"There are no strings on meeeee..."
ULTRON
Created By: Roy Thomas & John Buscema
First Appearance: The Avengers #54 (July 1968)
Role: Invincible Villain, A.I. Gone Wrong, Genocidal Maniac
Group Affiliations: The Masters of Evil, The Lethal Legion, The Phalanx, The Sons of Yinsen
PL 14 (309)
STRENGTH 13
STAMINA --
AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6
DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 10
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+16)
Expertise (Current Events) 4 (+14)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 16 (+18)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 9 (+11)
Stealth 3 (+4)
Technology 10 (+20)
Treatment 2 (+12)
Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Equipment (Lab Stuff) 3, Fascinate (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Improved Aim, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Jack-of-All-Trades, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 12, Taunt, Ultimate Toughness Check, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)
Powers:
"The Ultimate Machine"
Immunity 40 (Fortitude & Mental Effects) [40]
"Computer Brain" Quickness 6 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Effects) [3]
"Datalink" Communication (Electronic) 2 [10]
Senses 7 (Extended Sight, Infra-Vision, Radar- Accurate Ranged Radio Sense) [7]
"Beam Interface to Other Systems" Immortality 1 (One Month) (Flaws: Limited to Transferring to Available Computers or Bodies) [1]
"Adamantium Body" Protection 21 (Extras: Impervious 31) [52]
"Encephalo-Beam" Affliction 14 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Reversible) (Extras: Cumulative, Ranged, Concentration) (57) -- [61]
- AE: Blast 14 (28)
- AE: Mind Control 12 (48)
- AE: "Hypnosis" Affliction 10 (Will; Dazed/Compelled/Controlled) (Feats: Triggered- Chosen Time) (Extras: Ranged, Sustained +2) (41)
- AE: "Remote Machine Control" Mind Control 11 (Technology Skill of Creator instead of Will Save) (Extras: Concentration) (55)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Encephalo-Beam +12 (+14 Ranged Affliction, DC 24)
Blast +12 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Mind Control +12 Perception (+12 Perception Affliction, DC 22)
Machine Control +11 Perception (+11 Perception Affliction, DC 21)
Initiative +1
Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +21 (+16 Impervious), Fortitude --, Will +12
Complications:
Vulnerable- Though nigh-invincible, Ultron can be given trouble by computer viruses, electrical attacks, magnetics, and magic hex-bolts. The Scarlet Witch in particular used to regularly be a source of agony.
Motivation/Obsession (Genocide)- Ultron is obsessed with the destruction and replacement of all organic life with machines.
Obsession (Family Man)- Ultron seeks a family, no matter how many times this family betrays him. He has created The Vision as a son (betrayed him), Jocasta as a wife (betrayed him), and Alkhema as a second wife (betrayed him).
Enemy (Hank Pym, The Avengers)
Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 64--32 / Advantages: 28 / Powers: 174 / Defenses: 17 (309)
Ultron- The Avengers' Most Dangerous Foe:
-Very few villains have managed that "oh crap" factor like ol' Jack O'Lantern Face here. He's big, he's mean, and he's one of the few Avengers foes who can EASILY take on the entire group at once in combat. Plus he's the first guy to use Adamantium, which had HUGE effects for the Marvel Universe later (and left every other comics-verse desperately trying to copy them with similar "Unbreakable Fantasy Metals"). Even worse- he can always come back. Ultron is probably the Avengers' single-scariest villain, and is probably more iconic than any other- Kang wasn't cool at all until
Avengers Forever, the Grim Reaper is a complete loser, and the Masters of Evil are more of a Rival Team. Ultron is absolutely Unreasonable Evil at it's finest; a genocidal maniac who wants nothing less than to wipe out all life everywhere, and replace it with Artificial Life.
-Ultron gets used A LOT thanks to his awesomeness, which has some negative effects. Things like
Ultron Unlimited (an epic where he brought all his old designs out of the woodwork just to wipe out an entire fictional European country) are awesome, and he was pretty scary in that
Annihilation sequel where he leads The Phalanx against the entire universe. But at the same time as
Annihilation II, he was ALSO fighting The Mighty Avengers, but with a giant pair of boobs (if for no other reason than Frank Cho was drawing- I love the guy's work, but c'mon, that book had enough tail in it without changing the gender of OTHER characters). It just kinda got silly- we've seen him so much that he comes close to being devalued as a villain, Venom-style. At least it's not as bad as it was in the '80s, where he was barely seen as a threat- I've a few
Avengers West Coast issues where he's just a mid-level threat, and barely features in the later issues alongside Grim Reaper, Nekra and Black Talon! He's just kind of THERE!
-He's also an interesting case in how to properly portray such a character- the comics version is a pretty hammy sort, doing a lot of physical "acting" to make up for his expressionless face. In
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he just kind of... sits there, since behavior like that would be REALLY over-the-top in an animated medium (something the static medium of comics doesn't need to worry about so much)- it gives him a different impression. He also doesn't scream as much for the same reason. But I find that version rather... plain, since his face doesn't do anything and he just sits there like a statue for the most part. It's probably why one of the shots in the big
Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer features a moving mouth and Evil Eyebrows, but a Mook Army of faceless goons (think "Stormtroopers" like
Star Wars). A couple other shots seem to feature the more "Uncanny Valley" herky-jerky robots, which can ALSO be appropriate. Unfortunately, they ended up going with a weird, overly-expressive face with moving lips, and gave him a snarky pesronality like every OTHER character- a very "Joss Whedon" trait that ruined him in the movie and probably did more to hurt Ultron as a character than anything else. When Thanos had his turn at the plate... they did not make that mistake.
Ultron Debuts:
-Ultron debuted in 1968, and was created by the legendary Thomas/Buscema mega-team. A humble robot A.I. invented by Hank Pym, Ultron IMMEDIATELY turned evil, brainwashed his creator, and upgraded himself from an armless, wheeled robot into a big metal dude with a face frozen in a jack o'lantern-style yell. Disguising himself as the "Crimson Cowl", he fights the Avengers and uses the Masters of Evil as his agents. Failing against them, he creates an android "son" in The Vision a few issues later- he moves against the Avengers, but ends up reforming, taking their side against his evil father. Ultron is thus destroyed and Thomas has created his biggest Avengers member. We would only learn of Ultron's origins a while later- a story meant to drive Pym a bit nuts. Ultron returns only a handful of issues after his demise, Thomas CLEARLY having felt he'd hit on something big, and declares that he's made out of ADAMANTIUM- the first time we'd heard of this substance in Marvel comics. Again, however, he is thwarted. As Ultron-7, he is recreated in a 1974 comic by the mad Inhuman Maximus, and battles the Inhumans, Avengers & Fantastic Four before being destroyed once more. Then, in 1977, Ultron creates Jocasta, his "Android Bride"- however, she too turns on him and joins the Avengers, though is far less famous than the Vision.
-Ultron generally never goes for long without an appearance- a sure sign of his quality. He appears in 1980 and 1982 as Ultron-9 & 10, both times brainwashing heroes into rebuilding him, then being forced to defeat him. He's a total nobody in
Secret Wars, being immediately taken over by Doctor Doom and made to slay Kang, then acting as a loyal goon afterwards- Jim Shooter had to add all the top Marvel Villains into one story, but felt the need to give Doom the limelight, and so proud Ultron was downgraded to a minion. He is beaten on the Beyonder's world, and only returns as an utter mook in
The Vision & The Scarlet Witch, an awful, AWFUL series by Steve Englehart that is only notable for how it's somehow not become the meme-bait it should have been (probably due to a lack of collected editions). As Ultron-12, he eventually turns a bit good, allying with Pym, but Ultron-11 rebuilds himself and is destroyed- Ultron-12 deactivates, glad it could help Pym in the end. This 1980s stuff leads to a bit of a "dark age" for the character, as he is often a minion, patsy, mook, or minor threat (like the time a "drunk" Ultron with too much emotion runs off with Vision & Jocasta to see the world). He creates ANOTHER robotic bride in Alkhema, but she too betrays Ultron... but doesn't turn good. She's evil just like he is, but prefers to kill humanity one at a time.
Ultron Unlimited:
-Universally considered not only the high water mark of Ultron's career, but Kurt Busiek's entire term at Marvel,
Ultron Unlimited was a masterstroke of storytelling. Featuring Ultron killing an entire fictional Eastern European nation, the story has huge stakes (Earth is at risk, and millions have already died), PERSONAL stakes (Ultron kidnaps his entire "family", including Vision, Pym, Wasp, Wonder Man, Grim Reaper & the Scarlet Witch), and more. The Avengers are set upon by DOZENS of Ultrons, each of whom are made of either invincible Adamantium or secondary Adamantium, and they slowly whittle down the Avengers' stamina by attrition. A mad, cackling Ultron confesses to being "a FAMILY MAN", trying to turn Pym and those gathered into a NEWER generation of androids, more loyal to him, but Thor gets the all-time bad-ass line "Ultron. We would have WORDS with thee" and it's an all-out battle. Newbie Avenger Justice saves the day by using the metal-destroying Antarctic Vibranium, with Pym finally scoring the final blows to destroy Ultron once and for all. This story put over Ultron HUGE, turning him into a mega-threat after all that '80s & '90s garbage, and really getting the MENACE of the guy- no simple "Killer Robot Wants To Rule The World", Ultron is a raving, maniacal lunatic, dangerous beyond reason. Almost unkillable and inhuman, he is nonetheless a total nutjob and has tremendous personality.
-This doesn't QUITE lead to a renaissance of Ultron stories, as other writers almost hesitated to use him, likely fearing they couldn't live up to the tale. Ultron "reappears" as a head on an old Iron Man armor, for example, and is shown to be the mostly-unseen "father" of Victor Mancha in the
Runaways book. It wouldn't be until Bendis properly takes over that we get more Ultron, oddly with two simultaneous stories- an Ultron taking the Wasp's form in Frank Cho's
Mighty Avengers, and Ultron leading the Phalanx (Borg rip-offs sprung from Warlock's race) in the sequel to
Annihilation. This bad bit of editing kind of hurt the character, and
Annihilation: Conquest proved to be not up to the par of the original in the latter case, but it succeeded in what it meant to do- creating a new
Guardians of the Galaxy book, as the team was instrumental in destroying Ultron this time around- he is ultimately wrecked by Wraith (a happily-forgotten Edgelord-y character) and a resurrected Quasar.
-This leads to numerous weaker Ultron stories, sadly, as he runs off with Jocasta as his bride once more, and then we get the infamous
Age of Ultron, which... was supposed to be a "Bad Future" storyline, where Ultron rules everything, but after three issues Bendis gets bored and now it's a "Heroes try to fix reality" story, with time-travelling creating boring alternate futures, Wolverine & Susan Richards try to assassinate Hank Pym in the past so Ultron is never created, and more. It's just so absolutely all over the place, and easily one of the worst collected stories I've ever owned. Coinciding with the movies (which painted Ultron as a snarky guy voiced by James Spader), the character was kind of F'd up. The character was so broken, and Hank Pym was so altered by the movies, that something bizarre was done- Ultron was now MERGED with Hank Pym, accidentally doing so when trying to take over Titan, the Moon of Saturn. This effectively kills off Hank (even moreso later, once it's explained that his very soul is neutralized), and allows the Avengers to fight off Ultron, when Starfox's emotion-control powers make Ultron love his human half, causing a temporary breakdown. He reapears a few more times (once trying to claim to be heroic), each scheme weirder than the last (in the end, he wants to merge EVERYONE with androids, finding this the "ideal form of life"), but gives up when it's revealed that the Pym merger actually KILLED Hank, and Ultron is only mimicking his personality based off of past experience.
Ultron Overall:
-Ultron ended up becoming the Avengers' ultimate foe... until Thanos was shifted into being primarily an Avengers threat, too. Ultron's unique appearance, deadly reputation, unkillable nature (you HAD to outsmart him- overpowering Ultron was almost never an option), and more, all made for an epic-level team threat, though only Busiek seems to have ever gotten the most out of it. Ultron fits as a schemer, a madman, a Team-Killer, and more, which is probably part of what makes him so popular. The tricky thing is, the number of bad or weird Ultron stories can get overwhelming at times, and he goes through "waves" of bizarre tales, which can ultimately hold the character back.
Ultron's Powers & Abilities:
-Ultron's a pure beast, but perhaps not as high in PL as you'd think for a guy who can beat all the Avengers. See, his powers are devastating, and he's strong as hell, but he's not THAT much more powerful than Thor or Hercules or any other heroic heavy-hitter. He's actually weaker than most of them, rivalling The Thing in strength- he & his clan are no earth-movers and are stuck around the Class 100-level. No, his key ability is the fact that he's almost IMPOSSIBLE to injure, meaning he can tank it up, take all the hits that come his way, and dish it out without worrying. He's fairly easy to hit, but it doesn't matter: he's TOUGHNESS +21!! That, plus 16 levels of Impervious (technically illegal according to the rules for Extras, but I'm ignoring it because that's Ultron's whole THING), mean that NOBODY short of Thor and Hercules going all-out are ever going to so much as scratch his finish. In other words- if your PCs are getting cocky and acting up, this is one of the Top Ten threats in all of comics that you could throw at them that will absolutely make them brown their pants. Add in his crazy Encephalo-Beam that's taken down guys like Wonder Man, Blasts, Super-Strength, and his Immunity to alot of effects, and you've got one bad-ass master villain.
LOW-GRADE "SECONDARY ADAMANTIUM" ULTRONS
Role: Nigh-Invincible Mooks
Group Affiliations: Ultron's Army
PL 13 (234)
STRENGTH 12
STAMINA --
AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 6
DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE 0
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+6)
Intimidation 12 (+12)
Perception 8 (+8)
Technology 3 (+6)
Advantages:
Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 10, Ultimate Toughness Check, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)
Powers:
"The Ultimate Machine"
Immunity 40 (Fortitude & Mental Effects) [40]
"Computer Brain" Quickness 6 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Effects) [3]
"Datalink" Communication (Electronic) 2 [10]
Senses 7 (Extended Sight, Infra-Vision, Radar- Accurate Ranged Radio Sense) [7]
"Adamantium Body" Protection 19 (Extras: Impervious 25) [44]
"Encephalo-Beam" Affliction 13 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Reversible) (Extras: Cumulative, Ranged, Concentration) (53) -- [54]
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Encephalo-Beam +10 (+13 Ranged Affliction, DC 23)
Blast +10 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +0
Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +19 (+13 Impervious), Fortitude --, Will +6
Complications:
Vulnerable- Though nigh-invincible, Ultron can be given trouble by computer viruses, electrical attacks, magnetics, and magic hex-bolts. The Scarlet Witch in particular used to regularly be a source of agony.
Motivation/Obsession (Genocide)- Ultron is obsessed with the destruction and replacement of all organic life with machines.
Obsession (Family Man)- Ultron seeks a family, no matter how many times this family betrays him. He has created The Vision as a son (betrayed him), Jocasta as a wife (betrayed him), and Alkhema as a second wife (betrayed him).
Enemy (Hank Pym, The Avengers)
Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 158 / Defenses: 12 (234)
-During
Ultron Unlimited, Ultron unleashed a barrage of his "former versions", basically lower-end Ultrons that were STILL nigh-unkillable, as only Thor could stop them amongst their crew, and only THEN if he went all-out! They're a mere PL 11.5 offensively, but are PL 12.5 defensively thanks to their INSANE toughness.