Cyborgs in fiction

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Cyborgs are a prominent staple in the science fiction genre. This article summarizes notable instances of cyborgs in fiction.

Contents 1 In written fiction 2 In comics and manga 3 In film 4 In television 5 In computer and video games 6 Music 7 Games & Toys 8 Other 9 See also

[edit] In written fiction

• The Tin Woodman from L. Frank Baum's Oz books (at least before he became entirely metal).
• Deirdre, a famous dancer who was burned nearly completely and whose brain was placed in a faceless but beautiful mechanical body, in C. L. Moore's short story of 1944, "No Woman Born". Collected in "The Best of C. L. Moore" in 1975
• Jonas the (star) sailor in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun novels. His near light speed ship had been gone so long that on its return to Urth, there were no space port facilities any more, and it crashed. Other crew members patched him up from available parts. (However, he started out as fully robotic, and was repaired with human parts, rather than the more usual reverse).
• Molly Millions who appears in several of William Gibson's stories.
• Professor Jameson, a cyborg pulp hero by Neil R. Jones, and his allies and benefactors, the Zoromes.
• Marge Piercy's He, She and It presents a rather feminist view on the cyborg issue with Yod who, however, is provided with some male attributes.
• Anne McCaffrey wrote short stories and novels known as The Ship Series where otherwise crippled humans live on as the brains of starships and large space stations.
• The genetically engineered and prosthetics-ready warriors of the planet Sauron in the CoDominium series of short stories and novels initiated by Jerry Pournelle and also written by guest authors.
• In Martin Caidin's novel, Cyborg, a test pilot is rebuilt after a horrendous crash, given new "bionic" limbs, and becomes a superspy. Later adapted as the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
• Oil-Fired Stanley Price, in the filk of that title by Zander Nyrond.
• Angus Thermopylae, The Gap Cycle.
• Haberman and Scanners from Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith.
• The Comprise, a computer-mediated hive mind which has taken over Earth, in the novel Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick.
• Rat Things in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. They are attack-programmed guard dogs whose armored bodies make them look less like dogs than rats. They are equipped with high-speed engines that will fatally over-heat if they stop. Technology invented by Mr. Ng and, evidently, made exclusively for Mr. Lee.

[edit] In comics and manga

• 8 Man, a manga and anime superhero created in 1963 by writer Kazumasa Hirai and artist Jiro Kuwata. He is considered Japan's earliest cyborg superhero, before even Kamen Rider (the same year, Shotaro Ishinomori created Cyborg 009), and was the inspiration for RoboCop.
• Many of the members of Section 9 in the Ghost in the Shell universe, specifically the main characters Major Motoko Kusanagi and Buttetsu Bateau, are cyborgs dependent on regular maintenance; there are several manga (or graphic novel) and artbooks set in the GitS universe, as well as two feature-length anime, three television series and three video games.
• Masamune Shirow's other major work, Appleseed also contains a multitude of cyborg characters, with one of the main characters, Briareos Hecatonchires, the mercenary Sokaku Tatara and his war buddies, and the Mumna Holy Republic diplomat Kainisu, from the fourth chapter, are just a few.
• Vash the Stampede from Trigun has a prosthetic left arm, which he acquired after his brother Millions Knives shot it off. The arm has an automatic weapon inside.
• Cyborg of the Teen Titans comic book series is a superhero with massive implants and prothestics. He also appeared in the animated TV series.
• Many of the characters of Battle Angel Alita (also known in Japan as GUNNM) are cyborgs, including the lead, Alita (Gally, Yoko). Cyborgs are a major way of life in the GUNNM universe, with sports, such as Motorball (and crimes, such as spine-stealing), contributing to a culture of cyborgs.
• The Metabarons.
• In WE3, a group of animals are turned into sentient living weapons.
• Cyborg 009 features a group of humans unwillingly turned into cyborg weapons by a crime syndicate.
• The Reavers, a group of villains that regularly clashes with the X-Men. They are led by Donald Pierce.
• Deathlok, the Demolisher, a seies of military cyborgs in Marvel Comics. The original Deathlok was a former soldier in a dystopian future.
• All members of The Authority have a networking implant that allows for radio-telepathy, head-mail and other communication functions.
• Android 17 and Android 18, along with Android 20 from the anime-manga series Dragonball Z. Despite their confusing English dub names, they are indeed cyborgs. In the original Japanese version, these three (along with the rest of Dr. Gero's artificial creations) are referred to as jinzouningen, which is a blanket term in Japanese science fiction applying to robots and androids, as well as cyborgs. Jinzouningen is usually translated by fans to "artificial human". Frieza is also a cyborg after his defeat on Namek and is saved and rebuilt by his Father King Cold.
• Franky (also known as Cutty Flam), of the manga One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, rebuilt most of his body with scrap metal after sustaining serious injuries. Giving him abilities ranging from (but not limited to) air cannons in his hands and rear end, guns in his wrists, and the ability to extend the front part of his lower body outward, making him look like a backwards centaur. However, as Franky did these adjustments to himself, only the front part of his body is cyborg. His backside (which he couldn't reach) is as vulnerable as any human back, rendering this his weak point. His cyborg abilities are powered by cola, stored in a refrigeration unit in Franky's stomach.
• Gally (known as Alita in the United States of America) and most of the characters from Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita) manga, including a society of artificially anencephalic people, using microchips instead
• Death's Head II, MINION, Marvel Comics
• Kroenen, from Hellboy
• Supremor, the Kree Supreme Intelligence, Marvel Comics
• Spartan WildStorm Comics
• Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man injected himself with Extremis, which installed a computer interface into his nervous system and an Iron Man armor interface into his body. This allows him greater control of the armor. Stark can also remotely operate his armors (more than one Iron Man active at a time).
• Victor Mancha is an artificial life form with organic parts in Runaways.
• Cable, a mutant from the future in Marvel Comics. Roughly a third of his body is a "Techno-Organic" mesh.
• The Ultimate Marvel version of Deadpool is a cyborg.

[edit] In film

• RoboCop and his would-be successor RoboCop 2
• The T-800 series from Terminator.
• Various characters in Star Wars saga, notably Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, General Grievous, Darth Malak, Admiral Screed, Grand Moff Trachta, and Lobot
• The wives from the 2004 film version of The Stepford Wives. In the original book and film, they would be closer to androids or gynoids.
• Ria and various characters from Natural City.
• Del Spooner, from the movie I, Robot
• Various characters in The Matrix trilogy of movies
• Kiryu, aka Mechagodzilla 3
• Dr. Arliss Loveless from Wild Wild West

[edit] In television

• The inhabitants of Cyberspace in the math mystery cartoon Cyberchase, including Digit played by Gilbert Gottfried, Hacker voiced by Christopher Lloyd, Motherboard, and all other characters in the show except the Earth kids: Matt, Jackie, and Inez.
• Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man. Originally based on Martin Caidin's novel, Cyborg. The series was very successful, spawning followups The Bionic Woman (Jaime Sommers), and Max, the bionic dog.
• The Daleks and Cybermen from Doctor Who. Daleks are a marginal case, in that they are actually vehicles for small and physically degenerate aliens.
• The Borg from Star Trek, including Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, a human who was assimilated into a drone and later severed from the collective.
• Inspector Gadget.
• Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who was born blind and uses optical implants combined with a removable unit called a VISOR, to see. In the films, the VISOR was replaced with permanent optical implants, and later by regenerated biological eyes.
• 

  

  Locutus of Borg, Jean-Luc Picard as a (cy)borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, whose natural heart was irreparably damaged in a bar fight when he was younger and replaced with an artificial heart, which was later replaced twice due to defect or damage. However, the artificial heart is not a major part of his identity and is seldom mentioned, so that most viewers would not consider him a cyborg. He is also at one point briefly conscripted into the Borg (see above) after which he is fitted with an android arm to replace the arm taken over by Borg cybernetics.
• A cyborg secret agent was featured in the "Fumble on the One" episode of The Misfits of Science.
• Adam in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who is part human, part demon and part robot.
• In Neon Genesis Evangelion the Evangelion mecha are not robots but clones of aliens outfitted with cybernetics to allow their human pilots (or a backup computer, as in the Mass Production Eva series) to control them.
• Cyborg, a film featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, tells the story of a post-apocalyptic Earth due to a nuclear disaster, and has a female cyborg as a central character. The sequel, Cyborg 2, stars Angelina Jolie as another cyborg.
• Edward Elric (anime series and manga Fullmetal Alchemist) has two prosthetic limbs - the right arm and the left leg - although the technology used to create them (called automail) cannot really be counted to cyberpunk.
• Similar to above mentioned Edward Elric, Folken Fanel from the anime series The Vision of Escaflowne has a prosthetic right arm based on an unnamed technology of the Zaibach Empire.
• Kidou Keiji Jiban, a metal hero show in Japan, was influenced by RoboCop. The main difference is that Naoto Tamura can transform between his detective identity and his Jiban/Perfect Jiban identity on his own.
• The Humanoid Cylons, from the series Battlestar Galactica.
• Spike Spiegel and Jet Black respectively bearing prosthetic eye and arm, from the Cowboy Bebop anime and manga series.
• From The King of Braves GaoGaiGar and The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL:
  • Guy Shishioh, a cyborg in the conventional sense who later becomes an "Evoluder," a cyborg whose cybernetics are indistinguishable from human flesh.
  • Mikoto Utsugi, a human who later becomes an "Evoluder".
  • The Red Planet Soldat Battalion.
  • Various key members and servants of the criminal organization BioNet.
  • Renais Kerdif-Shishioh.
• Casshern (formerly known as Tetsuya Azuma) from the Shinzo Ningen Casshern 1973 anime series and the 2004 live action movie.
• Bionic Six.
• Edward Elric, Frank Archer, and Paninya from Fullmetal Alchemist
• Technomages, from the Babylon 5 universe, employing a high degree of "organic technology"
• Alan Gabriel, The Big O.
• Mechanikat, Krypto the Superdog.
• Antoine, Suspected Cyborg Upright Citizens Brigade.
• Bunnie Rabbot, in the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM TV series and US comic books.
• The Irkens from the Nicktoon Invader Zim.
• Simulants from Red Dwarf.
• "Riders" from the "Ishinomori era" of the Kamen Rider franchise.
• Taurus Bulba in the "Steerminator" episode of Darkwing Duck.

[edit] In computer and video games

• In the video game Quake III: Arena, many of the characters feature 'Cybronic Implants'.
• Gray Fox, the cyborg ninja from Konami's Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions.
• Coton from Mirage Media's Rise of the Robots and Rise 2: Resurrection (the only cyborg, while all other characters are robots).
• Cyber-Akuma, final boss from Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (actually a variation on Akuma from the Street Fighter series).
• Radd (or Ladd) Spencer, lead character from Capcom's Bionic Commando.
• Brocken from ADK's World Heroes series.
• 

  

  Doctor Crygor
  Dr. Crygor from the WarioWare, Inc. games.
• The Strogg, a race of cybernetic warriors from the first person shooters Quake II, Quake 4, and the upcoming Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Also, Matthew Kane, lead character from Quake 4.
• Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke, fighters in the fighting video game series Mortal Kombat.
• Doctor N. Gin of the Crash Bandicoot video game series.
• Bunnie Rabbot in the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning TV series and US comic series.
• In Final Fantasy Legend III characters could shift between organic, cybernetic and robotic states by eating meat or installing parts.
• The Combine from Half-Life 2 use transhuman cyborgs and biomechanical "synths" as their main weapons.
• Many characters from Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War, a few of whom are actually modified by nanotechnology.
• Master Chief and the Spartan supersoldiers from Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and the upcoming Halo 3.
• The player characters as well as some monsters in the System Shock games.
• Grobyc ("Cyborg" spelled backwards), a cybernetic assassin in Chrono Cross. He joins the player's party after being defeated.
• Emerl from Sonic Battle.
• MegaMan.EXE from the Megaman Battle Network series, also known as Hub Hikari (Hikari Saito), brother to Lan. He was born human, but converted into a NetNavi form by Yuiichiro Hikari, due to his human body having the incurable HBD ailment. This would make him a data-based cyborg, as opposed to the standard machine/organic composite.
• Samus Aran from the Metroid series.
• The wizard of Wor, the villain from the arcade game of the same name.
• Xenoborg, from the Aliens vs. Predator series.
• Yoshimitsu from the Soul Calibur and Tekken series.
• Bryan Fury from the Tekken games.
• Robo-Manus, Battletoads video game series.
• Cyborg Molotov and Molly Ryan from Empire Earth.
• Ziggurat 8 from Xenosaga.
• The Cyberdemons, boss enemies in the Doom series of first person shooter games. A number of other Doom and Doom 3 enemies are also cybernetic, for example the Spider Mastermind.
• Nod's Cyborg unit, from Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.
• Xan Kriegor and a number of playable characters, from Unreal Tournament.
• Cyber-Errol from Jak 3.
• E-102 Gamma from Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut and Sonic battle.
• The Protoss Dragoon from StarCraft.
• Flotsam the Clown, from the later parts of Dark Chronicle.

[edit] Music

• Psychotron, a part human, part computer killing machine from Megadeth's song Psychotron.

[edit] Games & Toys

• Several characters from the Masters of the universe original line, including Extendar, Man-E-Faces (uncertain), Mekaneck, Rio Blast, Rotar, Sy-Klone, Trap-Jaw, Tri-Klops, and Twistoid.
• The Phyrexians, from Magic: The Gathering.
• The Rifts role-playing game makes extensive use of cybernetics in many Occupational Character Classes. Cybernetics are divided into normal cybernetics, realistic-looking bio-systems, and deadly, combat-oriented bionics. It also organizes Cyborgs into two categories: Partial Conversion, where most of a person's limbs are all that are replaced, and Full Conversion, where the entire body, save for the brain, spinal cord, and a few other organs are replaced by bionics.
• Various individuals from the Warhammer 40,000 universe with bionic body parts, including 'servitors' as more extreme examples
• almost every character in the Bionicle franchise by Lego
• Doctor Octopus from the Secret Wars toy line.

[edit] Other

• Metro Man, mascot for Metro North Railroad.

[edit] See also

• Robots in literature

• Archive of fictional things