Not so long ago, your humble MS-QOTD got to thinking about the not-so-obvious parallels in comic book universes, comparing two teams that are much-loved but less-exposed, each featuring a leader who may or may not be as noble as he seems and an orange-colored strongman. Today, we dip back into that intriguing well, looking at two teams who may not, at first, seem to have a lot in common. Originally created by Dr. Will Magnus using artificial brains known as “responsometers,” the Metal Men each possess the properties of the metal that makes up their bodies, from Tin to Gold with multiple stops in-between. On the other side of the aisle, we have a team assembled by the often-evil Yellow Claw to protect his successor, James Woo, featuring a mermaid, a goddess, a robot and a gorilla with the snark of a man. Both teams were immediately popular with readers (but have had difficulty in the long run), both teams plumb weird and unusual sides of their worlds, and most importantly, both are defined by the PERSONALITIES of their members, rather than their powers, leading us to today’s comparative query…
The MS=QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) might have to give the odds the Atlas for ruthless efficiency, but wouldn’t count out the Metal Men’s cleverness, plus hearing Mercury and Gorilla-Man arguing would be priceless, asking: Which super-team would you rather belong to – The Metal Men or Agents Of Atlas?
5 Comments
Metal Men, where I will be Zinc. While I may die horribly, I will always be brought back by the next issue. Plus I get to learn all about science in a weird mish-mash of super-heroics and the Magic School Bus. Plus in a meta-sense, there will probably be a lot of down time where I’m “safe” until they try to revitalize the team.
Guess I´ll gotta go with Metal Men since I really dont know much about Agents of Atlas.
They have a Gorilla-Man!!!
They also have 3D-Man…
No respectable team includes 3D-Man.
Remove him from the team and I would join the Agents thou!
Atlas just feels like it would lead a more interesting existence.