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A Mandroid is a fictional suit of power armor which appears in the Marvel Comics universe. It first appeared in Avengers #94 (December 1971), created by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams.

Fictional history[link]

Mandroids were originally designed by Tony Stark and built by Stark International for use by S.H.I.E.L.D.,{Iron Man #227} with the concept being to provide the wearer with a large number of offensive options in order to provide a variable response to the level of threat, threats which may include those posed by supervillains or rogue superheroes. Since then, Mandroid armor has been utilized by several criminals, such as minions of Moses Magnum.^{[volume & issue needed]}

The Mandroid power armor is constructed of a titanium alloy that provides a fair deal of protection from physical and energy attacks; the suit also offers an internal air supply and life support systems. Sensors include infrared scanners and radar/sonar, and the suits contain a full-range radio and loudspeaker. The suits increase the wearer's strength and durability to superhuman degrees (a Mandroid once threw a car at Iron Man, carrying it dozens of feet). The main feature is the wide array of offensive weaponry—electrostatic beams, lasers, magnetic force "punch-blasters", "neuro-stunners", and tractor/repellor beams have all been exhibited.

On one occasion, the Mandroids were released against the Avengers during the Kree-Skrull War, when a Skrull posing as politician H. Warren Craddock claimed that the Avengers were aiding an alien invasion of Earth. However, although the Mandroids were able to overcome various heroes from Goliath to Captain America, Iron Man was able to defeat them by using his knowledge of their weaknesses to neutralize the suits without injuring the men inside them.^[1]

The Mandroid armor appears in the X-Treme X-Men storyline God Loves, Man Kills II. In it, William Stryker and a brainwashed Kitty Pryde wear the armor, with Stryker using Kitty's phasing ability, enhanced tenfold, to disrupt biological beings as well as technology.^{[volume & issue needed]}vv

During the events of the Armor Wars, S.H.I.E.L.D. was sent to capture Iron Man. After discovering that elements of his technology had been stolen and given to both various armored criminals and government organizations, Iron Man neutralized the S.H.I.E.L.D. Mandroids, unwilling to take the risk that their technology would be acquired by a criminal.^[2]

J. Jonah Jameson, having been made mayor of New York, combined the Mandroid technology with that of the Spider-Slayers, creating a "Spider-Slayer Squad".^{[volume & issue needed]}

Other Mandroids[link]

• In Captain Marvel #18, Mar-Vell faces off against a Kree Mandroid and Yon-Rogg. The Kree's Mandroids are used by the Kree Empire to hunt down traitors to the Kree Empire. Yon-Rogg created a Kree Mandroid with the Psyche-Magnitron. It was destroyed when Mar-Vell tricked the robot into damaging the Psyche-Magnitron.

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• The Mandroids appeared in the '90s Iron Man animated series, in the episode "Cell of Iron" and also during the show's adaptation of the Armor Wars saga in which Tony takes them out for using Iron Man technology with inhibitor packs. The design, however, is that of the Guardsman armor.
• A squadron of Mandroids appeared in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Iron Man is Born". These versions were built by S.H.I.E.L.D. without the knowledge or consent of Tony Stark, and are colored blue. They appear to fight HYDRA only to also fight Iron Man even though he took out a HYDRA Dreadnought that was about to harm them. Nick Fury orders the Mandroids to call off their attack on Iron Man. Stark later points out that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mandroids designs have been used by HYDRA to make their Dreadnoughts.
• The Mandroids appear in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Fugitive of S.H.I.E.L.D". In this continuity, they are robots made by Justin Hammer and are recolored versions of Stark's Arctic Armor Design.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mandroid at MarvelDirectory.com

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Chris Hardwick
Hardwick at the Louisville Palace in Louisville, Kentucky on June 19, 2009
Birth name	Christopher Ryan Hardwick
Born	(1971-11-23) November 23, 1971 (age 40) Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film, podcasting
Nationality	American
Years active	1991–present
Genres	Observational comedy, sarcasm, musical comedy
Subject(s)	Human behavior, self-deprecation, pop culture, nerd culture
Notable works and roles	Hard 'n Phirm Host of Singled Out Host of Wired Science Host of Web Soup Host of The Nerdist Podcast Otis in the Back at the Barnyard series Host of Talking Dead Host of BBC America's Ministry of Laughs
Website	http://www.nerdist.com/

Christopher Ryan "Chris" "Big C" Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, emcee, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for performing with Mike Phirman in Hard 'n Phirm, hosting Singled Out, Wired Science, Web Soup, and The Nerdist Podcast, and the current voice of Otis in Back at the Barnyard. In 2011 he began doing intros and outros for a new BBC America Britcom block, and hosting a live half-hour talk show on the AMC network, Talking Dead.

Early life[link]

Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of former professional bowler Billy Hardwick and Sharon Hills, a real estate agent in Pasadena, California.^[1] He was named after American sportscaster Chris Schenkel.^[2] He grew up in Tennessee, attending St. Benedict at Auburndale K-12 School, then attended Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado, and then Loyola High School for his senior year.^[3]

Hardwick studied philosophy at UCLA, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity during his freshman year.^[3][4] Hardwick was roommates with Wil Wheaton for some time.^[5][6] They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.^[5]

Career[link]

Hardwick was a DJ on influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM during the mid-1990s.^[3] In the fall of 1998, he starred in the UPN comedy Guys Like Us; the show aired 12 episodes before it was cancelled in January 1999.

He appeared in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and Halloween 2.^[3] He also made a small appearance in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. In 2010 he was featured in the film The Mother of Invention. Hardwick was in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Married... with Children,^[3] Boy Meets World^[3] and Zoey 101. He was also a guest commentator on VH1's I Love the 90s series which aired in 2005.^[3]

He appeared as a television host on hip hop group Little Brother's 2005 album The Minstrel Show.

Hardwick plays the melodica, notably as part of Hard 'n Phirm.^[7]

Currently, Hardwick is a contributing writer for Wired magazine (since 2007), writes for Web Soup and Back at the Barnyard,^[3] and makes regular appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Chelsea Lately. As part what Hardwick calls his "nerd media empire", he runs Nerdist Theater, an entertainment space at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles.^[8]

He entered into an equity partnership with GeekChicDaily in June 2011^[9] to form Nerdist Industries.^[10]

In February 2012, GeekChicDaily fully merged with Nerdist Industries and became Nerdist News with Hardwick operating as Chief Creative Officer.^[11]

Voiceover work[link]

Hardwick voiced Alexander Hamilton in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd and Otis in the Barnyard series (the character was originally voiced by actor Kevin James in the movie Barnyard: The Original Party Animals). He also provided the voice for Green Arrow/Oliver Queen on The Batman and was the voice of Glowface in The X's.^{[citation needed]}. Hardwick also did voice work for The Minstrel Show from the rap group Little Brother and narrated the introduction video for the flash game George Plimpton's Video Falconry.

Hosting[link]

Hardwick was first known as the host of MTV's Singled Out. While working on Singled Out, he met Jacinda Barrett, to whom he was engaged but never married. Later, he hosted the syndicated dating show Shipmates. As of October 2007^[update], he has been hosting Wired Science on PBS, writing for Wired, and works as a reviewer on Attack of the Show's "Gadget Pr0n".

On June 7, 2009, he became the host of G4's Web Soup, a spinoff of E!'s The Soup. Hardwick had previously guest hosted The Soup's predecessor, Talk Soup.^[12]

Since February 2010, he has been producing the "Nerdist" podcast, which he hosts with Jonah Ray and Matt Mira.^[13] The podcast was named one of 2010's best by The A.V. Club^[14] and one of the 10 best comedy podcasts by Rolling Stone.^[15]

In May 2011, Hardwick signed a deal with BBC America to host a pilot of a panel talk show for the network based on the podcast. The deal also included Hardwick doing intros and outros for BBC America's new Saturday night Ministry of Laughs comedy block of Britcoms.^[16]

Hardwick also hosted the 2011 SXSW Interactive Awards show in Austin, Texas.

Since 2011, Hardwick has been hosting Talking Dead, a live half-hour talk show companion series to AMC's hit series The Walking Dead. Hardwick interviews celebrity fans of The Walking Dead as well as members of its cast and crew, interacts with the studio audience, re-airs clips of the episode, plays games with and polls the viewers via the Internet, and offers exclusive clips of the next episode. The first season of Talking Dead ended on March 18, 2012.

On December 24, 2011, BBC America aired The Nerdist: The Year in Review, a comedy special hosted by Hardwick. Celebrity guests included David Tennant and Simon Pegg with Hardwick in London; and Nathan Fillion, Wil Wheaton, and Weird Al Yankovic in Los Angeles.

In May 2012, Hardwick became the spokesperson for WIRED LIVE Expo.^[17]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Hardwick in July 2011

Hardwick is also a stand-up comedian and performs with Mike Phirman in the music comedy duo Hard 'n Phirm, whose half-hour comedy special Comedy Central Presents: Hard 'n Phirm premiered in January 2008.^[18]

In 2004, Comedy Central used some of his material for an animated series called Shorties Watchin' Shorties.^[19]

In 2007, both his solo standup and duo act were featured on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death Ray. Hard 'n Phirm completed several songs for the 2009 Rob Zombie animated movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Hardwick has announced plans to do a live stand-up album from his 2009 tour. He has toured as a featured comedian for Joel McHale.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Hardwick appeared as a stand-up comic on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show twice.^{[citation needed]} In the same year, Hardwick performed on the Comedy Central show The Benson Interruption (starring Doug Benson).

On July 19, 2011, Hardwick performed for troops from the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron at Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest.

On February 17, 2012, Chris Hardwick filmed a one hour stand-up special for Comedy Central in New York City. Jonah Ray was his unaired opener.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Hardwick gave up drinking alcohol in 2003.^[21] He dated singer Lisa Loeb in 2004.^[22] He was in a relationship with actress Janet Varney from 2004^[23] until 2011.^[24] Hardwick is dating Chloe Dykstra.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Television work[link]

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As himself[link]

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References[link]

External links[link]

• Chris Hardwick
• Chris Hardwick on Twitter
• Chris Hardwick at the Internet Movie Database
• "Chris Hardwick: Nerdism For Fun And Profit" at LAist.com
• Wired Science Team: Chris Hardwick