Living Brain

Living Brain
The Living Brain's original appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #8. Art by Steve Ditko.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Jan. 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee (Writer) Steve Ditko (Artist)
In-story information
Team affiliations	Parker Industries Sinister Six
Abilities	Superhuman strength and speed Flight Clawed hands Limbs that can rotate at nearly 360 degrees Ability to analyze any situation and determine how best to achieve its goals, process and collate large amounts of information and find any weaknesses in a being or structure Originally: External controls on its thorax

The Living Brain is a fictional character and robot appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #8 and has made few subsequent appearances since.

A foe of the hero Spider-Man, the Living Brain was created by the fictional International Computing Machines Corporation and billed as the most intelligent computer and robot in existence, capable of solving virtually any question asked of it.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the Living Brain's first appearance was in The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Jan. 1964).

The Living Brain, soon after its creation, is brought to Midtown High School by its creator Dr. Petty as a part of a demonstration of its ability to solve any problem. The students agreed to ask Spider-Man's secret identity, and a nervous Peter Parker fed it the given information about the wall-crawler. The answer was given in mathematical code for Peter to decode that night (because of this, it is unknown if the Living Brain had correctly deduced Spider-Man's true identity). After the Living Brain's demonstration, two workmen hired to transport it overhear the Living Brain's ability to answer anything and decide to steal it in order to use its abilities for gambling purposes. Caught in the middle of stealing the Living Brain by Dr. Petty, the two workmen get into a scuffle with him, which ends with one of them being knocked into the control panel on the Living Brain's chest, which causes the Living Brain to malfunction. Going on a rampage through Midtown High, the Living Brain is eventually defeated by Spider-Man, who shuts it down, in a brief fight. Peter walked home, thinking that the next day he'd tell everyone he'd lost the code during the confusion.

The Living Brain reappears several years later, now discredited and broken-down. Dr. Petty plans to donate it to Midtown High School's science lab. The Living Brain ends up being stolen by Dr. Petty's son Steve Petty who modifies the robot, giving it a gold and red color scheme, clawed hands and the ability to fly. Remotely controlling the Living Brain to attack a bully who had been tormenting him, Steve is eventually defeated by Spider-Man (who had been on a visit to Midtown High as Peter Parker) and the Living Brain is shut down once more. The Living Brain, restored to its pre-upgrade appearance, was then acquired by a group of criminals, who used it to commit robberies. The robot and its controllers were apprehended by Spider-Man, who mockingly referred to the Living Brain as "a talking gumball machine".