Hammerstein (character)

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Hammerstein is a fictional robot, a Mark III war droid created by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill. He first appeared in 1978 in Ro-Busters and is best known as the leader of the ABC Warriors in 2000AD. Built to fight the Volgan Wars, he carries a hammer on his right fist, a missile launcher on his back, and has tank tracks for feet. He can attach extra arms from his waist, though he finds that embarrassing. His battle head looks human, but after decommissioning he wears a plain civilian head with a square eye.

In the stories, the ABC Warriors are robot soldiers designed to wage war in any terrain. Hammerstein is among the first. Mk I killed civilians; Mk II gained artificial morality; Mk III adds emotions like patriotism and the belief that the enemy is evil. The creators try to harmonize him by forcing him to feel emotions; his first real feeling is jealousy, which leads him to kill the programmers.

He becomes a trusted sergeant under Sergeant Country Farmer, leads other robots, and grows uneasy with human warfare. He even removes a pain barrier to help a dying comrade, which ends badly. Later he teams with Colonel Lash to form Martian peacekeepers and fights across Earth and Mars, before being drawn into many other adventures with Nemesis the Warlock, Terri, Deadlock, and more.

Judge Dredd crossovers followed, including a 1995 film where Hammerstein is reactivated as Rico's bodyguard.