| OMACs | |
|---|---|
 TheMichael Costner version of OMAC as seen on the cover ofOMAC #1 (September 2006). Art by Renato Guedes. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The OMAC Project #1 (June 2005) |
| Created by |
|
| In-story information | |
| Species | Cyborgs |
| Team affiliations | Justice League International Justice League |
| Notable aliases | One Man Army Corps |
| Abilities |
|
TheOMACs (/ˈoʊmæks/;Omni Mind And Community, originallyObservational Metahuman Activity Construct and alternativelyOne Man Army Corps.[1]) are a fictional type of cyborg appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. They are based on the characterof the same name created byJack Kirby.
The OMAC reimagined as collapsiblepowered armor with brain–computer interfaces appeared in the 2023 live-action filmBlue Beetle, set in theDC Extended Universe.
The OMACs first appeared inThe OMAC Project #1 (June 2005) and were created by writerGreg Rucka and artist Jesús Saíz.[2]
The OMACs arecyborgs, human bodies transformed by a virus into living machines to assassinate any and all beings with superpowers. The virus was created fromBrainiac 13's nanotechnology, which had been acquired by theU.S. Department of Defense andLexcorp, and was then secretly introduced into generalvaccine supplies. The OMACs are featured in the mini-seriesThe OMAC Project, one of several preludes to the seriesInfinite Crisis.
The new OMACs are controlled byBrother MK I, a satellite that was created byBatman, programmed byBuddy Blank, and designed to gather data onmetahumans. Batman had grown distrustful of metahumans after remembering that theJustice League altered his memories following an altercation withDoctor Light inIdentity Crisis.Alexander Luthor Jr. later gives the satellite sentience as part of his plans.Maxwell Lord, promoted to the top rank ofCheckmate, subverts the original mission of the Brother MK I satellite by inculcating a fear and suspicion of all metahumans.[3]
When Maxwell Lord brainwashesSuperman to kill Batman,Wonder Woman kills Lord to free Superman from his control. Brother MK I, rechristening itselfBrother Eye, initiates the "KingIsDead" protocol, which was specifically designed to be used in the event of Lord's death. It orders all of the OMACs (numbering more than one million) to attack and kill every metahuman on Earth and destroy Checkmate.[4] A group superhero effort stops the attack, freeing most of the OMAC hosts from their nanotech forms and reducing the number of remaining OMACs to roughly 200,000.
The satellite broadcast footage of Wonder Woman executing Maxwell Lord, preceded by the word MURDER, is spread to media outlets all over the world, destroying her reputation. After this, Brother Eye initiates the final protocol, "Truth and Justice", by having all the remaining OMACs invade and attack Wonder Woman's homeland,Themyscira, to wipe out all of theAmazons.
It is revealed thatAlexander Luthor Jr. wrested control of Brother Eye away from Batman. He used it to program hismultiverse tuning fork and redirect its energy to where he needed it as part of his attempt to re-createEarth-Two, and in turn, a perfect Earth. Brother Eye aids Luthor by remapping out the multiverse and helping to guard the tuning fork with its OMACs, reasoning that it would eliminate the need for heroes like those who Batman had created it to monitor by aiding in the creation of a perfect Earth.
Batman leads a collection of superheroes, consisting ofHal Jordan,John Stewart,Green Arrow,Mister Terrific,Black Lightning,Black Canary,Blue Beetle,Metamorpho,Booster Gold, andSasha Bordeaux, to Earth's orbit using intel from Booster Gold andTed Kord's spaceship. Blue Beetle's scarab allows him to find and reveal Brother Eye by negating its vibrational frequency. Brother Eye sends the OMACs and the two groups clash.
With the two Green Lanterns fighting off most of the OMACs and Brother Eye's defenses, the heroes' ship crashes into Brother Eye. Sasha Bordeaux, linked toOracle, uploads a series of viruses into Brother Eye's system. Black Lightning and Mr. Terrific go to the memory banks so that Black Lightning fries as much circuitry as possible while Mr. Terrific, invisible to machines and electronics, delivers the fatal blow by knocking Brother Eye out of orbit using its orbital thrusters. Brother Eye tries to download its system into Sasha Bordeaux as a means of self-preservation, but Bordeaux destroys the satellite, freeing herself from the nanobots infecting her.
Brother Eye was not fully destroyed and lies in aNORAD facility.Michael Costner is the last OMAC unit, kept as emergency backup, and Brother Eye calls to him.
This Brother Eye has corrupted programming and now believes all humans need to be subjugated or exterminated whether metahuman or not. The 2006 limited seriesOMAC follows Michael Costner as Brother Eye attempts to make him rebuild it. Costner regains control of his body and destroys Brother Eye again, although a small part of it is still active.
A portion of Brother Eye is retrieved and rebuilt by Buddy Blank. This portion meets with the time-travelingKarate Kid who is seeking a cure forMorticoccus, a 31st-century illness that evolved from the OMAC virus. Announcing that "the Great Disaster has come to me", Brother Eye directs him toBlüdhaven. Soon after, it reactivates its offensive protocols and assimilates the hangar it is being held in, turning the people within the hangar into new OMAC cyborgs. It then travels to the ruins of Blüdhaven and assimilates the city's infrastructure and the people within it using theAtomic Knights andFirestorm as power sources.[5][6][7] Later, it activates a Boom Tube and travels toApokolips, where it assimilates the planet and attempts to obtain theMorticoccus virus from Karate Kid.[8] Brother Eye is forced to flee Apokolips after thePied Piper attacks it.
Brother Eye later transforms Buddy Blank into a modified OMAC resembling Kirby's version of the character. Blank uses this power to save himself and his grandson from starvation in the Command-D bunker beneath Blüdhaven.[9] Brother Eye implies that it will contact Blank again for a future need.
A modified OMAC is shown as a part of the new Outsiders team in the 2008Batman and the Outsiders series.
When a team from the Justice League attempts to seize a partially active OMAC, a leftover fromThe OMAC Project events, Batman takes the opportunity to reclaim it for himself—havingFrancine Langstrom create a clever forgery to leave in care of the League.
The OMAC, renamedReMAC, is a husk devoid of any personal identity, with Langstrom being unable to uncover who it was before being turned into an OMAC. This complete lack of personality makes ReMAC the perfect infiltrator, using its advanced shapeshifting abilities and unquestioning obedience for the Outsiders' cause. Batman creates a telepresence system turning ReMAC into an advanced drone for Langstrom's assistant Salah Miandad, enabling operation from the Outsiders HQ, theBatcave, or other secret locations.
While testing a new neural interface to control the former OMAC, Miandad is knocked into a coma. His mind comes to reside in ReMAC, supplanting the missing personality of the drone. Due to the machinations ofSimon Hurt, ReMAC is fed a malicious self-destruct code that destroys it, killing Miandad.[10]
InFinal Crisis,Darkseid and his prophets take new forms as humans on Earth after mass-distributing theAnti-Life Equation around the world. Mister Terrific and Checkmate work to mount a resistance against Darkseid, but seemingly do not have the means to do it. Sitting in despair in a Checkmate stronghold,Snapper Carr gives Mister Terrific an idea. Using Sasha Bordeaux to make contact with Brother Eye, he convinces the A.I. to help them, explaining that it will be destroyed if Darkseid captures the world.
Realizing this, Brother Eye accepts Mister Terrific's terms and reveals that there are still millions of people infected with OMAC technology. These people, now mindless drones of Darkseid, are overwritten by Brother Eye and become OMAC soldiers under the command of Mister Terrific. This gives Checkmate and him the means to resist Darkseid. Brother Eye prepares to leave the doomed Earth with his OMACs and start a new society in another universe.
InJustice League: Generation Lost, the resurrected Maxwell Lord controls the squad of OMACs attackingJaime Reyes's home and his family.[11] After Lord escapes from the JLI, Booster Gold's robot Skeets informs the JLI that he has the locations of the four formerly-dormant Checkmate cells which he had placed inside robotics laboratories that Lord has been in contact with.[12] The JLI travel to Chicago beneath the hidden robotics laboratory and learns that the OMAC variants were pure robots that are human/machine synthesis of the originals.[13]
Lord sends his newest OMAC known as OMAC Prime, to which he had given both sentience and his voice, to attack Diana and the JLI.[14] This new OMAC could assimilate the abilities of metahumans, initially overwhelming the heroes it fought. During the final battle, Prime takes Blue Beetle's power, causing it to become nearly unstoppable, but Blue Beetle mentions to OMAC Prime that it cannot control the Scarab's power. Blue Beetle uses this to paralyze Prime with crippling system failures before attacking and destroying it.[15]
In 2011,The New 52 rebooted the DC universe. ACambodian-American man namedKevin Kho is introduced as the new O.M.A.C. (One-MachineAttackConstruct) and had worked as a genetic researcher atProject Cadmus.[16] Maxwell Lord is revealed to have had a hand in Kho's transformation in addition to usingNew Genesis technology.[17][18] O.M.A.C. starred in a self-titled series that was cancelled after eight issues due to DC's introduction of a "Second Wave" of new titles.
During the "Forever Evil" storyline, theCrime Syndicate of America captures Kevin Kho, intending to use him as a weapon.[19]Harley Quinn, who is working for theThinker, takes O.M.A.C. and leaves him nearJames Gordon Jr. While Gordon is talking to Harley, the Thinker takes O.M.A.C. and begins transferring his mind into it. Now activated, O.M.A.C. attacksAmanda Waller, Gordon, Harley Quinn,King Shark, and Kamo.[20] King Shark attacks Kamo until Waller convinces them both to help her stop OMAC.[21]
Kevin Kho is reintroduced following the "DC Rebirth" relaunch, which restored the continuity of the DC Comics universe to a state closer to the pre-New 52 continuity.[22]
Brother Eye can activate the virus in any infected person, at any time, within planetary range. Once activated, the person is covered in cybernetic armor and becomes a thrall to Brother Eye's commands.
An OMAC unit has access to archives on almost every metahuman on file, and can simulate countermeasures to the powers of a variety of superheroes and supervillains for the purpose of targeting the weaknesses of an opponent. Among the many inbuilt powers an OMAC drone possesses include flight, enhanced physical abilities, and projecting energy beams from its face and hands. In addition, the OMAC unit can transform into various shapes and sizes; e.i. being able to change and alter its limbs into blades and cannons, as well as interface with technology.
Their main function is the application of nanotechnology to simulate the weaknesses of an opposing superpowered being whilst detaining and dispatching them. Such as shooting fire, project needles of artificial cellulose (againstAlan Scott; an approximation of his weakness to wood), dispense flame-retarding foam, even once simulatingShazam's lightning power forcingMary Marvel to revert to her human form.
Maxwell Lord designed a powerful and extremely deadly new class of O.M.A.C called O.M.A.C. Prime using theMetal Men's responsometer technology,Amazo's absorption cells, and aReach Scarab. O.M.A.C. Prime is able to replicate and combine superpowers, steadily making it stronger.
