Ultron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Wed, 01 Jul 2020 17:00:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Ultron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Ultron – Nerds on Earth false episodic Ultron – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Ultron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ Who Should Be Blamed for Ultron’s Evil? https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/07/who-should-be-blamed-for-ultrons-evil/ Thu, 02 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=31703

Who is to blame for Ultron's evil turn? Hank Pym? Tony Stark? The Infinity Stone? It's the nature versus nurture debate in Marvel Comics!

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Marvel Comics likes to create characters that are the children of current characters. They keep superpoweredness in the family, in other words. In fact, this long tradition of Marvel Comics has given rise to superpowered siblings, villainous parents, heroic children, and more than one weird clone child from the future.

Some are heroic like their parents, while others take the road more traveled into villany. And if you dig a little deeper into that, it might seem that comic books are trying to tell us that upbringing counts for a lot when it comes to a person’s character. Nature’s gamma rays or mutated DNA might create the superpowers, but comics seem to be telling us that the nurture of a family goes a long way in deciding if a person will be on the side of angels or walk with the devil.

Yet, as is typical with comics, there are inconsistencies in the manner in which family relationships are “drawn” out and one famous comic book story in particular thankfully got a retcon when it was “illustrated” on the big screen in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

I’m talking about the comic book storyline of Hank Pym’s relationship with Ultron.

Listen, it’s weird to talk about a fictional comic book character and his robot creation as father and son. But that’s honestly the way it’s portrayed in the Marvel Universe, and as far as I know, no one has ever called it out as kooky. In fact, the two characters explicitly address each other as “father” and “son.” Receipts:

To be fair, I guess you could say that Hank Pym was present in the “birthing room,” so to speak (Avengers #57 – 1968). Ultron was in fact the creation of Hank Pym, not from his sperm (DNA), but from his brain patterns. Then like a stereotypical teenager, the robot developed its own intelligence and rebelled, immediately feeling an irrational hatred for his “father” Hank.

The story was told similarly in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Tony Stark’s desire to create a defense shield to protect the earth from alien invaders had him team up with Bruce Banner. Stark’s tech knowledge combined with Banner’s bio knowledge formed Ultron, but it was the influence of one of the Infinity Stones that corrupted the AI.

Something similar happened in the comics. Hank never had an opportunity to influence Ultron’s thoughts like one would in a typical father and son scenario. You know, while playing catch in the backyard or whatever. Alas, Hank didn’t even know he had a “son” until Ultron attacked him for the first time and it was revealed that the robot had developed self-consciousness.

So should Hank Pym be held responsible for Ultron’s behavior? As far as the Avengers were concerned, the answer was a resounding yes. Indeed, there were deep whispers among the Avengers (as well as most comic book readers) that Hank Pym was in the wrong just by “fathering” Ultron. Never mind that Ultron developed his own self-consciousness and Pym had no nurturing role in forming his character.

This played out a little differently in the movie. Given that Tony partnered with Bruce to upgrade his current “Jarvis” programming into a full-fledged AI, Cap was immediately critical, suggesting it was Tony’s hubris that was to blame from the beginning. Ultron’s corruption by the Infinity Stone wasn’t given much consideration.

In other words, the sins of the son automatically became the sins of the father. And if you think about it, don’t we (real humans) typically blame a parent if a kid turns out bad? Surely they must have done something wrong as a parent, we think. We postulate that maybe the parent should have worked less, or drawn stronger boundaries, or lost their temper less, or whatever. It’s hard to blame the kid after all.

Now, we don’t seem to mind the lack of symmetry in that thinking when a child is better than a parent. We’ll blame a parent if a kid turns out bad, but we don’t want to give credit to a villainous parent when a kid turns out so much better than they.

Think of Magneto’s children or Stature, daughter of the once criminal Scott Lang in the comics. Or think about Vision from the movies. Vision represented Tony’s original hoped-for outcome and was shown worthy of Thor’s hammer. While it was implied that Ultron’s hubris must have been derivative of Tony’s hubris, no one ever circled back to suggest that maybe Vision worthiness was derivative of Tony’s worthiness.

It’s a gut response in wanting to blame Tony Stark. (And Hank Pym in the comics.) Heroes should have heroic kids, we think, so when Ultron wakes up 110 proof pure evil, it’s unsettling. We react to that discomfort by looking for someone to blame. Hank was the first available target in the comics, whereas it was Tony in the movies.

But geez, these are just a comic book characters, after all. Let’s not think about it too much. But just know that if I ever create an indestructible robot that spontaneous develops a consciousness that is irrationally evil, I’ll want my teammates to at least give me the benefit of the doubt.

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7 Potential Villains for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/07/7-potential-villains-for-phase-4-of-the-marvel-cinematic-universe/ Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:04:34 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=13298

Marvel will need a new big bad after Thanos. Here are 7 potential villains for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful franchise of all time, so I’m guessing you’ve seen a couple of the movies. Hopefully you’ve stuck around for some post credits scenes.

By my estimation, Thanos has appeared in 12,421 post credits scenes, so I think Marvel is hinting that he’s going to be the big bad that the Avengers will square of against. Assuming Earth’s Mightiest Heroes prevail, Marvel will need a new Phase 4 villain. Here are 7 suggestions:

7 Potential Villains for Phase 4 of the MCU

7. Hela is making her appearance in Thor Ragnarok. Assuming the Odinson prevails, Hela will slink away to lick the wounds of her defeat, which she will do doubt take as personal, seeking revenge.

She looks like something straight up off a Gwar album, she is crazy powerful if she can crush Mjolnir in her bare hands, and she’s the scheming type. She is the type of villain who could absolutely carry several movies.

 

6. Sin is a character most casual movie goers won’t be aware of but would be an interesting call back for the movies.

Sin is the daughter of the Red Skull. Although the Red Skull was vanquished at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, everyone knows that if you cut off one head of Hydra, another grow to take its place.

And Marvel loves wedging Hydra front and center in their stories. They’d need a comic book rationale for how she came to be in the MCU, but she’d make a great villain for Phase 4.

 

5. Dormammu was seemingly offered a stalemate in Doctor Strange, but who says he’ll honor the bargain?

Listen, you can’t trust a guy like Dormammu and while I trust Benedict Cumberbatch wholly and completely and with all my heart, we also know that Doctor Strange is going to lose the title of Sorcerer Supreme at some point. It’s only happened like 12,000 times in the comics.

So when Strange takes his Eye of Agamotto off the ball, Dormammu could creep back in for the MCU Phase 4.

 

4. Adam Warlock was introduced in a Guardians of the Galaxy post credits scene, but most folks won’t realize he has a shadow side: Magus.

Adam Warlock in the comics was meant to be a hero, a counterpart to Thanos, champion of Death. But GotG 2 has opened a really plausible scenario for bringing forth his Magus alternate version, which came forth in the comics after Adam Warlock was bombarded with dark propaganda, a process that turned him insane.

Now calling himself Magus, he established himself as a god, surrounding himself with followers called the Universal Church of Truth. He could bring a ‘holy war’ to the MCU.

 

3. Ultron was defeated once in the movies, but who really thinks he is gone for good? ’nuff said.

 

2. Molecule Man doesn’t seem like the typical big bad type. He’s a seemingly normal dude, yet one beset with nearly unlimited power. Molecule man could make for a more personal story of power that could make the villain a little more relatable, something that the MCU movies haven’t been known for.

But Marvel really excels at making personal, relatable characters and Molecule Man could show an interesting character arc as a seemingly everyday person who is driven slowly into villainy via tragedy over a few films. I’d watch that character arc.

 

1. Kang the Conquerer is a time traveling foe of the Avengers. And he is amazing. But does the MCU really want to introduce time travel and the whole can of worms that goes with that? Probably not, but darned if I wouldn’t be stoked for it anyway.

 

Things with Marvel are never simple. Who knows if some of the characters are tied up in studio usage right, after all? But we know Marvel needs a new big bad after Thanos.

But they won’t have just one. Even though the above might serve well as an overarching villain, individual movies will have smaller villains that serve those individual stories.

Or maybe we just wipe away the entire slate above and just let heroes fight other heroes. Marvel really likes to do that.

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Was Hank Pym to Blame for Ultron’s Evil? https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/04/hank-pam-ultron/ Mon, 24 Apr 2017 12:53:55 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=12063

Should Hank Pym have been to Balme for Ultron being evil?

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Marvel comics often likes to keep it in the family. In fact, there is a long tradition of superpowered siblings, villainous parents, or parents having heroic children. Indeed, there have been family legacies of both heroism and villainy.

If you dig a little deeper into that, it might seem that comic books are trying to tell us that upbringing counts for a lot when it comes to a person’s character. Nature’s gamma rays or mutated DNA might create the superpowers, but comics seem to be telling us that the nurture of a family goes a long way in deciding the path that progeny will walk.

But as is typical with comics, there are inconsistencies in the manner in which family relationships are “drawn” out. Nowhere is that more true than in Hank Pym’s relationship with Ultron.

Listen, it’s weird to talk about a fictional comic book character and his robot creation as father and son. But that’s honestly the way it’s portrayed in the Marvel Universe, and as far as I know, no one has ever called it out as kooky. In fact, the two characters explicitly address each other as “father” and “son.”

To be fair, I guess you could say that Hank Pym was present in the “birthing room,” so to speak (Avengers 57–October 1968). Ultron is the creation of Hank Pym, not from his sperm (DNA), but from his brain patterns. Then like a stereotypical teenager, the robot developed its own intelligence and rebelled, immediately feeling an irrational hatred for his “father” Hank.

But Hank never had an opportunity to influence Ultron’s thoughts like one would in a typical father and son scenario. You know, while playing catch in the backyard or whatever. Alas, Hank didn’t even know he had a “son” until Ultron attacked him for the first time and it was revealed that the robot had developed self-consciousness.

So should Hank Pym be held responsible for Ultron’s behavior? As far as the Avengers went, the answer was a resounding yes. Indeed, there were deep whispers among the Avengers (as well as most comic book readers) that Hank Pym was in the wrong just by “fathering” Ultron. Never mind that Ultron developed his own self-consciousness and Pym had no nurturing role in forming his character.

The sins of the son became the sins of the father. And if you think about it, don’t we (real humans) typically blame a parent if a kid turns out bad? Surely they must have done something wrong as a parent, we think. We postulate that maybe the parent should have worked less, or drawn stronger boundaries, or lost their temper less, or whatever. It’s hard to blame the kid after all.

Now, we don’t seem to mind the lack of symmetry in that thinking when a child is better than a parent. We’ll blame a parent if a kid turns out bad, but we don’t want to give credit to a villainous parent when a kid turns out so much better than they. (Think of Magneto’s children or Stature, daughter of the once criminal Scott Lang.)

It’s a gut response in wanting to blame Hank Pym. Heroes should have heroic kids, we think, so when Ultron wakes up 110 proof pure evil, it’s unsettling. We react to that discomfort by looking for someone to blame. Hank was the first available target.

But geez, it’s just a comic book, after all, and Hank Pym certainly had other sins on his ledger. Still, if I ever create an indestructible robot that spontaneous develops a consciousness that is irrationally evil, I’d want my teammates to at least give me the benefit of the doubt.

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