As revealed during Infinite Crisis, when Superboy-Prime pounded on the walls of reality, he caused the fabric of reality to shift, changing and merging histories. The "blank robots with responsometers" origin is said to be the definitive origin while the "human personalities" origin and the 1993 miniseries are described as the byproduct of a mental breakdown suffered by Magnus. When Booster Gold visited, asking for help with his robot Skeets, Magnus commented that the Metal Men "don't quite work anymore".