Death3 (styled as Death³) is a 1993 miniseries from the Marvel UK imprint of Marvel Comics. It's written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by Dell Barras, with color art by Sophie Heath.
The series stars Death's Head II and introduces his ‘brothers’ - Death Wreck and Death Metal - two more Minion cyborgs built by the same creator, Dr Necker.
Necker's prototype cyborg, Death Wreck, went missing shortly after she first activated it and was believed lost in time and space. But now, two years later, he's unexpectedly returned to her. And on his next time jump, he brings back a sample of the living metal Prometheum - which can be used to build a far more powerful cyborg, Death Metal.
Unfortunately, power isn't the only thing the mystery metal contributes to her new creation, which promptly goes rogue under its influence, taking Death Wreck with it. Now the two cyborgs are trapped in another timeline, and their 'sibling' Death's Head II will soon be joining them.
Tropes included in the Death³ series:
- Big Bad: Death’s Head’s old enemy Charnel.
- Cavalry Betrayal: The minion prototype almost crushes a man’s head before Necker stops it. The poor man thanks her for the save, and then she shoots him. Turns out she just needed his brain intact.
- Covers Always Lie: All three cyborgs are on the first issue's cover, but Death's Head II doesn’t actually appear until the last page of issue #2.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Death Metal kills the alternate Doctor Doom with a single blow. We don’t see the fight with Kingpin and Doctor Octopus, but it seems to be equally one-sided.
- Evil, Inc.: Only mentioned in passing, but Dr Necker has now fled A.I.M. and is working for Omni. It’s not entirely clear whether she knows that Omni are a front company for Marvel UK Big Bad Mys-Tech.
- Expendable Alternate Universe: the “Charnel Continuum” where most of the story is set.
- Fantasy Metals: Prometheum, the living metal used to construct Death Metal.
- Flawed Prototype: Death Wreck is the first and most limited of the three cyborg ‘brothers’.
- Heel–Face Turn: Death Metal, after the alternate Ghost Rider’s penance gaze shocks him to his soul.
- Magitek: The explosion in the final battle with Charnel is part nuclear and part necromantic.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Charnel’s plan once he knows how Death’s Head defeated him.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Death Metal, at least sometimes. The living metal used to craft his body means that some aspects seem to shift. His lack of lips and gums means that the exposed metal teeth are always prominent, but they vary from relatively human to long, pointed fangs.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The three cyborgs face Big Bad Charnel, then the story cuts away from the battle. At some point there’s an explosion so big it’s visible from space. Then the three cyborgs walk out of the flames as victors.
- Superior Successor: Death Metal is the most advanced of the three cyborgs.
- The Alcoholic: Death Wreck, much like the poor guy whose brain is stolen to create him. It’s largely played for laughs.
