Martian tripod

Martian tripods were a mobile armaments from H. G. Wells' story The War of the Worlds with a powerful energy weapon that caused those irradiated by it to burst into flame. In the Land of Fiction, the Master used them to kill off the Sisyphean Society, describing them to the 19th century villains as a "dark wonder of the next century". (COMIC: Character Assassin)

Mars' inhabitants, the Ice Warriors, did use vehicles like "giant camera tripods" by the end of the 20th century. (PROSE: The Dying Days)