The Deathlok comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated September 2024 with titles scheduled for release through December 2024.
Deathlok has a curious history in the Marvel Universe.
The character was originally introduced in 1974 as Luther Manning, an American soldier reanimated in the future as a cyborg and then sent back to the past Terminator-style (but, years before the first Terminator movie!). This time-displaced Deathlok I has made only limited appearances after his initial run of stories in the 70s and 80s.
After the appearance of a short-lived, all-robotic Deathlok II, third and fourth versions were introduced in rapid succession. Deathlok III was John Kelly, whose human brain interfered with his Deathlok mission and was promptly terminated.
Deathlok IV, Michael Collins, replaced Kelly as the consciousness in that unit and anchored his own series – struggling to contain the more murderous urges of his cyborg body’s programming.
Late in that series, we meet Deathlok V – present-day Luther Manning. An unrelated Deathlok VI is introduced as part of a 1990s X-Men crossover meant as a launching-pad for a trio of tech-focused heroes.
A decade later, Wolverine encounters a potential future seemingly inhabited entirely by Deathlok versions of heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man. Luckily, one self-conscious and seemingly unfamiliar unit stood against them (again, cribbing from Terminator – only this time Terminator actually happened first). This Deathlok VII – known as Unit L17 – joins Wolverine’s covert X-Force team, and later becomes a guest-instructor at the Jean Grey Institute.
With Deathlok appearing in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television show, the core concept of a human soldier made into a killer robot seems to be entrenched firmly in Marvel’s narrative. A new title was launched with Deathlok VIII to more-closely align to the show.
We even met a female version in 2013 – AKA Deathlocket – in Avengers Arena (but she’s not tracked in this guide). [Read more…] about Deathlok – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order