Atlas in his primary role is Astro Boy’s younger brother, created by Dr. Tenma, the same scientist who created Astro.  Although the origin stories of both Astro Boy and of Atlas vary, generally speaking, Atlas is created by Dr. Tenma after his disappointment in Astro.

Atlas is as powerful if not more powerful than Astro, with the same super-brain technology capable of thinking like a human.  Yet, he does not have to obey the robot laws which make Astro unable to reject and rebel against humanity.  Free from Astro’s restrictions, Atlas comes to the conclusion that robots and humans can never coexist peacefully together without robots being oppressed and exploited, so attempts to lead a robot revolution and found a robot nation.

In the animated Metropolis (2001) movie, Atlas appears as a human revolutionary leader leading a revolution for the rights of human workers displaced by robots. While this is a deliberate reversal of this original story, it is also a striking example of how Tezuka’s Star System explores characters who tend to fall into the same types of lives regardless of the circumstances they encounter.

Although unconfirmed, it is believed that Atlas also appears in Black Jack (1973-83), Chapters “Your Mistake!” (1976) and “Black Jack in Hospital” (1977) as an irresponsible young doctor, who is quick to pawn his mistakes off on others.  One of the reasons for this is that his father, the hospital director, is played by Dr. Tenma.

(Source: Tezuka In English)

Greg Cipes

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