| “ | It's so still and dark. No sound. No light. Nothingness. My mind. I cannot let it drift. I must remember. I am Metallo. I am Metallo. | „ |
| ~ Metallo |
Summary[]
John Corben was a notorious mercenary and fugitive from at least five countries, and one day was hired by Lex Luthor to steal his Lexo-suit and deliver it to the regent of Kaznia. He was brought down by Superman and thrown in jail, which gave Luthor an idea - he could turn Corben into his greatest weapon against the Man of Steel. He secretly infected Corben with a terminal disease, giving him incentive to consent to Luthor's surgery, which would turn him into a robot made of a virtually indestructible alloy, Metallo - powered by Kryptonite, the only substance that can kill Superman. As such, Corben became, undoubtedly, one of the Man of Steel's foremost enemies.
Powers and Stats[]
Tier: High 6-A to 5-B
Name: John Corben, known as "Metallo"
Origin: The DC Animated Universe
Gender: Presents as Male
Age: At least in his Early Thirties mentally, less than 10 years old physically ("The Way of All Flesh," in which his robotic body is created, is less than ten years before his death in "Chaos at the Earth's Core")
Classification: Humanoid Robot, Member of the Superman Revenge Squad and the Legion of Doom, Temporary Ally of Intergang (as seen in "Heavy Metal")
Powers and Abilities:
- Superhuman Physical Characteristics (See Attack Potency, Speed, Lifting Strength, and Durability)
- Inorganic Physiology (Type 2 - Is a robot with a human soul)
- Immortality (Type 8 - Needs to be powered by Kryptonite at all times)
- Superhuman Athleticism (Has made incredible leaps)
- Body Control (Can turn his head a full 360 degrees)
- Hand-to-Hand Combat Skills (Was an extremely experienced and infamous mercenary)
- Energy Projection/Radiation Manipulation (Fires beams of Kryptonite radiation either from his chest or eyes)
- Situational Durability Negation and Statistics Reduction (Kryptonite has said effects on Kryptonians such as Superman)
- Resistance to Extreme Heat (Was totally unaffected by wading in lava)
Attack Potency: Multi-Continental to Planet Level (See Note as to why he isn't listed as scaling to a full-power Superman. Was shown to struggle evenly with Martian Manhunter and was implied to have fought him at some point during the opening of "Hereafter." Possesses "almost infinite strength." Ripped apart his skin, which is also made of Metallo. Mangled a speeding train just by being hit by it. See here for my reasoning as to why DCAU Superman is not Low Complex Multiversal)
Speed: Relativistic (Landed attacks on a suppressed Superman. Should generally be comparable to most of the verse), possibly MFTL+ (It's possible that Lanterns' travel speed scales to their combat speed, though personally I've never seen any arguments for that which were nearly compelling enough for me to claim it's definitive), Relativistic+ attack speed with Kryptonite Radiation Beams (His beam attacks are stated to be beams of radiation, which travels at just barely below 1c in open air), and at least Superhuman running speed (As a combat cyborg created to kill Superman, he should be at least as fast in terms of long-distance running as humans, such as Batman)
Lifting Strength: At least Class K (Grappled with Martian Manhunter, who consistently has better physical showings than the likes of Wonder Woman. Easily lifted and threw a train car. Stopped an oil truck from falling and tore the passenger-seating part off of it. Lifted and threw a police car. Tossed a bus, as well as an oil truck. Ripped a vault door off its hinges and tossed it across a room. Casually tore apart a fire escape. Pulled apart the metal of the top of a bus as if it were tissue paper. Snapped a telephone pole in two. As a robot designed to fight and defeat powerful beings like Superman, he should be a good bit stronger than Bane), possibly Class M (As stated above, scales above Wonder Woman. Likely stronger than Booster Gold, whose super-suit made him strong enough to hold himself and a civilian in place against a gravitational anomaly that sucked in a building despite the building being farther from the epicenter of the phenomenon than Booster himself)
Striking Strength: Multi-Continent Class to Planet Class
Durability: Multi-Continental to Planet Level (Capable of withstanding his own physical power. Has repeatedly fought a suppressed Superman and taken attacks from him. Luthor, an expert on weaponry, considered the alloy he's made of to be essentially indestructible. No-sold being hit by a train. Tanked a rocket launcher without even flinching)
Stamina: Superhuman (As long as he has Kryptonite - he's never shown being even remotely tired, and Green Lantern goes as far as to say a palm-sized chunk of Kryptonite would let him "pretty much run forever")
Range: Standard Melee Range physically, at least Several Meters with his chest beam (Fired a Kryptonite beam several meters, and later struck Supergirl with it while she was two flights of stairs above him) and Tens of Meters with Eye Beams (Fired his Kryptonite eye beams at least ten meters)
Standard Equipment: None, his Kryptonite is literally embedded into him.
Intelligence: At least Above Average (Was an extremely successful mercenary, and fugitive from at least five countries without ever being caught - that is, until he encountered the Man of Steel. Learned how to project Kryptonite energy beams after less than a day of having his robotic body)
Standard Tactics: As befitting of his background as a mercenary, he generally strikes first to ensure victory - as seen in his fights with Superman.
Weaknesses: Removing or destroying the Kryptonite within his chest will de-power him. Cannot swim.
Note: This profile, by and large, doesn’t use the line of scaling that scales Metallo to Superman - that being Metallo matching Superman in strength in their first fight and implying he’s even stronger than him, and the Batman-Superman.com statement that he can match Superman blow for blow. However, another look at Metallo’s actual feats shows that he isn’t actually this strong. For reference, Superman is at “peak strength” for most of STAS, JL Season 2, and JLU. The biggest anti feat for Metallo is his battle with Superman in the episode “Action Figures.” During this, Superman initially shows up wearing a Kryptonite-resistant suit, meaning Metallo’s Kryptonite doesn’t affect him. This enables him to outmaneuver Metallo and swat him aside with one punch. Metallo then caused rocks to fall in order to rip a hole in the suit, and succeeds. As we can see here, Superman’s chest is being exposed to Metallo’s Kryptonite, which obviously weakens him slightly due to the small surface area of the exposure. However, even while slightly exposed to this Kryptonite, the Man of Steel fights evenly with a bloodlusted Metallo. This would imply Metallo is only about as powerful as a somewhat weakened Superman - and things like him being even in a contest of strength with Martian Manhunter (who Superman scales far above) and not even denting Steel’s armor with killing-intent blows (whereas Galatea, who is only slightly stronger than Supergirl, could rip it apart) only further prove that point. To that end, his feats against Superman in “Superman’s Pal” and “Heavy Metal” are basically all when Superman has already been weakened by his Kryptonite beams - and the fact that Metallo could struggle evenly with him during their first encounter can be easily explained by the fact that Superman didn’t know John Corben had become a robot, and likely assumed he was just a human who had acquired powers, giving him incentive to hold back.