- For other uses of "Metallo", see Metallo.
- "You think you stopped us tonight, but the fuse was lit. And it's gonna be beautiful."
- —Otis Graves to Supergirl[src]
Otis Graves (died November 4, 2018, April 21, 2019, and May 12, 2019; resurrected twice) was the loyal henchman of Lex Luthor and and the brother of the late Mercy Graves. He is a former agent of Project Cadmus and a former member of the Children of Liberty.
Otis and his sister started to work for Lillian Luthor after Lex's arrest. Following Cadmus's downfall, they found Ben Lockwood and helped him create his anti-alien terrorist group under the moniker "Agent Liberty". Mercy was killed by a Hellgrammite while attempting to kill Supergirl, and Otis had supposedly suffered the same fate, only to be later revealed to have been resurrected as a Kryptonite-powered cyborg by Eve Teschmacher, becoming the new Metallo, and that he had been secretly worked for Lex all along. Lex blew Otis up during a prison riot to destroy his hidden room in Stryker's Island Penitentiary, but Eve resurrected him again. Later, Otis had his Kryptonite heart ripped out by Lockwood, killing him for the third and final time.
Biography
Early life
In 1996, Otis Graves and his family went on vacation to an unknown destination. During this outing, Otis was somehow dangerously injured by his sister, Mercy, to the point that paramedics had to be called to resuscitate him.[1]
Luthor Corp
At some point, Otis and Mercy became acquainted with Lex Luthor and they were respectively hired as a member and the head of security at Luthor Corp.[2]
Otis recruits Eve.
Even after Mercy left Luthor Corp, Otis remained loyal to Lex and continued to secretly work for him. In early 2016, after Lex's trial, Otis recruited Eve Teschmacher, a huge fan of Lex who was in love with him. Lex picked Eve out of the crowd outside the courthouse and motioned to Otis to have her brought to him. Otis then recruited Eve for their plans.[3]
Project Cadmus
Following Lex's arrest, Otis and Mercy joined Project Cadmus, run by Lex's mother, Lillian Luthor. However, Lillian was later arrested by Supergirl and Cadmus was shut down.[1][2]
Otis meets Ben Lockwood.
Sometime later, when Ben Lockwood was handing out anti-alien fliers to citizens in National City, Otis came across him and took one of the papers. He applauded Lockwood for his views on aliens, commending him as a true American Hero.[4]
In Kaznia
Otis, Lex and Eve in Kaznia.
Otis, alongside Lex and Eve, went to Kaznia after the Minister of Defense informed Lex of the existence of a copy of Supergirl; they eventually found the girl in a cabin in the woods after she saved a young boy from some thieves. Lex accepted the offer of the Kaznian government to condition the copy in order to make her a weapon, Eve recognized a soldier who had made the copy "uncomfortable" so, Lex ordered for him to be executed and Otis watched without the slightest flinch. Eve then revealed to Otis and Lex about the Harun-El and her experiments with Lena. Lex complimented Eve and ordered her to ensure she got results with her research, then Otis asked him if he should stay in Kaznia with "the Commies", prompting Lex to frustratingly answer that he was supposed to drive them back.
Otis talks about Ben Lockwood to Lex.
Lex explained his plans to them, about engineering a war between the United States and Kaznia, foil it and then become a hero in the eyes of the public. He asked Otis to find someone charismatic who could move the people in their favor, Otis remembered Lockwood and showed Lex one of his fliers; his boss complimented and ordered him to fetch his sister and have them manipulate Lockwood into unknowingly being Lex's patsy and founding an anti-alien terrorist group.[3]
Working with Agent Liberty
Otis does as he was instructed, contacted his sister and later, she pulled up next to Ben in a limo in the street. After explaining their plan to track down and kidnap Fiona Byrne, Mercy introduced herself as well as Otis. The three returned to a hideout where Ben was given a suit to don when working with them.[4]
Otis Graves cuts a tusk off Rohan Vose.
Under the orders of Liberty, the two ambushed Dr. Rohan Vose outside his lab and proceeded to use lasers to slice off his spikes that stuck out of his arms in order to gain access to the lab. After Otis took one, he took the other for playful reasons and Mercy criticized him for not acting professionally. Just as the entrance to the lab opened, Supergirl smashed through a window, but was deafened by a device used by Otis and had her legs handcuffed together by Mercy. Otis then shot her through a window at the end of the corridor and the two entered the lab. However, Supergirl managed to escape from the cuffs as Mercy found the package they were looking for. As the two prepared to leave, Supergirl flew back in, but stayed behind in order to protect Dr. Vose from a bomb thrown down by Otis as the brother and sister duo made their escape.
Mercy and Otis talk to Agent Liberty.
The two travelled back to Agent Liberty's lair and when Otis began playing with nunchucks, one of them hit something and Mercy threatened him not to do it again. When Liberty entered, Mercy told him their mission was successful, but when Otis told him that Supergirl showed up, she kicked him. Liberty then asked for the EMP and when shown it, he told the siblings to prepare for war.
Otis gets arrested by D.E.O.
Later, at President Marsdin's gathering for aliens held at Camp David, Mercy and Otis were instructed to attack it and after stealing uniforms from two D.E.O. agents, they threw the EMP which turned off all the lights in which the gathering was being hosted. After Mercy failed to kill Alex Danvers the siblings attempted to flee on motorcycles, but were followed by Supergirl. Knowing she couldn't lose her, Mercy resorted to shooting Otis in the shoulder which caused him to fly off his vehicle and was sent plummeting down, forcing Supergirl to stop and rescue him. As she did so, Mercy managed to escape. When incarcerated at the D.E.O. National City headquarters, Otis refused to answer any questions that agents asked him.[1]
Otis and Mercy release Kryptonite into the atmosphere.
Director Alex Danvers attempted to question Otis on Mercy's whereabouts, but he only teased her, explaining that she could be at an Italian restaurant they both liked. However, Alex managed to frustrate Otis by saying Mercy was his boss and she was in charge, causing him to get up and try to attack her, but she managed to floor him and asked Agent Jensen to take him back to his cell. After failing to kill Lena Luthor and Supergirl, Mercy was also sent to the D.E.O. in a cell next to Otis. However, the two managed to escape by manipulating Agent Raymond Jensen into turning against the D.E.O.; the three travel to Agent Liberty's lair and use a device to send Kryptonite into the atmosphere, harming Supergirl.[2]
Death and resurrection
Otis seconds before being killed.
During the period the atmosphere was inhabitable for Kryptonians, Mercy and Otis Graves stole the Angon alien parasite from a D.E.O. facility with help from two corrupted agents, Jensen and Taylor. The parasite was used to take control of Fiona Byrne, which forced her to use her psychic powers to possess an unnamed Kopy and Hellgrammite into wreaking havoc on National City. However their plans were thwarted by Supergirl's intervention and, after the Hellgrammite was freed from mind control, he killed both Mercy and Otis as revenge for being captured and brainwashed.[5]
Sometime after this, Eve Teschmacher performed the "Metallo Procedure" over various subjects in her secret lab, before she finally managed to revive Otis.[6]
Otis approaches Mikhail.
After Eve informed Lex that Supergirl's copy "has a conscience" and it could be a problem for their project, she and Otis were instructed to stage the bombardment of the house of Mikhail, the child that the copy saved months prior, at the hand of American aircraft carrier in order to strengthen her resentment towards the Americans.
Otis spares Mikhail's life.
However, although Eve easily managed to infiltrate the ship and carry out her mission, Otis, who was tasked to kill the child to ensure his murder, ultimately chose to spare him as, having been dead too, he believes in "second chances", but instructed him to pretend to be dead if he ever came across "any bald guy" during the rest of his life.[3]
Return
After Lex Luthor obtained mercy furlough to serve his life sentences under house arrest at his mansion due to having developed an inoperable cancer (actually self-inflicted),[3] Lena realized that Lex was responsible for both the cut off of the backup power to the hospital and James Olsen's assassination attempt, in order to give her the incentive and the subject on which she could test the Harun-El drug to guarantee its safe use as a healing agent, Lena stated that she would never give him the serum and Lex, not being surprised at all, revealed that he already had someone administered it to him.
Lex escapes house arrest while Otis binds Lena to her half-brother's wheelchair.
At that moment, the FBI agent in the room was revealed to be Otis disguised by an image inducer, and while he was tying Lena to Lex's wheelchair, Eve entered, revealing her true colors to a stunned Lena. As Eve was instructed by Lex to "take care of his sister", Otis chloroformed Lena and left the mansion alongside his boss, preparing to flee by helicopter, only to be intercepted by Supergirl.[7]
However, as Lex jumped out of the helicopter and donned his Lexosuit, the superheroine decided to chase him, allowing Otis to escape.[3]
Second death and resurrection
Otis talks to Stryker's Island Penitentiary's cell block D.
After Lena and Supergirl went to Lex's cell at Stryker's Island Penitentiary in order to find evidence regarding his plans, they trigger a secret alarm which informed Otis, so he reached the prison following Lex's orders, killed the warden and freed all the inmates on the cell block, promising freedom to the one who would have managed to kill Supergirl.
Otis defeats Supergirl.
As the Girl of Steel managed to defeat them all, Otis personally intervened revealing his new nature of Kryptonite-powered cyborg and, despite, Supergirl had protected herself with an anti-Kryptonite suit provided by Lena, during the course of their brutal fight, Otis managed to break it poisoning his opponent with Kryptonite radiation and weakening her powers. However, the superheroine managed to trick Otis by disguising in her civilian identity and telling him that she was just a reporter who remained stuck into the prison during the riot he started, then telling him "the direction in which she saw Supergirl escape".
Eve brings Otis back to life for the second time.
After wandering around the prison for a long time, Otis managed to find Supergirl a few moments before the National Guard broke in to arrest her as the Public Enemy No. 1, so the Girl of Steel knocked him out with a thunderclap and reached Lena in Lex's cell to escape with her. In that exact moment, Otis received a phone call from Lex, who ordered him to enter his cell and then detonated him to destroy all the evidence in it. Later that day Eve was ordered to rebuild Otis and resurrect him a second time, which she does gleefully informing him of what happened after he regains consciousness.[8]
Third death
Lockwood kills Otis.
Lockwood entered a laboratory and found Otis playing video games. Otis was killed once again when Lockwood ripped out the former's Kryptonite heart, but not before Otis unknowingly revealed to James and Lena that Lex was planning on betraying Kaznia to make everyone believe he is a hero.[9]
Alternate timeline
Otis and Lockwood forces Supergirl to publicly reveal her identity in an alternate timeline.
In an alternate timeline created by Mr. Mxyzptlk while senting Kara back in time to repair her friendship with Lena revealing her identity to her after a few weeks they met, Otis helped Ben Lockwood in kidnapping both Lena and the leader of the Cult of Rao Thomas Coville blackmailing Kara to force her to reveal her identity to the world. After she did it, Otis complimented his boss cheerfully asking him if they could kill the hostages either way, however Lockwood told him not to do it and instead with the support of the Children of Liberty, the two started to kill every loved one of Supergirl, including Cat Grant, Alex Danvers, Winn Schott and J'onn J'onzz.[10]
Personality
- "I don't trust the press. They always parachute into crises like this without any context for the larger systemic issues at play."
- —Otis Graves to Kara Danvers[src]
Although he shows an impressive fidelity to Lex Luthor, Otis is an extremely unintelligent and childlike individual. He also shows an absurd racism for the aliens; when attacking Dr. Rohan Vose, Otis not only brutalized the man several times he also cut his two thorns with a disgusting pleasure, despite claiming that he would not enjoy doing it.[1] He also complimented the D.E.O. for how they repelled the Daxamite invasion by poisoning them all with lead.[2]
Otis is also extremely positive and easy going, always seen smiling, cheerful, and perfectly capable of having a good time while doing the job he was assigned to do. Otis had a habit of making jokes and puns while on missions.[1][3][4][7][8]
Due to his simple-minded nature, Otis appears to be perfectly aware of his place and never questioned the orders he received from people he deemed sharper or in charge, be it either his sister Mercy or Lex, although he was visibly frustrated when Alex Danvers stated that Mercy was his boss.[2] Also, after he was resurrected, Otis began to firmly believe in "second chances", which was the reason why he chose to spare Mikhail's life.[3]
Otis seems to have a greedy side, as he declared that money was the only reason why he does terroristic actions.[9] Despite his well-known stupidity, Otis is capable of eloquence if he desires; he was once capable of astonishing Kara Danvers by answering a question with a surprisingly accurate and in-depth statement regarding his dislike for the press.[8]
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Cyborg physiology: Through an operation performed by Eve Teschmacher, Otis became a cyborg under the Metallo Protocol, which granted him special powers and abilities.[6][8]
- Enhanced strength: As a cyborg, Otis' strength was apparently able to match that of a Kryptonian, as he was capable to stand an even chance against Supergirl in combat, along with being able to lift barbells over him with ease.
- Enhanced durability: As a cyborg, Otis could take much more damage than a normal human; he took physical blows from Supergirl remaining relatively unfazed. It is safe to assume that Otis' cybernetic endoskeleton was made of Promethium, the strongest metal known to man.
- Enhanced stamina: As a cyborg, Otis' natural stamina levels have been increased considerably, allowing him to fight and remain active for long periods of time; without becoming fatigued.
- Kryptonite beam: Otis was able to fire a green energy beam of Kryptonite radiation. A sustained blast that has caused extreme pain to Supergirl.
Abilities
- Peak of human physical condition: As a former member of Luthor Corp's security and a Cadmus agent, Otis was in top physical condition after having undergone extensive training. His durability and resilience are remarkable as he was able to get up after being shot non-lethally in the shoulder and recover in a couple of days.[1][2]
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: As the former member of security of Luthor Corp and a former agent of Cadmus, Otis was a highly proficient hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. Ultimately though, his skills were inferior to his sister, Mercy Graves[1] or Alex Danvers, who easily managed to overpower him, although it should be noted Otis was handcuffed at the time.[2]
- Expert marksman: Otis was an expert in using firearms and has a nearly perfect aim even from an extended distance.
- Expert driver/Pilot: Otis was capable of driving multiple vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, and helicopters.[1][3][7]
Weaknesses
- Kryptonite power source: Without a piece of Kryptonite imbedded in his heart, Otis' powers do not work.
Equipment
- Anti-alien weapons: Otis has used a multitude of anti-alien guns.[1]
- Nunchucks: Otis carries a pair nunchucks with him.[1]
- Image inducer: Otis has used an image inducer to disguise himself as an F.B.I. agent.[7]
Appearances
Supergirl
Season 4
Season 5 |
Trivia
- Otis is one of the few individuals in the Arrowverse to die and be brought back to life without any means of time travel. The others are Sara Lance, Kuasa, Latavious Johnson, Nate Heywood and Evelyn Stillwater-Ferguson.
Behind the scenes
- The character is based on Otis first appeared in the 1978 film Superman as the buffoonish henchman of Lex Luthor, famously portrayed by actor Ned Beatty.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 "American Alien"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Fallout"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "The House of L"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Man of Steel"
- ↑ "Ahimsa"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "All About Eve"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Crime and Punishment"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Red Dawn"
- ↑ "It's a Super Life"