Sleeper (Marvel Comics)
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Sleeper is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first Sleeper is the name of a series of five destructive robots created by the Red Skull. The second Sleeper is a Symbiote.
Publication history
[edit]The first Sleeper first appeared in Tales of Suspense #72 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
The second Sleeper was created by writer Mike Costa and artist Mark Bagley and first appeared in Venom #165, while making its first named appearance in Venom: First Host #3.
Fictional character biography
[edit]Robots
[edit]| Sleeper | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Tales of Suspense #72 (December 1965) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Robot |
| Team affiliations | Skeleton Crew |
| Notable aliases | SL-4, the Fourth Sleeper |
The Sleepers are five robots who were created by the Nazis as agents of destruction. They attack various villages in Europe and attempt to destroy Earth by targeting its core before destroyed by Captain America.[1][2]
The Machinesmith later restores one of the Sleepers and uses it to attack Avengers Island and free the robots incarcerated there. It is thwarted by Captain America and badly damaged before being repaired.[3][4]
Symbiote
[edit]The Sleeper symbiote is the child of Venom, who initially keeps its existence secret from Eddie Brock.[5][6][7][8] The two entrust Liz Allan with caring for Sleeper before it lobotomizes the Kree soldier Tel-Kar and takes over his body to explore the universe.[9][10][11] In All-New Venom (2025), Sleeper bonds with Rick Jones.[12]
Powers and abilities
[edit]The Fourth Sleeper's robotic materials, design, and construction provide it with superhuman physical abilities and limited artificial intelligence. It additionally has optic lasers and could formerly become intangible and generate thermal energy.
The Sleeper symbiote has all of the powers of the predecessor's first human host Spider-Man. It also possesses shapeshifting abilities, which it has used to assume a cat-like disguise.[13] In addition, it is undetectable by Spider-Man's spider-sense and can generate various chemicals.[7][14]
In other media
[edit]Television
[edit]- The original Sleeper robots appear in the "Captain America" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes.
- A Sleeper robot appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Old Soldiers".
- Robots similar to the Sleepers appears in the Spider-Man episode "Six Forgotten Warriors". They were created to protect the Red Skull's "doomsday weapon".
- Multiple Sleeper robots appear in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Winter Soldier".
- A Sleeper robot appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "The Sleeper Awakens", voiced by Liam O'Brien.[15] This version is powered by the Red Skull's A.I. system, Skull-Net.
- A variation of the Sleeper robots known as Sleeper-Mechs appear in the fifth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., serving as shock troopers for HYDRA leader USAF General Hale. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez later kills Hale's associate Anton Ivanov, disabling the robots in the process.
Video games
[edit]The Sleeper robot appears as the final boss of Captain America: Super Soldier. This version is a giant automaton of unknown origin that was discovered during the Middle Ages by Heller Zemo after his ancestor Harbin built Castle Zemo around it. Centuries later, during World War II, Heller's descendant Heinrich Zemo joins forces with Hydra to activate the Sleeper, only to be betrayed by them. Despite succeeding, Captain America destroys it.
References
[edit]- ^ Tales of Suspense #74 (February 1966)
- ^ Captain America #148 (April 1972)
- ^ Captain America #354 (June 1989)
- ^ Captain America #368 - 370 (March - May 1990)
- ^ Venom #161 (April 2018)
- ^ Venom #164 (June 2018)
- ^ a b Donohoo, Timothy Blake; Dodge, John; Polanco, Carlos E. Berrios; Loughlin, Kieran (November 1, 2021). "That Wild Time Venom Got Eddie Brock Pregnant". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ Dodge, John (May 14, 2022). "Venom Introduces a New, VERY Different Symbiote to the Marvel Universe". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ Venom #165 (June 2018)
- ^ Venom: First Host #1 - 5 (October - November 2018)
- ^ Dyce, Andrew (October 16, 2018). "Venom Just Gave Birth To The Deadliest Symbiote EVER". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ Dudas-Larmondin, Austin (March 12, 2025). "They Got Us: Marvel's New Venom Is Not the Hero Everybody Bet On". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ Corley, Shaun (October 30, 2020). "Venom's Kids Are Marvel's Most Adorable Team". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ Dodge, John (November 2, 2022). "An Underrated Symbiote May be Even More Powerful Than Venom". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
- ^ "Skull Net Voice - Avengers Assemble (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 8, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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| DC Comics |
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| Television work | |
| Related articles | |
- Characters created by Jack Kirby
- Characters created by Mark Bagley
- Characters created by Stan Lee
- Comics characters introduced in 1965
- Comics characters introduced in 2018
- Fictional characters who can turn intangible
- Marvel Comics robots
- Marvel Comics shapeshifters
- Marvel Comics supervillains
- Marvel Comics weapons
- Robot supervillains
- Venom (character)