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  • From what I've seen, Superman's robots were programmed to simulate the personalities of the people they were impersonating, but otherwise do what they were told -- and nothing else. Thus, the Clark Kent robot was about as smart as Clark Kent would be if he was a regular human person. 

    Did Superman ever attempt to program the robots to patrol and eliminate kryptonite? What, and take a crutch away from the writers?

    Were the robots affected by red sun radiation? I doubt it. I base this on Action Comics #277 (June 1961), in which Luthor busts out of prison -- you would think the warden would have learned not to let him near any device more sophisticated than a garlic press -- repairs to Luthor's Lair (which debuted in this issue), and then pulls off what Auric Goldfinger only pretended to do three years later: steal the gold in Fort Knox! 

    Superman comes along, but Luthor is ready; he has a machine that conjures up glowing, floating kryptonite globes in various colors: green, blue, red, white, even yellow. He fires off so many that they surround Superman in a "cage of kryptonite." With the Man of Steel out of the way, Luthor's machine conjures up a giant mechanical hand to load the gold into trucks, which convert to airplanes, and he and his henchmen make their getaway.

    At Luthor's Lair, he gloats that the kryptonite globes were "harmless fakes", but his mood turns sour when he reads the Daily Planet the next day and learns Superman has been on a space mission for several days and he defeated a Superman robot. Incensed ("Even though, I won a victory, I really lost! I didn't triumph over Superman, only a mechanical man!), Luthor returns the gold!

    In the denouement, the robot apologizes ("Master, I failed you! I wanted to break through the cage of fake "kryptonite," but I couldn't ignore the commands you pre-set in my electronic brain."), but Superman thanks it for sticking to the script. Oddly, he further says the robot was a "robot-in-training," "but now, because you obeyed my commands, your training period is over."*'

    Granted, the "kryptonite" in this story was anything but, but it didn't affect the robot, and I doubt the real thing would, either.

    * Somehow, the art by Curt Swan and John Forte makes this story by Bill Finger not come off as fantastic or inane.

  • So if I understand correctly, Superman programmed his kryptonite weakness into his robots? Seems like a weird thing to do(well obviously not the effects of kryptonite, but to react as if it's having that effect). 



  • Randy Jackson said:

    So if I understand correctly, Superman programmed his kryptonite weakness into his robots? Seems like a weird thing to do(well obviously not the effects of kryptonite, but to react as if it's having that effect). 

    I for one admire his commitment to his craft. Now I assume they would only react once they saw the kryptonite.

  • Randy Jackson said:

    So if I understand correctly, Superman programmed his kryptonite weakness into his robots? Seems like a weird thing to do(well obviously not the effects of kryptonite, but to react as if it's having that effect). 

    Makes sense to me; if the robot is to fool someone into thinking it's really Superman, it should behave as Superrman does. 

  • Was the sole purpose of the robots to fool people into thinking they were Superman? I know that was one of their purposes, but it seems short-sighted not to utilize them for more. 

    ClarkKent_DC said:

    Randy Jackson said:

    So if I understand correctly, Superman programmed his kryptonite weakness into his robots? Seems like a weird thing to do(well obviously not the effects of kryptonite, but to react as if it's having that effect). 

    Makes sense to me; if the robot is to fool someone into thinking it's really Superman, it should behave as Superrman does. 

  • ClarkKent_DC said:

    At Luthor's Lair, he gloats that the kryptonite globes were "harmless fakes", but his mood turns sour when he reads the Daily Planet the next day and learns Superman has been on a space mission for several days and he defeated a Superman robot. Incensed ("Even though, I won a victory, I really lost! I didn't triumph over Superman, only a mechanical man!), Luthor returns the gold!

    It's been a long time since I read them, but I don't remember the existence of Superman's robots being common knowledge. Wouldn't that create a problem when he used them to protect his secret identity?

  • ClarkKent_DC said:

    At Luthor's Lair, he gloats that the kryptonite globes were "harmless fakes", but his mood turns sour when he reads the Daily Planet the next day and learns Superman has been on a space mission for several days and he defeated a Superman robot. Incensed ("Even though, I won a victory, I really lost! I didn't triumph over Superman, only a mechanical man!), Luthor returns the gold!


    Richard Willis said:

    It's been a long time since I read them, but I don't remember the existence of Superman's robots being common knowledge. Wouldn't that create a problem when he used them to protect his secret identity?

    Somewhere along the way, the existence of Superman's robots did become common knowledge, as evidenced by a banner front-page newspaper headline telling the world he uses them. When the secret stopped being a secret is something our crack research team* would be best equipped to answer. 

    * That is, Mr. Silver Age or Commander Benson.

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