History
These humanoid robots developed by Victor von Doom for guard duties on Castle Doom appeared to be mere statues on the castle's battlements but, when they detected a threat, they activated to intercept and destroy it.[1][2] Lacking a very detailed personality,[2] the robots would attack immediately any intruder[3] and communicate with the Castle's security systems. The robots had a number of features including:[2]
- Body Armor: Protection against damage[2] thanks to their grey chainmail.[1][2] A number of superpowers can pierce their defenses.[1] Their robotic nature protects them against mind- and emotion-based attacks but they are susceptible to machine-affecting powers[2] and their metallic nature makes them vulnerable to magnetic-based powers.[3]
- Gliding due to their foldable wings.[1][2]
- Force Spear: Each Knight carries a lance that can shoot energy from a distance.[1][2]
- Computer Link allowing them to communicate with Castle Doom's security systems[1][2] within a five-mile range.[2]
Doom initially built ten units of these robots.[2] These robots were on guard when Doom invited the X-Men to his castle so that he could heal Shadowcat. X-Woman Rogue visited the nearby town without telling Doom or anyone else; thus, when she entered the Castle area again, the robots identified her as a superhuman intruder and initiated, following their protocol, "defense response delta": The robots attacked them with short-range bolts while fluttering around her.[1]
Rogue's partners Dazzler; Havok and Longshot saw the skirmish from the battlements and supported their partner; Havok mistrusted Doom and even speculated the later may have ordered the attack. He destroyed one robot with his plasma bolts, while Rogue withstood the bolts with her super-endurance and grab one robot from a leg to use it as a club against two other robots. Dazzler's laser bolt pierced a robot's head, while Rogue beheaded another with a punch. However, four other robots surrounded Havok, Dazzler and Longshot. Storm and Doom then appeared; Storm, leader of the X-Men, reprimanded them on the attack; Rogue replied that the robots had started it, and Doom graciously admitted that the robots' strict programming may have had part -only part- of the blame.[1] Doom reprogrammed the robots so they wouldn't attack the X-Men, if they agreed to obey Doom's laws.[3]
Doom probably rebuild some robots[2] so that they could patrol the area and fly over the castle. At that point, Doom sent X-Man Magneto to the nearby mountains, because intense magnetic fields like those used by Magneto's powers may interfere in Shadowcat's re-integration processes. Magneto, in an outburst of angst, used his powers to capture a Doom-Knight from the castle, taking it to his presence and then re-configured it in a statue of his lost wife Magda and child Anya. Doom was enraged at this, as his machines had been affected, and reprimanded Magneto. In fact, the unexpected arrival of the Fantastic Four almost immediately after required Doom to send the X-Men to stop them, because Magneto's attack had disabled most of the defensive systems and Doom required all the resources to heal Shadowcat - and probably because Doom knew that his Knights would never measure up for such a task.[3]
