Rudolph "Rudy" Conners, also known as Robot was a previous member of the Teen Team. After the deaths of the original Guardians of the Globe, He was chosen by Cecil Stedman to build a new set of Guardians as well as become the leader of the new team.
Background[]
He was the leader and resident genius of a former group of heroes called Teen Team, all of whom met Invincible whilst fighting off an invasion by other-dimensional aliens known as the Flaxans. He is now a member of the current iteration of the Guardians of the Globe following the death of most of the original members by the former superhero, Omni-Man.
Initially, Robot appeared to be some kind of hyper-smart artificial intelligence, housed in a combat-capable robot body. It was later revealed the robot was no more than a drone controlled by a human named Rudolph Conners, who had been plagued by severe deformations and illness. According to the Mauler Twins, whom Robot had deceived into helping him, his motor cortex was "the size of a pea" and parts of his brain had been "eaten alive by his oversized cerebrum", with brain cells more dense than normal and lungs suffering an extreme toxic reaction to oxygen. With the help of the Mauler Twins, Robot's mind was duplicated into an artificially-grown body made from a sample of Rex Splode's blood. The clone would go on to live his own new life while the original accepted his fate and died.
History[]
When the Flaxans attacked Earth, Invincible is shot at, but Atom Eve saves him by setting up a force field. Robot tells Eve that enemy tanks would line up to kill her and she takes care of it, while Robot keeps telling everybody else what was happening. Dupli-Kate and Rex Splode continued attacking. Eve tells Invincible to take the old woman to a hospital since they had it covered. However, Robot said that it was possible they did not. The team started getting overwhelmed and was about to get shot at once again until the aliens started dying and leaving.
Cecil tells Robot that they had done well, but had not achieved a victory since 338 people had died. Robot reveals that the aliens called themselves The Flaxans and had six ideas as to why they had left. However, he saw a tank that The Flaxans had used and noted that the alloy of which the tank was comprised should take years to corrode and oxidize, which meant that time ran faster where they came from. Cecil asks how Invincible had done, and while Robot thinks that he has promise, he mentions that he seems unprepared. Cecil says that he would need his help, and leaves.
Eve and Invincible fly through the city and at one point, he worries that he had lost her, crashing into a billboard. They try flying again and fly through a bridge until a hole in the ground opens and Invincible meets Teen Team. When they get there, Rex makes out with Eve until he greets him, saying that they had won the fight without him, but Dupli-Kate reveals that it had been because the aliens died. Robot greets Invincible, as well as Dupli-Kate. Robot tells the team about the Flaxans and asks Invincible if they could count on him to help in the future. He asks Robot if he is sure, but agrees later.
Rex asks Eve and Invincible why they had gotten to the top of a building together, and Eve reminds him that they go to the same school and tells them that he had never gone to high school. Robot tells them to focus since the Flaxans were back, but this time it seemed they had found a way to resist the timestream. Eve asks Mark if he was ready, and he unconfidently says that he was.
Teen Team attacks the aliens, who were fighting with superior technology than they were. Eve was able to drive many of them back, but had something thrown to her face which covered it. Mark deflected beams thrown at him by cannons and was taken out by a kind of glue which did not let him move. Robot tells the team that the Flaxans seemed to have used their time wisely. When the Flaxans' leader was about to kill Eve, Invincible let out a yell which blew everything at a certain radius away from him. He punched the Flaxan leader, who started aging once his bracelet broke and saved Eve. The team realized they had to destroy the wristbands, and the aliens started dying soon after, which forced them to leave. Rex told him that he took everything he had said back, and congratulated him, followed by Eve.
The Flaxan army invades the city once again, and Robot tells Teen Team that the Flaxans were now immune to the timestream, and they should consider the city lost. He tells them that he will contact Cecil and request a nuclear response, but everybody disagrees.
Invincible starts fighting the army, but is swiftly brought down and punched repeatedly in the face by the leader. Omni-Man arrives and starts defending the city, resisting all the attacks thrown at him and sending the enemies back where they had come from. However, when the leader looked up at Omni-Man once more, he punched him and went into the portal with him. Teen Team was shocked and found out that Omni-Man was Invincible's father.
Cecil calls Robot, and told him that he ran a mean superhero team. Robot thanked him, and Cecil offered him a job at the GDA so he could build him a new Guardians of the Globe, only answering to him. Robot asked if Omni-Man would not be the better choice, but Cecil mentioned that after a decade of trying to make him an official Guardian, he still refused to take orders from him.
At the Pentagon, Robot and Invincible look at many heroes lined up, who will be selected to be the new Guardians of the Globe. However, Robot wanted Invincible to try out as well, but Invincible told him that his father wanted to train him himself. Robot thanks everybody for showing up to the try outs.
In the end, Robot introduces the new Guardians: Black Samson, Shrinking Rae, Dupli-Kate, Monster Girl, which makes Rex laugh since she was small, but Monster Girl asks if there was not a dick size requirement. Rex gets angry and makes his arm light up, but she punches him with a huge arm before he could do it. She transforms into a big green human-like being and hits him once again. Rex gets angry and uses his powers, but his powers turned out to be useless against Monster Girl. As she punched Rex, Invincible stopped her and told her to cut it out, but was simply thrown in another direction. Angry, he flies in her direction and hits her so hard she changes back into a little girl. He apologizes for having hit her, but she says that it is fine since she always got angry when called a little girl, also apologizing to Rex for her dick joke.
Robot once again introduces Monster Girl as a Guardian and tells them that Rex would also join once he recovered. After that, he mentioned that Atom Eve would be the last member, telling them that he would be announcing it publicly later. Eve told him that she could not be on the same team as Rex and Kate and leaves.
Robot tells the new Guardians that when forensic investigations concluded, they would move into the Guardians' headquarters. He tells them their schedule and Rex complains that their training was too early, and they did not even need it. However, Robot tells him that they are no longer Teen Team and Black Samson tells him he needs experience. Rex points out that if Black Samson had not lost his powers, he might have been able to help the past Guardians, which angers him. Black Samson tells him to watch it, and tells Robot they needed a leader they could look in the eye and not ones and zeros, saying that he could be the leader instead. However, Rex once again mentions that Black Samson had lost his powers and wondered why they needed to put up with him.
Shrinking Rae points out that teams needed teamwork, which Robot agrees to. Everybody leaves and Black Samson congratulates Robot sarcastically. After everybody left, Monster Girl told Robot that she could not do three combat exercises a day, but Robot said he needed the team operational. Monster Girl tells him that whenever she transform, she gets younger and even used to go by Monster Woman. Robot apologizes and sympathizes, but Monster Girl believes there was no way he could understand since he was a Robot. From above, Omni-Man observes, describing what he had seen as pathetic.
At the GDA, a guard moves through various cells containing many monsters. He hands one of the Mauler Twins chicken pot pie. He hands the other one the same, but Robot makes the food compartment open all the way, allowing the twin to grab the guard and knock him out, using his hand to open his cell door. He goes to his twin's door, who is enjoying his chicken pot pie until he sees him. The one in his cell asks how he had done it and his twin mentions that as the original twin, his intellect had not been affected by the cloning process. He asks him to open the door, but the other one mentions he will not until he admitted he was a clone, which he admits to. They start running and are chased by guards, who leave after one of them receives a punch. As they move forward, a latter falls.
In the desert, the two twins exit and look towards the city, but are shot at by a powerful weapon. One uses his twin as a shield and takes the weapon down. He looks at his twin and tells him that he would miss him, but could always make another one and leaves him to die.
Cecil asks Robot for an update on the team. Robot tells him that they have work to do, but he feels confident on what they had done so far.
Robot is interrupted from watching the Mauler Twin work by Rex, who welcomes him to the new Guardian's new digs. Black Samson mentions it is good to be home again, which annoys Rex since he does not enjoy hearing him say he was an original member of the Guardians of the Globe. Monster Girl tells Robot she is nervous, and Robot tells her that he is as well. Cecil walks in and tells them to not be surprised since it was their job. Rex tells him that he had missed a spot when cleaning blood, but Cecil tells them that he had left that there as a reminder and would get cleaned off when they proved themselves to be worthy of the heroes that had come before. He is radioed, told that Omni-Man wanted to see him, so he leaves. Monster Girl asks Rex if they are cool and he says they are since she had beaten him up in front of assholes. Robot walks up to Rex and tells him not to let his personal life to meddle with his professional one since it was his fault they were alienating Atom Eve and did not want it to happen with Monster Girl. Rex tells him that when he grew a pair, then he could tell him how to swing his. However, Robot mentions that he was giving him an order, patting him on the shoulder with a needle which slightly hurt Rex.
Robot walks into the Mauler Twin's lab and sees that phase one had begun.
The new Guardians of the Globe celebrate a victory against the Lizard League. They all celebrate with beers except for Robot and Black Samson, who emits a high frequency, which shatters their bottles. He tells them that people were in the hospital because they had not fought as a team. They go through the fight and Black Samson lectures them on what they could have done to save lives, but Rex was unhappy and told him they had done their best and won.
At the Mauler Twin's lab, the clone is ready and is taken out of the pod. They both lay down and their heads are shocked. When the shock ends, the newly made twin welcomes the twin who made him into the world, calling him the clone. As they argue, Robot says he would never understand why they did that. The twins attack him, but stop when he stood on top of the replication chamber. Robot explains that he needs their expertise in tissue regrowth and DNA replication, telling them they would be rewarded.
Later, As Mark tries getting up while taking down Machine Head who had hired supervillains, he is thrown once again. Machine Head celebrates, but mentions he was getting a signal as the Guardians of the Globe show up. They mention that Cecil had gotten an anonymous call and would take it from there.
Machine Head tells his supervillains to kill the Guardians, and they swiftly defeat them. Battle Beast mentions he believed Earth had worthy opponents and told Invincible that killing him would be an act of mercy. Black Samson tries to shoot at him, but fails and Invincible is struck in his stomach and stops responding. Black Samson gets up and runs toward Battle Beast, who rips his hand from his wrist and throws him, cracking his head. Monster Girl tries to defeat Battle Beast as well, but is also swiftly defeated.
Robot shoots at him and while the Guardians looked at their fallen friends, they told the supervillains that they had messed up. Working together, they share an intense encounter with the villains and defeat them except for Battle Beast, who says there was no honor in killing insects and leaves.
Robot holds Monster Girl after seeing she was badly injured. Machine Head describes the events as strange and asks Isotope to get him out of there, but finds he does not respond and is hit by Rex. Mark awakens and Titan tells him that he did not mean for things to turn out the way they did before leaving. Invincible, Monster Girl, and Black Samson are rushed into the GDA's ER. Monster Girl was drowning in her own blood and was intubated, but as they took care of her, she turned into the monster. Robot walks in and tells them he had studied her physiology, which meant that if they got him out of the room, she would die. He tells them that Monster Girl's only hope would arise if they triggered her healing abilities.
At the GDA, Robot walks into a room, telling doctors that the levels they were seeing were normal for Monster Girl. He tells them he had sent a clone to the Arctic and had gotten a Cerulean Cosmos, which he believed would add 60% chance to her survival. He walks up to Monster Girl and Samson, from the other room saw he really cared for her. Robot tells him it was good to see him awake and explains that he was programmed to care for all humans, but he reminded him that he did not go to the Arctic for him.
Robot tells the Mauler Twins that their work was good, since they were able to grow cells quickly. He does not tell them whose DNA it is, but they do ask for payment. Robot tells them that they would need to finish their work first and does not negotiate. The Twins, however, do not trust him.
Black Samson tells Robot that he feels even better than when he lost his powers. Robot tells him to go back to HQ while he remained there with Monster Girl recovered. When Samson left, Robot put his hand on her face and she suddenly awoke. She asks if they had won, and he says that they had thanks to her and he had never left while she recovered.
Monster Girl is welcomed back by the Guardians, who hug her. Rex tells them all they should party, handing her a milk carton which has beer in it. Monster Girl asks Black Samson why he had gotten his powers back, and he tells her he thinks it was because he was putting up with Rex. Robot tells her he is glad she had recovered and tells her he would never let her die, but repeated the word die many times, which the Guardians in shock.
The Mauler Twins get a delivery by a hologram. When the truck opens up, Robot walks out and tells them to step back. He unveils the real Robot and asks to see their work, which he finds satisfactory except for a few details. He tells them to implement some fixes so they could discuss their payment, but the Mauler Twins want to talk about the payment first. Robot tells them what he would give them and they get to work.
The Mauler Twins work on Robot, who tells them he wanted to change his appearance because he had met someone. He leaves his pod and tells the Mauler Twins to hurry with him since air was toxic to him. They put a mask on him and place him on a bed so that the copy of his mind would start on the new body. The cloning process begins, but they run into some problems because his brain is different. The machines explode, but the process is completed in the end.
The Rudy gets up and does not recognize if he was the clone or the original. He mentions he did not expect a feeling of continuance. The Mauler Twins explain that not knowing who the original was, was part of the process, but Robot's process appeared to have taken care of himself. Rudy tells the original he was sorry that it had not been him, but is told not to worry and be happy, changing the world. The clone cries and lets the original die. The Mauler Twins ask for their payment, so Robot gives it to them and tells them it was time for them to return to prison.
The Mauler Twins realize he is serious, but was only a teenager, but Rudy tells them that he was a 30-year old genius in a teenager's body, with a neural link chip, which allowed him to summon many robots. The Mauler Twins take care of the normally sized Robots until a bigger one emerges.
Cecil tells the Guardians to be quiet and sit tight until they were called. Rex is desperate and says they needed to know what was happening, which Black Samson agrees with. He asks if Robot can find out, but Robot did not respond. Rex hits the robot on the head until they are approached by the new Robot. He presents himself as Rudolph Conners, saying robot was simply a drone he controlled remotely. Kate asks how they could know he was telling the truth and Robot says they could ask him anything. Rex asks why he looked like him, but Robot told him to wait.
Rudy tells the Guardians everything that had happened, but Rex still wants to know why he had picked his body. Everybody thought it was wrong that he had not asked Rex first, but Monster Girl realizes that he had done it for her. Rudy explains that Monster Girl was slowly getting younger and he was trapped in a mechanical tomb, while she was stuck as well. Monster Girl goes through everything Robot had done and says that she needs time to process it.
Black Samson calls the Guardians and tells them he knew why they were on high alert. They see a video of Omni-man destroying the satellite.
The Guardians watch Nolan and Mark's transmission as they fight. Dupli-Kate suggests going to help them, but Rudy tells them that they needed to follow Cecil's orders and stay in the bunker since the battle was beyond their capabilities. Black Samson agrees, but Eve flies in, asking what was happening. Rex tells her that Omni-Man was fighting him, so Rudy says that he hopes Mark lives up to his name.
The Guardians watch as the fight between Omni-Man and Invincible unfolds. Black Samson tells them to gear up because even if they could not stop the fight, they could save lives. Rudy tries to remind them of Cecil's orders, but Dupli-Kate tells him they do not care. Monster Girl walks up to him and reminds him he was not a Robot anymore.
In the aftermath of the fight between Omni-Man and Invincible, Robot and the other Guardians of the Globe help with the cleanup of destruction caused from the battle. Rudy uses his suit to scan the rubble in order to locate survivors. The Guardians return to their bunker, exhausted. Rex walks up to the bloodstain on the wall and cleans it, but Black Samson tells him that they had not earned it yet. When Rex refuses, Black Samson grabs him and the other Guardians all support Rex, so Black Samson drops him and says that they were finally a team, helping him with the stain.
Physical Appearance[]
Originally, Robot was a severely deformed human, barely bigger than a child and crumpled inside a liquid-filled pod with mechanical legs. His skin was pale and covered in sores and blisters, his nose hidden (or replaced) by a mechanical clamp and his only working eye being the yellow-green right eye.
Robot's clone possesses the appearance of a young man of fairly athletic build, tanned skin, shoulder-length auburn hair and dark green eyes.
His namesake robotic drone, and later suit, is a tall, orange colored machine with segmented limbs and a robust chest cavity and a slender pelvic region. The robot's limbs are connected by and fastened together with the rest of its body by a series of round interlocks. The robot's most noticable feature is its human skull-shaped head with green eyes and a cylinder on the upper-back of its head.
Personality[]
With the intent of keeping his real identity and appearance a secret, Rudolph made sure to act as similar as possible to an actual AI; with no emotions, and following a decision making process based solely on logical reasoning. Another trait Rudolph had which further contributed to his fake Robot persona, would be his use of formal and elegant vocabulary, in contrast to most of his teammates, particularly Rex Splode, who often used slangs and slurs. Even when Rudolph/Robot agreed with Rex, he would express it by simply stating "indeed". By doing this, Rudolph was able to convincingly make his teammates and peers believe he was an actual Robot, something that occasionally would invoke rude comments from them, as shown when Black Samson states the newly-formed Guardians of the Globe needed "a leader they could look in the eye, not a bunch of ones and zeros". Similarly, after attempting to sympathize with Monster Girl after she explained her curse to him, she cut him off, inquiring how could he understand since he was a robot.
In spite of this, Robot/Rudolph's genius level intellect would sometimes warrant compliments and admiration from his teammates. During the Flaxans' invasions of Earth, it is shown that Robot has a proactive approach to combat situations, as he, in multiple instances, scanned the Flaxans army and equipment, gathering useful information which he then relayed to his teammates, doing so before and during clashes, which would occasionally swing the fight in his team's favor. Robot/Rudolph also had the foresight to investigate, scan and analyze the aftermath of battles, as he did after the first Flaxan invasion, where he discovered the reason for their retreat was due to their faster temporal rate, which killed the Flaxans soldiers of old age. It was likely these strategies, the efficiency which Rudolph/Robot employed them, along with his leadership skills, which impressed Cecil and prompted him to compliment Robot and invite him to assemble the new members of the Guardians of the Globe, something Robot was honored to accept.
While Rudolph/Robot is a hero and a force for good, he is not above resorting to questionable and even wrongful deeds to achieve his own ends. This is demonstrated when he aids the Mauler Twins escape their prison, and subsequently makes a deal with them to grow him a new human body. Rudolph successfully manages to manipulate the Twins into doing his bidding, having the foresight to prevent the sabotage on his new body by them, while also only revealing the true nature of their deal at its very end. Upon conclusion of their deal, Rudolph gives the Twins what they want, but shortly after attacks them in an attempt to arrest them and return them to prison, further showcasing his duplicitous nature.
Even though Rudolph is cold and calculating most of the time, he has deep feelings for Monster Girl, something he subtly expresses in various interactions with her. However, when Monster Girl was gravely injured at the hands of Battle Beast, Robot immediately retaliated by firing a beam of energy at him, clearly being enraged by his actions. After the battle was over, Robot is seen clutching Monster Girl, clearly showing how Rudolph was emotionally distraught at her current condition. Rudolph/Robot took it upon himself to ensure Monster Girl's survival, insisting in helping the doctors save her life, as well as sending a drone to obtain a rare flower which contributed to Monster Girl's chances of survival. It was Rudolph's feelings for Monster Girl which prompted him to copy his mind into a body grown from an adaptation of Rex Splode's DNA because Rudolph noticed Monster Girl found Rex "interesting", as he states so himself. While having the Twins break him free from the pod where his deformed body was stored, he explains to them that the pod was never designed to be opened or drained, and he stated that the reason for opening the pod now was that he "met someone."
Ultimately, Rudolph's logic-only thought process put him in a complicated situation with his teammates. When he eventually reveals his true human identity to the members of the Guardians of the Globe, it is met with shock from most of them, and with outrage from Rex Splode, due to Rudolph's human form being a replica of a kid version of Rex. The only member who appeared to partially understand Rudolph was Monster Girl, however, she, along with the rest of the team, had difficulty accepting the situation, because of the actions Rudolph took to achieve his ends, something he never considered would cause upheaval from his teammates, due to the way he thinks. In the end, they seemingly accepted Rudolph, and the team came together to aid in the aftermath of the battle between Invincible and Omni-man, where Rudolph used his drones to scan for human survivors beneath rubble from buildings and debris.
Powers and Abilities[]
Abilities[]
- High Intelligence: Rudolph Conners is presented as one of the most mentally intelligent and adaptable characters on planet Earth. The cloned Rudy appears to retain that same level of intelligence. He is proficient in engineering, weapon design, computer science, as well as tactical defense and other subjects, such as translating alien languages.
- Engineering and Robotics Expertise: Rudolph is an expert in the field of robotics, having developed numerous types robots and machines.
- Tactical Expertise: Rudy has acted as the leader of both Teen Team and the Guardians of the Globe. He is able to proficiently coordinate a team of super-powered heroes.
- Linguistics: Rudy is intelligent enough to reverse engineer a language foreign to him. He was able to translate the Flaxans's language.
Powers[]
- Robotic Manipulation: The original Rudy remotely operated robotic drones while at a safe long distance. Rudy's clone had been outfitted with a neurolink device, designed by the original Rudy, in order to grant him the same ability.
- Robots: Rudy had a vast array Robot drones with a wide range of utilities and uses. He incorporated a large number of weapons and tools inside his Robot drones. Other notable inventions include a truck that could transform into a giant robot, a pod that kept his original self alive, and after the creation of his clone, a suit that looked exactly like and seemingly possessed all the abilities of his original drones.
