Cyborg (DC Comics)

Character biography

Victor Stone is the son of scientists Silas and Elinore Stone, who subjected him to intelligence enhancement projects that raised his IQ to genius levels but caused him to resent their control. He befriended Ron Evers, a miscreant who led him into trouble with the law, and Victor pursued athletics and abandoned his studies in defiance of his parents. Despite this rebellious path, he refused to participate in Evers' plans for racially motivated terrorism. While visiting his parents' lab, an interdimensional experiment accidentally pulled through a gelatinous creature that killed his mother and severely injured Victor.

His father Silas used prototype medical prosthetics to save Victor's life, installing extensive artificial limbs and implants without his consent. Victor was horrified upon waking and raged that he would rather have died. After adjusting physically, he faced public rejection, including from his girlfriend who said she preferred he had died. When Evers later tried to manipulate him into a terrorist attack on the United Nations, Victor equipped his weaponized attachments and stopped him atop the United Nations Headquarters.

Supporting cast

Cyborg's most recurring supporting character is his father Silas Stone, a leading S.T.A.R. Labs scientist with whom he had an estranged relationship until Silas's death. Sarah Charles, a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist under Silas, serves as a recurring ally and occasional love interest.

Elinore Stone, Cyborg's mother, appears posthumously as the more supportive parent and the origin of his catchphrase. Cyborg also works with therapist Doctor Sutton. His adversaries include Ron Evers, his childhood best friend turned enemy who received similar implants after Victor chose saving lives over him; Elias Orr, a mercenary who leads the Phantom Limbs unit; and A.T.L.A.S., a sentry who challenges Cyborg's physical prowess.

In other media

Cyborg appears in Smallville, portrayed by Lee Thompson Young, as a former football player rebuilt by SynTechnics scientists after a car accident. He later joins Green Arrow and others to combat Lex Luthor. In Doom Patrol, portrayed by Joivan Wade, he is a former high school football player injured in a lab explosion that killed his mother, rebuilt by his father, and later becomes a robotics professor. Wade also portrays Cyborg in Titans.

In The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, voiced by Ernie Hudson, he is a Justice League associate rebuilt by his father after an accident. When Justice League was pitched to Kids' WB, an original character described as a teenage female Cyborg named Natasha Irons / Cyborgirl was considered. In Teen Titans (2003), voiced by Khary Payton, he is easygoing, has a large appetite, pride in his inventions, and serves as the team's chief technician. Cyborg also appears in DC Super Friends, Mad, and DC Nation Shorts.

Did You Know?

• Pérez was visually inspired by Deathlok for Cyborg's design and used a young Jim Brown as inspiration for the character's body language.
• In Kingdom Come, Cyborg's body is made of liquid metal and he is known as Robotman.
• In DCeased, Darkseid used Cyborg to access the Anti-Life Equation, creating a techno-organic virus.