[Meeting…] Ultron

One of the themes that has made the imagination of writers fly the most is fantasizing about a world in which humans are capable of creating intelligent and self-sufficient robots and one of the most used topics behind that idea is that said robots break the laws of robotics written by Isaac Asimov and rebel against their creators.

I would like to say that in this specific case that does not happen but I would be lying to you, because I am going to talk to you about Ultron (Ultrón, if you read comics in Spanish), a robot enemy of the Avengers that many of you will now know thanks to the recent movie Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Metal body, human mentality

The origin of this character dates back to the Avengers comics of the 60s, when the Original Ant-Man (Hank Pym) He began to investigate how far his knowledge of robotics and Artificial Intelligence could go.

After creating a first (and unrecognizable) version of Ultron, Hank Pym decided to use his own brain pattern so that the robot could reason by itself. However That fact would cause disaster, since possessing a human mind and at the same time lacking conscience or remorse made Ultron reveal himself and act on his own, but not before managing to deceive his own creator into believing that he had never built him.

Those who have followed Hank Pym's career will know that he is a very human person, in the worst sense of the word. In fact, he has classified himself as bipolar and on more than one occasion he has committed acts of which he cannot be proud, so it is not surprising that Ultron developed a personality full of hatred against humans and against his own creator. After returning to Pym's old laboratory to update himself, Ultron decided to attack the Avengers relentlessly, becoming one of the group's most fearsome and persistent enemies.

Ultron 6, 7, 9, 11…

Although the most dangerous thing about this character is his twisted intelligence, it is undeniable that Ultron's other abilities cannot be ignored, since not only does he have enormous resistance to blows (he is made of adamantium, the substance that covers Wolverine's body and claws), he also has superhuman strength, speed and reflexes, he is capable of launching lightning bolts, recovering energy through electromagnetic radiation, mentally controlling, hypnotizing and even create and modify other computers or robots, as he already demonstrated when he created his robotic companion Jocasta (using the mental pattern of The Wasp, Hank Pym's wife) or The Vision (using the body of the original Human Torch and Wonderman's mental pattern).

Of course, his abilities have varied over time, since this character It has the ability to be updated and modified according to your needs, something that has become one of his hallmarks over the years, allowing cartoonists and scriptwriters to alter his appearance and vary his actions as they saw fit, giving rise to strange versions of this character, such as Ultron 12 (also known as Ultra Mark 12) who tried to have a family relationship with his creator Hank Pym or the female Ultron, whose body was based on that of the Wasp.

The fact that every time this character is left for dead, he somehow recovers and evolves (either by himself or by having the unexpected help of villains like Dr. Doom or the Red Skull) has turned Ultron into a constant character within the Marvel universe, which has earned him recognition as one of the most dangerous villains in the entire publisher.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Although Ultron turns out to be a terribly powerful villain and difficult to destroy (as demonstrated by his multiple versions), I think that The most interesting thing is the hate relationship he maintains with his “father” Hank Pym.. It's quite believable (in comics terms) to think that if you took away a normal human's conscience and remorse and let him do whatever he wanted, he would end up behaving the way Ultron does in most of his versions.

While it is true that in many of his incarnations Ultron is nothing more than the typical villain who wants to kill the Avengers and eliminate humanity, the game that gives the scriptwriters the ability to create different versions of himself has allowed him to be introduced into different curious and unusual situations, such as seeing two different versions of Ultron fighting each other.

As for recommendations, I recommend turning to classic Marvel collections, especially those of Avengers or to specific sagas like Age of Ultron, The Wrath of Ultron or the unforgettable Secret Wars.