biology

Machinesmith

Machinesmith is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Machinesmith rather than just read about it. In short: Machinesmith (Samuel "Starr" Saxon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably as a regular enemy of Captain America. He specializes in robotics, and is able to make convincing robotic doubles of other superhumans.

Key takeaways

Machinesmith belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Machinesmith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Machinesmith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Machinesmith (Samuel "Starr" Saxon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably as a regular enemy of Captain America. He specializes in robotics, and is able to make convincing robotic doubles of other superhumans. His own mind was ultimately transferred to a robotic body.

Publication history The character first appeared in Daredevil #49 (Feb. 1969), and briefly appeared as a character using the Mister Fear identity shortly thereafter in Daredevil #54 (July 1969). The character first appeared as Machinesmith in Marvel Two-in-One #47 (Jan. 1979). His robotic features looked nothing like his human ones, and it was not established until later in Captain America #249 (Sept. 1980) that Machinesmith and Starr Saxon are the same character. Barry Windsor-Smith has stated that the character was supposed to be presented as gay in Daredevil #50; however, the early art was not good enough to get the point across. Other issues have since revealed the character's sexuality more directly, such as Captain America #368 and Iron Man #320.

Fictional character biography Starr Saxon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but his family was living in Queens, New York, by his teenage years. At 14 years old, he discovered an abandoned Doombot in a NYC subway tunnel, and snuck the robot home piece by piece to deconstruct to learn robotics. His original efforts saw to his use of robotics and engineering abilities to be a professional criminal robot maker and construct a variety of androids to be used as assassins for hire/personal gain. At some point during this period, he constructs a facsimile of Magneto and a variety of drones who went on to battle the X-Men. Magneto's robot appears several times over the years, believing itself to be the true Magneto until being destroyed by a Sentinel. In his first actual appearance, Saxon is hired by Biggie Benson to kill Daredevil. Saxon dispatches a powerful android to do so, and to commit a series of crimes in New York. He discovers Daredevil's secret identity, and kidnaps Karen Page (Daredevil's girlfriend). He blackmails Daredevil into allowing him to escape. Deciding to confront Daredevil directly, Saxon murders Zoltan Drago and steals the man's costume and weaponry. As "Mister Fear", he challenges Daredevil to a public duel in New York City. He rigs Daredevil's billy club to release fear-gas pellets, and begins a crime spree. However, Saxon battles Daredevil and loses, breaking his neck in a fall from a flying hovercraft platform. Saxon's robots find his dying body and transfer his consciousness into a computer, from which he can control a variety of android bodies. Now calling himself the "Machinesmith", he is hired by the Corporation agent Carnation to defeat the Fantastic Four, but is unsuccessful. When Captain America and Nick Fury have an encounter with Baron Strucker, Captain America defeats Strucker, who is revealed to be a robot controlled remotely by Machinesmith to destroy Captain America. He comes to despise his artificial life, but his programming prevents him from committing suicide. Machinesmith is hired into the Red Skull's exclusive employ, for whom he served as his primary scientist/machinist and member of the Skeleton Crew. When the Red Skull is blasted apart by Kubekult's Cosmic Cube destruction, Machinesmith attempts to enact a series of protocols dictated by the Red Skull to kill Captain America and create a nuclear holocaust, but is thwarted. Later, Machinesmith is employed by the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil. After the team's defeat by the Thunderbolts, Machinesmith has since lain low. Machinesmith later appears in Madripoor, having captured Captain America and deactivated the Super Soldier Serum in his foe's body. It was Machinesmith's intent to reverse-engineer the Super Soldier Serum to sell to various military officials. Captain America is able to regain the enhanced physique and defeats Machinesmith. Machinesmith is later paroled after helping the U.S. government hack into Latveria's computer network. He moves to Miami and gets a menial job performing at children's birthday parties, before he is asked by Grizzly to help Scott Lang with Cassie Lang's rescue from Cross Technological Enterprises. Machinesmith agrees on the condition that Lang gets him a job at Ant-Man Security Solutions as stable employment will help keep his parole officer off his back. Saxon turns his attention towards attacking a tech symposium in Nagayo, Japan; held in honor of King T'Challa and students of Wakanda's illustrious science academy by advocates of professor Takumi Ito and his protege's amongst the Takumi Masters. Tech geniuses whose invention they call the Shareware, which pools the collective consciousness and thoughtscape of everyone plugged into it at the symposium via the cyber world. Machinesmith seeks to use the Shareware to gain access to Wakanda's data processing center and spread a biotechnical plague across the world. During the "Iron Man 2020" event, Machinesmith appears as a member of the A.I. Army, an alliance of robots who seek to achieve equal rights to organic life.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Machinesmith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Machinesmith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Machinesmith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Machinesmith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Machinesmith

In research: Machinesmith appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Machinesmith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Machinesmith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Characters created by Gene Colan, Characters created by Stan Lee, Comics characters introduced in 1969, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Machinesmith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Machinesmith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Machinesmith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Machinesmith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Machinesmith in simple terms?

Why does Machinesmith matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Machinesmith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Machinesmith.