The 52 special

Scientist disappearances continue; Magnus Now Among the Missing

by Ron Troupe

HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, OCTOBER 13 — 

Famed scientist Will Magnus, creator of the heroic robotic team known as the Metal Men, has disappeared following a massive explosion at his home. Magnus joins a growing number of well-known scientists who have been reported missing over the last six months, though he is the first without a criminal record to have vanished.

According to eyewitnesses, the explosion at Magnus’s home was preceded by the early evening arrival of tank-like vehicles outside the house, and the emergence of men wearing black suits and dark sunglasses.

“Those guys were straight out of that movie.” says Jack Silbert, 38, who lives on the same block as Magnus and claims to have watched the entire incident while he was walking his dog. “Y’know, that movie where those men dressed in black. I can’t remember the name of it…anyway, right after they arrived, the death-robot showed up. It didn’t seem like the robot was working for them, because the guys in black looked pretty surprised when it appeared, and then they bolted.”

The so-called “death-robot,” described by Silbert as approximately 90 feet in height and sporting an “energy-cannon” on one of its arms, blasted the house, destroying most of it. Its arrival-and the description provided by Silbert-were corroborated by several other residents of the block who witnessed the incident. 

Investigators have not yet determined whether Magnus was inside the house when it exploded, but Silbert insists the scientist got out before the blast occurred.

“I saw him running out of the house right before it blew up. But I didn’t see him afterwards, and the robot took off. Personally, I think the robot took him.”

Investigators on the case currently have no clues other than several giant, rectangular, footprint-like craters in the street.

Magnus’s disappearance comes nine weeks after his former mentor, the criminal scientist Thomas Oscar (“T.O.”) Morrow, vanished from his cell at Haven Security Village. A source at the facility, who declined to be identified for this article, reports that Magnus had been visiting Morrow at least once a month until then. Morrow is perhaps best known for having built the android-and longtime Justice League of America member-known as the Red Tornado.

Other notorious scientists whose current whereabouts are unknown include Thaddeus Sivana, Ira Quimby, Rigoro Mortis, Jeremiah Clugg, and Doctors Death, Tyme, and Cyclops. It is also unknown whether all these disappearances are somehow connected.