Real Name: Luther Manning
Occupation: Colonel in the United States Army, retired
Legal Status: United States citizen with no criminal record, officially dead as of 1985 (in an alternate reality)
Other Aliases: The Demolisher
Place of Birth: Detroit, Michigan
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Janice (wife, separated), Richard (son)
Group Affiliation: Former member of the Central Intelligence Agency
Base of Operation: New York area
First Appearance: ASTONISHING TALES #25

History: Luther Manning enlisted in the Army in the late 1970's and rose through the ranks to become colonel. During war games in 1885, the effects of a concussion mine critically injured Manning. (This incident occurred in a recently diverged alternate reality, and is not a part of the mainstream timeline.) Manning's superior, Major Simon Ryker, salvaged his body for use in Project: Alpha-Mech, a covert operation whose purpose was to create cyborg super-soldiers. Manning's brain, nervous system, and still living tissue were transplanted into a synthetic body in an operation performed by Major Ryker's brother Harlan Ryker (code-named Hellinger), who had, years before, given his brother Simon cybernetic parts to repair damage to his legs and spine incurred in an altercation with Doctor Doom.

Manning awoke from the weeks-long operation in a body that was partially his own and with a mini-computer occupying a portion of his cranium. He was given the code-name Deathlok. At first an unwilling agent of Ryker, Deathlok broke free of his control and became a free agent. On a Central Intelligence Agency assignment, Deathlok met the enigmatic Godwulf, a vigilante who had access to some time travel machinery in his headquarters in the subways of New York City. Godwulf displaced Deathlok in time, where the cyborg was snatched by a time machine used by the Fixer and Mentallo and brought to the present. The Fixer's inventive genius enabled him to override Deathlok's computer-brain, enabling the criminals to use Deathlok as their pawn. The Fantastic Four confiscated Deathlok's now inert body from the Fixer and turned him over to a cyberneticist in London.

There agents of the oil company Roxxon stole Deathlok's body, placing him in the custody of Roxxon-employed surgeon, Harlan Ryker, ironically the man who (in an alternate reality) would create the Deathlok cyborg in the first place. Ryker give the cyborg a rigorous biopsy in order to learn from it. Then in association with other members of Roxxon's Department M (for "Mutagenics"), he created a robotic simulacrum of Deathlok. This robot was turned over to Roxxon's Nth Command for testing. It was sent to infiltrate and destroy Project Pegasus, the government energy research facility. The Deathlok robot was destroyed before it could carry out its mission.

Eventually Ryker got the original Deathlok functional. By this time, Luther Manning's clone had been dispatched by Godwulf (a former member of Roxxon's Nth Command) to find Deathlok. The clone succeeded in his mission with the help of Captain America, and gave his life to free Deathlok from Roxxon mental domination. Deathlok returned to his own alternate reality where he joined forces with Godwulf and his band of Redeemers to defeat Harlan Ryker's plans of nuclear annihilation. Deathlok remains in his near-future alternate reality, searching for a purpose in life.

Height: 6 ft. 4 in.
Weight: 395 lbs.
Eyes: Brown (organic), red (artificial)
Hair: Grey-brown

Strength Level: Deathlok possesses superhuman strength derived from his steel augmented skeleton and artificial musculature. He can lift (press) about 2 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Deathlok possesses several superhuman capacities besides enhanced strength, due to the synthetic and cybernetic augmentation of his body. These capacities are described in the Specifications of his Bionics.