| Mother Box | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Forever People #1 (March 1971) |
| Created by | Jack Kirby |
| In story information | |
| Type | Computer, Technology |
| Element of stories featuring | New Gods |
Mother Boxes are fictional devices in Jack Kirby's Fourth World setting in the DC Universe.
The Mother Boxes appeared in the feature films Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League of the DC Extended Universe.
Created by Apokoliptian scientist Himon using the mysterious Element X, Mother Boxes are generally thought to be sentient, miniaturized, portable supercomputers, although their true nature and origins are unknown. [1] They possess a variety of abilities not understood even by their users, the gods of New Genesis. These range from teleportation to energy manipulation, and Mother Boxes have even been seen healing the injured, including Darkseid himself, after he was beaten by Doomsday. The Boxes provide their owner with unconditional love and self-destruct when their owner dies.
Mother Boxes are most often in the shape of a small box, but they can also be much larger (as is the one carried by the Forever People), and do not always need to be in the shape of a box at all (Mister Miracle had Mother Box circuitry woven into the hood of his costume). They usually communicate with a repetitive "ping!" which can be understood by their users.
Mother Boxes can only be manufactured by a being born either on New Genesis or Apokolips, and not all of them can do it (at least one on Apokolips failed). This is accomplished through much training. It is implied in the books that the maker's character influences the successful construction of a Mother Box.
The Father Box is an Apokoliptian version of a Mother Box, which first appeared in the Orion series by Walt Simonson in 2000. Darkseid's former aide Mortalla presents Orion with an Apokoliptian Father Box. In Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle storyline, a Father Box is mentioned as one of the "Seven Treasures" the New Gods left to Aurakles. Eventually, it was stolen by Klarion the Witch Boy, who took it to the future. Doctor Impossible and Teen Titans member Power Boy have also been shown to use Father Boxes.
In a 2008 article, John Hodgman observed: "Mister Miracle, a warrior of Apokolips who flees to Earth to become a 'super escape artist', keeps a 'Mother Box' up his sleeve — a small, living computer that can enable its user to do almost anything, so long as it is sufficiently loved. In Kirby's world, all machines are totems: weapons and strange vehicles fuse technology and magic, and the Mother Box in particular uncannily anticipates the gadget fetishism that infects our lives today. The Bluetooth headset may well be a Kirby creation". [2] Similarly, Mike Cecchini of Den of Geek described the Mother Box as "an alien smartphone that can do anything from heal the injured to teleport you across time and space", [3] and Christian Holub in Entertainment Weekly called it "basically a smartphone, as designed by gods". [4] Mother Boxes have also been interpreted as a symbol of the "ideal mother" and an example of the role of motherhood in Kirby's Fourth World stories. [5]
The whole idea of a spirit of a Mother Box sort of revivifying a dead body is an incredible science fiction idea. We really started to break down as we were writing what is a Mother Box, what is a Father Box and how does this work when a spirit from a Mother Box comes out goes into a dead body, comes alive and is now informed by biology and hormones that the technology of the Mother Box never supplied it before. It's gotta create a lot of confusion and identity.
On the show, we have the gender-fluid character of Halo, a gifted individual created as a result of the fusion of a Quraci girl and the spirit of a Motherbox. Halo then chooses the name Violet Harper for themselves.
Previous episodes depicted Vic losing control due to Father Box's corruption, only for Halo to help heal him, as she's the soul of a Mother Box. But it's only a stopgap measure, leaving Vic even more frustrated than before...The heroes place Vic in the seat, then instruct it, using Dreamer's Mother Box translator, to cure Cyborg.
While Flash is doing his nightly check at the maximum security prison, Joker pops in with a Mother Box and kidnaps Lex to have the best day ever!
