Machinesmith

Machinesmith
Machinesmith. Art by Paco Medina.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(as Starr Saxon) Daredevil #49 (Feb 1969), (as Mister Fear) Daredevil #54, (as Machinesmith) Marvel Two-in-One #47
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Gene Colan (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Samuel "Starr" Saxon
Team affiliations	Masters of Evil Skeleton Crew
Notable aliases	Mister Fear
Abilities	Scientific and robotic genius Robotic Suits Ability to transfer mind into other machines

Machinesmith (Samuel "Starr" Saxon) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He specializes in robotics, and is able to make convincing doubles of other superhumans. His own mind was later transferred to a robotic body.

The character of Starr Saxon first appeared in Daredevil #49 (Feb 1969), and briefly appeared as one of the characters to have used the Mister Fear identity shortly thereafter in Daredevil #54. The character first appeared as Machinesmith in Marvel Two-in-One #47 (January 1979). His robotic features looked nothing like his human ones, and it was not established until later, in Captain America #249 (Sept 1980), that Machinesmith and Starr Saxon are the same character.

Barry Windsor-Smith has stated that back in Daredevil #50, Saxon was supposed to be presented as gay; however, he admits that his early art wasn't good enough to get the point across. Other issues have since revealed his sexuality more directly, such as Captain America #368 and Iron Man #320.

Starr Saxon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but by the time he was a teenager his family was living in Queens, New York. At 14 years old, he discovered an abandoned Doombot in a NYC subway tunnel, and snuck it home piece by piece, deconstructing it to learn robotics. His original efforts saw to his use of his robotics and engineering abilities to become a professional criminal robot maker and construct a variety of androids to be used as assassins for hire/personal gain. At some point during this period, he constructs a facsimile of Magneto and a variety of robotic "mutant" drones called The Demi Men who went on to battle the X-Men. The Magneto-Robot appears several times over the years, believing itself to be the true Magneto, until it was destroyed by a Sentinel. As of this writing, the individual(s) who commissioned Saxon for the creation of the robot is unrevealed.