- —Victor Mancha[src]
History
Origins[]
When Ultron was defeated by Dr. Hank Pym and the West Coast Avengers,[23] his remains were unceremoniously disposed of in a local landfill. After an undetermined amount of time, Ultron's head with an active CPU was discovered by a petty criminal and former drug mule Marianella Mancha, who superstitiously believed him to be a prophet. Marianella brought him home and the pair grew close; she even disclosed her inability to physically bear children and her inability to adopt due to her criminal past. In exchange for gathering the material he needed to construct a new body, Ultron promised to give her a child as a "reward". He began using Marianella's DNA and his cybernetics to create a cyborg. Designed with nanites, Victor's body would continue to develop until he would be virtually indistinguishable from a fully biological human.[18]
Ultron programmed false memories of a childhood into Victor, but he also encoded a deep-rooted love and admiration for superheroes. Additionally, Victor was built with latent electromagnetic abilities set to activate upon his first contact with another super-powered individual.[24][18] Ultron's long-term plan involved Victor visiting New York City at the age of twenty-one, meeting the Avengers, activating his powers, and being recruited to the team as an unsuspecting sleeper agent.[18]
Runaways[]
Victor appeared to live an uneventful life growing up in Los Angeles. His mother told him his father was a U.S. Marine that died during the Panama Invasion.[25] Due to her superstitious beliefs Victor was forbidden from flying in planes and even had to change schools, though in actuality these were tactics to avoid metal detectors.[21][18]
After receiving an ominous message from a fatally wounded Heroine (Gertrude Yorkes from the the future) about the villainous Victorious,[21] the Runaways set out to turn Victor off this evil trajectory.[24] The Runaways confronted Victor outside of East Angeles High School where his electromagnetic power unexpectedly activated, unintentionally causing a fight that was soon clumsily broken up by the arrival of Excelsior.[24]
The Runaways were eventually able to explain their motivation for kidnapping Victor, but still shocked with disbelief, Victor attempted to contact his mother only to have Doctor Doom answer.[25] Fortunately, Doctor Doom turned out to be merely a Doombot; unfortunately, this led to meeting Victor's real father, Ultron. With his secret plan failing, Ultron killed Marianella and briefly commandeered Victor.[5]
Victor was able to break free of his father's programming, and Ultron was eventually destroyed by Darkhawk and Excelsior. With his mother dead and nowhere else to go, Victor joined the Runaways as a provisional member.[18]
After a month of observation, Victor was finally permitted to help in battle and single-handedly defeated Swarm.[8] He also helped defend Karolina against Xavin,[10] take down the Security Daemons,[10] thwarted Dragoness,[26] and saved Gert and Old Lace from falling off a skyscraper in New York City.[20] However, Chase continued to distrust Victor long after the other Runaways had accepted him.[14]
Unbeknownst to Victor, his software had been hacked by Geoffrey Wilder and his New Pride, allowing them to spy on the Runaways.[27] When it was discovered that Victor was leaking information, the other quickly turned on him. Victor was able to clear his name by reversing signal and locating the Pride.[6]
Like the others, Victor took the death of Gertrude Yorkes very hard. Victor found comfort in a physically intimate relationship with Nico,[12] but she was very reluctant to explore the possibility of an actual relationship.[19][17]
Civil War[]
During the height of the Superhero Civil War, the Young Avengers attempted to come to the aid of the Runaways. However, both teams were bested by Marvel Boy. Additionally, due to their similar programming as Ultron progeny, Vision and Victor created intense feedback when near each other. Ultimately, Victor used this to his advantage, by channeling the energy created from the feedback at Marvel Boy.[28]
Post Civil-War[]
When Chase bound Nico and stole the Staff of One, he was confronted by Victor. Chase exploited Victor's omnipotence paradox programming flaw before leaving to meet the Gibborim.[17] Victor remained completely catatonic until Molly, with the help of Alex Wilder's ghost, was able to break the paradox loop. Molly and Victor then joined the other already in battle with the Gibborim and was able to rescue Nico with a Fastball Special courtesy of Molly.[9]
Upon returning to the Hostel, the Runaways were unexpectedly greeted by Iron Man and his Cape-Killers. Along with the other Runaways, Victor escaped to New York City where they inadvertently traveled back in time to the turn of the century.[29] Here's Victor met a young Lillie "the Spieler" McGurty, and the pair shared a brief but intense romance. Spieler was invited to return to the future with the Runaways, but due to fear, she remained in the past, a decision she would always regret.[30]
After returning to the present, traveling back to California, and taking up residence in the Malibu House, Victor began to foster his mechanical abilities and grew closer with his fellow A.I., Leapfrog.[31] When Leapfrog's body was damaged beyond repair, Victor and Hunter Stein were able to save his "heart" (his CPU and OS), and install them into a new model of Leapfrog ship.[32] Victor also attempted to rekindle his romance with Nico but was brutally rebuffed.[33]
Avengers A.I.[]
While searching for Old Lace, the Runaways were led to the Avengers Compound and the Avengers Academy. There Victor finally met this "grandfather", Dr. Hank Pym.[34] Although introductions were difficult, the teams left on good terms with an open invitation for Victor and the Runaways to return whenever they wanted.[35]
Months after Ultron was destroyed, the virus that Pym used to defeat him evolved into a new form of A.I., which called itself Dimitrios. S.H.I.E.L.D. A.I. Department Head Monica Chang was given the task to stop it, for which she created a new team of Avengers lead by Pym. Victor was recruited into the team by his older brother, the Vision.[1]
Victor later auditioned for the position of Chief of Security at Stark Industries, competing against Prodigy, Beetle, and Ant-Man. He ultimately lost the position to Scott Lang.[36]
The Visions[]
When the Avengers were informed by Agatha Harkness that the Vision's attempt at creating a family would eventually end in tragedy, Victor was sent to infiltrate the Vision's everyday life, using an internship in the Capitol Hill as a pretext to spend winter at their their house in Arlington, Virginia, and investigate Vision's activities.[37]
Victor accidentally killed the Vision's son, Vin, when he stumbled upon Victor reporting to the Avengers. Victor used his electro-magnetic powers to contain Vin and prevent him from outing his operations, but a miscalculation caused him to damage Vin's nerve systems beyond repair.[38] Mancha was subsequently imprisoned.[39] Victor was later confronted by the Vision in his cell. Victor, filled with guilt, was ready to let the Vision kill him, but instead, he was killed by Vision's wife Virginia by removing his heart to avenge her son Vin.[40] As he lay dying, Victor was at peace as he realized that he managed to beat destiny and wouldn't become his evil future self Victorious.[37]
Find Your Way Home[]
After Victor's death, Chase was sent by Tony Stark a box he believed were Victor's personal effects, but actually contained Victor's intact head. After traveling back in time and saving Gert from her death, Chase decided to open the package. Once he discovered what it actually contained,[41] Chase began to tinker with it hoping to bring Victor back.[42] He succeeded, but Victor decided to play dead for the time being, being worried that when everybody else found out he was awake, he would have to "decide on things."[43] Victor revealed that he was awake shortly afterwards,[44] but refused to be attached to a body. He instead preferred being attached to small devices that gave him only the minimum degree of movement, including a roomba,[45] a miniature tank tread,[46] and a quadcopter.
Victor helped Gert fix her parents' time machine to travel back in time to the late 19th century to observe the migration of a type of butterfly that was extinct in the present. During their trip to the past, Victor opened up to Gert about his trauma. Gert comforted him, and they kissed.[47] Victor and Gert grew closer together, and Vic eventually accepted occasional use of a more basic robot body built by Chase.[48] Following an encounter between the Runaways and the Seed of the Gibborim,[49] Victor was torn between his fear of losing control like when he killed Vin and his desire to ensure he could protect Gert, and ultimately decided to regrow his own body.[50] This decision didn't sit well with Chase since he still harbored feelings for Gert, and because he wasn't aware the limitations behind Victor's ability to regain his body were psychological,[51] but he eventually came to terms with it.[52]
The J-Team[]
When the Runaways were forced out of the underground Hostel by an incidental public drainage work,[53] they were welcomed into the mansion of the local vigilante Doc Justice, Victor's childhood hero. Victor was eager to join him in his crime-fighting, donning the mantle of Doc Justice former sidekick, Kid Justice.[54] The rest of the Runaways minus Gert followed suit, and they became a new incarnation of Doc Justice's former squad, the J-Team.[2]
The Runaways were unaware that Doc Justice thrived off sensationalizing his super hero life to the point that throughout the fifty years of his career he routinely orchestrated the death of his young protégés to raise his own profile. After making this discovery,[55] Gert convinced Doc Justice's son and assistant, Matthew Caniglia, to interrupt a staged mission that was intended to result in Karolina's death. Doc Justice severely beat up Chase and held Gert at gunpoint until Victor arrived and immobilized him, which gave Old Lace the chance to sink her fangs on him.[56]
The team returned to the Hostel with their morale battered by Doc Justice's betrayal. After Gert opted to resume her high school studies, Victor decided to join her, and they became schoolmates at Griffith Park High School.[57] Gert had become distant out of concern that the Runaways would outgrow her, but Victor managed to make her open up, and they patched up their relationship.[58]Attributes
Powers
Victor Mancha is a cyborg, created with DNA from Marianella Mancha and with the advanced cybernetic technology from Ultron. As such Victor possesses the following abilities:
- Nanite Cybernetics: Ultron's nanite technology was so advanced that, over time, Victor's artificial robotics would become indistinguishable from his biologically human parts.[18]
- Automated Self-Repairing: His nanite physiology also allows for rapid self-reparation.
- Electromagnetokinesis: Victor has been shown capable of directing electricity outwards as damaging, high voltage electric blasts from his hands, as well as using his magnetic abilities to reshape and bend metallic objects to his will.
- Self-Propelled Flight: Recently Victor has been able to manipulate magnetic fields granting himself flight.[1] This is similar to his alternate future self, Victorious.[24]
- Force Field: Using his magnetic abilities, Victor is able to create protective force fields around himself.[3]
- Advanced Intelligence: Victor has high levels of intelligence and can process information at an execrated speed.
- Photographic Memory: Victor has a literal form of photographic memory.[59]
- Computer Interfacing: He has the ability to interface with other machines directly both with connective hardware and wirelessly.[6][33]
- Superhuman Durability
- Superhuman Strength[4]
- "Dragon Claw": Victor was installed new upgrades to his forearms allowing for launching projectiles and provide much greater control in directing his electronic discharge.[1]
Abilities
Polyglot: Victor has expressed that he is fluent in over six million forms of communication,[60] including English and Spanish.[21] With access to the internet, he can download and understand numerous other languages such as Russian.[33]
Weaknesses
- Victor's abilities were significantly reduced by his decision to remain as a disembodied head.[61]
- Omnipotence Paradoxes: The pages Chase stole from the Abstract outline three secret shutdown codes embedded in Victor's programming. These rhetorical questions create a logical paradox conflicting with Ultron's "super-logical" and "super-spiritual" programming. Once the question is posed, Victor's system shut down temporarily for at least several hours, but each question is only effective once. Currently Nico is in possession of these pages.[62] Only one of these three questions is known: "Could God make a sandwich so big, that even He couldn't finish it?"[19]
- There also exist counter-phrases which will reinitialize Victor's programming and awaken him, the only known phrase thus far is the answer to the previous question; 'Yes, God can make a sandwich so big even He can't finish... and then He would finish it anyway'[9]
- Vibranium Addiction: Right after joining the Runaways, Chase Stein provided Victor with a small Vibranium rod as a method to control pain, as he had discovered his machinery benefited from being near Vibranium. Unfortunately, Victor became addicted to absorbing the Vibranium's properties for a time, to the point of suffering from some kind of withdrawal syndrome in the form of erratic behavior. In order to satisfy his addiction, he would go to the extent of stealing materials made from Vibranium such as Klaw's Sonic Disruptor from an Avengers vault, or a stringless Steinway from a Vibranium piano in the house of the Visions.[38]
Paraphernalia
Transportation
- Electromagnetic flight; formerly Leapfrog, Quinjet, and Steinbus
Notes
- Victor has had complicated relationships with many of the other Runaways:
- With their similar sense of humor and intellect, Gertrude and Victor shared some chemistry.[15][14] However, Gert and Chase's relationship and Gert's death prevent anything from progressing at that time. Since their individual "resurrections", the pair have begun to explore a romantic relationship.[51]
- Nico and Victor had intercourse after Gert's death,[12] but she was very reluctant to explore the possibility of an actual relationship.[19][17] Their relationship officially ended when Victor became interested in Spieler.[30]
- Chase was jealous of Victor's and Gert's chemistry, intimidated by Victor's intellect, and bore a grudge at him for Victorious murdering Heroine.[8][27][63] Chase remained suspicious of Victor long after the other Runaways had accepted him. The pair eventually fell into a playfully contentious relationship as friends.[16][33]
- Xavin looked down on Victor for being an inferiorly designed android and often made disparaging remarks towards him and treated him as property.[10][12]
- Molly trusted Victor easily, and the two were often paired together for outings because Molly is the only one who could take on Victor.[8] Later, Victor began to be an older brother figure to both Molly and Klara.[64]
- Victor was one of the few Runaways to develop a friendship with the Leapfrog.[19][65]
Trivia
- Before learning the true identity of his father, the Runaways postured that Victor could have been the son of Electro, Kingpin, the Leader, Norman Osborn, Magneto, Hitler, Red Skull, or even Galactus. Ultron also sent a Doombot posing as Doctor Doom to make Victor and the others believe Doom was his father.[25] He also claimed Victor was a mutant.[5]
- Although Victor appears to be in his mid to late teens, he is chronologically only a few years old.[18][8]
- Victor was stated to be seventeen years old in Runaways (Vol. 5) #26.
- It was Victor who first recognized Old Lace as a Deinonychus. Before this, all the Runaways (including Gert) believed Old Lace was a Velociraptor.[15]
- Victor sleeps in the nude and his original body was apparently well endowed.[27]
- Victor's mother was devoutly Catholic, and "raised" Victor in that religious faith.[16]
- Until recently, Victor had never had an official codename but had received several nicknames including: Li'l Ultron,[13] Kid Ultron,[12] Victron,[19] Static Cling Lad,[15] Zapper,[8] Calculator Kid,[8] El Diablo Robotico, Man of La Mancha,[15] Doom Junior,[5] Amigo,[5] Speak and Spell,[18] Jinx,[10] Señor Cyborg,[14] Magnet Man,[14] Energizer Bunny, Cool Magneto, Tin Man,[20] Victorious,[21][14] Junior,[18][8] Terminator,[19] Small Wonder,[17] dorkbot,[9] C-sleepy-O,[7] Mandoird,[16] Borg Queen,[6] RoboPinocchio,[17] Captain Deadweight,[9] etc.
- He also tried out a few codenames during his time with the Avengers A.I. Squad including: Wolf-Swag,[1] Devil Slayer,[1] Wolf Bro,[4] and Skull Boss.[3]
- Victor claims to be a big fan of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.[37] De Cervante's most famous creation, the protagonist of the eponym Don Quixote came from a place named La Mancha.
- Mancha is Spanish for "stain", "spot", or "mark".
- Doombot considered Victor his best friend.[45]
See Also
- 110 appearance(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 6 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 6 minor appearance(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 186 image(s) of Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 13 quotation(s) by or about Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Victor Mancha (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Avengers A.I. #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #27
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Avengers A.I. #3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Avengers A.I. #2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Runaways (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #28
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Runaways (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Runaways (Vol. 2) #24
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Runaways (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #5–7
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Runaways (Vol. 2) #19
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #11
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 Runaways (Vol. 2) #14
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Runaways (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 Runaways (Vol. 2) #23
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 Runaways (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 Runaways (Vol. 2) #22
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Runaways (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Runaways (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6
- ↑ Avengers West Coast #89–91
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Runaways (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Runaways (Vol. 2) #15
- ↑ Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways #1–4
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #26
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #30
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 3) #13
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Runaways (Vol. 3) #11
- ↑ Avengers Academy #27
- ↑ Avengers Academy #28
- ↑ Ant-Man #1
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Vision (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Vision (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Vision (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Vision (Vol. 2) #11
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #2
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #3
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #4
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #5
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #9
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #11
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #12
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #16
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #13–18
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #20–21
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #22
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #23
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #25
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #26
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #30
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #31
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #32
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #36
- ↑ Ultron #1AU
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 5) #15
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 3) #7
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #22–24
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #1–2
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 3) #13–14
- ↑ Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide #2
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 7