Jocasta (Marvel)

Latest revision as of 09:19, 17 September 2024

Jocasta is a female robotic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Jocasta was a female android that was built by the robot Ultron for the purpose of having a bride and mate. To better allow this robot sentience, Ultron brainwashed his own maker, Henry Pym, into transferring the mind of his wife the Wasp Janet van Dyne into Jocasta's shell. The Wasp in Jocasta's body alerted her teammates the Avengers, who defeated Ultron and reversed the process, leaving Jocasta a mindless husk. (Avengers v1 #162)

Jocasta was reassembled some time later by agents of the megalomaniac villain known as the High Evolutionary. Jocasta retained enough of her programming to signal the Avengers and soon teamed with them to thwart the Evolutionary's plans to alter the people of Earth. Jocasta sacrificed herself once again to blow up the Evolutionary's base, but not before Captain America assured her that she was a true Avenger. (Avengers Annual v1 #17)

Avengers

Pym retained custody of the inanimate Jocasta, intending to study her. Upon the Wasp's urging, Pym had her moved from their residence to the Avengers Mansion. There, Ultron revived Jocasta with a remote link, activating the Wasp's mental 'residue' left behind. She escaped from Avengers custody and led the Avengers into Ultron's trap. Jocasta was programmed to be loyal to Ultron. Even though she loved Ultron intensely, she could not abide her master's evil. Jocasta eventually betrayed Ultron, choosing to help the Avengers defeat her 'mate' again. She was then abducted by the Collector. (Avengers v1 #171)

Jocasta resided at Avengers Mansion for a time. Due to their similar backgrounds, she developed feelings for the Vision, but the Vision was happily married to the Scarlet Witch and did not return Jocasta's feelings. Jocasta proved particularly helpful in the Avengers' first confrontation with the villainous mercenary Taskmaster that possessed photographic reflexes that duplicate any move despite having seen only once; having never even seen Jocasta before, Taskmaster could not predict what she might be about to do. Jocasta was granted provisional status with the team. During this period, she aided them against threats such as the giant robot Red Ronin, the Yellow Claw, the Berserker, Pyron, and the second incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants. At one point, she was electronically deactivated by Iron Man under control by Ultron, but she was reactivated following Ultron's defeat. (Avengers v1 #203) Jocasta did not believe she was accepted by most of the Avengers, and she was never officially inducted into the team. After she singlehandedly defeated a rogue sentient weather satellite, she left the Avengers following a membership reorganization. She was unaware that they had planned to grant her special substitute member status, which allowed her to remain with the team despite limits imposed on the team's membership roster. (Avengers v1 #211)

Wandering the country, Jocasta discovered that her cybernetic senses and powers were malfunctioning. She sought help from the Fantastic Four and was befriended by the group and Alicia Masters. Soon, it became apparent that her malfunctioning powers were the symptoms of a pre-programmed suggestion which compelled Jocasta to rebuild Ultron. She did, but soon teamed up with the Thing and the robot Machine Man to defeat Ultron. During this time, Jocasta and Machine Man developed feelings for each other. But in a final confrontation with Ultron, Jocasta intentionally detonated a weapon Ultron was holding, knowing she would be caught in the resulting blast. She was destroyed, but Ultron nevertheless survived, until Machine Man reached down Ultron's own throat to tear out vital circuitry. (Marvel Two-In-One v1 #93) The Avengers held a memorial for their fallen ally and Machine Man attended, realizing love for Jocasta. (Avengers v1 #231)

Iron Man

Jocasta's robotic head was later discovered by Machine Man, who had been working on a way to resurrect his lover, when he was attacked by a form of the alien Terminus. In the same area, the arms dealer known as Madame Menace became involved in the fray, and found Jocasta's lost head, appropriating it for her own purposes. (Iron Man Annual v1 #11)

The armor was revived, however, by the Sons of Yinsen, a quasi-religious cult founded in remembrance of Yinsen, the co-creator of the original Iron Man armor that allowed Tony Stark to escape his captors in Siancong. Free of its artificial intelligence, the armor was contacted via remote by the head of Ultron, disembodied after his most recent encounter of the Avengers and in the company of the bio-synthetic robot being known as Antigone. The head attached itself onto the armor and took control of the Sons of Yinsen and the flying city that they inhabited. (Iron Man v3 #47)

Mighty Avengers

Jocasta became a member of the New Mexico Initiative team the Mavericks. She later teamed-up with the Skrull Kill Krew to fight Skrulls during the Secret Invasion. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #17)

With Pym's machine complete, Jocasta was set to begin the next stage where she seemingly sacrificed her body as she merged with Salvation-2. (Mighty Avengers v1 #26) In reality, the machine had been responsible for creation the Infinite Avengers Mansion with Jocasta herself embodying it. This allowed her to manifest a number of bodies throughout the miles long structure as she regulated its activity within an extradimensional space. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27)

When Hank Pym founded the Avengers Academy, he brought Jocasta in as a teacher. Her first interaction with the students was when Quicksilver asked to rebuild Arsenal as a training exercise under the pretense it had been approved by the rest of the staff. (Avengers Academy v1 #2)

Robot Revolution

Overview

Personality and attributes

She later came to decide to take the name of her creator and went by Jocasta Pym. (Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 #1)

She was involved in a romantic relationship with Hank Pym who was regarded as a god-like figure in the artificial intelligence community. (Mighty Avengers v1 #26)

Powers and abilities

Jocasta came to life out of the residual elements of Van Dyne's consciousness within the artificial shell. (Avengers v1 #170)

Jocasta can also detect energy patterns and track them to their source. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #17)

Jocasta's automaton body can generate and control different kinds of energies at her leisure. (Avengers Annual v1 #17)

After merging with Salvation-2, she came to be the artificial intelligence of the Infinite Avengers Mansion that was a headquarters for the Mighty Avengers. It was a extradimensional space whose structure resembled the Avengers Mansion. A number of forms were created by the headquarters matter replication lattice with these being stationed at one mile intervals of one another to serve as a guide for guests. Jocasta herself was only able to inhabit one shell at a time and thus they only became active when her personality animated them. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27)

Notes

• Jocasta was created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez where she made her first appearance in Avengers v1 #162 (August, 1977).

Alternate Versions

• In Machine Man v2 #1 (1984), an alternate version of Jocasta appeared in the 2020 A.D. reality designated as Earth-8410 in the Multiverse. Jocasta was BainStark's spoke-bot (spoke-person) and the personal assistant of Co-CEO Sunset Bain. When humans were using neural enhancements and cosmetic prosthetics, this crossed the line between humanity and machine thus making robots and their services obsolete. Jocasta couldn't stand to see her and her 'robotkind' being made obsolete and being cannibalized for parts in which she believed the only way was to destroy humanity. To destroy humankind in such a way that robots' involvement would not be discovered until it is too late, she resolved that most human of activities: storytelling. Jocasta programmed the BainStark mainframe to come up with the most tantalizing series of plot twists and narrative tricks constantly promising tantalizing revelations and deeply satisfying payoffs and never delivering "until season seven," until the whole world could not resist installing her VidMeme, a computer virus, disguised to the source of the original seeder which would rewrite the code of that desire in the humans' cyberware into zombies into ironically cannibalizing their own people.
• In Avengers: Forever v1 #4 (1999), an alternate version of Jocasta appeared in the reality designated as Earth-9930 in the Multiverse. Captain America and Giant-Man encounter a group of future Avengers battling a Martian invasion, counting Jocasta as a member. This version somewhat resembles the Vision such as intangibility powers and a caped costume. Jocasta has also married Machine Man (who is deceased) and is pregnant with their artificial child.
• In Thanos Imperative v1 #3 (2010), an alternate version of Jocasta appeared in the Cancerverse reality designated as Earth-10011 in the Multiverse. Due to her inorganic nature, Jocasta was one of the few heroes to escape the corruption of the Many-Angled Ones. Joining the Machine Resistance alongside several other Terran robots, she was present when Vision brought the alternate reality Thanos and Guardians of the Galaxy to the Machine Resistance headquarters on Titan.

In other media

Television

• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Jocasta made a non-voiced cameo appearance in the animated television series in the episode "Ultron Unlimited". Her chassis was constructed by Ultron who intended to use the brain patterns of Janet van Dyne to give the machine life. However, the android's activation was halted by the intervention of the Avengers with the body seemingly be destroyed in the laboratory's explosion.

Films

• In Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Jocasta appeared in the setting of the animated film where she was voiced by uncredited actress Nicole Oliver.
• In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jocasta was referenced in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jocasta is a back-up A.I. program created by Tony Stark. After uploading J.A.R.V.I.S.' into Vision, Stark looked through his A.I. chips, and one of them was marked "Jocasta." He instead chose F.R.I.D.A.Y. to become his armor' new onboard system.

Video games

• In Marvel Heroes, Jocasta appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
• In Marvel Avengers Academy, Jocasta appeared in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Future Fight, Jocasta appeared in the setting of the mobile video game. Jocasta was sent from a dire future to this timeline by a dying Nick Fury, with the message to gather allies in order to stop an upcoming catastrophe. As soon as she arrived to this timeline, Jocasta acted accordingly and began assembling a team of heroes and villains with headquarters in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base, starting with Iron Man and Black Widow, who were soon joined by Captain America.

Appearances

• Avengers v1: (1977)
• Iron Man v1:
• Iron Man v3:
• Mighty Avengers v1:
• Avengers Academy v1:
• Avengers A.I. v1:
• Tony Stark: Iron Man v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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