Did you just have your heart broken but a fascist fighting machine, blown to bits by a powerful amazonian sorcerers. Well if you aren’t taking that well and just want to learn a little more about the history of our Nazi slaying member of Task Force M, GI Robot, you came to right place! The only issue you may find is that its not as straight-forward of an origin as you may think, its actually six different origins! This bucket of bolts as has lived quite a few lives, even more than the one depicted in Creature Commandos.
AND THEN THERE WAS JOE
The very first incarnation of GI Robot first appeared all the way back in 1961, in Star Spangled War Stories #101. The character was created by Robert Kanigher and designed by Ross Andru. Joe, named after the popular GI Joe toy.
GI Robot was created during World War II by Professor Zurin with the idea to test these robots in combat in hopes of replacing human soldiers in the war. Joe’s directive wasn’t similar to the GI we meet in Creature Commandos, he simply was programmed to follow orders such as shoot, march, and parachute.
Joe is made assistant to Ranger unit Corporal Mac, a human soldier. The newly formed duo are sent off on a mission to investigate an island and destroy a suspected weapons depot, but mid-parachute are thrown off their path and sent to a land before time, a place that would come to be known as Dinosaur Island in the wider DC canon. Mac and Joe would continue their time on Dinosaur Island with several missions returning them.
On their final mission to Dinosaur Island, the pair come face to face with a massive TNT robot created by the Japanese. On this mission they were sent to test a new modification for Joe, one that included a light beam being able to activate a special protocol that sends Joe into protection mode. The mode proves useful when it allows the robot to think for itself and push Mac out of harms way. The two are able to defeat the TNT Robot and yet again escape the island.
This is where Joe’s story ends, no conclusion was ever released to this androids story and he was later replaced by another model by the same writer.
MAC AT IT AGAIN
No, this robot is somewhat related to Mac from the previous iteration’s human partner, who grew to enjoy the original GI’s comradery. This GI model was actually erased from existence following the 1986 event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, but was later undone with the birth of the infinite multiverse during the dark crisis. This generation of the character was yet again created by Robert Kanigher, with art this time from Joe Kubert.
This GI was not around for a real long, first appearing in Star-Spangled War Stories #125 back in March of 1966, just around 5 years after the previous GI. This GI was partnered up with Reed, a member of the Suicide Squadron, one of the first incarnations of the team that we now know as the Suicide Squad. Reed was partnered with GI to test his capabilities in the battlefield, being sent to Dinosaur Island in order to locate the first GI Robot, who went missing.
Mac and Reed scour the island, fighting dinosaurs and learning that Mac may be more human than initially thought, performing heroic acts out of what seemed to be free will, against his own programming. Unfortunately, one of those heroic acts cost him, In an attempt to save Reed and another soldier, GI Mac attacks an incoming T-Rex head on with a grenade, destroying himself in the process.
This is the last time the Mac iteration of GI Robot is seen.
A TALE OF TWO J.A.K.E.S
In this next era of GI Robot came two of a similar model, once more created by writer Robert Kanigher, with art by Pepe Moreno. These iterations would be Kanigher’s final on the character.
J.A.K.E. 1 is a new model of GI Robot created Professor Thompson of MIT who works with a think tank of scientists on a top secret government operation known as Project M. Thompson works alongside minds like Professor Myron Mazursky and Robert Crane, who would go on to become the first Robotman, to develop a brand new GI Robot following the destruction of the Mac model on Dinosaur Island.
The product of this think tank on robotics was the Jungle Assault Killer Experiment (aka J.A.K.E.). The project nearly fell into the wrong hands following Professor Mazursky’s assistant Per Degaton feeding information on the project and location of the first fully-functional robotic automatons to supervillains Deathbolt and Ultrahumanite. The villains were thwarted due to the presence of the Young All-Stars.
J.A.K.E. sported quite the arsenal, equipped with machine guns, anti-aircraft missiles, torpedoes, and rocket jet. This shiny new war machine was quickly sent in to test his capabilities, yet again partnered with an unwilling soldier named Sgt. Coker who would execute multiple missions for the United States military during the second world war.
J.A.K.E. spent most of his time in operation stationed in the South Pacific alongside Sgt. Coker. This GI Robot would meet an untimely fate in a similar manner to the buckets of bolts that came before him, by sacrificing himself for a crew of marines in 1943, just as Coker started to really accept him as a fellow soldier.
THE GI ROBOT YOU KNOW AND LOVE
Only referring to him as the on you know and love because this version of GI Robot is probably the closest to the DCU version in Creature Commandos, down to the 2 on his helmet.
This GI Robot was dispatched almost immediately after the destruction of the first J.A.K.E. model. Modell II was found by Sgt. Blaney of the Green Patrol, who believed the robot to be defective or that they had assembled him wrong. J.A.K.E. II would activate just in time for one of the first combat encounters this robot would face would be against his Japanese doppelganger, Krakko The Samurai Robot. J.A.K.E. would face off against Krakko on Tattu island, defeating him in combat using his own head as a mace of sorts.
This is the G.I. Robot that would be the first to join the Creature Commandos, another product of the mysterious Project M led by Professor Thompson and Dr. Myron Mazursky. This GI would actually survive his time serving the United States military. This version of GI would also got a not-so-furry friend known as Computerized Automatic Patrol Dog No. 1, aka C.A.P.D. which would eventually just be Cap.
Following World War II and his time with the Creature Commandos, J.A.K.E. II would be decomissioned similar the to the G.I. we meet in Creature Commandos, however this version was not purchased by a neo-nazi.
ROOK ACTIVATED (J.A.K.E. 6.1, A NEW ERA OF GI)
GI Robot makes a long awaited return in Checkmate Vol 2 #24, released in May or 2008 and for the first time not created by Robert Kanigher. This iteration of GI Robot was creature by Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, and Joe Bennett.
This version of GI Robot was developed by the top secret division of Task Force X known as Checkmate. The organization is made up of rank designations from Chess. This version of GI was Rook Delta. This GI is housed in a robotic body once inhabited by the disembodied mind of Maxwell Lord for a period of time.
This GI is simply just an upgraded version of the same programming used back in World War II, so technically this is just the old GI Robot, presumably J.A.K.E. II in a brand new, much more advanced body. The upgrades made to the androids programming granted him nearly complete free will and sentience and even contained a brain inside the body.
One interesting ability of this model of GI is the neural dampeners he uses to control the levels of apocritic within the fellow Rooks on his team. This ability was developed from Starro’s own DNA.
JAMES GUNN’S GI ROBOT
This version of GI Robot is reminiscent of past GI’s, especially J.A.K.E. II, which he seems to be primarily based on. However this one experienced a different origin than the rest, first landing into the second world war as a member of Easy Company. The team was led by Sgt. Rock and was accompanied by fellow members Little Sure Shot, Wildman, Four Eyes, Canary, Bog Man, and Bulldozer. This one also sports a nasty hankering for putting down Nazis, as it is his primary directive within his programming.
Following World War II, GI would go on tour around the country, praised for his heroic efforts during the war but struggling to fit into a society no longer riddled with Nazi’s. The government decides its time to decommission the old android, but not before handing him off to Dr.William Magnus, the eventual creator of the superhero team the Metal Men. Magnus would study GI to help create a basis for we can presume to be his marvelous metal men.
Bouncing around government facilities for awhile and eventually into the hands of military antique collectors. GI would find a new home with military buff Sam Fitzgibbons, who would eventually reveal himself to be a Nazi amongst a meeting of other Neo-Nazis in Hub City.
GI Robot, unable to stop himself, would dispatch of the entire room, landing himself in jail because of it and eventually falling into the hands of Amanda Waller. GI’s escapades in Hub City earned him a hearty spot on Waller’s next iteration of the Suicide Squad, now known as Task Force M or the Creature Commandos.
As a founding member of the DCU Creature Commandos, GI Robot would join Rick Flag Sr, The Bride, Nina Mazursky, Dr. Phosphorous and the Weasel on a mission to the eastern European country of Pokolistan to protect Princess Ilana Rostovic.
In efforts to save the princess from the Amazonian sorceress Circe and her middling militia of incels known as the Sons of Themyscira, GI Robot would meet his end, blown to bits by Circe and comforted one last time by friend Nina in one final cheer for the tin man.
James Gunn’s Creature Commandos first four episodes are streaming now on Max, with new episodes releasing weekly on Thursdays.
Check out our recap of Episode 3 and the trailer below!
