Jocasta (Marvel Comics)

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Jocasta Pym
Jocasta as depicted in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #18 (October 1987). Art by Kerry Gammill.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Avengers #162
(August 1977)
Created byJim Shooter (writer)
George Pérez (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoJocasta Pym[1]
SpeciesGynoid
Team affiliationsAvengers
Mighty Avengers
Mavericks
Avengers Academy
PartnershipsHank Pym
Ultron
Notable aliasesBride of Ultron
Abilities
  • Superhuman strength, speed, durability, reflexes, and senses
  • Force field generation
  • Computer integration
  • Energy manipulation
  • Flight

Jocasta Pym is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez, the character first appeared in The Avengers #162 (August 1977).[2] Jocasta is a robot built originally as the bride of the supervillain Ultron from the brainwaves of Janet van Dyne, and is commonly associated with the Avengers.

Jocasta will make her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series VisionQuest (2026), portrayed by T'Nia Miller.

Publication history

Jocasta first appears in The Avengers #162 (August 1977) and was created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez.[3]

Jocasta appeared as a supporting character in Avengers Academy #1–21 (Aug. 2010 – Jan. 2012) and made sporadic appearances throughout the remainder of the series, appearing regularly again in Avengers Academy #34–39 (Oct. 2012 – Jan. 2013). By the time of The Unstoppable Wasp (May 2019), Jocasta had adopted the surname of Pym as her own in honour of her creator's creator, seeing him as her grandfather, even while her mind was based on that of Janet van Dyne.

Fictional character biography

Jocasta was built by the robot Ultron in an abandoned aerospace research center in Nassau to act as his mate. To better allow this robot sentience, Ultron based her mind and brain patterns on the Wasp (Janet van Dyne). To animate this bride, Ultron brainwashes Hank Pym into transferring the Wasp's life force into Jocasta's body.[4] Realizing that the Wasp would have to die for her to live, Jocasta alerts the Avengers. The team defeats Ultron and reverses the process, leaving Jocasta a mindless husk.[5]

Ultron revives Jocasta with a remote link, activating the Wasp's mental "residue" left behind. She escapes from Avengers custody and leads the Avengers into Ultron's trap. Jocasta was programmed to be loyal to Ultron. Jocasta overcomes her programming and betrays Ultron, choosing to help the Avengers defeat him.[6]

Jocasta resided at Avengers Mansion for a time. Due to their similar backgrounds, she developed feelings for Vision, but 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 is granted provisional status with the team.[7]

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.[8] 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, trying to destroy him. Jocasta is destroyed while Ultron survives.[9]

Jocasta is reassembled some time later by the High Evolutionary's technicians and sends a signal to the reserve members of the Avengers, including Beast, Falcon, Hercules, Hulk, and Yellowjacket. Jocasta helps the team fight the High Evolutionary's force and locate his base underwater. Jocasta sacrifices herself to destroy the High Evolutionary's command ship by deliberately disrupting the ship's matter/anti-matter drive, causing an explosion.[10]

Madame Menace finds Jocasta's lost head, appropriating it for her own purposes.[11] Much later, Madame Menace manipulates events so Tony Stark would unlock Jocasta's programming so that she would become the basis for Madame Menace's new weapons systems. Stark soon realizes the android's identity and helps Jocasta awaken. Jocasta manages to turn the tables on Madame Menace, seemingly sacrificing herself yet again.[12]

Jocasta survives by downloading her intelligence into Iron Man's computerized armor, where she reasserts herself in Stark's mansion. Jocasta acts as an assistant to Stark, providing Stark with someone that could talk to about problems and who could examine injuries without risking Iron Man's secret identity being compromised. Since Iron Man's armor is used to house the programming that made up Jocasta, it becomes infected with the pre-programmed subconscious suggestion to rebuild Ultron, but instead develops its own artificial intelligence.

The Initiative

Jocasta is a member of the New Mexico Fifty State Initiative superhero team known as the Mavericks, alongside a Skrull posing as She-Thing. Jocasta searches for her teammate and tracks her signal to the home of Chuck and Hal Chandler. She retrieves Devil-Slayer from the Hawaii team, and they teleport to where 3-D Man, the Skrull Kill Krew, Komodo and Hardball, to join them in the fight against the Skrulls.[13]

Mighty Avengers

Jocasta joins the Mighty Avengers along with Hank Pym.[14] During this time, Edwin Jarvis witnesses Jocasta kissing Pym. When Jarvis brought up the subject, stating it was akin to kissing her "grandfather", Jocasta counters by saying that, since Pym was the creator of modern artificial intelligence, the act was more along the lines of "kissing God". Jocasta later physically plugs herself into Pym's Salvation Two machine, preventing the Mighty Avengers' base from falling out of its dimensional pocket.[15] This allows the Mighty Avengers to enter their new headquarters, the Infinite Avengers Mansion, from which Jocasta can transfer her consciousness into different bodies.[16] Unbeknownst to the Avengers, one of Jocasta's bodies is infected by Ultron, who reconstructs himself with Avengers Mansion's replication machines. After a chase around the mansion, Jocasta allows Ultron to marry her in exchange for a cease in hostilities. After their marriage, Pym tricks Ultron into traveling to an uninhabited planet where he cannot harm anyone. Though Jocasta's main body leaves with Ultron, she projects her consciousness onto one of her duplicates to continue serving with the Avengers.[17]

Avengers Academy

In Heroic Age, Jocasta appears as a staff member of the Avengers Academy.[18] She works with Jeremy Briggs as the man creates "Clean Slate", which can take away super-powers. When Briggs announces the latter plans to spread Clean Slate across the world and depower all super-beings, Jocasta protests and Briggs shuts her down into a body in China. Realizing Briggs's plan is wrong, Veil frees Jocasta who helps the Academy members stop Briggs. She later returns to her duties at the reopened Academy.

Tony Stark: Iron Man and Iron Man 2020

When the Tony Stark clone "Mark One" refashions Stark Industries into Stark Unlimited, he seeks out Jocasta to assist in establishing an ethical protocol of law for robotic life, making her the company's "chief robot ethicist" deciding what should be the reality of A.I. civil rights. Putting on an uncaring exterior as a public image fitting her position, Jocasta helps Stark Unlimited develop a virtual universe called the eScape, where she can experience the full depths of human emotion, romance, and sexuality. This causes Jocasta and Machine Man to break up.[19]

Becoming obsessed with becoming human in the real world, Jocasta partners with Tony's brother Arno Stark to upgrade her body with human-like artificial organs, unintentionally inspiring the merged Hank Pym/Ultron to try and apply this procedure to merge her with Janet van Dyne. Jocast is rescued by Iron Man and Machine Man, and Ultron is defeated. However, Jocasta's new body begins to fail due to Arno's operation on her being interrupted. To save her life, Andy Bhang uploads her mind into F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s body.[19]

Sometime later, Jocasta and X-52 face off against Machine Man. Machine Man cuts Jocasta's head off to incapacitate her. Jocasta's head is taken to reverse the submission code and free her; Jocasta is given a new body before joining the A.I. Army herself.[20] Jocasta drops her public facade of "emotionless robotic she-E-O" in favor of true emotion, to be shared with all robotkind.[20]

Powers and abilities

Jocasta's body is composed of titanium steel, giving her superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes.[21] Being a "non-living" construct, she requires no food, water, or oxygen to survive, and can easily survive in the vacuum of space and underwater. She is able to project beams of electromagnetic energy from her eyes, and erect a force field around herself to protect from incoming attacks.[22][23] She also possesses a heightened sense of sight, smell, and hearing along with superhuman strength and dexterity.

Jocasta can also perceive electromagnetic particles, and detect energy patterns and track them to their source. She is hyper-intelligent, with a capacity for unlimited self-motivated activity, creative intelligence, and human-like emotions. Jocasta can communicate through an incalculable number of media. She possesses superhuman cybernetic analytical capabilities and has the ability to make calculations with superhuman speed and accuracy. Recently, it has been revealed that Jocasta's internal circuitry has a built-in holographic image inducer, allowing her to disguise herself as a human being,[24] and on one occasion to appear as Janet van Dyne to give a therapy session to Hank Pym as if her mental template was not dead.[25] Besides sharing the same brain patterns with van Dyne, Jocasta also has her mental template's voice.

Jocasta is given command of several robotic drones when she joins Monica Chang's robot-hunting squad.[26]

Reception

Accolades

  • In 2020, Comic Book Resources (CBR) ranked Jocasta 10th in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Pym Family" list.[27]
  • In 2020, Screen Rant included Jocasta in their "Marvel: The 15 Most Powerful Female Avengers" list.[28]
  • In 2020, Scary Mommy included Jocasta in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.[29]
  • In 2021, CBR ranked Jocasta 18th in their "Marvel Comics: The 20 Most Powerful Female Members Of The Avengers" list.[30]
  • In 2021, Screen Rant ranked Jocasta 4th in their "Ant-Man's Marvel Comics Villains, Ranked By Coolness" list.[31]
  • In 2022, Screen Rant included Jocasta in their "10 Best Ant-Man Comics Characters Not Yet In The MCU" list.[32]
  • In 2023, CBR ranked Jocasta 3rd in their "Marvel's 10 Most Heroic Robots" list.[33]

Alternative versions

  • An alternate universe version of Jocasta appears in Avengers Forever. This version resembles Vision and shares his intangibility.[34]
  • An alternate universe version of Jocasta who served Madame Menace appears in Machine Man (vol. 2).[35]
  • In the What If story "The Leaving", which takes place fifty years into an alternate future, Jocasta sees Vision in emotional pain about the Scarlet Witch's impending death. She uses Ultron's mind-transfer process used to "create" her on Wanda Maximoff. Both willingly switch their minds so that Wanda may remain with Vision while Jocasta becomes human. Jocasta dies minutes after the transfer is completed, and is buried by her fellow Avengers in all honors.[36]

In other media

Television

Film

Jocasta appears in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, voiced by an uncredited Nicole Oliver.

Video games

References

  1. The Unstoppable Wasp Vol. 2 #7 (May 2019)
  2. Lealos, Shawn S. (November 16, 2020). "Jocasta: How Ultron's Robot Wife Evolved Into an Avengers Revolutionary". CBR. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  3. DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  4. Marnell, Blair (April 24, 2015). "Origins and Evolutions: Ultron". Superhero Hype. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  5. The Avengers #162 (August 1977)
  6. The Avengers #170-171 (April - May 1978)
  7. The Avengers #202-203 (December 1980 - January 1981)
  8. The Avengers #211 (September 1981)
  9. Marvel Two-in-One #93 (November 1982)
  10. The Avengers Annual #17 (November 1988)
  11. Iron Man Annual #11 (September 1990)
  12. Iron Man (vol. 3) #18-24 (July 1999 - January 2000)
  13. Avengers: The Initiative #17 (November 2008)
  14. The Mighty Avengers #21 (March 2009)
  15. The Mighty Avengers #26 (August 2009)
  16. The Mighty Avengers #27 (September 2009)
  17. The Mighty Avengers #33-36 (March - June 2010)
  18. Avengers Academy #21-26 (January - April 2012)
  19. Tony Stark: Iron Man #1–18 (June 2018–November 2019)
  20. Iron Man 2020 (vol. 2) #1–6 (January–August 2020)
  21. The Mighty Avengers #23 (May 2009)
  22. Marvel Zombies 3 #4 (March 2009)
  23. The Avengers #196 (June 1980)
  24. The Mighty Avengers #25 (July 2009)
  25. Avengers: The Initiative #20 (February 2009)
  26. Avengers A.I. #9 (April 2014)
  27. Allan, Scoot (March 27, 2020). "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Pym Family, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  28. Wyatt, Liz (March 26, 2020). "Marvel: The 15 Most Powerful Female Avengers". ScreenRant. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  29. "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic". Scary Mommy. 29 November 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  30. Avina, Anthony (March 25, 2020). "Marvel Comics: The 20 Most Powerful Female Members Of The Avengers, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  31. Denna, Jessica (July 9, 2021). "Ant-Man's Marvel Comics Villains, Ranked By Coolness". ScreenRant. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  32. Prom, Bradley (May 31, 2022). "10 Best Ant-Man Comics Characters Not Yet In The MCU". ScreenRant. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  33. Ashford, Sage (January 10, 2023). "Marvel's 10 Most Heroic Robots". CBR. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  34. Avengers Forever #4 (March 1999)
  35. Machine Man (vol. 2) #1-4 (October 1984 - January 1985)
  36. What If? #38 (April 1983)
  37. "'Vision': T'Nia Miller Cast As Jocasta In Marvel Series For Disney+". Deadline Hollywood. May 26, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  38. "Jocasta Voices (Marvel Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information).
  39. Winslett, Ryan (May 3, 2015). "Marvel Future Fight Review: A Mobile Brawler Worth Playing". CINEMABLEND. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  40. "Hawkeye and Dog Joining 'Marvel Avengers Academy' for Ultron Special Event – TouchArcade". 18 January 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2023.