Clayton Burr was an upper manager of Roxxon Oil Corporation, whose responsibilities as Vice President of International Development included overseeing Cybertek Systems, Inc., the applied cybernetics division of Roxxon, that secretly developed weapons for the international illegal market. Cybertek head Harlan Ryker answered to Burr, especially during the development of the Deathlok project - a cyborg super-soldier that was to be used to wipe out guerrillas in the country of Estrella, then in other countries. The Deathlok cyborg used the brain of ethical programmer Michael Collins, who took over the cyborg body, spoiled the operation in Estrella and helped law enforcement agency SHIELD to arrest Ryker and many other Cybertek employees. Cybertek was shut down, but Roxxon distanced from it.
Burr was promoted to President of International Development and secretly collaborated with a team of fugitive cybernetics specialists, including Ryker and other former Cybertek, to generate an army of (controllable) Cyberwarriors to be sale to terrorist organization and enemy countries. Burr sent Deathlok to Ryker's HQs in France, hoping that Deathlok would get rid of Ryker when the project was at an advanced stage so that Burr would harvest the profits; he told Ryker that he expected Deathlok to be captured, so that they could again own that technology. Burr also hired cyborg mercenary Coldblood-7 to murder both Deathlok and Ryker, giving him false information. However, Deathlok proved that Coldblood-7 had been tricked, and they joined forces against Ryker. Apprehended by SHIELD once more, Ryker cut a deal to incriminate Burr, so that Burr would go to jail too.
From Ryker's Island Penitentiary (Ryker's Island is not related to Harlan Ryker), Burr hired superhuman criminal Hobgoblin to murder Deathlok's family in retaliation. Deathlok saved his family, defeated the Hobgoblin, then sneaked into Burr's cell to threaten him should he tried something against the Collinses again.
History
Cybertek[]
Clayton Burr was a high-ranking manager Roxxon Oil Corporation, working as Vice President of International Development. Among his tasks, Burr supervised the work done by Cybertek Systems, Inc., the applied cybernetics division of Roxxon whose head by Harlan Ryker answered directly to Burr.[4] With Burr in collusion with them, Cybertek was secretly developing and selling high-tech weapons all over the world, while international law enforcement agency SHIELD was trying to find evidence against them for several years.[5] One of these operations took place in South American country Estrella, where, in an agreement with the Estrellan government, Roxxon was building a dam so as to give the country more building terrain, at the expense of destroying the homes of many poor Estrellans - which led to the Estrellans to organize a resistance movement whose attacks were making the dam project prohibitively expensive.[5][6] Burr wanted Cybertek to provide him with a weapon that would wipe out the guerrillas, with a deadline. Ryker chose the Deathlok project, the creation of a cyborg super-soldier with an organic brain[7] using funds allocated to Roxxon's Cybertek division.[4] Ryker even found a brain donor, U.S. Colonel John Kelly.[2] Ryker invited Burr to a test run in Cybertek Weapons Development Testing Facility 4, Paterson, New Jersey, where "Deathlok" (Kelly) fought twelve trained mercenaries on his own, while Burr, Ryker and the other Cybertek specialists watched and monitored from a bunker.[8] During the run, Deathlok's computer took control of the cyborg body and killed Kelly's brain with an electric discharge,[2] but, when Ryker refused to abort the test, it continued to a success, with Deathlok defeating the mercenaries, reaching the bunker and being unable to kill Ryker.[8]
Still, Cybertek needed to solve the system glitch and replace the brain, which led to rumors of delays in the project that reached Burr's ear. Burr met with Ryker to warn him that Deathlok was to be finished within the deadline and with all of the promised functionalities, so as to solve the Estrella situation. Ryker tried to assuage Burr's doubts, professedly confident in his success - but then Ryker hastened his team. They did find and correct the bug that allowed the computer to kill the brain; and Ryker kidnapped Cybertek computer programmer Michael Collins to transplant Collins' brain to Deathlok,[7] supposedly after lobotomization (yet this part of the procedure was skipped)[9] Deathlok was then sent to Estrella, along with the Cybertek core team and Burr. They headquartered in a bunker, along with officers from the Estrellan Armed Forces who had "leased" Deathlok, and unleashed Deathlok against a resistance base. Deathlok destroyed the campment and killed almost everybody in the area, except for a little girl - which was noticed by Ryker and his team. Burr however presented the operation as a success and as money from the Estrellan military well spent. Nonetheless, as soon as they were back in the main Cybertek facility in Paterson, Ryker and their people tried to find what had went wrong - but then Collins' brain completely took over the cyborg body, escaped the Cybertek facility[7] and became a vigilante in Coney Island.[4]
Burr received a video-call from SHIELD's director Nick Fury, who knew about the missing cyborg, and warned that, if Burr could not control it, Fury would take care. Burr wanted nothing better than to get rid of Fury's unwanted attention, so he prompted Ryker to recover Deathlok, both to prevent him from doing activities that'd harm Roxxon and Cybertek, and because the technology was expensive, before the next step in the Estrella operation. Burr claimed that he had other options for the Estrella crisis, but those did not need Ryker, so Burr could get rid of him. Ryker failed to apprehend Deathlok[10] and then Deathlok went to Estrella, joined forces with the resistance and sabotaged the dam project, making it too overpriced for Roxxon to continue it. Burr then phoned Ryker to tell him that he'd be punished; and Ryker tried to escape by making deals with third parties,[5] but those led to SHIELD getting evidence of Cybertek's illegal deals. SHIELD seized Cybertek's technology and arrested Ryker[11] and several other high-ranking Cybertek members, the division itself being scheduled for closure. Roxxon did its best to steer clear of Cybertek's mess,[12] and Burr was promoted to President of InternationaL development.[2]
Cyberwar[]
Several former Cybertek employees with arrest warrants on them settled in Paris, France and associated with other cybernetic specialists to illegally create, build and sell cyborg super-soldiers called Cyberwarriors.[2] Burr was secretly associated with Ryker, apparently with Ryker's other partners unaware of that, so that Burr would get a part of the profits.[13] Burr and Ryker agreed to inform Deathlok about the Cyberwarrior project, so that Deathlok would try to invade Ryker's headquarters and be captured by likely superior Cyberwarriors, so that Burr and Ryker would have access to the Deathlok technology again. Ryker made sure that Michael Collins' body was in his Cyberwarrior base,[13] so that Burr could use it as a payment for Deathlok, promising to return his brain to his human body[2] - by means of the services of cybersurgeons allied with Ryker.[14] Burr contacted Deathlok through Deathlok's friend Jim Dworman,[2] a former Cybertek employee.[12] Dworman agreed to call Deathlok and take him to meet Burr. In Burr's office, Burr introduced himself and offered him a deal: Deathlok was informed of the Cyberwarrior project and ordered to stop the operation because, Burr claimed, the Cyberwarriors were using technology owned by Roxxon, and in exchange, as he would also recover Collins' body and cybersurgeon Dr. Hu, Collins would be returned to his body. However, Burr wanted Roxxon to keep the cyborg body, purportedly for research purposes, and because it was also Roxxon property that technically had been "stolen" by Collins. At that point, John Kelly's consciousness was inside Deathlok's mind as an artificial intelligence, and Kelly noticed that Burr was hiding relevant information and using Deathlok, so Kelly wanted Deathlok to torture Burr. Deathlok instead smashed Burr's desk in a vain attempt to intimidate Burr; Burr instead decided to bill Deathlok for the expense. Reluctantly, Deathlok agreed to work for Burr - even if, when he left Roxxon's HQ, Nick Fury tried to dissuade him. Fury told Deathlok that SHIELD was also after Roxxon because Roxxon was trying to recover Cybertek weapons,[2] but Fury also lied to him saying that neither him nor Burr could know where Collins' body was[14] and he didn't mention he wanted the Cyberwarrior technology so that SHIELD would use it.[3]
Ryker had warned Burr that, should the former be arrested, he would also help arresting Burr and his accomplices.[3] Immoral and treacherous, Burr not only expected Deathlok to kill Ryker when the Cyberwarrior project was almost ended so that all the profits would go to Burr,[3] but he also hired cyborg bounty hunter Coldblood-7 to kill both Deathlok and Ryker should any of those two survived their encounter.[2][13][3] Burr fed Coldblood with false information suggesting that Ryker and Deathlok were in cahoots, and that Deathlok was directly responsible for several murders in Estrella, Japan and the United States.[13][14]
Unexpectedly, Deathlok asked his friend Silver Sable and the Wild Pack for support during the mission. With such allies, instead of being captured, Deathlok raided the base and damaged several Cyberwarriors that Ryker expected to sell. Ryker warned Burr of this change, but Burr simply disregarded it and threatened to give Ryker to SHIELD if Ryker stopped being useful - in fact, Burr already planned to get rid of Ryker as soon as Ryker was no longer useful to him.[13]
Although Deathlok was unable to recover Collins' body, he and SHIELD finally captured Ryker - but then Ryker cut a deal with SHIELD and cooperated with Fury going to Burr's office and making Burr confess his crimes. Fury immediately arrested Burr for conspiracy to commit treason against the U.S. government.[3]
Imprisonment[]
Burr was sent to Ryker's Island Penitentiary but, from his cell, he hired superhuman mercenary Hobgoblin to attack Deathlok's human family (pregnant wife Tracy and pre-teen son Nick) at their home, in revenge for Deathlok stopping his Cyberwarrior plans. While the Hobgoblin succeeded in damaging the family home[1] (and convincing Tracy to move with the kids away from her husband, for their own safety),[15] Deathlok protected his family. Discovering Burr's involvement, Deathlok sneaked into Burr's cell undetected and threatened to kill Burr, twice, should he ever tried anything against the Collinses.[1]Notes
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #26
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Deathlok #2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Deathlok #3
- ↑ Marvel Atlas #2 , Estrella's profile
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Deathlok #1
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Marvel Comics Presents #62 ; "Test Run"
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #18
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2)
- ↑ Deathlok #4
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #19
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #20
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #27
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #17