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What kind of birthday present do you get for an aggressive cyborg from the future? Well, you'd better get shopping - Marvel is preparing to celebrate Deathlok's 50th birthday.

Recently, Marvel Comics' executive editor Tom Brevoort announced that the company was working on a "Deathlok 50th anniversary project" for this year.

Originally planned to be named Cyborg, the character initially debuted as Deathlok the Demolisher before simply being known as Deathlok. Originally marketed as "the world's most offbeat superhero," Deathlok eventually segued into being less a 'superhero' and more a sci-fi soldier from the future, predating the Terminator, Cable, and various other characters with a similiar concept.

Deathlok's exact 50th birthdsy would be August 1, 2024, according to Marvel.com's listing of his first appearance: 1974's Astonishing Tales #25. The idea of a man brought back from the dead with 'Deathlok' technology has been something interwoven across the Marvel Universe over the years - with four major iterations of Deathlok across titles as varied as Fantastic Four, X-Force, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iterations of the character have, of course, started in multiple short-lived ongoing Deathlok series.

Two iterations of Deathlok have appeared in the MCU, if you still count the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Angel alum J. August Richards played Mike Peterson, while the late Bill Paxton played John Garrett.

Marvel has not yet revealed details on their plans for the "Deathlok 50th anniversary project," so stay tuned for more.

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Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Which Secret Wars comic the Russos are basing Avengers 6 off of
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Marvel's accidental closure on the Kang storyline
• Robert Downey Jr. is entering his villain era
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• For Marvel actors, the MCU also stands for the Marvel Commercials Universe
• The Fantastic 4: First Steps offers Marvel a visual makeover, courtesy of a classic movie designer
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga