Atlas

Atlas is a robot who appears in all of the Astro Boy series. He is a robot with the ability to defy the rules of robotics present in the Astro Boy universe and has the ability to hurt humans. While his appearances were brief in the original 1960s series, he plays a major role in the 1980s and 2003 series.

Manga
In the manga, Atlas was a robot built by Dr. Ram for revenge on humans. He was given the Omega Factor so that he could hurt humans, which made him violent towards robots and humans alike.

1960s series
In the 1960's series, he was created by a man named Don Tay, who's ancestors were slaves, Don Tay wanted revenge on the human race for enslaving his ancestors. Atlas and Astro Boy had sort of a rivalry, but it lasted only the one episode.

Atlas (called Ferno) first appeared in episode 26 "Don Tay's Infernal Machine" (Japan: "Atlas" "アトラス" )

1980s series


Main article: Atlas/1980s

In the 1980s series, creator Osamu Tezuka chose to develop this character's role to be more involved in the story. In this series, Atlas was built using the same blueprint for creating Astro Boy; these blueprints had been stolen by the criminal Skunk, another common antagonist of the more modern Astro Boy stories. Atlas' facial features resemble those of Astro, but his overall appearance varies greatly, with a vibrant red skin tone and golden hair.

2003 series
Main article: Atlas/2003

Atlas is a robot in the 2003 anime version of Astro Boy. He's a robot with kokoro, a program that gives robots freewill and emotions, and was formerly human. He serves as a temporary villain and eventually helps Astro stop the fighting between humans and robots.

Trivia:

 * Atlas appears in Tetsuwan Atom for Super Famicom in his child form, despite being based in the 1980 version. His adult form was cut out from the game.
 * Atlas appears in Tetsuwan Atom: Tap Tap Rush as a boss in his adult form based in his 1980 version.
 * The 1980's Atlas seems more similar to the 1960's Blue Knight due to their similar roles and backstories, with the exception that Atlas was made with stolen blueprints. It worth of note that 1980 Atlas can be nicknamed as "Red Knight".Astro Boy Reboot Atlas.jpg
 * Atlas in the 2003 version is based more off his original 1960's counterpart, however with a new body armor and jets located in his back instead of being located in the middle of his crotch (1950's manga) or ears (1963's anime series).
 * Due the recasting of Atlas as Atom's brother, Cobalt who was Atom's brother in the original series was removed since his role would be redundant.
 * Atlas is confirmed to appear in the upcoming 2017 series Astro Boy Reboot.