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00:00Sergeant Corey Mills is the most decorated officer in the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit.
00:05He's the best of the very best.
00:07So when Lex Luthor unveils his latest innovation, the series Alpha Battlesuit,
00:12he's the obvious candidate to take it for a spin.
00:15The suit is meant to be the next step in law enforcement,
00:18a mechanical miracle that turns one man into an army.
00:21It's bulletproof, fireproof and built for flight.
00:24It even comes with built-in rockets, grenades and a laser powerful enough to mimic Superman's heat vision,
00:29essentially it's Superman in a tin can, minus the conscience.
00:33At first it seems like a success story, Mills pulls people from burning buildings,
00:37stops bank robbers and even saves a lost kitty.
00:40All with the precision and flair of a man who's found his calling.
00:44Superman doesn't see him as a threat either, he's genuinely happy to have help.
00:48Though Mills' handshake, just a bit too firm and a little too performative,
00:53hints at what's coming.
00:54Because that's the trick with power.
00:56It almost never announces itself as corruption, it's presented as efficiency, progress or even heroism.
01:02But it doesn't take much to sour it.
01:04The episode that he debuts in, Prototype, sets this up beautifully.
01:09Here's a man who's earned his authority and served with honour.
01:13He seems to be a genuinely decent person and yet once he straps into Lex's miracle of modern engineering,
01:19you can already feel him slipping away.
01:21The series Alpha Battlesuit may be metal and circuitry, but what it really represents is temptation.
01:27It's the fantasy that power alone can make the world a better place.
01:31And as Prototype shows us, the moment you start believing that, you've already lost.
01:37If the series Alpha Battlesuit feels familiar,
01:40that's because it's built from the same cultural wiring as half of the 80s and 90s sci-fi canon.
01:44The clearest influence as far as I'm concerned is Robocop,
01:48a decorated officer turned into a weapon by corporate greed.
01:51Both men are meant to symbolise progress through technology
01:54and both end up illustrating how progress without conscience turns flesh into property and subsequently profit.
02:00LexCorp isn't so different from OCP either.
02:03Both believe the world can be perfected if you just replace enough people with machines.
02:08But Prototype also borrows from Spider-Man, specifically the Venom symbiote.
02:12Like that alien parasite, the LexCorp's suit bonds with its host,
02:16amplifying his aggression and feeding off his darker impulses.
02:20It whispers power and promises purpose, all while eating away at the person inside.
02:27Mills talks about the rush, about feeling stronger, faster and more alive while wearing the suit.
02:33It's not just the thrill of control though, it's addiction too.
02:36Every time he uses the suit, it sinks a little deeper into his psyche,
02:40convincing him that he needs it to stay relevant, to stay powerful and to stay himself.
02:45And of course that's how power always works.
02:47It gives you everything until you can't live without it.
02:51There's also a deliberate parallel to Superman here as I alluded to earlier.
02:55Both men can fly, lift cars and stop bullets.
02:57But only one understands restraint.
02:59Mills mistakes power for purpose, while Superman treats power as a responsibility.
03:04And this contrast is very deliberate, I'm certain.
03:07This isn't just a story about technology going wrong,
03:10it's a story about might doesn't necessarily make you right.
03:15And just to get ahead of the, well actually crowd,
03:17yes I know that some wikis claim he's similar to a flash villain called The Suit,
03:21a sentient costume possessed by an interdimensional entity.
03:24But The Suit's debut occurred in a comic that was released the same month that this episode aired.
03:29Anyone who knows how long animation takes will understand how it's damn near impossible for the pair to be linked.
03:35So let's bury that myth right here before someone tries to resurrect it in the comments.
03:39At first Sergeant Corey Mills seems like the perfect candidate for Lex's little science project.
03:44He's honorable, decorated and dedicated to protecting the people of Metropolis.
03:48Hell he's even got blonde hair and blue eyes making him the all American template.
03:52For all his courage and his accolades he's still only human though,
03:56and it doesn't take long before the power starts to go to his head.
03:59When he apprehends a group of bank robbers the job's already done the moment they surrender.
04:03But Mills doesn't stop, he keeps hitting them again and again.
04:07It's no longer about justice, it's about domination.
04:10The news reports on the events as disturbing, but not everyone sees the problem.
04:15His wife Trish delights in seeing him on the news,
04:17seemingly ignoring the fact that he's just brutalized prisoners.
04:20She only starts to worry when he shaves off his trademark blonde locks to improve the connection
04:25with the suit.
04:26He starts to talk about the suit like it's alive, like it's his partner.
04:29He says he can feel it making him stronger every time he uses it,
04:33and he's a better person because of it.
04:35And that is the language of an addict.
04:37Trish notes his mood swings, aggression and obsession,
04:40and begs him to take time off to let someone else handle it for a while.
04:43But you don't tell an addict to take a break from their high.
04:46Mills is hooked, not just on the power itself,
04:48but on what it makes him feel, invincible, indispensable,
04:52and like the world really needs him.
04:54This is where Prototype really bears its teeth,
04:58because as Mills spirals,
04:59we see how easy it is to mistake control for righteousness.
05:03Power doesn't just corrupt,
05:04it convinces you that it's making you noble.
05:07The suit feeds his ego, rewires his morality,
05:11and before long he's just another weapon with a badge.
05:13And then there's Superman, the counterpoint.
05:15The man who has more power than anyone else yet treats it as a duty, not a prize.
05:20He doesn't lash out in anger, he never hits harder than he has to.
05:24He could rule the planet before breakfast if he really wanted to,
05:27but he doesn't.
05:28And that's what makes him extraordinary.
05:30Mills, this bastion of virtue, collapses under the weight of borrowed strength.
05:35He thinks it's his purpose, his destiny,
05:37and that he'd be nothing without it.
05:38Superman, meanwhile, carries infinite power every day and never falls.
05:42And I just want to go back to the earlier plot point
05:46where Mills decides to shave his head and its symbolic significance.
05:50On paper, it's a technical necessity.
05:52He says it'll improve his neural connection to the suit,
05:55but visually it says something else entirely.
05:57The moment he runs that razor over his scalp,
06:00the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American hero, is gone.
06:03What's left behind looks familiar, though.
06:05He resembles Lex Luthor.
06:07That can't be an accident.
06:08Superman comics have a long history of tying baldness to villainy.
06:11Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Parasite, Mr Mixes, Piddalick, even Darkseid, I suppose.
06:15It's as if the absence of hair in this world represents something more sinister.
06:20A sterile, clinical perfection that's come at the cost of empathy.
06:24Superman, with his iconic curl, is organic, imperfect, and human.
06:30His enemies, smooth and polished, are the opposite.
06:32Intellect stripped from compassion and ambition detached from morality.
06:36So when Mills shaves his head, he isn't just syncing with the suit,
06:40he's symbolically aligning himself with the people who built it.
06:43He's becoming a LexCorp product, sculpted in his employer's image.
06:48When the flesh and metal fuse, it's also the absolutist ideology taking root.
06:54And the change isn't subtle.
06:56Mills loses his warmth, his empathy, and the little quirks that made him human.
07:00The blonde hero is gone, and his place stands a chrome-plated reflection of Lex Luthor's dream.
07:05When he looks in the mirror, he probably sees strength, but what he's really seeing is cruelty.
07:11Amidst all the chaos, one man is watching and learning.
07:13John Henry Irons, the actual creator of the series Alpha Battlesuit.
07:17He does believe in the concept itself, battlesuits that can empower normal human beings.
07:22But he objects to launching before they fully understand the impact the suit has on a person's mind.
07:27He watches in horror as his creation strips Mills of his humanity.
07:31Every day that passes makes the man inside a little smaller, a little colder,
07:35until there's nothing left but aggression wrapped in alloy.
07:38Irons comes to realise that the suit is a mirror, and what it shows him is LexCorp's soul,
07:43and he doesn't like what he sees.
07:45When Luthor dismisses his concerns, he resigns on the spot,
07:48refusing to have anything else to do with the project.
07:51To Luthor, people are prototypes, not partners.
07:54They're replaceable, expendable, and disposable.
07:57Irons is the opposite, though.
07:58He has morals that match his genius, and this is the episode that plants the seeds of the hero Steel.
08:05Where Mills succumbs to power, Irons learns from it.
08:08He takes the same raw materials and turns them into something noble.
08:11If Mills is what happens when technology consumes a man,
08:15then Irons is the proof that morality can still master the machine.
08:19Although that's probably a topic for a future video.
08:21Let me know in the comments if you want to hear more about Steel.
08:24When Mills goes too far and almost murders a group of car thieves,
08:29he's placed on medical leave by Maggie Sawyer.
08:32This infuriates Mills, and he refuses to believe that he has a problem.
08:36Clearly the problem is everyone else, and so he decides to take matters into his own hands.
08:40At this point, he's far past the realm of reason.
08:43He's a bully in search of his next target.
08:45When he goes on the run, he turns to Lex Luthor for help, who feigns support.
08:49Luthor, ever the visionary, handles the crisis with his usual moral backbone.
08:54He uses a jamming device, literally jabbing it in his back,
08:58and calls in his private security team to clean it up, and hopes nobody finds out.
09:03Of course, Mills breaks the jammer by falling on it.
09:05Seriously, there's a major design flaw right there.
09:08Considering how many geniuses looked over those plans, it's shocking that no one saw that coming.
09:12Mills realises that he has no allies, and decides to punish Luthor for his treachery
09:16by threatening him with his own pet shark.
09:19Fortunately, Superman arrives to save the day.
09:21What follows is a brutal showdown between Superman and his metal imitator.
09:25It's two unstoppable forces crashing through concrete and flames.
09:29Mills fights dirty, even blinding Superman with a laser to the face.
09:33The kind of move Superman would never stoop to.
09:35This further illustrates the difference between the two.
09:37Despite all of the things that Mills has done, Superman isn't trying to end him though.
09:41He wants to save him.
09:43He knows that underneath the suit, there's still a man in there who once wanted to help
09:47people.
09:48Eventually, Superman overloads the suit with electricity, frying its circuits and leaving
09:52Mills comatose, which is pretty ironic when you think about it.
09:55The man, consumed by power, is literally taken down by power.
09:58When we see him again, he stares blankly ahead in his hospital bed.
10:01He's vacant, but still alive.
10:03We're told that he will recover, but it's going to take time.
10:06Thankfully, he has his wife by his side to support him.
10:09Corey Mills represents the seductive idea that power alone can solve the world's problems.
10:14That if we just give people the right tools, the right tech, or the right authority, everything
10:19else will fall into place.
10:21But power without principle doesn't actually fix anything.
10:24It only amplifies what's already there.
10:26Mills began as the perfect soldier.
10:28He was loyal, brave, and disciplined.
10:29But the moment he's given limitless strength, all those virtues collapse.
10:33The armor that was meant to protect him becomes the thing that consumes him.
10:36He's the prototype, not just of LexCorp's weapon, but of humanity's oldest mistake,
10:42believing that might equals right.
11:06And special thanks to my channel members, everyone who was a member at the time of this video's
11:20creation is listed on the screen right now.
11:23If you want to see your name amongst all these wonderful people, join the channel now.
11:36Next time, when I return on Monday, it'll be time to return to the results of my latest
11:48The Batman Villain Poll.
11:50This time we'll be talking about their version of Spellbinder.
11:53And next Friday, I want to talk about an unassuming episode of Superman the Animated Series
11:59that sowed the seeds for the DC Animated Universe as we know it.
12:02Yes, I want to talk to you about speed demons.
12:06Hope to see you then.
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