Machine Man (also known as Aaron Stack, Mister Machine, and serial number Z2P45-9-X-51 or X-51 for short) is a fictional character, an android superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Jack Kirby for 2001: A Space Odyssey #8 (July 1977), a comic written and drawn by Kirby featuring concepts based on the eponymous Stanley Kubrick feature film and Arthur C. Clarke novel. Shortly thereafter, Machine Man spun off into his own Kirby-created series. He is a robot, the only survivor of a series, raised as a human son of scientist Abel Stack, who was killed removing his auto-destruct mechanism, and further evolved to sentience by a Monolith.