While today's youngsters remember Cyborg from the Teen Titans cartoons, Ray Fisher's Cyborg from Justice League reminded viewers there's more history to DC Comics superhero than being amongst the best sidekicks of the DC Universe.
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In fact, while Cyborg spends much of his publication history amongst the Teen Titans, he eventually joins the big leagues as a full-time Justice League member in recent years. Interestingly enough, Cyborg has a lot more to offer than just being DC Comics' resident part-robot superhero. Here are a few details fans should know about him.
10 He's Not Always Connected To The Mother Box
Victor Stone didn't originally become Cyborg with the help of the Mother Box. In fact, his involvement with the Mother Box only began with the New 52. While minor details change, they always go the same way: Victor confronts his father, Silas Stone, for choosing his research into the Mother Box over his own son. Unfortunately, a fatal lab accident involving Victor forces Silas to use the Mother Box to give Victor a new body.
Cyborg's first appearance has the exact same string of events. However, back then, Silas uses advanced medical prosthetics to aid Victor, not a Mother Box. Additionally, Victor might also have been an athlete then, but his parents were already conducting experiments on him to boost his intelligence.
9 The Nature Of Humanity Always Caused Doubts
Unlike other superheroes, Victor never chose the life of a cyborg. Instead, he awoke from the fatal lab accident after his father had replaced a majority of his body with cybernetics. Since Victor received these modifications without his consent, his humanity always been a focal point of his personal problems.
Prior to his Teen Titans membership, it took time for Cyborg to accept his fate and role as a superhero. When he finally did become a hero, Cyborg still experienced doubts regarding his humanity. Is a person still human after receiving so many technological modifications?
8 Robotics, Cybernetics, And Prosthetics Became His Niche
While Cyborg didn't become as popular as the likes of the Trinity, he did star in his own stories. And when Cyborg gets his time in the limelight, his tales almost always involve technology. For instance, early Cyborg stories involved helping teenagers accept their own prosthetics. Other storylines involve helping Victor come to terms with his status as a cyborg.
Likewise, Cyborg had his own fair share of a robotic rogues' gallery. In his 2008 miniseries, Cyborg had to fight the Phantom Limbs, a technologically-enhanced team of spec ops soldiers. He also had to fight Cyborg 2.0 – a Victor from the future, using enhanced versions of his existing technology.
7 He Was Once A Mentor To The Teen Titans
Cyborg did at some point "graduate" from being a mere Teen Titans member. As the Titans' mentor, he helped integrate newcomers like Tim Drake or even older members such as Raven into the team. Unfortunately, an accident in Infinite Crisis placed Victor in a coma. Upon waking, he discovers a completely different team of Titans. Victor became so distraught with the new roster that he even deemed members such as Ravager (Deathstroke's daughter) "undeserving" of the membership.
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Victor tried to persuade his former teammates to join, but most declined due to their present membership in other teams. Despite his feelings towards the new Teen Titans, Victor discovered that a lot of the members visited him in the hospital to confide in him during his coma. This insight helped emphasize the gravity of Victor's potential influence towards his team.
6 Already Considered For League Membership
Before the New 52 revealed Cyborg as a member of the rebooted Justice League, some members already eyed him for membership in Infinite Crisis. Back then, the Trinity expressed their interest in Cyborg's potential contributions to the team. His efforts in leading the Teen Titans had already revealed his capability to step up and defend the Earth whenever necessary.
Unfortunately, this subplot never came to fruition due to a short battle with Amazo. After resolving the incident, plans to build the new League roster fell at the hands of Green Lantern and Black Canary. Unfortunately, based on the next issues, Cyborg didn't make the cut.
5 He Frequently Had Bad Cases Of Dismemberment
While heroes had to deal with constant death and resurrection, Cyborg had to face regular dismemberment and bodily destruction throughout his life as a hero. For instance, Cyborg once had to interface with a techno-organic race called the Technis to keep a physical body, thanks to Swamp Thing doing the sexy with a machine planet.
This incident escalated to a point where the Teen Titans and the Justice League fought over to what to do with Cyborg. After the conflict, the Titans managed to transfer Cyborg's essence into a Victor clone that Nightwing had created. Following that ordeal, another mission had Cyborg return with only his head and parts of his torso.
4 Mother Box Introduced New Enhancements & Capabilities
Cyborg's integration with the Mother Box expanded his role within the League. Essentially, Cyborg's Mother Box components gave him access to the New Gods' archives. Cyborg can tap into their knowledge of alien technology, and gain information he cannot find anywhere else on the planet.
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Likewise, it's thanks to Cyborg's Mother Box that his post-New 52 iterations had the ability to assimilate new technology. For instance, Cyborg managed to reverse-engineer Boom Tube technology from an attacking Parademon. This also gave Cyborg and the Justice League an edge against Darkseid's forces. After the invasion, Cyborg also applied the same technology to the Watch Tower.
3 Cyborg's Modifications Meant Awesome Upgrades
Compared to Tony Stark's armors, Cyborg had various methods of tailoring his tech for missions. He manually installed weaponized prosthetics to defend himself and his teammates. Soon, his bulky armored body housed a variety of weapons and gadgets.
Cyborg's frequent returns from destruction resulted in new variations of cybernetics. For instance, his short stint with the Omegadrome war-suit gave his body nigh-limitless morphing abilities. Additionally, a recent upgrade gave Victor a slimmer body that more resembled his human self.
2 He Created A Supervillain From His Own Programming
When Victor came to terms as his role as a hero, he realized that he had to keep tabs on all superhumans on the planet. However, to respect their privacy, Cyborg created subsystems to unconsciously monitor their activities. This small software, the Grid, eventually became a complex neural network.
Unfortunately, it also slowly adapted the behavioral quirks of malicious entities it encountered. One incident saw the Grid steal information on the Justice League. Eventually, the Grid stole Cyborg's older prostheses and assorted weaponry to make its own body and join the Crime Syndicate.
In addition to possessing almost the same powers as Cyborg, the Grid's knowledge on superhumans posed a major threat. Moreover, the Grid's technology got so advanced that it managed to infiltrate the Mobius Chair, which possesses all the knowledge in the Multiverse.
1 Cyborg Once Fused With Firestorm
In the events of Infinite Crisis, Cyborg accompanied Donna Troy's team in aiding the rest of DC Universe heroes against Alexander Luthor Jr.'s plot to recreate the multiverse in his image. Unfortunately, on their way home, the Luthor's energy ripples "altered" the energies that Cyborg and the team used to go home.
As Doctor Mid-Nite reveals in a panel in 52 Week 5, the energy alterations caused Cyborg and Firestorm to undergo molecular fusion. The panel showed an amalgamation of two beings, complete with separate heads and limbs. At the time, Doctor Mid-Nite said they had to figure out a way to separate both of them without damaging their nervous systems.
While post-Crisis events saw their separation and repair, it's a shame to not have seen Cyborg-Firestorm in action. After all, Cyborg's access to alien technologies and Firestorm's matter manipulation could make them a force to be reckoned with.
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