Don't let this broken exterior fool you. I know what I'm doing.
Deathlok is a Marvel Comics character created by Rich Buckler and Doug Moench. He later got his own series by Dwayne McDuffie.
Created by the military, Deathlok is a cyborg from the future in the mainstream Marvel Universe, and several alternate universes as well, who wish to regain his lost humanity.
The fourth Deathlok was Jack Truman, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who was assigned to hunt down Cable. He relished the chance to hunt down a dangerous and skilled opponent like Cable and accepted without a second thought, though once he learns what S.H.I.E.L.D. wants Cable for, he facilitates Cable's escape.
Deathlok provides examples of:
- '90s Anti-Hero: A strange example, as Deathlok the Demolisher was created well over two decades before the heyday of the trope. Each of the various versions of Deathlok has very 90's Anti-Hero traits to them: he is always a dead man resurrected as a cyborg (cyborgs being common in 90's comics), and turned into an unliving cybernetic weapon that uses huge guns as its primary method of offense. Usually however the plot often involves Deathlok's unwillingness to succumb to his programming and kill wantonly, instead struggling to non-lethally dispatch his foes.
- Aborted Arc: His name was listed as a potential recruit for the Initiative, but he never appeared in that title.
- The Ace: Nick Fury himself describes Truman as the best manhunter S.H.I.E.L.D.'s got and says that he was "the one guy I never worried about."
- Alliterative Name: Henry Hayes.
- Asshole Victim: Unlike Billy Bailey, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Larry Young was a Jerkass who earned his bodyjack.
- Badass Normal: Fights Cable evenly without any powers, although Cable was sick and missing some of his powers.
- Empowered Badass Normal: The Deathlok title would later establish Truman as this with the revelation that he learned how to Body Surf in Tibet.
- Big Good: When he was last seen in 2011, Truman was playing this role to the Teen Brigade, a plucky youth team closely associated with Rick Jones and the Avengers.
- Blood Knight: The guy loves a good fight and just basically wants to test his abilities.
- Body Surf: He describes this as his "Tibetan mind-trick". Over the course of the Deathlok title, he makes good use of it, jumping first into a S.H.I.E.L.D grunt, then into that S.H.I.E.L.D. grunt's young son, then into the Deathlok body that was originally intended for him, and finally into Cowboy Cop S.H.I.E.L.D agent Larry Young, the latter of which he kept and still inhabits to this day.
- Cyborg: Half-human, half-machine.
- Expy: The 2014 Deathlok series stars new character Henry Hayes, who is very blatantly modeled after the Mike Peterson version of Deathlok from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series. Not surprisingly, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic book later used Hayes as part of the cast, having him fill a similar role to the one held by Peterson in the TV show. Why Marvel didn't simply have Mike become an outright Canon Immigrant is unknown.
- Hero Antagonist: His role as an antagonist is largely in part because Cable is the protagonist; otherwise he's an upstanding and moral member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Hero of Another Story: Literally. After he was done with Cable, he was the main hero of the 1999 Deathlok relaunch.
- Hypocrite: He doesn't think much of G.W. Bridge and has questioned the man's leadership ability, even though he's just as bad when it comes to doggedly fixating on Cable.
- It's Personal: Like G.W. above, Truman is the very model of an effective S.H.I.E.L.D. agent... until Cable gets involved, at which point he throws professionalism out the window and becomes a tenacious Blood Knight.
- Kid Hero: The first three issues of Deathlok have him stuck in a 6-year old boy's body. He's no less effective for it.
- Legacy Character: Several characters have taken the Deathlok identity.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes that a rogue faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to make killer robots out of Cable, he sets Cable free.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: While inhabiting Billy Bailey's body.
- Red Baron: Deathlok The Demolisher.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His left eye glows red.
- Ret-Canon: The new Henry Hayes version of Deathlok is very similar to the show's character Mike Peterson, bordering on Expy status. Tom Brevoort later confirmed that Hayes was indeed created in response to the show's use of Peterson as Deathlok.
- Robotic Psychopath: Inverted with Deathlok. The AI recognizes the value of human life, but when it's time for a bit of the old hyperviolence, he switches control of the body back to it's original human host.
- Shout-Out: His child host's name is a shout-out to the Beetle Bailey comic strips
- Worthy Opponent: Sees Cable as his, and Cable sees him as a very skilled opponent too.
- Would Hurt a Child: While he didn't really mean to do it, hijacking Billy Bailey's body proved very damaging to the host, who was left comatose after Truman left him.
