Ultron Retrospective Part 5: The Bride of
Ultron
by Robert Clough
I'm pretty excited about this portion of the Ultron saga, since
161 and
162 are two of my favorite comic books ever. Here we go....
Avengers #161 (July, 1977)
"Beware the Ant-Man!"
Writer: James Shooter
Artist: George Perez
Inker: Pablo Marcos
Letterer: Denise Wohl
Colorist: James Shooter
Editor: Archie Goodwin
The Avengers are chatting in a meeting room when
they suddenly hear a
voice over the intercom. It's Yellowjacket, but when Iron
Man calls him
by that name, Hank Pym beligerently replies that it's Ant-Man,
and that
Iron Man should have recognized the voice of his new
partner. Hank for
some reason thinks he's Ant-Man again, and that he's there for
the first
meeting of the Avengers. He demands answers, and getting
none from the
stunned team, he directs his ants to attack.
A bunch of ants zip into Iron Man's face plate,
taking him out of the
battle. Ant-Man zips around, punching Cap, tripping up
Wonder Man, and
utterly debilitating the Scarlet Witch with his insect
attack. The Black
Panther and the Beast investigate the fight, and get punched out
by
Hank's quick-grow-punch trick. Ant-Man really has them on
the ropes,
until the Wasp arrives and zaps Hank, ending the fight.
The Wasp explains that Hank's mind finally snapped, after
years of
stress, insecurity, and discomfort in the role of a
superhero. And when
even Hank's research ended in failure after failure, causing him
to
destroy his lab, she knew he needed help. She thought he
had started to
reach him, when he flew off earlier in the morning in a
fit. When she
got to their house, the place was wrecked and he was gone.
The Avengers
all agree that Hank needs help, so they set about trying to hook
him up
to the "subliminal recall-inducer", and the Beast and
Jan go back to her
house to get some of his things. Once there, Jan sees
someone who causes
her to scream.
In the meantime, the Avengers have no luck in getting Hank
to remember
anything, and calls to some of his old friends (Hawkeye, Thor and
Quicksilver) go unanswered. Suddenly, the Beast limps in,
barely
conscious, who warns them that HE'S coming. Of course, it's
Ultron, and
he proceeds to wipe out the charging Vision. The Avengers
attack, but
Ultron pulls his converting-into-energy-for-a-second trick, and
stuns the
team. (Great quote: Ultron: "Interesting! Though you
were the hardest
struck by my force, you recover first, Iron Man!" Iron Man:
"This suit
wasn't built for show, ugly!") Iron Man grapples with
him, but Ultron
quickly drains him of his power, and adds it to his own.
Ultron then
sends an energy beam of some kind ("encephalo-ray")
right through the
skulls of Beast and Wonder Man, with Ultron claiming their
deaths.
Things look grim when the Scarlet Witch steps up, and zaps him
with a
hex-bolt that causes all of his circuits to briefly
short-out. She then
brings a wall down on top of him, and he starts to panic, since
his
computer can't cope with Wanda's random factor. She's got
him on the
ropes, but Cap revives and gets in the way of her hex!
Ultron then takes
out Cap and Wanda, and captures Hank Pym. He then leaves
the Mansion.
Jarvis walks in and is shocked by the carnage...
Comments: A truly fantastic issue that ties together some
very loose
threads from previous issues. While it's never stated, Kurt
Busiek
figured that Ultron was the force behind the Ghost of Stone, the
animated
statue of the Black Knight that busted into the Mansion. He
was also the
one who provided the Grim Reaper with technology and access to
the
Mansion, softening up the team for his own assault. The
supreme irony of
the issue is that Hank Pym almost single-handedly beat the whole
team by
himself, as his breakdown was triggered in part by his feelings
of
inadequacy. The art is gorgeous, with Ultron never being
more
threatening. I really hope that Kurt has something in mind
for Ultie,
just so I can see George draw him again.
Avengers 162 (August 1977)
"The Bride of Ultron"
Writer: James Shooter
Artist: George Perez
Inker: Pablo Marcos
Letters: Denise Wohl
Colors: Don Warfield
Editor: Archie Goodwin
A number of the Avengers are being carted off in
ambulances, with
someone noting that several Avengers had been killed. Thor
arrives out
of the blue, with the remaining Avengers: Iron Man, Wonder Man,
and the
Black Panther. Cap, the Beast, the Scarlet Witch and the
Vision were
apparently all killed. (Classic Panther line: "Wonder
Man, Iron Man and
I live! Three Ultron might have killed, live to seek
vengeance!")
Ant-Man revives in Ultron's laboratory, with Ultie
claiming that he's
an ally, who rescued him from the Avengers. Ultron says
that the team
turned Janet against him, and then tried to kill her. Only
by
transferring her consciousness into a "metalloid" body
that he had
created could they save Jan's life, until they fixed her real
body.
Ultron tells him he needs his help to complete the process,
because of
Hank's skills as a biophysicist. Hank shakily agrees, as
Ultron thinks
that there's no way Hank could resist him, since he erased all of
his
memories since his Ant-Man days. And the metal woman that
Ultron created
was designed to completely drain Jan's life force, a process that
Ultron
called irreversible! Hank is on the verge of killing his
own wife!
The Avengers are trying to find Hawkeye, but with no
luck. Wonder Man
asks, "Is he worth all this grief?" Thor replies
(in one of the greatest
Avengers quotes ever), "When thou hast proven thyself a
THOUSANDFOLD
thou mayest question the "worth" of Hawkeye, my
friend! I will disregard
thy careless remark--THIS time!" Go Thor!
The Avengers are trying to find Ultron, with no
luck. The Panther is
confused by Ultron's latest scheme. Why kidnap Jan?
While remembering
that Ultron is a sort of mechanized version of the Oedipus
Complex, a
chilling thought comes over him. Trying to kill Hank, his
"father" is
only the first step. The next is trying to marry his
"mother"...Jan!
Ultron confirms as much in the lab, reveling in that he
will soon have
a mate. The process continues, as Jan wakes up, and starts
pleading to
Hank to stop, that it feels like her life is slipping away.
Hank is
torn, "knowing" that he's saving her life, but feeling
otherwise.
The Avengers get a much-needed hand, as a set of ants
spell out "STARK
LI", which Iron Man immediately recognizes as a
long-abandoned plant of
his on Long Island.
Jan is almost out of time, when suddenly the Panther
sneaks into
Ultron's lab. ("Turn, Ultron! FACE ME!"
"Who?" "A harbingerof a storm
of vengeance, evil one!") Ultron is impressed that the
Panther could
sneak in, but thinks him stupid to come alone. Just then,
Thor busts
through a wall with Mjolnir! Iron Man bursts through
another wall,
repulsors blazing! Wonder Man smashes through the
roof! Ultron is
surprised to see Wonder Man there, since he expected him to be in
a coma
from his encephalo-ray. The team realizes that the other
Avengers aren't
dead, only in a coma. Ultron laughs because they'll be dead
soon, unless
the effects are reversed. Ultron aims a killing-force
ray at Thor, but
Iron Man jumps in front of it. Both Thor and Ultron think
him dead, but
Shellhead jumps back up and gives him a dose of repulsors.
Of course, it
doesn't hurt Ultron, made of adamantium and all, but it does set
up a
clash between Ultie and Thor & Wonder Man (who is battling
his fear of
death).
The Black Panther realizes he's useless in a
direct conflict, so
he turns to Hank Pym, who to his surprise, is still working with
Ultron.
(He had figured that Hank had sent the ants to the Avengers for
help)
T'Challa knocks out Hank, but he and Iron Man realize that the
controls
are locked and that Jan is running out of time. As Thor and
Wondy
grapple with Ultron, Iron Man grabs Ultron's robot bride and
threatens to
destroy it, unless Ultie gives them the release code.
Ultron stands tall
for a minute, then immediately caves in when he sees her in
danger. ("Do
not harm...my woman!") Ultron gives them the codes and
then leaves,
EXTREMELY angry, but Iron Man saves the Wasp. T'Challa is
disturbed that
they had to win in such a sneaky way, by threatening the (robot)
girl,
but Iron Man tells him to "stow it". Still, Iron
Man is disturbed by
what he had to do.
After they revive Jan, she tells them that she
didn't summon the ants,
either. So it's a mystery as to who did it, but T'Challa
wonders out
loud if it wasn't Ultron's own bride, with "sophisticated
cybernetic
circuitry" and control over insects, who did it, proving her
more human
than even Ultron thought....
Comments: Shooter's masterpiece. Bold, powerful
artwork from Perez.
Great dialogue, very dramatic in the best sense of the
word. Deals with
all sorts of interesting psychological issues, and has a morally
murky
ending to boot. Of course, Ultron's bride is better known
to us as
Jocasta, and she will play a major role in his next few
appearances....
--Rob Clough
Hindsight Undying