Super Joe Mulloy: The Man Who Built His Own Worst Enemy

Joe Mulloy has never met anyone he considers worth his time. He’s brilliant, contemptuous, and used to getting exactly what he wants. In his lab, even his most advanced robots behave like servants. They bow, scrape, and rush to please him.

But Mulloy is bored with obedience. He wants a real opponent. He wants a mind that won’t flinch, won’t flatter, and won’t fold. So he decides to build the only rival that seems possible.

He constructs a humanoid robot modeled after himself. Same face. Same intellect. Same cold certainty. Then he improves it. He sharpens it. He magnifies every trait that made Mulloy untouchable.

Super Joe Mulloy doesn’t arrive with gratitude. It arrives with contempt. It studies its maker and speaks with the kind of confidence Mulloy has always reserved for himself. Suddenly, Mulloy is no longer the one issuing orders.

Now he has to solve a problem he never trained for. He must outthink something that knows his habits, his tricks, and his pride. He built the perfect challenge. He just didn’t plan on losing control of it.

Scott F. Grenville is credited with this one science fiction story Super Joe Mulloy. Grenville’s story delivers a darkly comic creator-versus-creation showdown, sharpened into a personal duel. It’s a fast, biting robot tale that leaves one question hanging: what happens when your worst enemy has your face?