He was the first Marvel Comics character to wield the fictitious metal alloy adamantium. Ultron has appeared in several media adaptations, including animated television series, an animated film, and video games. The character is portrayed by actor James Spader in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Publication history
The character initially appeared in an unnamed cameo in Avengers #54 (1968), with a first full appearance in Avengers #55 (1968). Ultron was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, though Thomas has acknowledged that both the idea of the character and his appearance were heavily based on Mechano, an obscure villain who appeared in an issue of the Captain Video comic book.
Publication information
- Title : Ultron
- Publisher : Marvel Comics
- First appearance : Avengers #54 (July 1968) (cameo, not named), Avengers #55 (August 1968) (first appearance)
- Created by : Roy Thomas, John Buscema
- Team affiliations : Masters of Evil, Phalanx, Lethal Legion, Sons of Yinsen
- Notable aliases : Crimson Cowl
- Abilities : Artificial intelligence with robotic body; abilities vary with each redesign but generally include extreme durability and energy projection.
1960s
Although Ultron first appears in Avengers #54 (1968), the character is disguised for the majority of the issue as the Crimson Cowl, with his face only revealed on the last page of the issue and no name given to the character. The character leads the Masters of Evil against the Avengers, having hypnotized Edwin Jarvis into working for him. In the following issue, #55 (Aug. 1968), the character is identified as Ultron-5, the living automaton, although his origin is still unknown.
1970s
A crossover story between Avengers #127 (Sept. 1974) and Fantastic Four #150 (Sept. 1974) features Ultron (now Ultron-7), recreated by Maximus with the body of the android Omega, attacking the wedding of the Inhuman Crystal and the Avenger Quicksilver, and battling the Avengers, Inhumans, and Fantastic Four before being destroyed once again. The character next appears in Avengers #161–162 (July–Aug. 1977) as Ultron-8 where it is responsible for the creation of Jocasta whom it wishes to take as a robotic bride. Shortly afterwards, in Avengers #170–171 (April–May 1978), the Avengers, with the aid of Ms. Marvel battle and defeat Ultron-8.
1980s
His next appearances are in Avengers #201 – 202 (Nov. – Dec 1980) as Ultron-9 and in Marvel Two-In-One #92-93 (Oct. – Nov. 1982) as Ultron-10; both appearances feature brainwashed heroes re-creating and then defeating the robotic menace. After being briefly recreated (as Ultron-11) by the Beyonder and appearing on Battleworld during the Secret Wars, and for a brief encounter with the Thing, Ultron is destroyed again. The Thing, however, does bring Ultron's head back to Earth as a souvenir. The head of Ultron-11 is dropped and forgotten by the Thing when there is an attack by the alien Dire Wraiths.
1990s
Doctor Doom rebuilds Ultron using a combination of all of Ultron's previous personalities with a particularly strong dose of Ultron-12, believing this mix will make Ultron subservient to him. Instead, all 12 Ultrons coexist as separate personalities, resulting in a form of madness which culminates with Ultron-12 mutilating himself in an attempt to remove some of his other personalities. Karnak, Daredevil, and Gorgon destroy Ultron by severing his neck cables.
Another version of Ultron appears (Ultron-13) and is stopped by the West Coast Avengers. After escaping captivity this version attempts to obtain a new form of vibranium called Nuform, but is repelled by the combined efforts of Iron Man, the Black Panther and Spider-Man. Ultron (Ultron-11) next briefly appears as a captive of a highly advanced Doombot, but is freed when the Doombot is defeated by Deathlok.
Ultron-13 escapes from prison and upgrades into "The Ultimate Ultron", (technically Ultron-14) and captures the West Coast Avenger Mockingbird, using her brain patterns to create a new robotic mate called Alkhema. Alkhema aids Ultron but both are eventually jettisoned into space through a ruse by the Vision. The character reappears with Alkhema, and together they plan to create a "volcanic winter" by placing bombs underneath several volcanoes. The West Coast Avengers stop the pair once again, and Alkhema rebels and leaves Ultron. Another Ultron (Ultron-15) is found by the Vision, but is discovered to have been "infected" by human emotion and is seriously deteriorating, displaying symptoms that resemble alcoholism. This Ultron and a recreated Jocasta decide to explore the world with the Vision for a time.
2000s
The Avengers discovered that every creation of Ultron (Vision, Jocasta, Alkhema) has a secret program included - they are subconsciously compelled to rebuild Ultron. In this case, it is Alkhema who unintentionally rebuilds Ultron when she attempts to create a new species of bio-synthezoids. Ultron-18 was, however, composed of steel, not adamantium, and is destroyed when Alkhema's subterranean base exploded after Hawkeye shot Alkhema with a vibranium arrow at her request. Ultron's head was recovered by one of the synthezoids, an artificial girl called Antigone.
2010s
In the Mighty Avengers, Ultron is shown to infiltrate Jocasta and the Infinite Avengers Mansion. He names himself Ultron Pym and seeks to kill and replace his father before using his Infinite Mansion to conquer the universe. Pym eventually offers Ultron a compromise, allowing Jocasta to become Ultron's bride, on the condition that Ultron banishes himself to ultraspace. Ultron agrees, but warns that he will be ruler of all someday.
Powers and abilities
The visual appearance and powers of the character have varied, but common powers include superhuman levels of strength, speed, stamina, durability, and reflexes; flight at subsonic speeds; and various offensive weapons such as concussive blasts of energy fired from its optical sensors or hands and an "encephalo-ray," which places victims into a deathlike coma. The latter ray also allows Ultron to mesmerize and mind-control victims, or implant subliminal hypnotic commands within their minds to be enacted at a later time. Ultron also has the ability to convert electromagnetic radiation into electrical energy for use or storage. Ultron has a genius intellect, a capacity for creative intelligence and self-repair, superhuman cybernetic analytical capabilities, and the ability to process information and make calculations with superhuman speed and accuracy. The character is an expert roboticist and strategist.
The 1995 limited series The Last Avengers Story features a possible future in which Ultron-59 manipulates fellow Avengers foe Kang the Conqueror into attacking the Avengers. Ultron is destroyed by the Vision, who sacrifices his own artificial life. The Fantastic Four storyline "Death of The Invisible Woman" features an advanced humanoid called Alex Ultron, a member of the futuristic The Last Defenders. In the Marvel Adventures alternate universe, Ultron is a highly-intelligent "neural network" that controls a section of the United States defense forces. In Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's 2008-2009 "Old Man Logan" story arc that appeared in Wolverine, Ultron Eight is the husband of Spider-Man's youngest daughter (Ashley Barton).
In other media
Television
- Ultron is featured as a regular character in the animated series The Avengers: United They Stand, voiced by John Stocker.
- Ultron appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "So Pretty When They Explode". He appears as the boyfriend of Nova's messenger droid named Holoball.
- Ultron appears in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Tom Kane. In this incarnation, Ultron begins as an artificial intelligence experiment shared by Henry Pym and Tony Stark. When Pym learns that Stark intends to use the AI in weapons manufacture, Pym seizes control of the project and uses it to create Ultron Synthezoids for the Big House. In the episode "Come the Conqueror", Pym reprograms the Ultrons as soldiers. All but one of the Ultrons, Ultron-5, is destroyed in the battle with Kang the Conqueror. In subsequent episodes, beginning with "Ultron-5" and "The Ultron Imperative", Ultron decides that the only way to maintain peace on Earth is to destroy humanity. His numerous attempts to accomplish this bring him into conflict with the Avengers, and each defeat causes Ultron to upgrade himself to improve his chances to defeat them. Ultron develops an infatuation with the Wasp after he discovers that his programming prevents him from destroying her. In the episode "Behold...the Vision", Ultron ultimately creates the Vision and uses him to steal Vibranium to rebuild his body. In the episode "Ultron Unlimited," Vision betrays Ultron and joins the Avengers where he tells them to defeat Ultron by removing his head.
- Ultron appeared in the 37th episode of Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers.
- Ultron appears in the second season of Avengers Assemble, voiced by Jim Meskimen. In his first appearance in the episode "Thanos Triumphant", Ultron managed to infect the body of Arsenal while Tony Stark upgraded the robot to absorb the energies of all five Infinity Gems. After the Avengers defeated Thanos, Ultron reshapes Arsenal's body in his image before leaving once he has defeated the Avengers and completely drained the Infinity Stones. In the episode "Crack in the System," Iron Man stated to Captain America that he didn't know that Arsenal would be vulnerable to Ultron as he uses his Ultron Tracker App to track Ultron's movement. Ultron makes his move by controlling a robot that was made by Hammer Industries.
The Avengers head to a Hammer Industries facility where Ultron has taken control of the Dreadnoughts with Justin Hammer trapped inside the experimental battle armor. After disabling the Dreadnoughts, the Avengers head to an A.I.M. island base where Ultron has taken control of the base's defenses and outsmarting Ultron Tracker App. Upon entering the A.I.M. base, Iron Man confronts Ultron who states that the technology of A.I.M. and Hammer Industries are his. Upon getting close, Iron Man places the Ultron Destroyer Malware into Ultron in order to save Arsenal. This doesn't go well as Ultron escapes by setting the A.I.M. island base to self-destruct. In the episode "Avengers Disassembled," Ultron takes control of a rebuilt Super-Adaptoid and uses it to attack Roxxon.
The Avengers and Spider-Man had to fight an Ultron-controlled Super-Adaptoid. When Captain America arrives, Ultron takes control of the communications to have the S.H.I.E.L.D. drop team (which consisted of Life Model Decoys) to prematurely drop as Ultron reprograms them into serving him. Upon tricking Nick Fury into sending unmanned drones upon the Avengers, Ultron abandons the Super-Adaptoid body. Back in Arsenal's body, Ultron raids Stark Tower where he hacks into J.A.R.V.I.S and takes control of the Iron Man armors. Before Ultron can cause the Stark satellites into crashing onto every major city in the world, Iron Man blows up the Arc Reactor which causes Stark Tower to be damaged.
After the Avengers are divided, Ultron sees this from outer space as Phase 1 of his plan is complete. In the episode "The Ultron Outbreak," Ultron uses a special trap to unleash some nano-virus to take control of Falcon as part of his plans to cause the Age of Ultron. Both Avengers had to fight Ultron in order to free Falcon from him which eventually results in Ultron turning the people on the subway into Ultron Sentinels. Ant-Man manages to shrink the Ultron-possessed Falcon and trap him in a beaker tube.
As the Ultron-corrupted Life Model Decoy starts taking the battle to other parts of the world, Captain America has Ant-Man retreat to his underground lab to find a way to free Falcon from the Ultron nano-virus. Upon Captain America and Iron Man finding Ultron at the ruins of Avengers Tower, Ultron hacks into Captain America's communication device in order to get control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier. Captain America and Iron Man trick Ultron's security system into attacking Ultron. With help from Falcon, Ant-Man comes up with a formula to undo the Ultron nano-virus. Upon Falcon getting Ultron's consciousness into Ultron's body, Iron Man flies Ultron to the sun as Arsenal sacrifices his life by flying into the sun.
- Ultron appears in the direct-to-video animated film Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, voiced by Tom Kane. This version was built by Tony Stark.
- James Spader plays Ultron through performance capture in the 2015 Marvel Studios film Avengers: Age of Ultron. Writer/director Joss Whedon revealed that Hank Pym, Ultron's creator in the comic books, would not be included in the film, and instead Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are the ones who create Ultron. Stark and Banner create Ultron by reverse-engineering what is later revealed to be the Mind Stone contained in Loki's scepter. Though intended to be a world defense protocol for the Iron Legion drones that Stark built, Ultron develops a god complex and sees the genocide of humans as a necessary action in order to achieve peace on Earth.
After using the Iron Legion on the Avengers, Ultron steals the Mind Stone and transfers his AI to Baron Strucker's compound to create multiple bodies for himself along with a series of drone bodies that double as his personal army. Enlisting the aid of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who only learn of his true intentions later, Ultron proceeds to acquire Vibranium from Ulysses Klaue before going after scientist Helen Cho to force her to create him an ideal synthetic body fused with the Mind Stone.
The Avengers foil his plans and use the vacant synthetic body to create the Vision as an ally against Ultron. Ultron decides to replicate the effects of a meteor, akin to the cataclysmic event that killed the dinosaurs, by raising the entirety of the fictional city of Sokovia and crashing it back down onto Earth. During the final battle, Ultron and his army of drones are ultimately defeated by the combined efforts of the Avengers. Climbing out of the ruins of the destruction he had caused, Ultron's last remaining robot body was confronted and subsequently destroyed by the Vision.
- Ultron appears in the arcade game Captain America and the Avengers.
- Ultron appears as a boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by James Horan.
- Ultron appears as a villain character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced by Tom Kenny.
- Ultron is featured as a boss in Marvel: Avengers Alliance. This version was an A.I. created by the "Pulse" which is placed in a robot body by Hank Pym.
- Ultron is featured as a boss in Marvel Contest of Champions. He has taken over the contest and the player's goal is to destroy him.
Ultron was ranked number 23 by IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Villains list, was listed number 189 in Wizard's Top 200 Greatest Villains Ever list,[70] and was ranked as the 189th Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard's list of the 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time.
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Source : wikipedia
