The Metal Men previously clashed with Ultron in STF #1836...
I enjoyed seeing the ultimate Ultron in the last couple of episodes of What If on Disney+, but one moment had me scratching my head. SPOILERS for the final episode follow:
When Thanos arrives with the Infinity Stones to collect the final one from Ultron, Ultron uses the mind stone to immediately slice him in half, instantly killing him. A cool and shocking moment to be sure - but why couldn't The Vision do the same in Avengers: Infinity War with his Mind Stone, instead of trying to destroy it? I know there was a comment about how the Stones have slightly different properties in different realities, so I suppose that's a loophole. Still, The Vision could have at least tried to use it in that way against Thanos.
I believe that Ultron showed his cruelty in how he quickly took care of Thanos. The Vision was thinking more of how to keep the stone FROM Thanos rather than using it as a weapon. At least that's my take away...
ReplyDelete@Ross: the lack of attempt was probably due to those "3 Laws of Asimov" (or whatever they're called).
ReplyDeleteGreat follow-up! I've always wondered, though, just what the proper pronunciation is: responso-METER or respons-OM-eter?
ReplyDeleteP.S.---isn't it illegal discrimination to only allow non-robots to comment on this cover simulation?
I have to agree with AirDave; because Vision is under a moral constraint (i.e., he's not an absolute bastard), he could not bring himself to just do that to Thanos, while Ultron, eh, not so much...
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, wouldn't by having all the stones inserted in him, that we end up with the Infinity Ultron...?
I have to agree with Jim's agreement. It boils down to the same reason why Batman doesn't go trigger-happy like the Punisher. The Nietzschean philosophy that one should avoid becoming a worse monster than those one fights.
ReplyDeleteI think Dave and Jim are in the ballpark. My recollection is that Vision, at that point, hadn't yet begun to think of the Mind Stone as a weapon, or at least not a powerful one at Thanos' scale. Plus, there's always the matter of "dramatic license."
ReplyDelete(And by the way, that wasn't the final episode; that was the penultimate, about halfway through.)
In any event -- NON-SPOILER -- The whole What If...? series is a real corker. The only real weakness is that each episode (except for the one featuring Thor) takes a full movie's worth of action and crams it into a half-hour. That leaves a lot of potentially great action truncated, and bits of character development rushed.
I'm not, by the way, one of those who complain about a certain recurring event around Iron Man... though it might be cute to have a cover-sim with him visiting South Park, if you catch my drift.
Regarding today's cover, I think it'd be clever if one of the Metal Men were to respond with something like, "'Willing slaves?' That's actually an oxymoron. You see, by definition 'slaves' are unwilling...." I don't think that sort of response fits any of their personalities, though.
@Cary: I've always put the accent on the second syllable. Unfortunately, my scouring of the Web yields no results at all.
@Bob: Thanks! I'll try that approach.
ReplyDeleteI always know you guys will come up with smart answers to my comic book queries!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the Iron Man/Kenny meme is a bit played out.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever do another South Park related cover I'd suggest Kenny teaming up with Mr. Immortal from the Great Lakes Avengers and Mitch Shelley, aka Resurrection Man from DC
I'm slightly confused: Are those some sort of built-in weapons that Platinum's firing? I don't remember her having any...
ReplyDeleteA woman's greatest weapons are her feminine wiles.
ReplyDeleteWasn't that originally said by Grumpy of the 7 Dwarfs?
ReplyDeleteAnon @7:26: They're called the 3 Laws of Robotics; Ol' Isaac wasn't so enthusiastic about keeping his name on them.
ReplyDelete@Cary: I've always tended to go with the latter, though perhaps that's just my preference.
@Daviticus: since you've affirmed Bob's reply, I'll consider the matter settled. Respons-OM-eter, it shall be. Thanks! :-)
ReplyDelete@Simreeve: Like her brothers, Platinum can shape-shift as needed, including forming shooting weapons.
ReplyDelete@Cary: Actually I was going with re-SPONS-ometer.
Oops! My bad. :-(
ReplyDeleteThe Metal Men need more love. I have a soft spot for those morphing alloys. :P
ReplyDelete@MWC: Actually, they're not alloys. They're elements. (I do agree with your sentiment, though.)
ReplyDeleteBob Greenwade said...
ReplyDelete"@Simreeve: Like her brothers, Platinum can shape-shift as needed, including forming shooting weapons."
She can shapeshift, yes... but wouldn't she still need an external supply of ammunition, or at least of the propellant for that?
@carycomic: Back in the silver age, I thought it was re-SPONS-o-meter. But sometime in the '70s, it occurred to me that it's probably meant to rhyme with real-world devices like thermometer, barometer, and potentiometer.
ReplyDeleteMy logic, exactly. Thanks, Mr. B. :-)
ReplyDelete@Simreeve: The ammo is easy, and as for the propellant... well, it doesn't seem to be fazing Lead and Mercury, in this picture. The Metal Men have generally been users of some of the most rubbery science in comics.
ReplyDelete@Other Bob & Cary: Well, I only said that that was my tendency; I never said I was necessarily right.
Let's just say they access mallet-space and leave it at that.
ReplyDelete