The Terminator #6 is the sixth comic book issue in The Terminator comic book series published by Dynamite Entertainment. It was published on March 26, 2025.
Premise[]
Official description of The Terminator #6 from Dynamite Entertainment:[1]
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE T-600?
As the first generation of human-mimicking Infiltrators deployed by Skynet against the Resistance, the T-600s displayed all of the problems that come from rushing a prototype into production. Covered in unconvincing rubber skin and lacking any organic components, they were easily detected and destroyed.
But if there's one thing that Skynet is good at, it's learning from its mistakes. And as the historic tales in this pivotal issue demonstrate, every T-600's mission - no matter the outcome - brought the lethal T-800s one step closer to activation!
Relentless story engineers DECLAN SHALVEY and DAVID O'SULLIVAN repeatedly test their titanium-framed titans to failure in The Terminator #6 - all encased in Coltan-alloy covers by SHALVEY, EDWIN GALMON, CAT STAGGS, and DAVID COUSENS!
Plot summary[]
The year is 2012. Three Resistance soldiers (Beckett, Duggan, and Daniels) are on patrol, following their usual route through the ruins of the city. Duggan notes that they haven’t seen any machines for weeks. Suddenly, a figure emerges from the shadows with its hands up, pretending to be a Resistance soldier separated from his unit and correctly reciting the challenge-response code. However, Beckett immediately recognizes it as a T-600 and opens fire with her plasma rifle. The rest of the unit follows suit, and Daniels finishes it off with a rocket. While they acknowledge that the machines are improving at infiltration, they still aren’t good enough.
The year is 2017. A column of T-600 endoskeletons marches forward, supported by an HK-Aerial. Resistance forces have fortified themselves inside some kind of structure, equipped with superior artillery. In response, the machines obliterate the position using what appears to be a satellite laser, wiping out both soldiers and machines. Despite this apparent victory, Skynet deems the mission a failure and considers the T-600 unsuitable for battlefield deployment.
The year is 1976. Austin, Texas. A couple prepares to have sex in an alley when a Terminator materializes inside a time bubble right next to them. The unit is a malfunctioning T-600, its rubber skin half-melted. Dazed, it stumbles away from the shocked couple and is immediately crushed by a passing truck. Skynet concludes that the T-600 is also inadequate for time-travel missions.
The year is 2019. Skynet realizes that none of the T-600 units sent back in time have reported back, as their rubber skin does not provide sufficient protection from the temporal field. Inside a factory, the machines prepare to send another unit back in time, this time for a brief five-minute test. Before they can proceed, a Resistance team attacks, trying to prevent the machine from entering the time displacement field. They fail, but a lone Resistance agent jumps in alongside the Terminator, five minutes into the past. This unexpected event shows to Skynet that human tissue is unaffected by time travel. The damaged Terminator immediately kills the present version of the Resistance soldier, who watches his temporal duplicate die before being killed himself. The machine then eliminates the rest of the Resistance team and returns to base with this new information.
The year is 2021. Skynet reflects on how humans, post-Judgment Day, are little more than vermin, making them an abundant resource for experimentation. On the battlefield, T-600s, HK-Tanks, and HK-Aerials herd surviving humans into steel cages. In a laboratory, the machines begin applying living tissue to a T-600. Skynet notes that humanity’s resilience will be turned against them: after all, nothing is more resilient than the AI itself. However, when the newly enhanced Terminator is sent on yet another short time jump (the 157th), the machine once again malfunctions catastrophically. Skynet determines that the Series 600 is fundamentally incompatible with time travel.
Deemed useless as both an infiltration unit and battlefield infantry, and incapable of sustaining human tissue, the Series 600 is declared obsolete. Finally, in 2025, Skynet develops the familiar T-800 endoskeleton, concluding that while machines are not bound by biological limitations, they too can evolve.
Characters and machines[]
- Beckett
- Duggan
- Daniels
- T-600
Covers gallery[]
Notes[]
- The issue is titled Gemini Rising, the same as issue #5. This is presumably an error.
- One of the Resistance soldiers is called Duggan, probably a member of the Duggan family.