Jocasta (comics)
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Jocasta is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Universe. A former member of the Avengers, she is an android created by the villain Ultron.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
The robot named Jocasta was built by the robot Ultron in order that he might have a mate. To better allow this robot sentience, Ultron brainwashed his own maker, Henry Pym, into transferring the mind of his wife, Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, into a robotic shell he named Jocasta, after the wife/mother in the legend of Oedipus. The Wasp, in Jocasta's body, alerted her teammates, the Avengers, who defeated Ultron and reversed the process, leaving Jocasta a mindless husk.
Ultron later revived Jocasta with a remote link, activating the mental "residue" the Wasp left behind. Jocasta was programmed to be loyal to Ultron but eventually betrayed him, choosing to help the Avengers defeat him again. Afterwards, Jocasta adventured with the Avengers for a brief time. Due to their similar backgrounds, she developed feelings for Vision, but he was happily married to the Scarlet Witch and could not return Jocasta's feelings. Jocasta did not believe she was accepted by most of the team, and left them in Avengers #211, just before she, unbeknownst to her, was to be made an official member.
Wandering the country, Jocasta was controlled by a pre-programmed suggestion to rebuild Ultron. She did, but soon teamed up with the Fantastic Four member, The Thing, and the robot called Machine Man to defeat Ultron. Sacrificing herself to try to kill Ultron, Ultron nevertheless survived until Machine Man reached down his throat to tear out vital circuitry. The Avengers held a memorial for their fallen ally, and the Machine Man attended, realizing his love for Jocasta.
Jocasta was reassembled some time later by agents of the megalomaniac villain, 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.
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. Much later, Madame Menace manipulated events so that Tony Stark would unlock Jocasta's programming so that she would become the basis for Menace's new weapons systems. Tony Stark soon realized the identity of the android helped Jocasta to awaken, and Jocasta managed to turn the tables on Madame Menace, seemingly sacrificing herself yet again.
In reality, Jocasta managed to survive by downloading her intelligence into Iron Man's computerized armor, where she reasserted herself. Jocasta's intelligence was placed within Tony Stark's computerized mansion, and she would help him with daily operation of his mansion as well as to procure information as needed.
Unfortunately, since the Iron Man armor was used to house the programming that made up Jocasta, it became infected with the pre-programmed subconscious suggestion to rebuild Ultron, but, instead, managed to develop its own artificial intelligence. Stark was almost killed in a confrontation with the armor, but, in the end, it sacrificed itself to allow Stark to live. Stark left the armor buried on a deserted island. 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 Communist captors in Vietnam. 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.
Another member of the Sons of Yinsen was helping Tony Stark in the guise of Iron Man. The two learned of Ultron's activities and that he planned to use the cult to wipe out humanity. Stark confronted Ultron directly and finally managed to download Jocasta's intelligence into the armor once more. The vestiges of the armor's intelligence battled with the presence Jocasta, the result of which caused Ultron's head to come shooting off the armor. The head hit Antigone, and both fell off the floating city, which Ultron rigged to explode after his defeat. Stark failed to find a trace of Jocasta and assumed her to have died fighting the sentient armor.
In reality, Jocasta did not die. She appeared in possession of Antigone's body and left, taking Ultron's head with her.
Recently Jocasta was seen at the Avengers mansion in her classic silver robotic form.[1]
[edit] Powers
Jocasta's body is composed of titanium steel with remarkable strength which can withstand most physical and energy attacks. Being a "non-living" construct, she requires no food, water, or oxygen to survive and thus is also immune to poisons and diseases and can easily survive in the vacuum of space and underwater. She is able to project blasts of energy from her eyes, and erect a force field around herself to protect her from incoming attacks. She also possesses a heightened sense of sight, smell, and hearing along with superhuman strength and dexterity. Jocasta can also detect energy patterns and track them to their source. She is hyper-intelligent and can communicate through an incalculable number of mediums.
[edit] Alternate realities
- In an alternate reality, Madame Menace kept Jocasta's head; she rebuilt her body and revived her (but at the same time, she captured and deactivated Machine Man). For years, Jocasta served as the villainess' advisor and companion. When Machine Man was revived and exacted his revenge on Madame Menace, Jocasta elected to stay with Menace to make sure she keeps her promise to leave Machine Man and his newfound friends alone.
- Another Jocasta from an alternate timeline had appeared with the team called The Gatherers, consisting of members of Avengers from other timelines whose world had been destroyed by a being known as Proctor. This Jocasta is golden in color and has an array of weaponry strapped to her right arm. She was married to Wonder Man in her timeline.
- In the Avengers Forever miniseries, Captain America and Giant-Man encounter a group of future Avengers battling a Martian invasion, counting Jocasta as a member. This version of the character somewhat resembles the Vision, bearing intangibility powers and a caped costume. In this future, Jocasta has married Machine Man (though he has died) and is pregnant with their artificial child.
