* 1st Appearance "DEATHLOK" (Luther Manning)

Luther Manning enlisted in the army in the late 1970s and rose through the ranks to become a colonel. During war games in 1985, Manning was critically injured by the effects of a concussion mine. Manning's remains were salvaged by his superior officer Major Simon Ryker for use in Project: Alpha-Mech, a covert operation 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, who for years had replaced his brother's missing limbs with synthetic parts, which were lost in an altercation with Doctor Doom.

After 5 years in stasis, Manning's body was reanimated as the cyborg Deathlok, so named because he was locked in a death-like state. Simon Ryker oversaw Deathlok's training and early missions, but the cyborg eventually rebelled against his programming as his human memories returned

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