Mean Machine Angel

Mean Angel or 'Mean Machine' as he is commonly nicknamed, is a recurring villain in the Judge Dredd comic book series. He is the the son of Elmer 'Pa' Angel and is a member of the notorious Angel gang.

History
As a young boy, Mean was black sheep of the Angel family. In stark contrast to his violent, unruly siblings he was a quiet, gentle boy. Unfortunately for Mean, Pa Angel took great pride in his childrens vicious tendancies and actively encouraged their aggressive behaviour whenever possible, because of this, he considered Mean's placid personality a disappointment and disgrace to the family name.

Seeking to "fix" his son, Pa kidnapped a cybernetics surgeon from nearby Texas city and had him brought back to the family homestead: where he forced him to operate on his son, transforming him from a calm, good natured child into a violent sociopathic cyborg.

As a result of his surgical modification Mean's aggression levels are controlled by a dial installed into his forehead connected directly to his brain. The dial itself has four settings: On rare occasions, an extremely hard headbutt causes Mean Machine's dial to get stuck on 4½, which causes him to go totally berserk, unable to stop headbutting anything he comes across.
 * 1) This is the default setting, at number one he is surly and disagreeable.
 * 2) At this level he gets "mean" in his own words.
 * 3) At three he becomes highly vicious.
 * 4) This his max setting which causes him to go into a rage filled frenzy.

Although Mean possesses a highly dangerous mechanical arm, his preferred way of harming people is charge at them and headbutt them, which because of his reinforced skeleton and chrome-domed head was usually lethal. Given Mean's newly programmed anti-social personality he would do this on a regualar basis to anyone who irritated him (which was almost anyone he came across.)

Comic Book Appearances
Mean Machine appeared along with the rest of the Angel gang during the Judge child saga, during which they were on the run from the law near Texas city. Due to the Angel gang kidnapping the Judge child, this put them at odds with Judge Dredd who at the time was on a mission to find the child. After abducting the Judge child, Mean and the rest of the gang fled into space after hijacking a passenger craft, where they were relentlessly pursued by Dredd. After chasing them halfway across the galaxy, Judge Dredd eventually caught up with the gang on the planet Xanadu. The planet was ruled by a robotic ruler known as the Grunwalder, who agreed to strike a deal with the Angels, in which he would offer them sanctuary from the pursuing Dredd in exchange for the Judge child.

It was here where Mean along with the rest of his family were killed by Dredd before they could seal their deal with the Grunwalder. Whilst fighting Dredd, Mean went to his max setting and ended up headbutting a fuel station in a blind fit of range in an attempt to pulverise the Judge, the resulting explosion killed Mean.

Some time later the Judge Child, seeking revenge on Dredd for intentionally abandoning him on Xanadu, resurrected Mean and sent him back to Earth, where he joined forces with his eldest brother Fink, who had left the gang prior to their first encounter with Dredd and thus not been present when they were wiped out. However Dredd again prevailed, slaying Fink and capturing Mean.

Mean would continue to occasionally escape and cause various acts of mayhem, however after discovering he had inadvertently sired a son who was as innocent as he had once been, Mean was eventually successfully operated on to undo his cybernetic enhancements, returning him to a harmless state.

Appearances Other Media
Mean Machine, along with the rest of the Angel Gang, appeared in the 1995 movie. He was played by Christopher Adamson.