Ultimo (Marvel)
Ultimo is a robotic comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Ultimo was one of a series of giant humanoid robots created in an alien world centuries into the past. These aliens seemingly discovered a potent source of enzymatic energy derived from biomatter, and built the Ultimos to be powered by it. (Iron Man v6 #10)
One of his victims was the planet Rajak which Ultimo wiped clean of life. A group of surviving Rajaks were off-planet during the attack and tracked Ultimo down to enact revenge. The giant robot proved too powerful for the Rajaks, and ended up pursuing them. The Rajaks led Ultimo into a meteor shower near Earth which knocked both Ultimo and the Rajaki ship into the planet. Ultimo crashed in China, and the Rajaki ship in what would become Washington State. (Iron Man v3 #24)
Jim Rhodes cobbled together several of Tony Stark's closest confidantes to wear old suits of Iron Man armor in order to meet the Ultimo threat. This group was dubbed the Iron Legion and proved successful only in slowing down the behemoth robot. It took Tony Stark in a new suit of Iron Man armor to figure out how to stop it; he planted a device on Ultimo’s back which caused lightning to strike it, thereby shutting down all of its systems. (Iron Man v1 #300)
Ultimo remained in the possession of Stark Enterprises, and then eventually the new Stark-Fujikawa. Tony Stark was not part of the latter company and hence had no say (nor knowledge) of that company’s plan to use Ultimo as a floating power source. He was quite dismayed when he discovered what had become of the dangerous robot. However, his protests were met with deaf ears by his cousin Morgan Stark, now part of Stark-Fujikawa. Sometime later, two entities known as Sapper and Golden-Blade attacked the Stark-Fujikawa craft which laid atop Ultimo, attempting to siphon energy from it. Their attack unknowingly reactivated Ultimo, even as Sapper – who turned out to be the sole-surviving Rajaki – realized what the Stark-Fujikawa ship really was. (Iron Man v3 #24) Once awakened, Ultimo probed Sapper’s mind, learned who he was, and then continued to pursue that which he originally did before he crashed to Earth – the Rajaki starship. The major problem was that the city of Spokane, Washington laid right in Ultimo's path. Eventually, Iron Man placed a systems tap on Ultimo which permitted him to access the robot’s internal programming. He ordered Ultimo to stop and shut down, and after a few unsuccessful tries, Ultimo finally ceased his advance and deactivated. SHIELD arrived and began to disassemble the giant android, after Golden-Blade and Sapper had siphoned enough energy from the fallen destroyer to re-power their ship - 'accidentally' frying his neural network in the process. (Iron Man v3 #25)
The giant robot later reappeared where he was apparently fully restored and faced against the Mighty Avengers - just long enough to be deactivated by a single shot of the Tactigon, a weapon of unknowable power at the time) in the hands of a girl called Armory. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #1) He was then converted into an Ultimo virus that was capable of bestowing enhanced strength, speed, regeneration and optic blast abilities to its victims, which included Dr. Glenda Sandoval and Ares. (War Machine v2 #3) It was revealed that the virus was engineered from Ultimo himself by the Human Engineering Life Laboratories, which was acting on the commission of the Stark Solutions corporation, which had been contracted by H.A.M.M.E.R. to study Ultimo's potential as a weapon. Having destroyed Ultimo's body, War Machine sets out to destroy Ultimo's brain, which had been split up into three discrete units stored at separate locations. Two of the units are destroyed by War Machine's allies, but the third is ingested (in the form of a crystalline liquid) by Stark Solutions' CEO Morgan Stark who is transformed into a giant, humanoid (quicksilver-like) Ultimo and possessed of the Doomsday Machine's programming to destroy all life, fighting War Machine. However, Ultimo's third component is destroyed when War Machine uses Ultimo's own weapons technology - which were obtained when the robot's body was destroyed - against the robot. Morgan then self-destructs, scattering Ultimo's liquid body all over the landscape and merging with the plant life. (War Machine v2 #8) Ultimo/Morgan planned to convert all of the vegetation on Earth into metal which would suffocate all life within two weeks. War Machine renders Ultimo docile by forcing Norman Osborn into showing memories of respective happiest moments. However, Osborn then took advantage of this to take Ultimo for himself. (War Machine v2 #9) Ultimo after having had his core programming erased was turned into a giant, floating ball of liquid metal that was essentially awaiting instructions. Before Osborn could take possession of the robot, War Machine interfered and then requested Cybermancer Suzi Endo to take Ultimo to "raise" the blank slate it now is, hopefully instilling other values into the artificial intelligence besides universal genocide. (War Machine v2 #10) But on War Machine's request, drops of Ultimo infected the nefarious "Bainesville Ten" group to see recordings of every person who was raped, tortured or killed from their own orders. (War Machine v2 #12)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Ultimo had no capacity for self-motivated activity, and was dependent on programming or the commands of its programmer. Ultimo had a standing order for the combat use of its superhuman powers or, as it was rather graphically put: "If it moves, it dies. If it resists, it dies first". (Iron Man v1 #300)
Powers and abilities
He came to be converted into an Ultimo virus capable of bestowing enhanced strength, speed, regeneration and optic blast abilities to its victims. (War Machine v2 #3)
Notes
- Ultimo was created by Stan Lee where he made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense v1 #76 (April, 1966).
- Writer Kurt Busiek commented on an origin for Ultimo though this never was written where he said, "Yes, we were going to reveal that he was built as an anti-Celestials weapon, but I don't remember much more than that at this point."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Iron Man, Ultimo appeared in the setting of the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Ed Gilbert.
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Ultimo made a cameo appearance in the setting of the animated television series in the prequel episode "Iron Man is Born".
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Ultimo appeared in the setting of the video game.
- In Iron Man 2, Ultimo appeared in the setting of the tie-in video game to the film were he was voiced by actor Andrew Chaikin
- In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Ultimo appeared in the setting of the Wii video game. He was described as a weapon of mass destruction that was nearly invulnerable to harm. At some point, he was defeated with his mind wiped and kept in storage at a warehouse. Ultron took over Ultimo's body as a vessel to destroy the Avengers after he was bonded with the Mind Stone.
Appearances
- Tales of Suspense v1: (1966)
- Iron Man v1:
- Iron Man v3:
- War Machine v2:
- 2020 Force Works v1: (2020)
- Iron Man v6:
External Links
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