Atlas

[Toshio]

So, Atlas was present in all versions of the series.

1963:

For what I read about the 1963 series he was created by a scientist who wanted to punish white people for racism and got a upgrade which made him being able to harm human beings.
But, his plan backfired.
And I am not sure of that outcome.

1980:

Atlas was created by a scientist called Walpurgis who got stolen blueprints (since the blueprints got illegal photos taken, the information got stolen anyway, right?).

However, he was quite a unfortunate one who got abused by his creator and used to commit crimes and he did them without question due the circuit "Omega Factor" which had planted in his systems.

Atlas fought Atom while attempting to sink a ship in order to steal all the goods inside, but stopped after the interference and specially after remembering what Livian tould him before.

To make things worser the only person which he cared was destroyed by his creator and he gone into a chase which left him almost destroyed after his creator was apparently killed.

Then, he rebuilt his body into a older one and as well revived Livian in order to start plans of world domination.
With this he had more confrontations with Atom, without knowing that he was his 'brother' (since both shared the same blueprints).

Then Atlas was blackmailed by Walpurgis who somehow survived the attack (it was still not clear how Atlas managed to rebuild himself when Walpurgis was actually alive.)

The mission failed and Livian escaped with the remote control which would detonate her body.
With this Atlas got the chance to kill Walpurgis for good.

Later Atlas was accused from a crime which he didin't commit and was suggested by Livian to redeem himself and made peace with Atom, his brother, so Atlas fought the invaders and defeated them at the cost of his life and as well Livian who wanted to stay with him till the very end.

2003 series:

Atlas was based off in Daichi Tokugawa who had to deal with a father who didin't cared about his feelings and ideals that ended up mixed with a gang of bikers and died in an accident.

Then, Mr. Tokugawa wished his son to be recreated in a robot.
Dr. Tenma who somehow got the body of the real Daichi (although unseen) transfered his mind to a powerful robot which he used in order to make Atom evolve.

Later, Daichi revealed himself to be Atlas who was destroying Tokugawa industries and started attacking everyone at sight, despite Atom's pleas and spared them for reasons unknown (I don't wish to make a comment about the dub, since the story was different).

In the 2nd match against Atom, Atlas revealed that Dr. Ochanomizu wasn't actually Atom's creator.
Then when Atom was cornered, he saw Dr. Tenma briefly and learned how to use the arm cannon which he used to defeat his enemy.

Atlas's attack called the attention of robot haters who keept making protests against robots with kokoro.

Following his defeat, Atlas gone after Dr. Tenma in order to earn a upgrade which would made him able to defeat Atom's arm cannon.
But, Dr. Tenma took the opportunity to learn more about Daichi's past and how he died.

Later Mr. Tokugawa gone after Dr. Tenma and after his body-guards got disabled, he earned a weapon capable of wounding Atlas.

Atlas attacked the Tokugawa Moon plant and injured many people, he managed to defeat Atom with his own arm cannon, but the battle was interrupted by Mr. Tokugawa who used a magnetic field to disable Atlas and fire at him.

Atlas managed to attack Mr. Tokugawa after disabling the magnetic field and attempted to kill him after blasting a hole in the station.
But, upon seeing the Earth from the moon, he realized that Daichi still wished to cheerish beautiful memories with his father.
And with this he relented his attack, by saving Mr. Tokugawa and saying Daichi's best wishes before falling into space and exploding.

Atlas later would return, but this time mind controlled by Dr. Pavlos.
Upon the interference of Dr. Tenma he was saved from the mind control and sacrified himself to save both Atom and the evil scientist who tried to use him.

In the robotania episodes, Atlas was revived as a enforcer for Blue Knight in order to fight the human corps and saved Atom from Blue Knight's attack.
Atlas also said that despite all his best wills, the Blue Knight was still wrong.
And Pluto, who also was revived, exclaimed that friends should not fight each other.

With Atom saying about how awful and pointless the war was, Blue Knight surrended and fleed with the remaining robots in order to live in a world without humans.

Atlas and Pluto were welcomed by Epsilon and nothing is known about them after the series ended.

[jeffbert]

I would comment, but as I am writing a book, I must save some stuff for it. But, yes, I think you cover the topic fairly well; though as I have mentioned elsewhere, Atlas 1980s had an Oedipus complex.

[Toshio]

Thanks for the comments Jeffbert.
By the way, there is a lot of contrast between the Atlas mangá and his 1963 counterpart.

In the mangá he was basically a rocket with a head, arms and legs which looked quite weird in many of his poses.

While in the anime he had jets in his ears which was a pretty unconfortable place to have them.

I would not be surprised if somebody did a spoof about Atlas not being able to listen Atom pleas due the noise of his jets, lol

Sorry for not covering the dub version, I felt the story too much confusing and even when it first aired here.