Recently, an initiative was launched to find out more about the inside track of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This docu-series was called Avengers Talk, and these are the transcripts of the episodes.
DISCLAIMER: There is sensitive information being shared about these heroes herein. Any attempt to use it against them will most likely result in the Avengers assembling outside of your studio apartment and handling you accordingly. Proceed at your own risk.
Avengers Talk
This Episode: Worst Enemies - Ultron
Henry Jonathan "Hank" Pym/Ant-Man/Giant Man/Yellowjacket (genius, biochemical scientist, quantum physician, robotics/cybernetics expert, creator of Ultron, Avenger): Before you start the Q&A, I want to say that I accept full responsibility for Ultron's existence and subsequent malfunction.
Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark/Iron Man (billionaire-genius-industrialist-playboy-philanthropist, founding Avenger): He is…without a doubt…one of our worst enemies ever.
Clinton Francis "Clint" Barton/Ronin/Hawkeye (former criminal, Avenger): I'm talking the kind of baddie that whenever his name is mentioned, chills run up everyone's spine. I mean serious, serious problems this guy gave us.
Janet van Dyne Pym/The Wasp (fashion designer, founding Avenger): He was—is—unstoppable. No matter what we do, no matter how many times we defeated him, he just kept coming back, each time bigger and badder and a hell of a lot harder to put down.
Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (genius, electrical engineer, quantum physician, time-traveler, inventor, leader; Fantastic Four): From a purely intellectual standpoint, Ultron was, and still is, an amazing work of cybernetic art. He could have been the Avengers' greatest ally, with his intelligence and aptitude for upgrading himself. Sadly any machine that smart is eventually going to start to wonder why it's taking orders, and that's what happened here. Hank Pym is one of my greatest friends and I know that this was especially hard on him.
Tony Stark: The worst part about Ultron is that he's a perfectionist. He's constantly creating new bodies for himself and improving his tech. He really is the pinnacle of bionic achievement. And you're talking to the guy who has the best technology on the planet currently.
Hank Pym: According to the Intelligencia I'm the fourth smartest man on the planet. Reed is first, Victor von Doom second, Bruce Banner third, then there's me, and Tony rounds it out as fifth.
Tony Stark: Yeah, no comment on that.
Hank Pym: I wish I had been smart enough to see that Ultron was defective. I should have shut him down a long time ago. Now it's too late.
Steven "Steve" Rogers/Captain America (WW2 veteran, government liaison, Avenger): I don't like to place blame on anybody unless they absolutely deserve it, and Hank is not one of those cases. So I refuse to say that Ultron was entirely his fault.
Thor Odinson (god of thunder, occasional king of Asgard, founding Avenger): Nay, 'twas not the doctor's fault. The foul creature simply had a mind set to be evil.
Reed Richards: No, I don't think it was his fault. As I said, a machine that smart was going to rebel eventually. Perhaps it was even better that it happened sooner rather than later; so the pain wouldn't be as potent.
Janet van Dyne Pym: Oh it absolutely was his fault. He was arrogant enough to think he could build something that intelligent and not have ramifications? I blame him totally. Love you, honey.
The Avengers faced Ultron several times, in locales spanning from the Mayan temples of South America to their own urban neighborhood.
Hank Pym: No, no, it's fine. I understand, Jan's right, really. I was arrogant. I was at the height of my scientific career. Hundreds of universities and organizations were sticking their hands out, fighting one another to get me for a lecture or book-signing or a teaching position or a membership. But that wasn't enough. I wanted more. I wanted to create something so big that my name would be plastered up next to Einstein and Da Vinci. And in my greed I turned to a subject that I didn't fully understand at the time but one I felt was the most effective way to make my mark; robotics.
And when I tell you I have never made a worse mistake; I'm telling the truth.
Steve Rogers: We were all frightened of what Ultron proved to be capable of, but he seemed to affect Simon the most.
Simon Williams/Wonder Man (former actor, Avenger): Oh yeah, I was terrified of Ultron.
Carol Susan Jane Danvers/Warbird/Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel (former Air Force head of security, Avenger): Every time we ran into Ultron, Simon would just freeze up. Start sweating.
Simon Williams: I don't know what it was. I mean, at the time, I was the most powerful Avenger.
Thor: Surely he jests.
Simon Williams: Okay, sorry, second most powerful Avenger. I forgot about Thor. But the point is that, really, there was no reason for me to be afraid of him. And yet every single time I came around him…I couldn't bring myself to even look at him, much less fight him. It took every fiber of my being to overcome my fear and face him, and even when I did I had to physically stop myself from running away.
Tony Stark: And then there was Vision.
Hank Pym: I'm sure the irony isn't lost on you; Ultron is one of our worst enemies, and he created something that would eventually become one of our greatest allies.
Well, I say something, but I feel pressed to say someone. Vision is a synthezoid. It's a term that was created in order to describe his ability to feel emotion. So, in some ways, he was practically human.
Clint Barton: 'Course, he wasn't always good. Thing like Ultron's not gonna create something like that and give it to us as a present.
Yeah, he started out evil. And boy oh boy; was he a trip. He can probably tell you all the details, all I know is he tossed me and T'Challa aside like a couple of ragdolls.
T'Challa/Black Panther (king of Wakanda, Avenger): It was a…humbling experience, to say the least.
The Vision [Victor Shade] (synthezoid, "son" of Ultron, Avenger): I was created by Ultron using the brain patterns of the then-deceased Simon Williams. My purpose was to lead the Avengers into a death trap. The first Avenger I encountered was the Wasp. She described me as 'an unearthly, inhuman vision' and the moniker, obviously, stuck.
However, the fear with which she said this caused me to reconsider my initial programming and, eventually, disregard it. I aided the Avengers in the defeat of my father, and eventually gained a permanent membership on their roster.
Steve Rogers: And he continued to be an invaluable asset and ally to the Avengers. It was particularly devastating when he was destroyed during…well…that's another story altogether.
Tony Stark: But even after that, Ultron never stopped. He kept coming at us, kept evolving, the perfect enemy. He even created—tried to create mates for himself. The first one was…oh god, what was her name? Something like, uh…Joanna or something?
Janet van Dyne Pym: Jocasta. Her name was Jocasta. And she was created with my brain juices! Yippee-kye-yay!
Hank Pym: The thing about Ultron is that he suffered from a serious Oedipus complex. You know; Freud's theory about the son having an unconscious desire for his mother and a likewise unconscious decision to be rid of his father so that desire can be fulfilled.
Well, obviously, Ultron never could get rid of me, and he couldn't physically acquire Janet, so he decided to create his own mate using the brain patterns of Janet.
Janet van Dyne Pym: Ugh, I don't even want to…sometimes I try to convince myself that didn't actually happen.
Hank Pym: The thing is; it didn't work. Well, at least, not in the way Ultron intended. Because he programmed Jocasta with Jan's brain waves, Jocasta, by default, hated Ultron and saw him as an enemy, because Janet always had. So, in the end, Jocasta helped us defeat Ultron; the second in his trilogy of creations to defy him. The third was Alkhema, created with the brainwaves of Hawkeye's wife Mockingbird. And even though she didn't like Ultron, she had no love for the Avengers or the rest of humanity either.
We managed to stop her, eventually, and thwart another one of Ultron's attempts to create a wife for himself.
But his obsession with Janet didn't stop there.
Tony Stark: It was after the 'Civil War.' Captain America was supposedly dead. I had formed my own team of government registered Avengers. It was comprised of myself, Carol [Danvers], Black Widow, Wonder Man, Ares, Janet, and Bob Reynolds, the Sentry. Carol was assigned to lead the team, as per my personal request.
Carol Danvers/Warbird/Binary/Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel (former Air Force head of security, Avenger): He wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
Tony Stark: I didn't not take 'no' for an answer, I just—anyway, our first mission was a big one. We were called out to stop the rampage of several moloids in the downtown shopping district of Manhattan. These moloids were from the underground realm of Subterranea, aka Mole Man territory.
Carol Danvers: These crazy weather abnormalities had been popping up all over the planet; tornadoes, earthquakes, hail the size of golf balls. And apparently the Mole Man had something to do with it.
Simon Williams: To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on. I just know it felt great to be an Avenger again.
Carol Danvers:Anyway we were confronting Mole Man about it and that's when the weird started.
That's where Ultron made his entrance.
Black Widow [Natasha Romanoff] (former Russian spy, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avenger): Tony started to—and I remember this so vividly—his entire body just arched. He started to convulse and then he started to morph, stretching out and around, like Mister Fantastic, only he wasn't in control and it was horrifying.
And I'm—I don't even know what's happening. Bob's got Mole Man strung up by his throat, ordering him to stop doing it, and Mole Man's swearing that it's not him…
Carol Danvers: Next thing I know, we were bathed in this blinding light, and when I looked back to see what happened, Tony was…well…a woman.
In fact, he looked like Janet.
Janet van Dyne Pym: Scariest **** I've ever seen in my life. And this is coming from a girl who's gone face to face with the Hulk.
Ares (Greek god of war, Avenger): [laughs] He was naked.
Tony Stark: As it turns out, it was Ultron taking over my armor again. Although this time, because I had the Extremis armor, he was able to transform my entire body.
All of this, all of these experiences with Ultron, just proves how dangerous he is, and how far he's willing to go to destroy us.
And if we aren't careful, one day, he will.
