Mainframe (comics)

Mainframe
Mainframe
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	A-Next #1 (1999)
Created by	Tom DeFalco Ron Frenz
In-story information
Alter ego	Mainframe
Team affiliations	A-Next
Abilities	Superhuman strength, flight, energy blasts, projectile weaponry

Mainframe is a fictional character who appeared in the Marvel Comics series A-Next.

Fictional character biography

When Iron Man decided to retire from the hero business, he did not want to let his legacy end with him, so he designed an android patterned after his Iron Man armor. He called his robotic warrior Mainframe. Mainframe was brought online when trolls attacked a young boy named Kevin Masterson. Mainframe assembled all of the reserve Avengers and fought to save him. When the fight was over, Mainframe, Stinger, J2, and Kevin (who had become the new Thunderstrike) formed A-Next, a new team of Avengers.

Right away, Mainframe attempted to establish himself as team leader. He frequently encountered resistance from Stinger (who did not know that Mainframe was a robotic lifeform). But when Mainframe was terminally damaged, exposing his secret, Stinger was one of the first to volunteer to shrink inside him (with the help of her father Ant-Man) to repair him. Later they learned that whenever Mainframe was severely injured, he would upload his personality and memories into a replacement body assembled on an orbiting satellite.

Mainframe soon became more than just a high-tech hero to his teammates, he became a friend. He even learned to share his duties as leader with his teammate American Dream.

Powers and abilities

Mainframe's robotic body is superhumanly strong, and has jet boosters that allow him to fly. He is equipped with a high-tech sensor array, as well as various energy weapons (lasers, magnetic beams, electric blasts, etc.). He also has projectile weaponry, such as grenades and missiles.

Mainframe's most valuable item is a tiny beacon that, when he is damaged beyond repair or destroyed, sends a signal to a Stark Enterprises satellite and uploads his consciousness into one of the replacement bodies stored there. With the recent destruction of that satellite, it remains to be seen what Mainframe will do.