Byron J. Benjamin
The president of Delmar Insurance, Byron J. Benjamin has been put in the unusual position of hiring a superhero!
Fiction
Benjamin discovered his employee Joseph Rambo tampering with Delmar's computers and using his knowledge to steal from their clients. He fired Rambo, though he would carry a grudge.
Returning home to his apartment one night, Benjamin discovered the place had been ransacked by the Binary Bug. Fortunately, Machine Man and Peter Spaulding had been on the scene and had managed to prevent the theft of Benjamin's million dollar bonds. Spaulding was actually there to ask his old friend if there was a job going for Machine Man and, despite his bemusement that a robotic superhero would need a job, hired him in gratitude.
The following Monday, Benjamin showed Machine Man – alias Aaron Stack – around his new workplace, though the tour was interrupted by Patrick Gilroy, and the two men discussed their concerns about the Anderson policy. The Binary Bug raided the Anderson estate that night; the following morning, Benjamin held a meeting, reassigning his investigators to looking into the spate of robberies, all of which were causing Delmar to pay out massive amounts of money. Byte of the Binary Bug!
After catching Aaron scolding his bantering co-workers Eddie Harris and Maggie Jones, Benjamin called him into his office. He told Aaron that people were starting to sense something strange about him, and to really fit in with the people, he should lighten up and associate on their level. The instant Aaron left his office, he was invited to a party for Tom and Ginny Williams, which he immediately accepted. Xanadu!
Benjamin had Pamela Quinn call Aaron into his office to tell him about a fire at the Alternative Resources Centre, one of Delmar's major clients. He ordered Aaron to get down there ASAP to assess the damage and offer help, though it was unclear if he meant in a superhero or an insurance capacity. Kill Me or Cure Me
After Baron Brimstone stole the Sol-Mac from Chem-Solar, Benjamin stuck his neck out to secure specs on the device to help Aaron with his insurance and/or superheroic investigation. The news was once again delivered by Pamela. Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!
For years, Benjamin had had his people at Delmar developing a super-embassy, a type of building impregnable to attack for the purposes of diplomatic missions. One morning in October, Benjamin called an emergency meeting to announce to his top staff that the super-embassy would be put on the market on Halloween with an inaugural costume party and a guest list full of foreign dignitaries. As the meeting drew to a close, he collared Aaron and asked him to personally ensure that nothing went wrong with the grand opening – subtextually recruiting Machine Man for the task.
In fact, Machine Man's help was definitely needed, as the super-embassy was infiltrated by Jack O'Lantern, who planned to ransom the building's high profile hostages. After thwarting this plot, Aaron underwent a nine hour surgical procedure courtesy of his mechanic friend Gears Garvin. While he was out, Benjamin phoned Peter to say that Jack O'Lantern's capture made international headlines, and that the super-embassy would go back to the drawing board. Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!
Notes
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- The next appearance of Byron J. Benjamin in Marvel Comics was in ROM issue 21,
which revealed that he had been replaced (and killed?) by a Dire Wraith at an unknown point in time, leaving it ambiguous as to whether it was the original Benjamin or his Wraith duplicate that appeared in Machine Man. The question ended up being pretty academic after issue 22, in which the Wraith Benjamin shot himself in the head rather than face his masters' punishment for his failure to kill ROM.
