Established as advanced artificially intelligent robots, the Metal Men were introduced in the comic book Showcase #37 (March–April 1962) as "last minute" filler.

[2] Created by scientist Dr. William "Will" Magnus, the six robots were field leader Gold; strongman Iron; slow-witted and loyal Lead; hot-headed Mercury; self-doubting and insecure Tin; and Platinum (also called "Tina"), who believed that she was a real woman and was in love with her creator.

[3] Each Metal Man also possessed abilities that reflected the traits of their namesake metal: Gold could stretch his form almost infinitely, Iron was super-strong, Lead could block harmful radiation by morphing into thick shields, Mercury could melt and pass through small spaces before reforming, while Platinum and Tin could stretch, flatten or spin into fine filaments.

[6] With sales dropping, the series' tone darkened with issue #33 (September 1968), as the cover tagline changed to "The New Hunted Metal Men".

Yes is recognized by them as resembling an enemy of Wonder Woman — Magnus and the Metal Men even seem to know at times that they are comic book characters, referring to earlier issues and reader response).

During a battle, Gold is killed[8] and Doctor Magnus mortally wounded, being forced to transfer his personality into another robot named Veridium.

cyborgs and acting as part of a superhero strike force assembled to protect the city of Metropolis from the Secret Society of Super Villains.

The Metal Men also featured in a stand-alone story in the weekly publication Wednesday Comics (#1–12, September–November 2009), and co-starred in the first seven issues of Doom Patrol (vol.

Captured by villain Maxwell Lord, the Metal Men are reprogrammed and believe themselves to be humans living in a magical fantasy world.

At Lord's behest, the brainwashed Metal Men attack the members of the new Justice League International (thinking them monsters), and merge into their alternate universe persona Alloy (from the limited series Kingdom Come (#1–4, May–August 1996)), but are eventually defeated.

Cyborg locates Magnus and learns the scientist was tasked by the military with the creation of a rescue team that could enter toxic environments.

Although successful, Magnus learns the military intends to use the Metal Men as assassins and the group flees and takes refuge in his apartment.

While there have been a number of different Metal Men members over the course of their history, the original and most common team line-up is Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Platinum, and Tin led by their creator/mentor, scientist Dr. Will Magnus.