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The Religious Affiliation of
Father Blood Drench Robo Crush
 

Religion: Catholic priest CBR Scale: M

Name: Father Blood Drench Robo Crush

Classification: villain villain   clergy/religious leader clergy/religious leader  

Publisher(s): Marvel

First Appearance: Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #2 (Apr. 2006)

Creators: Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger

Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes

Number of Appearances: 1

Enemy of: Nextwave

Gender: male

Note: one of the X-series robots (allegedly)

A robot that was one of a series of 50 "X-robots" called itself "Father Blood Drench Robo Crush." This is the same series of robots that ran from X-1 to X-51 and produced the famous Machine Man (X-51). There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Father Blood Drench Robo Crush is genuinely from this series of robots, which was first mentioned in 2001: A Space Odyssey #8.

Father Blood Drench Robo Crush was seen in a flashback in Nextwave #2, dressed as a priest having tea with an old lady.

The robot wanted to kill the old lady it was with, but the old lady offered it tea. This surprised it. Apparently the conflict between its programming as a Catholic priest and its programming as a death machine caused its electronic brain to malfunction. The robot collapsed forward and fluid seeped from its eyes. The old woman asked, "Father, are you crying?" The robot responded that it had something in its lens and asked that she leave him alone.

Of course, the question may arise, can a robot really be a Catholic priest? Perhaps not. Certainly Father Blood Drench Robo Crush, which was created as a death machine -- and not a very sophisticated or successful one, at that -- can not be regarded as a genuine Catholic priest. This particular robot may not even possess genuine sentience. Truly sentient robots such as X-51 (Machine Man, a.k.a. Aaron Stack) do not suffer from complete programming meltdowns the first time a moral conflict or strong emotional input is encountered.

Realistically speaking, Father Blood Drench Robo Crush was little more than a one-off joke on the part of writer Warren Ellis, whose Nextwave series was full of zaniness and not necessarily regarded as "canonical." But if one takes the scene with this robot seriously and tries to categorize this robot within the context of its own story, it is probably best regarded as a robot unsuccessfully programmed to pose as a Catholic priest, rather than a genuine Catholic or a genuine priest.

Other fictional artificial intelligences and robots have sincerely embraced religion and have even functioned as clergy. But not this one. Father Blood Drench Robo Crush is an interesting example of a fictional robot who did not succeed in "becoming human."


This character is in the following story which has been indexed by this website:
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #2 (Apr. 2006) (5-panel cameo)


Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
  - http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/issues/showquestion.asp?fldAuto=3217
  - http://606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=59345
  - http://www.marvunapp.com/master/faofd.htm
  - http://www.marvunapp.com/master/x0xmxz.htm
  - https://www.comics.org/issue/259912/
  - http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=30934