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59-635: He first appeared in Showcase #37 alongside his creations, the Metal Men and was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru .. He will be voiced in the DC Universe (franchise) by Alan Tudyk . One of the most impressive geniuses of the DC Universe with doctorates in theoretical mathematics , mechanical engineering , and particle physics , William Maxwell "Will" Magnus often offers scientific advice to other characters. His greatest achievement

118-511: A copy of Skeets' memories, and so he is able to rebuild him as a security droid 2.0, slightly more advanced, but oblivious of the events of the past years. Now sane again, he returns to working on his Metal Men. In the Superman/Batman series, Doc Magnus is shown working again with his Metal Men. He has even built a new one, the spunky and wisecracking gynoid Copper . Despite contrary advice from his fiancée he asks Bruce Wayne for

177-479: A crossover story involving Clock King fighting a series of temporal dopplegangers during "Zero Hour" while trying to obtain a powerful time travel artifact. With the 1995-1996 Showcase series, the focus switched from Batman centric characters to Superman centric characters. This included a story involving the Matrix Supergirl that led into her ongoing series written by Peter David ( Showcase '96 #8) and

236-517: A failure, with Chang Tzu still remaining at large. While studying her unique physiology consisting of human tissue and artificially intelligent nanotechnology, Chang Tzu takes a morbid interest in Bordeaux, remarking: As revealed to Alan Scott by Thundermind , Chang Tzu and his Science Squad are members of the Great Ten that provide, among other things, the funds to operate the organization and

295-420: A feature would buy the series when it came out, but would often continue buying Showcase as well. The series was canceled in 1970 with issue #93, featuring Manhunter 2070 . In 1992, DC Comics published a trade paperback reprint collection titled The Essential Showcase: 1956–1959 ( ISBN   978-1563890796 ). This collection reprints selected stories/characters from issues #1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, and 17 of

354-565: A few inches high. These new Metal Men are shown to help Magnus remain sane despite being off his pills, such as when they persuade him to deactivate the now-completed Plutonium Man after he turns it on during a period of depression. Ooolong Island is attacked by the JSA seeking to rescue Black Adam , and Chang Tzu orders the Plutonium Man to be activated. Chang notes that he has been spying on Magnus and knows that several metals have entered

413-399: A few issues, and then went away. [DC] decided to create Showcase for the very same reason it was originally created, to have a place to experiment, and if [the feature] sold, great . If not, they were already on to the next idea".[emphasis in original] The revived Showcase , using the original numbering, began with issue #94 and published the first appearance of the new Doom Patrol and

472-557: A lack of medication. A new, smouldering egg was seen hidden in Chang's shattered remains. When he later reappears and is asked about his seeming destruction, he explains: "My third incubation ended four months ago". Chang Tzu later re-appears as the main villain in 2007's "Checkout" storyline that crossed over between the Outsiders and Checkmate series. The UN-sponsored clandestine agency devoted to meta-human special operations capture

531-436: A large, egg-shaped body with facial features and cracked skin, mounted in a spider-legged chair for mobility. He is equipped with small prosthetic hands that allow him to manipulate items and equipment; he is also armed with hidden weaponry. Shortly after Black Adam escapes confinement on Oolong Island, Chang Tzu is shot apart by one of his kidnapped scientists, Dr. Will Magnus . Magnus claims to be acting irrationally due to

590-510: A new cybernetic body. In 1993, a four-part Metal Men miniseries retconned much of their backstory. It was revealed that the responsometers were not responsible for the Metal Men's sentience and that the Metal Men were imprinted with the intellects and personalities of real people during a lab accident: Magnus' brother Mike, fiancé Sharon, two lab workers Redmond Wilde and Randy Pressman, janitor Thomas Tinkham, and pizza delivery man Jack. At

649-465: A note for his former student with a string in machine code. Using the code, Magnus is able to revive Mercury, but his robotic friend and creation is apparently destroyed again while trying to save him from the conspiracy trying to kidnap every mad scientist in the DCU. During Week 22, mindless replicas of the Metal Men force Magnus to escape from his burned house before he is captured by what is revealed to be

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708-428: A previously untold story from earlier in the "Knightfall" storyline where Batman fought Two-Face. Showcase '94 #4-5 were part of a crossover with Robin, involving Tim Drake and Huntress fighting a masked priest/vigilante attempting to eliminate his evil mob boss sister's criminal empire. Showcase '94 #8-9 featured a prelude to "Zero Hour Crisis In Time" that featured Monarch's transformation into Extant and #10 featured

767-432: A separate group " Chang Tzu 's Science Squad ". This would be the second time Magnus has confronted Chang Tzu. A previous incarnation of the villain once managed to brainwash the Metal Men, but their loyalty to Magnus restored their rightful minds. This group is based on Oolong Island (said to be part of the territory of China ) and has been responsible for the disappearing scientists (including Professor Morrow). The group

826-476: A short time by Sal Amendola ), the series gave new writers and artists their first professional opportunity in the comics industry. Notable creators who made their DC debuts with New Talent Showcase include Mark Beachum, Norm Breyfogle , Tom Grindberg , Steve Lightle , Mindy Newell , and Stan Woch . Per editorial policy, the series featured only new characters. DC revived the Showcase title in 1993 when

885-403: A strong Chinese accent. Later appearances of the character have striven to maintain his Asian ethnicity while de-emphasizing his historically racialized characterization and removing overt associations with Chinese culture and language. Egg Fu was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru . He first appeared in 1965's Wonder Woman #157, and died in the same issue. One year later, Egg Fu

944-560: A tryout of his Metal Men as security guards. The trial is successful, but the Metal Men fail on the field, due to mistrust by the human personnel and Brainiac 's influence, leaving Doc Magnus the responsibility of saving the day. Magnus has recently assisted the Justice League of America with the rebuilding of Red Tornado . After Red Tornado's first intended body is stolen by Amazo , he is called on again to provide Red Tornado with yet another new body, more powerful and advanced than

1003-557: A two-part story involving the Post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes (#11-12) which featured the first post-Zero Hour meeting of Brainiac 5 and his ancestor Vril Dox and the villain Brainiac, which ultimately served as the final storyline as the series was canceled with #12. In 2005, DC began publishing thick, black-and-white reprints of older material under the umbrella title Showcase Presents . Egg Fu Egg Fu

1062-847: A way to determine reader interest, without the financial risk of featuring "untested" characters in their own ongoing titles. The series began in March–April 1956 and saw the first appearance of several major characters including the Silver Age Flash , the Challengers of the Unknown , Space Ranger , Adam Strange , Rip Hunter , the Silver Age Green Lantern , the Sea Devils , the Silver Age Atom ,

1121-459: Is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman . Most frequently represented as an enormous sentient egg (and often, inexplicably, of Chinese descent), he was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru in 1965's Wonder Woman #157, being the first villain in the series to receive a multi-issue arc. Over

1180-431: Is actually a product of Apokoliptian technology created from a device Scott Free accidentally left behind on a visit to Earth. Once activated, it begins dominating people's minds and preparing them for transport to Apokolips. Egg Fu is defeated by Hippolyta (at the time acting as Diana's successor as Wonder Woman), Donna Troy , Artemis and Wonder Girl . An associate of Mister Miracle, Metron , removes it. Following

1239-531: Is being financed by Intergang with the collusion, it is implied, of the Chinese government. The assembled scientists have been given unlimited budgets to invent various super weapons including, in particular, various types of robots. During Week 23, a giant robot, piloted by animals from Intergang, delivers Doc Magnus to Oolong Island. Magnus is assigned to design and construct a new Plutonium Man robot, but deliberately makes little progress, saying to Morrow that

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1298-474: Is captured by the Chinese mastermind and turned into a human bomb. Egg Fu then launches Steve and a doomsday missile at the American fleet. Wonder Woman intercepts Steve, who has become a deadly menace. Unable to save him, she redirects his path into the enemy missile. The explosion destroys the missile, Steve, and Wonder Woman herself, but the fleet is saved. Informed of her daughter's demise, Hippolyta gathers

1357-409: Is celebrating " I am an American Day ". Fighting the urge to say "Down with America!" in front of everyone, the Metal Men self-destruct instead. An angry Dr. Yes tries having the giant robot destroy the crowd instead, but the various pieces of the Metal Men attack and destroy the robot, freeing Magnus who had been trapped inside. Afterwards, Magnus rebuilds the superhero team. Dr. Yes is still at large at

1416-458: Is first mentioned in the Forever Evil storyline. A rebuilt Cyborg heads out to find Will Magnus so that he can learn about his "Metal Men" project. Meeting with Will Magnus, Cyborg learns that he can not help him. Magnus tells him the history of the Metal Men project, how they were built to execute search and rescue missions that humans could not tackle. After he was able to get them online,

1475-532: Is now humorously self-obsessed and magniloquent, Platina is lovesick, Lead is dimwitted and prone to errors, Tin is always scared and affected by chronic self-esteem issues, and Mercury, once brilliant and humorous, has now developed the same bipolar disturbance affecting Will Magnus himself, and refuses to take medications. Copper, the newest and seventh member, is disturbingly ignored by her teammates, who often refuse to acknowledge her presence despite being side by side with her. In The New 52 timeline, Will Magnus

1534-476: Is regarded as the most successful of such tryout series, having been published continuously for more than 14 years, launching numerous popular titles, and maintaining a considerable readership of its own. The series ran from March–April 1956 to September 1970, suspending publication with issue #93, and then was revived for eleven issues from August 1977 to September 1978. Showcase featured characters in either one-shot appearances or brief two- or three-issue runs as

1593-405: Is the one for which he first received renown: the creation of the Metal Men . The method through which Doc Magnus created the Metal Men has varied over years with various writers. At first they were just blank slate robots with responsometers, devices which generated their intelligence and personalities which are evocative of the metals from which they were formed. In an attempt to boost sales of

1652-486: Is the reason that he cannot recreate the Metal Men. Magnus is approached by government agents hoping to use the Metal Men as soulless smart weapons, an offer that Magnus rejects. Through all of this, Magnus visits Morrow in his cell in Haven. Morrow warns Magnus that there have been numerous abductions of "mad" scientists, including Doctor Sivana , whose lair Magnus investigates. Eventually Morrow himself disappears, leaving

1711-460: Is unstable due to his lack of medication, Magnus is not fully co-operating with Chang Tzu. Magnus goes about scavenging materials from various items (gold from a gold watch, lead from lead shielding, mercury from thermometers, and tin from cans of baked beans which he adopts as his sole diet – presumably to ensure that the other scientists will not want to spend too much time with him as well). This allows him to reconstruct his Metal Men , albeit only

1770-413: The JSA . With all charges against him dropped due to being coerced into collaboration, Will Magnus returns to his home and laboratory. There, when Booster Gold visits him again, exactly one year after their last meeting, with a salvaged responsometer containing Skeets' "memself", asking him to somehow restore the robot that was destroyed by Mister Mind , Magnus agrees. He reveals to have in his possession

1829-884: The Metal Men , the Inferior Five , the Creeper , Anthro , Hawk and Dove , Angel and the Ape , the Silver Age Spectre , and Bat Lash . In 1962, DC purchased an adaptation of the James Bond novel and film Dr. No , which had been published in British Classics Illustrated , and published it as an issue of Showcase . It was the first American comic book appearance of the character. Showcase stood out from other tryout series in that it maintained its own readership; readers who liked

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1888-438: The 1950s retailer reluctance to order new, untested series had largely vanished, and was replaced in the 1990s with reader enthusiasm for the "#1" issues of new series. The new series was published as Showcase '93 , a monthly 12-issue miniseries , replaced yearly by Showcase '94 , '95 and '96 , each one also a miniseries lasting 12 issues. For the first two years (1993–1994), Showcase featured characters and concepts from

1947-542: The Batman family of titles with an emphasis on villain-centric one-off stories. The 1994 Azrael series launched out of Showcase '94 with #10 while a prototype story for what became the Birds of Prey ongoing appeared in Showcase '96 #3. The series also had a series of crossover tie-ins. Showcase '93 had a two-part crossover with the "Knightfall Saga" set while Batman recovered from having his back broken by Bane, which revealed

2006-468: The Conner Kent version of Superboy shows up asking for help, Superman gathers all the geniuses he knows including, but not limited to, Mister Terrific , Batman, Ted Kord and Will Magnus. Examination of Conner leads the group to ponder evidence that the universe has been rebooted at least three times. Normally, Will Magnus had no special abilities aside from his great intellect. His vast intelligence

2065-607: The Fifth, a relative of the original Egg Fu, debuts in Wonder Woman #166 (November 1966). Soon after, Dr. Yes (a reference to Dr. No ), Egg Fu's robot twin, appears in Metal Men #20 (June/July 1966). Egg Fu is a Chinese Communist agent, perplexingly shaped like an egg the size of a house, with a Charlie Chan -like speech pattern, who uses his mustaches as whips against his enemies. In Egg Fu's first appearance, Steve Trevor

2124-436: The Metal Men "don't quite work anymore". The responsometers are now described as containing an "artificial soul" invented by Doc Magnus, as inspired by T. O. Morrow , who is revealed to have taught him at college and to have been the only one not to laugh at Magnus' theories. After the unexplained dismantling of the Metal Men, Doc Magnus is unable to recreate these souls and restore their personalities. He now takes Prozac for

2183-434: The bipolar disorder which caused his nervous breakdown and the depression which led to the creation of the Plutonium Man, a tremendous, nearly indestructible superweapon based upon the Metal Men, but with Magnus' then-own deranged, twisted worldview as its operating system. It is implied that although the medication is keeping Magnus from doing anything irrational, it is also deadening his imagination and creativity and that this

2242-403: The climax of the miniseries, Gold is killed and Doc Magnus mortally wounded. He transfers his personality into a blank, green robot named Veridium , becoming the new leader of the Metal Men. With the advent of Identity Crisis , Gold is back and Doc Magnus is once again human and played an active role in the series 52 . As revealed during Infinite Crisis , when Superboy-Prime pounded on

2301-621: The comic book, the characters underwent vast changes. The Metal Men assumed human alter egos, while Doc Magnus became a fugitive scientist dedicated to global conquest. His personality change was credited to having been kidnapped, reawakened, and brainwashed by a mad dictator. Sales plunged instead and the comic was not printed for a few years. Eventually, Metal Men was picked up again with Doc's sanity restored and he returned to assist his Metal Men. At one point he saved Doom Patrol 's Robotman , whose original body had been destroyed by Madame Rouge . Doc Magnus recovered Robotman's brain and built him

2360-428: The events of Infinite Crisis , a new version of Egg Fu appears, calling himself Chang Tzu (likely a reference to Chuang Tzu , or possibly Sun Tzu ), an agent of Apokolips . Chang Tzu (Chung Zhu) is the mastermind, along with Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim , behind the kidnappings of many mad scientists in the comic book series 52 . They are forcibly recruited into Chang's " Science Squad " based on Oolong Island. Chang has

2419-480: The explosive power against Egg Fu. He sends his troops against her, but they fail in their task to overcome her. A piece of anti-matter removes the explosive matter from Steve and her, then the Amazon defeats Egg Fu. Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor investigate the disappearance of an American submarine. While flying over the ocean where it disappeared, Wonder Woman's plane is fired upon by an enemy freighter. Steve boards

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2478-487: The government went back on their word and chose to have the Metal Men become assassins. The Metal Men hid at Magnus' apartment where they help protect Magnus and the population from an experiment gone wrong , destroying themselves in the process. Seeing their responsometers that control them in Magnus' lab, Cyborg senses that their minds and hearts are still active encouraging Magus to activate them once more to help him. When

2537-401: The lab and not come back out. The Metal Men attack Chang Tzu , allowing Magnus to escape and switch off the island's defenses. While he does this, Morrow confronts Magnus and destroys Mercury yet again. Magnus explains to Morrow why it is pointless to stop him from deactivating the shields as the JSA will get in eventually, and instead offers him the chance to teleport out, saying that Morrow

2596-460: The original Showcase series. Several other issues were included in other reprint collections. In August 1977, Showcase was revived for 11 issues after the cancellation of 1st Issue Special , which ran from 1975 to 1976. Writer Paul Kupperberg reminisced: "1977 was an expansionary time at DC, and Jenette Kahn was supportive of trying new things. There were a lot of new ideas being thrown around at that time. A lot of books came around, lasted

2655-452: The original Plutonium Man was an expression of his pain and rage brought on by his mental illness and that the reason that he takes his medication is to prevent himself from doing something like that again. Morrow reveals this to the Island's leaders and Magnus's medication is confiscated. Magnus then proceeds to work on the Plutonium Man, saying that this time he will "do it right". Though he

2714-539: The previous one. Despite his good intentions, the attempts comes to another downfall, and almost spells his death, when Amazo returns to claim the newer and stronger body for himself. The Metal Men are later restored as a second feature in the revamped Doom Patrol (5th series), written by Keith Giffen . Now living in simple suburbia in Kanigher Street, the Metal Men seem to be affected by his currently partly deranged state of mind. Iron seems unaffected, Gold

2773-400: The remains of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and returns them to a laboratory on Paradise Island . Using an atomic structure reassembly beam, she restores Steve and her daughter. However, Steve's body is still infused with explosive energy. Wonder Woman finds that her own body has also become explosive, making them both a danger to the world. They leave Paradise Island. Wonder Woman plans to use

2832-420: The ship, then disappears too. Wonder Woman's plane is drawn underwater into a giant seashell. Frogmen attack her and take her prisoner. She is brought to a secret base controlled by Egg Fu the Fifth, a relative of the original Egg Fu. Held prisoner by her own magic lasso , Wonder Woman offers to dance for Egg Fu. She then performs a bracelet-clashing dance which cracks Egg Fu and allows her to escape and rescue

2891-511: The solo adventures of Power Girl . Issue #100 (May 1978) had a cameo by almost every character that had premiered in the original run of Showcase in a story co-written by Paul Kupperberg and Paul Levitz and drawn by Joe Staton . The series was cancelled again after issue #104 (September 1978), as part of what is commonly called the " DC Implosion ". Issues #105 and #106 saw print in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade and #105

2950-459: The stolen submarine. Dr. Yes, Egg Fu's robot twin, uses a giant robot to capture Will Magnus , leader of the Metal Men. The team travel to Dr. Yes' base, where he brainwashes them, believing that "when the Amelicans see how these gleat heroes of theirs have turned tlaitors -- they will doubt anyone's stlength to lesist us!" [sic] The giant robot takes the Metal Men to a football stadium that

3009-454: The story's end. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths , a new version of Egg Fu is introduced in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #128 (December 1997). This Egg Fu is an early twentieth-century super computer , recently rediscovered and turned into one of many carnival attractions along Gateway City 's Oceanside boardwalk, despite public protests that the attraction is racially insensitive. Egg Fu

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3068-420: The technology they use. His name is unclear as it has been inconsistently presented; he is introduced as Chang Tzu, but is subsequently referred to as both Chung Zhu and Chung Tzu. It may be possible that he has multiple names; Chang himself explains that "Egg Fu" is one of his "Nine thousand and nine unmentionable names", and immediately kills a guard who laughs at his mention of it. Chang Tzu reappeared in

3127-484: The then-wanted super-hero team led by Nightwing and coerce them into helping invade Oolong Island. A team of operatives from both groups reaches the island, but Sasha Bordeaux and Captain Boomerang are taken captive by Chang Tzu, who subjects them both to excruciatingly torturous studies in order to examine their own respective meta-abilities. Their teammates eventually free them and the group retreats, their mission

3186-418: The time of the cancellation there were still no Huntress stories in production, and the slated content for Showcase #107–109 was Gerry Conway 's Western adventure The Deserter . DC published New Talent Showcase , which ran for 15 issues (Jan. 1984 – March 1985), briefly changed its title to Talent Showcase , and then ended with issue #19 (Oct. 1985). For the most part edited by Karen Berger (and for

3245-403: The walls of reality, he caused the fabric of reality to shift, changing and merging histories. The "blank robots with responsometers" origin is said to be the definitive origin while the "human personalities" origin and the 1993 miniseries are described as the byproduct of a mental breakdown suffered by Magnus. When Booster Gold visited, asking for help with his robot Skeets, Magnus commented that

3304-419: The years, multiple versions of the character have appeared with varying backstories and alternative names (including Egg Fu the Fifth, Chang Tzu, and Dr. Yes) to battle not only Wonder Woman, but also the Metal Men (as Dr. Yes), Checkmate (as Chang Tzu) and Harley Quinn (as Eggy). In early appearances, the character was a Yellow Peril ethnic stereotype, complete with caricatured Asian facial features and

3363-415: Was "the best teacher I ever knew" and that he tries "to over look the psychopathic super-villain thing". Morrow accepts the offer. Magnus is then confronted by Chang Tzu whom he apparently kills with the aid of Lead and what he describes as a particle wave ray gun. Magnus also indicates that this shooting was a result of his irrationality, brought on by the lack of his medications. Magnus then surrenders to

3422-594: Was later published in Adventure Comics . Issue #106 was included in The Creeper by Steve Ditko hardcover collection published by DC in 2010. Two other series were announced before the series cancellation: The Huntress , which would have spun out of her feature in Batman Family ; and World of Krypton , which was published as DC's first miniseries in 1979. According to editor Paul Levitz, at

3481-457: Was responsible for the creation of the Metal Men, along with various other robots. As Veridium, Magnus could manipulate heat and energy. Showcase (comics) Showcase is a comic anthology series published by DC Comics . The general theme of the series was to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring untested characters in their own ongoing titles. Showcase

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