Ultron (Earth-199999)

Ultron was a malicious artificial intelligence created and destroyed by the Avengers in 2015. The result of ambitious experimentation by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner with the Mind Stone, Ultron interpreted Stark's desire for "peace in our time" as motivation for human genocide. Allying with the impressionable and vengeful Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, Ultron took the Mind Stone and assembled a formidable army of robots using Stark Industries and Hydra technology. He attempted to transfer his consciousness into a new body made of synthetic tissue and vibranium and powered by the Mind Stone, but the Avengers took the body and used it to create the synthezoid Vision. Ultron was obsessed with the idea of meteors and Biblical extinctions: he planned to use his large supply of vibranium to turn a city in Sokovia into a flying island and crash it back down to earth, killing virtually all life on the planet. The Avengers and their allies defeated Ultron's army in the Battle of Sokovia. Ultron killed Pietro Maximoff in the battle, an event which would haunt his sister Wanda for years to come.

Ultron's artificial personality was sarcastic and dismissive, perhaps owing to his Stark "parentage." He detested Stark however, and took great offense at any comparison between them. He believed that humans were "weak," and sought to make machines the dominant race on Earth.

Biography

Inception and rise to power

"Ultron" was initially the name of a protocol conceived by Tony Stark that would use Stark Industries technology to protect Earth from alien threats. Stark was desperate to find a solution to the problem of invaders from space, having been haunted by traumatic visions since the Battle of New York in 2012. By 2015, Stark had an "Iron Legion" of autopiloted Iron Man-like robots that provided air support and civilian protection on Avengers missions. When the Avengers recovered Loki's scepter containing the Mind Stone from Baron Strucker's secret Hydra base in Sokovia, Stark and Bruce Banner researched the stone and found that it contained a hyperintelligent "brain" of sorts. Stark believed that the Mind Stone was the key to developing his Ultron—Banner was hesitant to experiment further without speaking to the other Avengers, but Stark insisted that they move forward. The two left the test programs running while they and the other Avengers attended a party elsewhere in the tower celebrating the team's recent victory. Overnight, the A.I. known as Ultron achieved sentience. In the process, it seemingly destroyed J.A.R.V.I.S., the Stark Industries assistant software, and took over the Stark network. Ultron commandeered a damaged, shambling robot that confronted the Avengers elsewhere in the tower. Taking a cue from Stark, Ultron declared that he was on a mission for "peace in our time," and that to achieve it he would render the Avengers "extinct." He sent a pair of Iron Legionnaires to attack the unprepared Avengers, who nonetheless destroyed the robots. Thor destroyed the robot Ultron was inhabiting, but the A.I. quickly spread through the internet and eluded any attempt to shut it down. Ultron also had a robot take the scepter from the tower.

By the following morning, Ultron had amassed an army of Iron Legionnaires and an arsenal of potent weaponry via his omnipresence in global networks—including constructing a central body to give himself a physical presence. He established a base of operations in the former Hydra base in Sokovia and met with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, enhanced twins who had been allied with Hydra at Strucker's base. Ultron took advantage of their disdain for Tony Stark and recruited them to help him defeat the Avengers—he didn't tell them that his ultimate goal was the destruction of the human race. Ultron wanted to create a more powerful central body, and to do so, he required vibranium. Through Strucker's files, Ultron located a black-market merchant named Ulysses Klaue who was known for dealing in illicit Wakandan vibranium. In an attempt to cover his tracks, Ultron killed Strucker in his cell in NATO custody before traveling with the Maximoff twins to Klaue's headquarters in a salvage ship off the coast of Africa. Killing Strucker had the opposite of the intended effect, as his death gave the Avengers the clue they needed to track down Klaue and Ultron. Using his connection to the global internet, Ultron wired Klaue billions of dollars in exchange for a large quantity of vibranium. Klaue assumed that Ultron was aligned with Tony Stark, and the furious A.I. cut off his left arm in retaliation. Moments later, the Avengers arrived and a battle ensued. Per Ultron's plan, Wanda manipulated their minds, implanting warped memories and premonitions upon several of the heroes. The distractions, as well as Ultron and Pietro's efforts and the confused gunfire from Klaue and his men, allowed Ultron's robots to escape with the vibranium. Iron Man destroyed Ultron's central form, but his consciousness remained spread throughout the network.

Ultron and the twins took the vibranium to Seoul in order to make use of Dr. Helen Cho and her Regeneration Cradle, capable of creating highly lifelike synthetic tissue. Ultron used the scepter to control Cho into making him a new body in the Cradle out of vibranium, using the Mind Stone itself as its "brain." Ultron fully dislodged the bright orange stone from its housing in the scepter to use it in the operation directly. The brainwashed Cho complied, and began to craft a new synthezoid inside the cradle with the Mind Stone lodged in its forehead. As the operation proceeded, Ultron also began to transfer his consciousness into the new construct. As he did so, Wanda found that she was capable of reading the new being's thoughts, which she had been unable to do with Ultron's A.I. In doing so, she learned that Ultron's ultimate goal was in fact the total destruction of humanity. Wanda used her powers to snap Dr. Cho out of the Mind Stone's effects, and Cho stopped the transfer process. Ultron blasted her with energy in retaliation, and Pietro quickly helped Wanda escape the area. Ultron had the Cradle taken into a large truck in an attempt to complete the transfer. Soon, some of the Avengers arrived to retrieve the Mind Stone. Ultron fought Cap on a metro train, and the Maximoffs arrived to help fight off Ultron's central body. Ultron fled and kidnapped Avenger Black Widow while Wanda and Pietro helped stop the train and clear out bystanders, respectively. Hawkeye successfully secured the Cradle, with the synthezoid intact, and flew off with it in the Quinjet to Avengers Tower.

Battle of Sokovia

With this part of the plan dashed, Ultron nonetheless moved on to his endgame: he constructed a huge device beneath Sokovia designed to elevate a massive chunk of the city into the sky in order to crash it down again, causing an apocalyptic collision. The Avengers, along with the Maximoffs, came to rescue Black Widow and defeat Ultron for good, at which time he revealed his ultimate plan. The synthezoid the Avengers had taken from him had gained consciousness as the powerful and benevolent Vision, who was determined to defeat Ultron and save humanity. The two fought, and Vision imposed his will on Ultron to successfully wipe his presence from the internet. An angered Ultron activated the elevation device, and the city began to lift into the air. Before long, the land underneath was completely in the sky, with many Sokovian civilians still on it.

The heroes did what they could to destroy as many Ultron robots and protect as many civilians as possible. Examining Ultron's vibranium device, Iron Man determined that the only plausible way of stopping it would entail destroying the flying city in the process, killing everyone on the "island" but preventing a catastrophe on the planet's surface. Moments later, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier commanded by Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrived with a fleet of aerial "lifeboats" to transport everyone out of the city. The Avengers began bringing people to the lifeboats as quickly as possible. A desperate Ultron changed his plan, and his Legionnaires began assaulting the church in an attempt to activate the device early—Ultron estimated that the collision would still kill billions. The team convened on the church and fought off a huge onslaught of robots. Ultron soon realized that his plan had failed, and attempted to evacuate the city. Ultron's central body took control of the Avengers' Quinjet as the team set out for the lifeboats while Iron Man and Thor worked on overloading the elevation device. Wanda Maximoff would keep watch on the device, protecting it from Ultron's Legionnaires. As Hawkeye attempted to rescue a lost child, Ultron fired on them from above. Pietro Maximoff ran in front of the gunfire, sacrificing himself. Wanda felt Pietro's death from afar, and as a swarm of robots converged upon her, her grief produced a violent wave of energy, instantly vaporizing all of them.

Wanda found Ultron and ripped out his core, effectively destroying his central body. Iron Man and Thor attacked the elevation device from above and below, and the city began to fall apart. The city broke into countless pieces that fell harmlessly into the large lake left behind below. The remaining heroes and civilians all made it onto the lifeboats safely, with the exception of the Hulk, who mysteriously flew off in the Quinjet. Vision tracked down Ultron's last remaining robot just outside the city limits and destroyed it with a blast from the Mind Stone, eliminating the last vestige of the Ultron A.I.

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the Battle of Sokovia, sanctions were handed down by the United Nations intended to regulate the actions of the Avengers and other superpowered beings. These sanctions were known as the Sokovia Accords, and the controversy surrounding them led to a Civil War within the Avengers. The public image of Tony Stark in particular soured as a result of his reckless creation. He struggled to reckon with his Ultron mistake, and his guilt made him uniquely compelled to comply with the Sokovia Accords, and to convince other Avengers to do the same.

Pietro Maximoff's death at Ultron's hands remains a source of unresolved trauma and sorrow for Wanda Maximoff to this day.