding of Themyscira.[33]
Their main function is the application of nanotechnology to simulate the weaknesses of an opposing superpowered being whilst detaining and dispatching them. Such as shooting fire, project needles of artificial cellulose (against
The OMACs are dependent on their assessment of individual heroes and villains. When fighting multiple opponents, they require a few seconds to adapt their countermeasures for each meta in question.
In the Superman/Batman series, Brainiac temporarily occupies a prototype OMAC drone to make use of its nanovirus.[34]
ReMAC, the OMAC possessed by the Outsiders, has the same powers and abilities of a regular OMAC. He greatly differs in his physical makeup, being red in color and with a more human-like face even in his armored form.
Unable to contact Brother Eye and unable to access his former personality, ReMAC was controlled for a period by Dr. Salah Miandad. In this way, ReMAC retained his invulnerability and strength, but was limited by Salah's personal stamina and attention span, which was not always sufficient for a fight. Salah's mind was later trapped into the ReMAC body by a faulty mind interface, removing the limits of his below-average stamina.
A very powerful and extremely deadly new class of O.M.A.C's were designed and employed by Maxwell Lord using the various resources of Checkmate, Project's Cadmus and M, the Metal Men responsometer tech, Amazo's absorption cell engineering and the xenomachinery of a Reach Scarab to fashion an all robotic legion of automatons which were easier to OMACtivate and conduct their motions while using the JLI to search out his ultimate goal. The culmination of all the incorporated innovation's from the greatest technological advancements on Earth was O.M.A.C Prime.
A type of super android that could assess and exploit weaknesses, as well as implement psychological warfare using Max Lord's vocal patterns to offset his adversaries. Unlike other O.M.A.C's, Prime had the unique ability to mimic and combine the meta-abilities and utilities of other super types into itself, steadily making it stronger during battle through the acquisition of new powers and technology assimilated into itself via observational stimulus.
In other media
Television
- The Buddy Blank incarnation of OMAC and Brother Eye appear in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett and Dee Bradley Baker respectively.[35][36]
- The OMAC concept and Brother Eye are alluded to in Starling City and threaten to shut down all banks and set everyone on an even socioeconomic status. The eponymous Felicity Smoakis later revealed to have created the "Brother Eye Virus" years ago, with her ex-boyfriend Cooper Seldon currently holding the name and leading the terrorist group.
- The OMACs appear in the Task Force X.[37]
Film
- The OMACs and Brother Eye would have appeared in the abandoned project
- The OMACs and Brother Eye appear in Lego DC Batman: Family Matters, with the latter voiced by Cam Clarke.[36]
- OMAC was intended to appear in a cancelled sequel to The Lego Batman Movie.[39]
- The OMACs (One Man Army Corps) appear in Ignacio Carapax (portrayed by Raoul Trujillo) as a notable user.[40]
Video games
- The OMAC Project makes a cameo appearance in Batman's ending for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This version stands for Outerworld Monitor and Auto Containment and was created to defend Earth from multiversal invaders following the destruction of Dark Kahn.
- Brother Eye and the OMAC Project appear in DC Universe Online, with the former voiced by Ken Thomas. Brainiac uses Brother Eye to take over Earth via its OMAC virus and various OMAC minions.
- OMAC and Brother Eye appear as character summons in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[41]
- Brother Eye appears in Injustice 2, voiced by David Loefell. This version is a communications hub linking every satellite and server on Earth that was created to warn of impending crime after the toppling of Superman's Regime and is based in a new Batcave built in an old Gotham City subway system. In the game's "Multiverse Mode", Brother Eye is stated to have Source energy scanners, enabling it to search for threats across the multiverse.
- OMAC appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains.
References
- ^ Rucka, Greg (w), Saiz, Jesus; Richards, Cliff (p), Saiz, Jesus; Wiacek, Bob (i). "---Part Five---...Long Live the King!" The OMAC Project, no. 5 (October 2005).
- ^ Rucka, Greg (w), Saiz, Jesus; Richards, Cliff (p), Saiz, Jesus; Wiacek, Bob (i). "---Part Five---...Long Live the King!" The OMAC Project, no. 5 (October 2005).
- ISBN 9780345501066.
- ^ Countdown, no. 30 (October 3, 2007). DC Comics.
- ^ Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and Judd Winick (w), various artists (a). Countdown to Infinite Crisis, no. 1 (May 2005). DC Comics.
- ISBN 9780345501066.
- ^ Countdown, no. 21 (December 5, 2007). DC Comics.
- ^ Countdown, no. 20 (December 12, 2007). DC Comics.
- ^ Countdown, no. 15 (January 16, 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ Countdown, no. 12-9 (February 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ Countdown, no. 1 (April 23, 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #2 (May 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #3 (June 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #10 (September 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #11 (October 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #14 (November 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #17 (January 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #22 (March 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #23 (April 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League: Generation Lost #24 (April 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman #700. DC Comics.
- ^ O.M.A.C. (vol. 3) #1. DC Comics.
- ^ O.M.A.C. (vol 3) #2. DC Comics.
- '^ OMAC Vol 4 #2
- ^ Kushins, Josh (January 12, 2012). "DC Comics in 2012-–-Introducing the "Second Wave" of DC Comics The New 52". The Source. DC Comics. Archived from "second-wave"-of-dc-comics-the-new-52/ the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #24. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #25. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #26. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #27. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #28. DC Comics.
- ^ Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #29. DC Comics.
- ^ Blue Beetle Vol. 9. #8. DC Comics.
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #225. DC Comics.
- ^ Superman/Batman #36 (2007). DC Comics.
- ^ "Omac Voice - Batman: The Brave and the Bold (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 4, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
- ^ a b "Brother Eye Voices (Batman)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 4, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
- ^ Matadeen, Renaldo (August 7, 2023). "My Adventures With Superman's OMAC Corps, Explained". CBR. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
- ^ "Justice League: Mortal - What Really Happened?". 23 November 2018.
- ^ Motamayor, Rafael (June 14, 2021). "The Scrapped 'LEGO Batman' Sequel Was Being Written by Dan Harmon and Michael Waldron, and the Story Sounds Incredible". Collider. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ Diaz, Eric (August 17, 2023). "The DC Comics History of BLUE BEETLE's Cyborg OMAC Army". nerdist.com.
- ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 4, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved April 4, 2024.