…Ultron’s origin?

There are a number of theories floating about on Hank Pym’s behavioural problems. Those problems are observed as far back as Avengers #13. At the start of the issue Janet Van Dyne was particularly bright and perky, but by the end she almost died. Avengers #14 featured the team hunting for a cure for her injury, with Hank on the edge of insanity. A few issues thereafter Hank and Jan quit the team.

While the events of Avengers #14 were used as evidence for Hank’s mental instability, since Giant-Man was in turns despairing, petulant, and angry, some fans suggested Jan was pregnant at the time of her injury and lost the child as a consequence of the shoot­ing.

Further speculation holds that this may have led to Hank’s mental problems and feelings of inadequacy.

The event fits well with the mysterious creation of Ultron as a surrogate child.

So this makes a great explanation for Ultron and Hank’s mental state, but problems need ironing out for this possibility to work.

This idea that Hank and Jan’s unborn child had his brain wave patterns impressed on Ultron’s programming is possible. So, say Hank had that unborn infant’s patterns around, and in a fit of despair, used them for the mind of his robotic “child.” Ultron, on becoming conscious, would have processed environmental stimuli, and using super-fast processing time, all the data in Hank’s computers, faster than a normal biological infant.

It explains why Ultron hates his father and loves his mother. If Hank dictates a personal log into his computers, Ultron would know Hank blames himself for the Wasp’s injury and the loss of the baby. Ultron could believe his own father “murdered” him, while hurting his mother.

We’ve frequently seen that one panel showing the Wasp in an overall bodysuit, in the middle of one of Hanks’ gadgets, as he modifies her metabolism to give her “Wasp” powers. (This always struck me as odd, because Hank never gave himself or anyone else “natural,” biological superpowers; he uses serums and potions and mechanisms.)

It’s safe to assume that process of “empowering” the Wasp happened quite often, and it was accompanied each time by a full physical done by Hank, aided by scanners of Hank’s invention more sophisticated than you’d find in a doctor’s office.

Hank would want to know what was going on in Jan’s body down to the very last DNA strand before he played around with giving her insect super powers, or even “charged her up” each time.

Obviously, then, Hank gives Jan a super power treatment after he knocks her up, then his scans show she’s pregnant. He would know it quickly.

Here’s where the guilt that turned Hank eventually self-destructive comes in: He didn’t tell her.

Why? Because Hank’s a schmuck. He wasn’t sure it was his, and he couldn’t tell her that, either. So does Schmuck Hank with No Self Esteem propose? Noooooo.

He tries to determine the baby’s paternity. And does Hank create the world’s first DNA tests back in 1963? No, he uses brainwaves.

Which is why he took the opportunity to grab a dying man’s brainwaves, so he could study them. Eventually, he found a way to study his own brainwave patterns and Jan’s, by comparing them to Wonder Man’s as a necessary, unrelated third pattern. He recorded the fetus’ brainwave patterns, and established that, indeed, it was his and Jan’s child.

And before he could tell anyone about it, Jan got injured and lost the baby.

Imagine the torment. Because he doubted the fidelity of the woman he loves, and because, well, he’s a jerk, there’s no denying it, he withheld crucial information. Had Jan known she was carrying Hank’s child, she would have put herself on inactive status, the baby would have been born, she and Hank would have married for positive, healthy reasons instead of that sick Yellowjacket situation, and Hank would have never turned into the neurotic mess we all knew and loved, and they would have a biological child by now.

He can never, never, never admit to this. He may be so far in denial (and had so many psychotic breaks) that he no longer remembers it. It was a huge step to admit that he used his own brainwave patterns for Ultron’s mind, but even that’s not the truth. The truth is much darker. Ultron is Jan and Hank’s child, twisted and sociopathic. If Hank knows that, he will never let Jan know it. Most likely, however, he doesn’t know it.

Ultron must know it, and that’s why he taunts his father by calling him “dad.”But Ultron also will never admit to it, because Ultron doesn’t want to admit he has any ties to real humanity. For Ultron to ever admit that he is Jan and Hank’s unborn son, transplanted into robotic form, would be enormously humiliating. He’d have to be forced to do it, and there’s no way to put that kind of pressure on Ultron, since he can’t be permanently killed.

So neither he nor Hank will ever admit to this dark secret, that they really are father and son, and Jan really has a child with Hank, one who wants to kill every last human being on the face of the planet, as well as every other form of biological life.

This post first appeared as my contribution to Assembled!2: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Villains, appearing in Part 2 of that volume as Ultron as Pym’s True Son.

Postscript

You’ll adduce from the above my dislike for Hank’s later psychotic break and spousal abuse of Janet.

I  can’t see why no one up until now has attempted to reveal it as just another scheme of Ultron’s, akin to his mentally controlling the butler Jarvis when in the guise of the “Crimson Cowl” (Roy really did do the definitive Hank didn’t he)?

Shooter himself even had Pym brainwashed to kidnap the Wasp so she could be converted to a metal mate for Ultron in 161.

Christ, Justin Hammer had his scientists working over a long period of time to figure out a way to control Iron Man’s armour remotely so what is so hard to believe about a robot with an Oedipus Complex scheming to make its “father” fall out of favour with its “mother” so it can step in and become the “surrogate” husband?

This to me would seem to be the best, and simplest, way to redeem Hank and it gels with previous continuity.  Just reveal it and then move forward.

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…it so Magneto’s wife is still alive? Part 3 in a series of 3

You know the fact that Mystique’s code-name means ‘air of mystery’ suggests she is a character with an aura of intrigue surrounding them but perhaps also hiding an identity we’re already familiar with.

I have another theory, but don’t worry. It still connects with the Shi’ar.

She wears a death-skull, we know according to Claremont that her surname was intended as Raven (further representing death), and first name, Eric (see Figure 1 in Part 1 here).

Now recall despite Nightcrawler’s origin not being revealed as far back as 1983, his father is named in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8 as Baron Eric Wagner.

Figure 24: Under Known Relatives Kurt’s father is listed as Eric Wagner from OHOTMU volume 1#8

Back in the 1980s Gruenwald mentioned that, where possible for characters whose origins hadn’t been revealed he would request some brief details from their then writers which he and Peter Sanderson would then build on but still leave room to not contradict their intentions.

So was it Claremont’s intention at one point that (s)he was masquerading as Baron Wagner at the time. If so this would not only suggest (s)he was Kurt’s father, but if we follow Gruenwald’s above suggestion, Claremont may have planted the clue as far back as 1983 that he intended Raven’s first name as Eric with a ‘C’ perhaps as a further clue to her using the identity of Davan Shakari.

But this isn’t the biggie…

What other major X-villain is named EriK? While we know Erik Lensherr was never his intended name for Magneto, if you cast your mind back to Claremont’s interview with Tue Sørensen in 1996 he mentions how:

“A lot of my stories were rejected, and have suddenly come up in the last 3 years as X-Men stories.”

So what if Erik Lensherr was a name Claremont had included in his notes in connection WITH Magneto, but wasn’t the pseudonym he intended FOR Magnus?

What was that intended connection?

I’ll get there but for a moment I’d like to refer for a moment to Magneto’s wife, Magda.

While it is claimed that Magda walked out into the frozen wastes to die after the birth of her children, Wanda and Pietro, this never quite made sense when you consider she survived in the frozen wastelands after escaping Auschwitz, despite her physically debilitated state.

Figure 25: Magda, in a malnourished state, survives the frozen wastelands after escaping Auschwitz, yet it is claimed she walked out into a blizzard on Mt. Wundagore to die after the birth of her twins from Classic X-Men #12 Story 2 and Avengers #186 respectively

While Magda appears to have abandoned her children, Wanda and Pietro, convincing everyone she left them and walked out in the snow to die, is she in fact still out there alive and someone we have previously encountered without realising her true identity; perhaps a red-haired character with an ‘air of mystery’?

We know after Magnus kills that crowd in Vinnitsa, she shouts that he’s a monster and flees from him.

Figure 26: Terrified of what she witnessed, Magda fled, calling her husband a “monster” from Story 2 in Classic X-Men #12

So was Magda Mystique? The name Lensherr is not really a surname but a title effectively meaning Baron or Count in German. So was Eric Lensherr meant to suggest Eric the Baron/ Count, a title (s)he would go on to adopt after fleeing Magnus or leaving Wundagore?

But what about the Shi’ar connection you say?

Well firstly given Claremont’s stories show Irene working with Raven much earlier than Magnus’s time with Magda, since she had hired Raven to help her interpret the visions transcribed in her Diaries (influenced by the Shadow King), had they identified Magnus as a key player in mutant events so Raven assumed the identity of Magda becoming his love in the camps and then abandoning him in his moment of need to help drive him to become the mutant terrorist we know and love/hate!?

Is this why, upon assuming the identity of Eric the Red (s)he restores him to adulthood…

Figure 27: Eric the Red, after penetrating Muir Island’s automatic security, breaks into the cell where the infant Magneto is being confined, using a ray gun to restore him to adulthood in a matter of moments from Uncanny X-Men #104

…to compel him to return as the terrorist, Magneto, reigniting the fear campaign against mutants as the Shadow King intended…

Figure 28: A case can be made here that the Shadow King was responsible for driving mutants such as Magneto toward terrorism to bring about the hatred that would lead to Days of Future Past from Uncanny X-Men #278

…and when he couldn’t do it right, she stepped forth from the shadows reigniting the conflict herself through her establishment of her own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who made it their mission to assassinate Senator Robert Kelly?!

Figure 29: Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants reignite the fear campaign against mutants, as the Shadow King intended, from Uncanny X-Men #141

I mean doesn’t everyone think it’s strange that despite both operating in Europe and becoming terrorists, Magneto and Mystique were never revealed as having worked together? Raven even followed his example and formed a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But if she was attempting to avoid him discovering she had been masquerading as his wife Magda this might actually make sense!

Was the small skull on the centre of Mystique’s forehead, just below her hairline, intended to slyly clue us in to the fact that she was meant to be a character previously believed to be dead, and her red hair meant to further suggest her connection with her daughter, Wanda?

Don’t worry, this doesn’t necessarily rule out the Shi’ar connection since the surname Adler is German for bird of prey or ‘eagle’ and is most notably used as such in heraldry!

What if Raven is not the sister supposedly murdered by Deathbird, but rather her assigned protector; what if Irene is instead that sister?

Postscript 1

With regard to the scanner Forge designs capable of identifying human, mutant, Kree, Skrull, Wraith, etc. upon switching it on in UXM 184 Forge identifies only one mutant …himself … failing to pick up on Raven’s mutant signature. While he might have chosen to not give her identity away, does this suggest her power being the result of something else? While the technology could pick up aliens too, would he not be more likely to give her up if she was alien as opposed to one of his own kind? Recall his comments after scanning the room make him appear surprised about Raven’s reactions, but if he picked up that she was like himself a mutant, he surely wouldn’t have been. So why didn’t the tech identify her as a mutant?

Figure 30: Forge’s scanner fails to identify Raven as a mutant from Uncanny X-Men #184

Postscript 2

If Mystique is Eric Raven did Claremont intend this whole plot to tie into the War of the Worlds? Has this been Raven’s agenda all along, ensuring mutants are protected so they can provide defence against the Martians? If (s)he isn’t a mutant, as suggested by Forge’s scanner in Uncanny X-Men #184, is (s)he from a race previously persecuted by the Martians who fled to earth? Was her intention to reveal that (s)he was the true father of Jonathan Raven (aka. Killraven), and Irene his mother, hence his extrasensory ability?

Return to Part 1 here and Part 2 here

…the identity of Deathbird’s sister? Part 2 in a series of 3

Is translating the meaning behind “Claremont” names the key to finally breaking open the mystery behind his longest standing stories?!

My own mother’s maiden being that of the surname of his character, Heather Cameron (aka Lifeguard), this made me recall it is Scottish for ‘crooked nose’. With Heather’s later transformation revealing her Shi’ar royal ancestry, this made me wonder whether the ‘crooked nose’ is meant to imply an avian beak!

Figure 18: Heather Cameron’s changed appearance to resemble the alien Shi’ar race, the cranial markings on her head and crest of feathers indicating she is of Shi’ar royal ancestry, from X-Treme X-Men #14 and #15 respectively

Now given the entry from Destiny’s Diary in X-Treme X-Men #10 reveals that Heather was “Mothered by War”, fans have previously taken this to mean Claremont was implying that her mother was Deathbird.

Figure 19: Hints to Heather’s Shi’ar parentage from Destiny’s Diary in X-Treme X-Men #10

However, given Claremont gave Heather the code-name of LIFEguard, was this meant to clue us in to her mother’s attributes being the polar opposite to that of her murderous sister who represented DEATH?

So did Claremont intend the diary entry to instead suggest that Heather is the half-Shi’ar offspring of Deathbird’s unnamed sister whom she supposedly murdered?

Figure 20: is Lifeguard the half-Shi’ar offspring of Deathbird’s unnamed sister whom she referred to murdering in Ms. Marvel #10?

But I’m not stopping there!

Setting aside her name of Raven, did you know the word Mystique translates directly as ‘air of mystery’?

So not only does Mystique’s surname refer to a ‘bird of death’ but her code-name refers to her mystery being related to ‘AIR’.

Does this finally reveal that Mystique was an Aerie?

Now recall that Lifeguard’s ability to register danger enabled her to obtain the powers, and or forms, necessary to save her or others, the powers and forms she took being determined by the situation she was in and adapting accordingly.

So did Heather inherit her ability to shape-shift from Mystique?

What, you say?!

Well we know that while Heather was in space her shape shifting DNA brought out her natural Shi’ar heritage, but when she was on earth the royal Shi’ar markings had not manifested despite her mutant abilities having done so.

So is this why Mystique showed no obvious signs of Shi’ar heritage – because she had been stationed on Earth for a long while?

If Lifeguard inherited her shape-shifting ability from her mother, did she likewise inherit the ability to register danger?

That is, if Mystique is Heather’s mother did (s)he secretly manage to survive Deathbird’s attempt on her LIFE because, like her daughter, she was able to sense danger within a 30 metre radius, after which she replaced her body with that of a similar Shi’ar and thereafter fled to Earth?

Does this finally explain why Deathbird came to Earth? Did she somehow suspect her sister had survived and intended to seek proof of her treachery so she would no longer be exiled from her empire? That is, had D’Ken and Mystique conspired to kill their mother and frame Deathbird to prevent her claiming the throne since she was the first in line for it?! It just never seemed to make sense that Deathbird would jeopardise her rightful claim, but it didn’t seem to be beyond of the realm of capability of her brother.  A clue here includes Deathbird not necessarily considering herself exiled from her race early on since she indicates in Ms. Marvel #9 that Ms. Marvel’s name will be counted among the Aerie’s most honoured foes.

Figure 21: Deathbird doesn’t necessarily consider herself exiled from the Shi’ar at this point in Ms. Marvel #9

The Shi’ar would surely count Ms. Marvel as an honoured ally if she fought the exiled Deathbird, not a foe!?

So does D’Ken’s sister-in-arms, Mystique, station herself on Earth to their mutual benefit, where she takes up numerous identities, including that of a male Shi’ar agent, Davan Shakari.

On this point, recall how Lilandra had stated in Uncanny X-Men #107 how Shakari had been “our agent on Earth” (see Figure 5 in Part 1). This never seemed to make sense when you consider the reveal in Uncanny X-Men # 105 that he had been exiled to Earth.

Figure 22: Davan Shakari indicates he had been exiled to Earth by Princess Lilandra from Uncanny X-Men #105

However, keeping my above theory in mind it does. That is, Davan Shakari was stationed on Earth by the Shi’ar Empire first as their loyal agent, but upon Mystique fleeing there, fearing the empire would take note that more than one Shi’ar was stationed there, she killed him and took his as one of her many identities.

I would further posit that the original Shakari stationed on Earth had never taken the identity of Eric the Red, but that had instead been Mystique’s doing, her taking utter delight in the irony not only of using the spelling of the Christian name she had adopted upon settling on earth (i.e. Eric Raven) but also an identity previously used by one of the surviving sons of the family her brother had abducted from Earth year’s earlier.

So when did Mystique originally arrive on Earth? Had she been a passenger on the shuttle that abducted Christopher and Kate Summers? At the time Claremont was originally writing these scenes the year these events would have occurred would be approximately 1953. Now why is this year significant in Claremont stories? Despite Claremont’s revelations since returning to the X-titles that Mystique is over one-hundred years old, you’ll recall him revealing during the fox-hunt sequence in Uncanny X-Men #170 that she would not be born for another 170 years from 1783 (i.e. 1953).

Figure 23: Scene which indicates Mystique was born in 1953 from Uncanny X-Men #170

Was this meant to suggest that her life as an Earther didn’t begin until 1953? If so, she would have been deposited on Earth at about the time Christopher and Kate were withdrawn from Earth by her brother.

Interesting is it not, that Mystique first appears in the same title Deathbird is introduced in, Ms. Marvel!

Well if the above has not been enough to whet your appetite, come back for serving 3 next week where I conclude this series and really “crack the internet in half”;)

Return to Part 1 here or Go to Part 3 here

…who Claremont originally intended Eric the Red to be a disguise of? Part 1 in a series of 3

Well, shock horror, I’ve returned to my ongoing obsession to address the abandoned plots of Chris Claremont, this time through a 3 part series that will look back in time some thirty-five years when the walls between his world-building on Uncanny X-Men and Ms. Marvel were extremely thin.

The mystery of who Claremont originally intended ERIC THE RED to be has existed for 35 years now, but I believe evidence to promote MY theory that he was Mystique in disguise was recently provided by Claremont in the flashback scene in Chaos War: X-Men #1 he wrote where Moira MacTaggert reveals that Destiny’s quest to protect humanity led her to cross paths with a man of mystery named ERIC RAVEN.