T.E.S.S.-One

"Ain't she a beauty? Tough old gal -- Shoots a hell of a plasma beam too."

- Taskmaster

T.E.S.S.-One is a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. It is an enemy of Wolverine, Captain America, the Avengers and Spider-Man.

History
When the Super-Soldier Project was first begun during WWII, there was a special meeting between President Roosevelt, top members of the War Department and various scientists. One of the scientists, Professor Schumann, feared that once an army of super-soldiers won the war, they would return home and take over America. Schumann suggested the creation of a special robot, T.E.S.S.-One (Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers), that would be built to neutralize super-soldiers. F.D.R. went ahead and okayed the suggested project.

Unfortunately, the only man who knew how to create super-soldiers, Professor Erskine, was killed after creating only one super-soldier, Steve Rogers (Captain America). Now useless, the TESS project funds were cut off, and Schumann was ordered to destroy his work. Instead, the paranoid Schumann took his work to his home somewhere in the Midwest. He completed building the robot, and programmed it to kill Captain America. Schumann eventually died, and left the robot in a bomb shelter underneath his house.

Years later, a retired agent of espionage organization SHIELD, Richard Rennselaer, somehow found out about Schumann's robot. Rennsaeler was a mutant that could mentally control machines. Rennsaeler's son, Johnny, had been afflicted with "Nuclear Psychosis," causing the boy to totally withdraw from reality. The psychosis was caused by the knowledge of the possibility of nuclear war and its effects. The desperate Rennsaeler decided to use his powers to control Schumann's robot and make sure that the possibility of nuclear war was eliminated. He mentally activated the robot, and made it come to him. The robot left the underground bomb shelter, which was now located underneath the parking lot of a Kwikkie Burger. No one saw the robot leave, but everyone noticed the hole in the parking lot the next morning. Two men went down to investigate, but didn't come back up. Captain America's computer information network, Stars and Stripes, informed him about the apparent cave-in and the missing people. Captain America investigated and found the two men unconscious, knocked out by phosgene gas. Captain America rescued the men and then continued to explore the bomb shelter. After avoiding a few more death traps, Captain America discovered the room where the robot had been kept. From clues in the room, Captain America deduced that the room must have once contained a large robot. Captain America found out that the land had once belonged to a retired government man, named Schumann. Captain America then asked all the members of his Stars and Stripes network to be on the lookout for a large robot.

Meanwhile, near Salem Center, New York, the X-Man known as Wolverine encountered Bob Frank, who was attacked by the patrons of a bar that Wolverine was at. Bob Frank had once been the super-powered mutant known as Nuklo, the son of the WWII hero, the Whizzer. Frank easily defeated the drunken men and wandered away from the bar. A curious Wolverine followed Frank through the woods. Nearby, Rennsaeler, who now called himself Overrider, was preparing to hijack a semi-truck. He briefly lost control of Schumann's robot, which he called T.E.S.S.-One The wandering robot encountered Bob Frank and attacked him for some reason. Wolverine intervened and saved Frank, but the robot got away.

Overrider gained control over T.E.S.S.-One again, and hijacked a truck going to Adametco Metallurgy. Arriving at the company, Overrider forced some worker to coat T.E.S.S.-One with a layer of Adamantium. Following different trails, Captain America and Wolverine arrived at Adametco just after TESS had been covered with the Adamantium. The two heroes fought T.E.S.S.-One and Overrider, but the robot and its master were able to escape. Captain America and Wolverine split up to follow their own leads and met a day later. Captain America found out about the robot's origin, while Wolverine found out who Overrider was. Captain America was contacted by one of the members of his Stars and Stripes network, who had sighted TESS in the back of a van, near an air base in Nebraska. Wolverine and Captain America arrived at the base after Overrider had begun his attack. Working together, the two heroes were able to severe T.E.S.S.-One's head, disabling the robot. Captain America and Wolverine stopped Overrider before he sent all of America's nuclear missiles to the bottom of the sea, without detonating them.

Much later after being placed in the custody of the US army, T.E.S.S.-One was activated by the Super-Adaptoid, and made a member of a loose-knit team of robots, Heavy Metal, after he adapted the appearance and abilities of the Fixer and Mentallo. T.E.S.S.-One and the robots were ordered by the Adaptoid to attack the hero team Avengers on their floating headquarters, Hydro-Base. She-Hulk and Marrina forced TESS off the island, causing the robot to plummet to the bottom of the ocean.

T.E.S.S.-One would resurface when Dr. Doom and his henchmen retrieve the robot two thousand feet from the New Jersey Shore. Dr. Doom repairs T.E.S.S.-One and added modifications to the robot's micro-processor as part of Project Power. It now has the ability to absorb any materials or energies it requires to fulfill its mission. Dr. Doom sends T.E.S.S.-One on a mission to eliminate the cosmic powered Spider Man during the Acts of Vengeance. T.E.S.S.-One is destroyed by a powerful cosmic blast by Spider Man and is scattered through out the ocean floor. Dr. Doom retrieves the skull-casing with a homing device knowing that the artifact absorbed a quantity of the energies Spider Man expended during the battle for his own personal needs.

A fair time later T.E.S.S.-One was brought out of retirement by the Taskmaster to train A.I.M. agents while he was a member of the High Council. Despite their attempts the agents were unsuccessful in taking down the robot until Taskmaster shut it down to prevent loss of life.