Will Magnus

Will Magnus
Will Magnus, art by Dale Eaglesham
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Showcase #37 (March–April 1962)
Created by	Robert Kanigher (writer) Ross Andru (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	William Maxwell "Will" Magnus
Team affiliations	Metal Men Doom Patrol Science Squad
Notable aliases	Veridium
Abilities	Currently no superpowers. Creative genius, ally, and mentor of the Metal Men.

Doctor Will Magnus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

He first appeared in Showcase #37 alongside his creations, the Metal Men and was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru.

One of the most impressive geniuses of the DC Universe with doctorates in theoretical mathematics, mechanical engineering, and particle physics, Magnus often offers scientific advice to other characters. His greatest achievement is the one for which he first received renown: the creation of the Metal Men. The method through which Doc Magnus created the Metal Man has varied over years with various writers. At first they were just blank slate robots with responsometers, devices which generated their intelligence and personalities which just happened to be evocative of the metals from which they were formed.

In an attempt to boost sales of the comic book, the characters underwent vast changes. The Metal Men all assumed human alter egos, while Doc Magnus became a fugitive scientist dedicated to global conquest. His personality change was credited to having been kidnapped, reawakened, and brainwashed by a mad dictator. Sales plunged instead and the comic was not printed for a few years. Eventually Metal Men was picked up again with Doc's sanity restored and his return to assist his Metal Men.

At one point he saved Doom Patrol's Robotman, whose original body had been destroyed by Madame Rouge. Doc Magnus recovered Robotman's brain and built him a new cybernetic body.

In 1993, a four-part Metal Men mini-series retconned much of their backstory. It was revealed that the responsometers were not responsible for the Metal Men's sentience and that the Metal Men actually were imprinted with the intellects and personalities of real people: Magnus's own brother Mike, his fiancee Sharon, two lab workers Redmond Wilde and Randy Pressman, a janitor named Thomas Tinkham, and a pizza-delivery man named Jack. These unfortunates' personalities were accidentally transferred to blank robots in a lab accident. At the climax of the miniseries, Gold was permanently killed and Doc Magnus mortally wounded. Doc permanently transferred his personality into a blank robot known as Veridium, made of a green alien metal, becoming the new robotic leader of the Metal Men.