Ultron Retrospective Part 10: It's a Family
Affair
by Robert Clough
I had previously said that Ultron's appearance in the
170's of the
Avengers was his last decent appearance. Well, that's not
quite true...
Steve Englehart had an interesting take on him that begins in a
crossover
between the West Coast Avengers (Vol 2) and the Vision &
Scarlet Witch
miniseries (Vol 2).
The West Coast Avengers V2 #1
(October, 1985)
"Teammates"
Writer: Steve Englehart
Breakdowns: Allen Milgrom
Finisher: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Hawkeye and Mockingbird are hanging out (making out, I
should say) at
the WCA compound when Hank Pym comes along. Hank had just
retired from
superheroics after redeeming himself in the whole Fall of Hank
Pym mess.
Hawk naturally offers him a slot on the team (there were only
five slots
taken, and he was looking for a sixth), but Hank refuses, saying
he's
retired from superheroics forever. The reason he was there
was to
examine Erik "Goliath" Josten, whom the WCAvengers had
beaten in Iron Man
Annual 7. He was interested in people who changed size, and
wanted to
see how Goliath did it.
Meanwhile, Wonder Man and Tigra are flying around (with
Wondy carrying
her, natch), indulging each other's angst (Wondy's fear of death
and
insecurity, Tigra's concern over her growing cat-like
nature). Iron Man
zips by and intercepts a big group of robots that were about to
blindside them.
Wondy and Iron Man turn most of them into scrap metal and save a
few
parts for study. Looking for potential nearby areas with an
excess of
energy, they track it to an innocent-looking cruise ship in San
Pedro
Harbor. Going below decks, they notice their path has
gotten more
complicated: a number of steel girders and beams have been welded
in a
criss-cross pattern.
Suddenly, Ultron-12 reveals himself as the architect of
the trap, and
rains down some ionic-blasts on them. Hawkeye quickly
shoots a gas arrow
that douses the team in a compound that Hank Pym created.
The compound
immunized the team from Ultron's power blasts. Ultron
started his usual
ranting and raving about destroying humanity and Hawkeye ordered
the team
out. But it was too late: all sorts of adamantium bars
started thrusting
into the room; Ultron figured it would kill everyone but Wonder
Man--whom
he said he wanted alive!
Ultron departed and the Avengers desperately tried to stay
alive.
Hawkeye aimed an arrow at a particular spot in the machinery, and
it
stopped it cold; it was a vibranium arrow that absorbed all
vibrations.
Back at the compound, Hawkeye talks to the Wasp via
communiscreen,
telling her about Ultron. She offers to send over the east
coast team,
but he tells her to back off, saying that they can handle
it. Right
after he hangs up, the compound is invaded. Hawkeye sends
Tigra to guard
Goliath, and has Hank Pym hole up with Iron Man in the secure
assembly
room. Ultron, of course, hates Hank Pym. Pym created
him, and Ultie had
long been a mechanized version of the Oedipus Complex.
Hawkeye explained
this Mockingbird as they were looking for Ultron, not knowing
that he
could hear them. Ultron didn't realize that his hated
father was around,
and noted that this would change his plans.
While Tigra was guarding Goliath, the Man-Ape saunters in
to try and
free Goliath. Tigra uses her superior speed to frustrate
him and is
about to win when Ultron clonks her from behind. Ultron
orders Man-Ape
to take Goliath in order to capture Wonder Man. When he
protests, Ultron
gives him a little taste of his destructo ray.
Ultron engages Iron Man while Goliath and Man-Ape fight
the rest of the
team. After a brief but spirited fight, Ultron beats
Shellhead and then
zaps Hawkeye and Mockingbird after Goliath stuffs Wonder
Man. The
villainous trio depart with Hank Pym and Wonder Man.
After coming to, Hawkeye realizes what's going on.
He couldn't figure
out why Ultron wanted Wonder Man until he saw Man-Ape with
Goliath. The
latter two used to be members of the Lethal Legion, an
organization
headed up by someone who did want Simon...Eric Williams, the Grim
Reaper!
The West Coast Avengers vol 2 #2
(November, 1985)
"Sons!"
Writer: Steve Englehart
Breakdowns: Al Milgrom
Finisher: Kim DeMulder
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter
In the first issue of the second Vision and Scarlet Witch
miniseries,
Vizh and Wanda have just quit the Avengers and moved back to
Leonia, NJ.
After buying a house, they are (of course) attacked by
zombies. They
manage to capture Wanda, but something odd happens to the
Vision. When
he tries the ol' hand-through-chest-disruption-trick, something
about the
zombie causes feedback, knocking them both out, but leaving the
Vision
intangible.
Thus, when the zombies return to their master, the Black
Talon (yay!),
he is annoyed, but more annoyed at his ally, Nekra. She's
berating him
for his failure; her lover, the Grim Reaper then shows up.
At that
moment, Vizh shows up, and Wanda frees herself, and the usual
fight
breaks out. Vizh realizes that the Reaper needs him for
something and
tells him that he knows he won't hurt him because of it; the
Reaper
manages to corner him with Talon's zombies and zaps Wanda,
threatening to
kill her. He demands his surrender, but Vizh painfully
dematerializes
through some zombies and reaches the mysterious object that Talon
had
been hiding behind a curtain--a zombified-looking Simon
Williams!
Achieving a stalemate, the bad guys run off and Vizh calls the
West Coast
Avengers to warn them.
Wanda and the Vizh hook up with the West Coasters in WCA
#2 and they
update each other on their adventures. Meanwhile, the
Reaper and pals
have Simon and Hank trapped in an "energi-cage".
The Reaper rants at
Simon, claiming that he's a weird mutation, not the real
Simon. He
mentions that his brother Simon was a saint--"an absolute
saint!" The
Reaper then reveals his plan to scan Wonder Man and the Vision's
brains;
any information not common to both will be erased, and the
remainder will
be put in the Simon Williams-lookin' Zombie Body. Thus,
Simon Williams
will be restored to what he once was.
Ultron then starts taunting Hank Pym, telling him that
once the Reaper
is done, he'll destroy the Vision and him with the same
blast. Pym
taunts back, saying that Ultron now is forced to work with others
instead
of threatening the world on his own. This comment strikes a
nerve and
Ultron gets defensive--something Hank notes. Ultie then
runs off to
capture the Vision.
After an interlude where Wondy's origin is recapped, the
team visits
Simon's mother, and the Vision reveals his true nature to her, as
being a
sort of "transplanted" Simon. Everyone has a good
cry as Martha Williams
and Vizh realize their true connection. Also mentioned is
that back when
Simon Williams was sent to jail for embezzling from his company,
Simon
was just covering for Eric, the real embezzler.
Back at the Reaper's HQ, he yells at Man-Ape in a rather
racist manner,
something that Man-Ape then brings up with Black Talon.
Hank Pym gives Wondy a pep talk, but Wondy is again
paralyzed by his
fear of death.
The WCA hops on a quinjet after talking to Martha
Williams, when Ultron
and his robots attack!
Vision & the Scarlet Witch Vol 2 #2
(November, 1985)
"Brothers"
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciller: Richard Howell
Inker: Andy Mushynsky
Colorist: Janet Jackson
Letterer: L. Lois Buhalis
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Ultron rips a hole in the quinjet, and the Avengers start
flying
around. Wanda zaps a chair to block up the hole as Iron Man
and Ultron
start to go at it. The Vision then takes him on as Hawkeye
sends Iron
Man and Tigra out to deal with Ultron's robots, who are ripping
up the
wings. They're successful, but Vizh is having problems with
Ultron. He
can't use the ol' hand-through-chest-disruption trick on him
either.
Wanda then zaps him with a hex that weakens his structure
momentarily,
and Vizh takes advantage of it by ripping Ultron's arm off!
Hawkeye adds
to the fun by nailing Ultie with an electro-shock arrow aimed at
his
exposed wiring.
Things look bad for our favorite adamantium adversary, but
he rips out
the chair that Wanda had used to plug up the hole, causing
decompression
again. Ultron zips out but Iron Man grabs him, but knocks
him into the
quinjet, which is rapidly spinning out of control because Ultron
had
managed to tear off a wing. Ultron then takes off, and Iron
Man decided
to follow the quinjet and try to help it. He grabs on to
the side with
the detached wing and rights it. Hawkeye then manages to
crash-land it
in one piece, but it knocks everyone cold.
Everyone wakes up in an energi-cage, with the Reaper
really ranting
now, telling everyone about his mind-switch scheme. The
Vision then
informs him that he just met "our Mother--Martha
Williams!", telling him
that they are really related. When Simon hears this, he
realizes that
Vision is really human deep down--is really another version of
him. In
effect, they're twins. And seeing the Vision's bravery, he
realizes that
he must respond bravely as well, and overcome his fear of death.
The bad guys let Simon out, in order to begin the process,
but after
making a speech about his mother, and how glad he is that the
Vision
found her, he starts wading into the bad guys. Mockingbird
then bops in
after managing to track the team down, and frees the team.
Man-Ape and
Black Talon (and his zombie cast of thousands) then take off as
well.
Quoth Hank Pym: "I don't think they liked your views on
civil rights,
Reaper!"
The Reaper realizes that it's over, and runs away with
Nekra. Vision
and Wondy go after them--it's a family thang. This leaves
the rest of
the team to deal with Ultron and Goliath. The Reaper and
Nekra split up
in a vast network of underground caves and steep, sharp drops.
Vizh and Simon hunt after the Reaper and talk about how
they really
feel like brothers now. They manage to catch the Reaper,
and Simon
convinces him that he's really Simon Williams--by telling him
that Simon
really did embezzle the money, and that Eric tried to cover it
up. As
Simon tells the story, he realizes that it's been holding him
back for
years--people have been telling him that he was a hero, and he
never
really believed it. The guilt of what he did, what he never
faced up to,
started to get to him. But when he saw the Vision, someone
who was
effectively his twin, act so courageously, he realized he could
change.
Eric is overcome by the grief of the realization that he was
trying to
kill his brother, and plunges toward his doom. Vizh can't
find his body
in the darkness and depth.
Hank Pym then mentions that in the fight up above,
Ultron had gotten
away, but that they'd deal with him another day....
Comments: I really liked this storyline a lot. It
was big and splashy,
with lots of old Avengers villains, but it also significantly
advanced
several characters, especially the Vision and Wonder Man.
The art
was...adequate. While not greatly detailed, it was dynamic
enough to
keep the story moving. While some of the dialogue was
awkward, Englehart
did a great job of giving every character something to do,
especially in
terms of personal development. Here we can really see
Hawkeye maturing
and dealing with leadership, Tigra's personality crisis,
Mockingbird
being the confessor for a number of teammates, Iron Man adjusting
to
being back in the armor, etc. Very similar in some ways to
Kurt's early
run, except the dialogue isn't as good and the story is a little
wackier. The whole "transfer personalities" thing
struck me as a little
odd, but not too bad. Any story with Black Talon in it is
automatically
a bit odd. I did like his distinguished-looking goatee; it
went well
with his chicken mask :-). Also, I thought that the Vision
and Wondy
going after the Reaper, while understandable, was questionable
strategy:
it left Hawkeye, Tigra, Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch and Iron Man
against
Ultron and Goliath! Both of those villains by themselves
would have
given this lineup a hard time; together, they should have creamed
them.
Perhaps they were thinking "flight" rather than
"fight".
As for Ultron, he didn't get as much face time as the
Reaper, but the
story set things up nicely for part 11 of the retrospective,
coming soon!
--Rob Clough, undying