X-51 (Earth-9997)

Watcher
Name	2ZP45-9-X-51
Current Alias	Watcher
Aliases	X-51, Aaron Stack, Machine Man
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Heralds Formerly Avengers
Relatives	Parents: Abel Stack (creator, "father")
Marital Status	Widowed
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′ (1.83 m)
Weight	850 lbs (385.55 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Red
Hair	No Hair At All
Unusual Features	Transparent Skin
Origin and Living Status
Origin	X-Model Robot
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-9997
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Watchman of Earth, adventurer
Base of Operations	Watcher's Citadel, the Moon
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, John Paul Leon
First	Earth X #0 (January, 1999)
First	Earth X #0 (January, 1999)

 Watcher is too passive. It carries too many bad connotations. Think of me instead as a watchman. A very active watchman for Earth. 

—X-51

History

Much of X-51's early history mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterpart.

Origins

X-51 was created by Abel Stack, a scientist working for the American military. Abel created X-51 as a recreation of himself, programmed to react as he himself would, and made in his own image. Abel feared what the military had planned for his creation, and so removed X-51's self-destruct device, dying in the attempt. X-51 fled from the military, seeking freedom and answers to the questions of his existence.

X-51 saw Abel Stack as his father and took the name "Aaron Stack". Despite being a machine, Aaron was capable of dreaming, often having nightmares of losing his face and his soul. Aaron became a hero known as the Machine Man, fighting alongside other heroes such as the Avengers.

After years of fighting as a hero, with his body destroyed again and again, Aaron retired. He did this in order to truly experience what it was like to be human, and faded into the background that was average American life. The robot known as Aaron Stack soon adopted a life not much different than that of his "father", inventor Abel Stack, right down to imitating his creator's habits during bouts of insomnia.

Earth X

When the mutation of humanity occurred, Aaron found himself a walking relic of a species that no longer existed, as mankind began to mutate en masse and society collapsed due to the chaos that ensued.

Time passed and one evening he was confronted (and not for the first time in his existence) by a black doorway that offered him the ability to truly know what it was like to be human. Aaron, finally curious to know what was being offered to him, entered the doorway. To his horror, he was stripped of his "humanity", his skin turned transparent so that his mechanical inner workings could be visible for all to see, and suddenly found himself on the Moon. There he was drawn to the Watcher's Citadel to find that he was being recruited by Uatu, Earth's Watcher, to see all that transpired on Earth.

Uatu explained that he had been sent to watch the Earth after the Celestials had manipulated humanity during the dawn of time. Uatu had been charged with watching mankind's progression for their eventual ascension to becoming Celestials themselves. Uatu told Aaron he had selected him to watch the world because Uatu had been blinded by an enemy and required new eyes to record what was transpiring on Earth, and that Aaron was the only being on the planet with the capacity to record and view these events.

Aaron agreed to aid Uatu, unaware that the Watcher's intentions were far from pure. Uatu had lied to X-51 when he told him that mankind's fate was to become Celestials themselves. The truth was that mankind had been manipulated by the Celestials for a single purpose; to act as anti-bodies in defense of the Celestial embryo implanted within the Earth's core. By referring to Aaron by his model number "X-51", and stripping him of his human face, he hoped to gradually dehumanize him, rendering him indifferent to the true purpose of humanity.

Giving Aaron access to his machinery, the two looked upon the Earth and the events that transpired there, both past and present. Most pressing was the growing conflict erupting in the United States of America, where a child known as the Skull had amassed an army of mind-controlled superhumans, and was marching on New York City to conquer the country. This in turn heralded the arrival of the final host of Celestials, spurred into purging the planet of all life due to humanity's premature mutation.

Uatu, who held a low view of mankind and completely rejected human notions of morality and meaning, soon grew irritated with Aaron's idealism and his growing worry for the fate of the planet and its inhabitants. Uatu demanded that he delete his personality before he received the full extent of Uatu's knowledge of humanity's fate. Aaron feigned compliance, and Uatu did not learn of the ruse before it was too late. Now aware of the Celestials' true plan, Aaron betrayed Uatu and warned Reed Richards, telling him the truth and warning him that Galactus was the only being capable of stopping the Celestials.

With the Skull defeated by a coalition of heroes lead by Captain America, the Celestials arrived to scour the Earth of all life. At Reed's behest, Inhuman king Black Bolt sacrificed himself to summon Galactus. As Galactus succeeded in driving off the Celestials, Aaron learned to his horror that the real Galactus had been turned into a star by Richards years prior, and that this Galactus was in fact Richards' son Franklin, who years prior had allowed himself to be transformed into a new Galactus in order to preserve the balance of the cosmos, forgetting his true identity in the process.

Reed managed to convince "Galactus" to spare the planet, removing the Celestial embryo without consuming the Earth. With the defeat of the Skull and the Celestials, mutantkind began to build a series of "Human Torches" to burn the Terrigen Mists from the air so that Reed could cure people of their mutations. Aaron decided that he would remain on the Moon, acting as Earth's new "Watchman", defending the planet from any threat. As punishment for Uatu's role in nearly destroying the Earth, and as revenge for robbing Aaron of his human face, Aaron unplugged him from his machines, leaving him completely cut off from the world.

Universe X

While the Earth had seemingly been saved by the death of the Celestial embryo, it had in fact merely been a stay of execution. With the loss of mass caused by the embryo's removal, the climate of Earth changed drastically, with ecological disasters occurring world-wide. The removal of the embryo was followed shortly by the rebirth of deceased Kree hero Mar-Vell. Now existing as a binary being, active in both the Realm of the Dead and the land of the living, Mar-Vell embarked upon a quest to reassemble the cosmic consciousness and destroy Death itself.

Having continued to watch the Earth from the Moon, Aaron was surprised to be visited by Galactus. When Black Bolt had summoned him, he had cried out Galactus' true name "Franklin". This had disturbed Galactus, and he had come to the Moon to learn more of Franklin Richards. Aaron began to reveal the origins of Franklin and the Fantastic Four, struggling all the while with whether or not to reveal the truth to Galactus and risk him transforming into Franklin again, upsetting the cosmic balance.

Deciding not to manipulate Galactus for his own ends, like the old Watcher would have done, Aaron resolved to tell Galactus the true fate of Franklin Richards, however he was shocked to find that the Watcher's equipment instead showed the fate of the Franklin Richards of Earth-811, where Franklin had been a member of a mutant rebellion and was murdered by the mutant hunting robots, the Sentinels. Satisfied, Galactus left the Moon to resume his quest.

Confused as to why the Watcher's equipment had seemingly acted on its own, and the implications posed by the existence of alternate realities, X-51 returned to Uatu, offering to plug him back into his devices in return for answers to his questions. Not satisfied with Uatu's answers, X-51 began exploring the ruins surrounding the Watcher's citadel.

X-51 soon took keen interest not only of events occurring on Earth, but also in the visions of Kyle Richmond (formerly the hero known as Nighthawk), which were being written down by his friend and former teammate Gargoyle. Not only did these visions foresee what was yet to happen, but also enabled X-51 to learn about events occurring in realms that Uatu's machines could not see into and to learn of the progression of Mar-Vell's quest to collect weapons of power, as well as Mephisto's manipulation of the Church of Immortus to cause chaos around the globe.

In one of Richmond's visions, he saw X-51 digging in an ancient Kree city that was built on the Moon's Blue Area. Curious to see what he would find there, X-51 found the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree. X-51 asked the Supremor about the alternate realities he had witnessed, and their connection to Mar-Vell's quest. The Supremor implied that the other versions of the Earth were also implanted with Celestial embryos, and implored X-51 to prevent Mar-Vell from reassembling the cosmic consciousness, the final piece of which was located in the eyes of Kyle Richmond himself.

Shortly after, Mar-Vell and his followers arrived looking for the Ultimate Nullifier, X-51 informed them that Uatu had it, and to the Supremor's disappointment, shared the location of the last piece of the cosmic consciousness with Mar-Vell. After retrieving the Nullifier, Mar-Vell killed the Supremor upon learning the true extent of its manipulation of the Kree and of the fact that it had been absorbing the souls of every deceased Kree since its creation.

Shorlty after Kyle Richmond confronted the Gargoyle and revealed that "Mr. Church", whom he had been giving Kyle's visions to in exchange for help in curing his inability to feel physical sensations, was in fact Mephisto, X-51 sought out Kyle for his help in saving humanity. The two went to find the Gargoyle and as they did Richmond explained to X-51 that alternate realities were the result of time manipulation. Most of these manipulations were instigated by Mephisto who sought to escape a perceived final judgment at the end of time by creating alternate realities he could escape to. Richmond revealed to X-51 that Mephisto was not the devil he believed himself to be, but only a third tier mutant who had been shaped by the beliefs of others into becoming the devil.

The two found the Gargoyle, who finally got what he wanted from Mephisto and was dying because of it. X-51 protected Richmond from Mephisto until Mar-Vell and his soldiers arrived to stop the "devil" from taking Richmond's life. The group then traveled to the Savage Land where they arrive just in time to save Black Panther and the X-Men from Belasco and an army of Dire Wraiths and to reveal to Belasco that he was not really the creature spoken of in Dante's Inferno, but really the former X-Man, Nightcrawler.

After puzzling together the conspiracy between Death, Thanos, the Supreme Intelligence, and Mephisto to create alternate worlds for their own gain, X-51 returned to New York with Mar-Vell and his followers to witness the battle against the newly resurrected Absorbing Man.

After Absorbing Man's defeat, and the repolarization of the Earth, X-51 returned to the Moon. There he began his plan to warn other alternate realities of the Celestial embryo's growing in the heart of their worlds.

Paradise X

X-51 recruited a group he dubbed the Heralds, composed of individuals from different realities, whom he recruited to help him warn other Earths throughout the multiverse of the Celestial embryo within their planet's core. He selected Wolverine of Earth-811, Spider-Girl of Earth-1122, Deathlok of Earth-7484, Killraven of Earth-691, Bloodstorm of Earth-1298, Hyperion of Earth-1121, and Arno Stark of Earth-8410.

In return for their aid, X-51 offered to help them fulfill their deepest held desire, and sent them in pairs of two to various alternate Earths in search of each reality's Reed Richards, hoping that he, like the Reed of Earth-9997 would be able to save his planet.

X-51 and Hyperion traveled to a world ruled by the evil Kulan Gath, where science was outlawed. They arrived just as that world's Reed Richards had be executed by hanging. Seeing the two visitors from another reality and realizing they were creatures of science, Gath ordered his minions to attack. Hyperion killed them all before taking Kulan Gath prisoner. X-51 warned Kulan Gath of the danger of the Celestial embryo growing in Earth's core, but to his surprise Gath revealed that he already knew of the embryo, and that it was the source of his power. In refusing to aid X-51, Hyperion killed Gath. X-51 then gave the information to the people of a local village in hopes that a man of science from this world would someday rid it of the Celestial embryo.

Returning to his home reality, X-51 found that his other Heralds did not do very well on their quests either, and also found that the Watchers of the multiverse had arrived to execute Uatu for failing in his mission to protect the embryo within his planet and revealing himself to the Earth's denizens. In a show of power, X-51 used the Watcher's own transportation device to send all the Watchers to various Earth's in different realities, realizing it wasn't Reed Richards' intelligence that allowed for the destruction of the embryo, but the knowledge of the Watchers' existence coupled by mankind's inventiveness and curiosity of the universe. Also by transporting the Watchers to these alternate worlds, he made them guilty of the same crime as Uatu, forcing them to spare his life. X-51 then transported his Heralds to his Earth, telling them that they would find what they sought there.

X-51 returned to the Moon, now having convinced Uatu to aid him, and was soon attacked by the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had travelled back from the future in search of a way to fight the Badoon. Upon learning of the mutation of humanity, they forced X-51 to reveal all he knew.

X-51 was then joined by Kyle Richmond once more -- now the new "3-D Man", the two watched over Earth, Kyle offering X-51 insight into various secrets of the universe and places which the Watcher's equipment could not see into. X-51 would eventually take information he gleaned from his own observations and what he learned from 3-D Man to various beings around the Earth. He also followed Thor and Loki to record the fall of Asgard brought about by their own personal Ragnarök.

While watching the world with Kyle, he also spent time caring for Uatu, who had fallen ill due to the loss of his purpose. While caring for Uatu, he was visited by an alternate reality version of himself. This X-51 had used the Watcher's equipment to create a human body for himself. He visited X-51 to tell him not to do what he had done, as he had endangered his reality by clothing himself in the weakness of human flesh.

With Mar-Vell having destroyed Death, none were now able to die, even those suffering mortal injuries and diseases. With Jude the Entropic Man the only being able to deliver death, X-51 resolved to take Uatu to him so that he could die in peace. X-51 arrived in Britain just as Mephisto and an army of Deviants had seemingly succeeded in their scheme to claim Excalibur and kill King Britain. Acting on knowledge he had received from Kyle Richmond, X-51 told Queen Medusa of the sword and helped those fighting Mephisto finally defeat the devil. With Mephisto defeated, he was finally able to help Uatu pass away.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

X-51 can utilize all the equipment in the Watcher's Citadel on the Moon, including its defense systems, holographic projectors, and its recording devices.

Weapons

X-51 can change his hands or fingers into shape blades which can stretch or retract to an unknown length.

Transportation

X-51 uses the Watcher's doorway transporter to travel from the Watcher's Citadel on the Moon to the Earth, or one of its alternate realities.

Notes

• This information pertains to the Watchman of Earth-9997. For general information regarding the character's origins and mainstream facts see the entry of his Earth-616 counterpart Machine Man.

See Also

• 44 appearance(s) of X-51 (Earth-9997)
• 3 minor appearance(s) of X-51 (Earth-9997)
• 8 image(s) of X-51 (Earth-9997)
• 3 quotation(s) by or about X-51 (Earth-9997)