Notorious Debbie Downer of the Marvel Universe Hank Pym saved the world countless times. Most recently, he created a hyper-evolving artificial intelligence to destroy Ultron before he could take over the world and bring on the Age of Ultron. But now in the pages of ‘Avengers A.I.’ that AI has taken over one of Tony Stark’s old Iron Man armors and become Dimitrios, a robot determined to form a new world order where the machines are in charge. Essentially, Pym brought about the Marvel Universe’s version of Skynet and Dimitrios is the main Terminator looking to take over. Luckily, the Scientist Supreme and his team, which includes the Vision, Victor Mancha, Doombot, and Agent Monica Chang, are around to quell the attack.
To begin with, I’m a Hank Pym fan, so to see him have this new outlook on life is very refreshing. Instead of being up tight and constantly in a lab, it’s good to see him out in the field leading his new team in order to get back into the superhero routine. I also like how he’s sharing this new outlook with others, like when he’s talking to Victor about alternate timelines. Not only was the Fruit Loops bit funny, it was good to see Pym playing the mentor role again since ‘Avengers Academy’ has been discontinued. That’s a good role for him to be in, I think.
Besides Pym, I feel like Doombot has to be the emerging fan favorite character from this cast. Containing an AI based on one of the most brash and egotistical characters to ever emerge from the Marvel stable, it’s great to see a version of Doctor Doom that we can laugh at. I mean, Doombot’s plan of attack on the Sentinel is the show-stealing moment of the issue. I anticipate more great moments like that in the future and if I don’t get them, I’ll be pretty disappointed.
Finally, I’m finding that it’s hard to completely form an opinion on this series at the moment. So far in two issues, we’ve had the team being heroic, Dimitrios being evil, and Alexis being totally mysterious. Sam Humphries has me caring about the characters, but I’m still waiting to really get into the story. After that happens, I feel like I’ll have a better idea of what I think of ‘Avengers A.I.’. But until then, I’m down to keep reading to see what happens.
Final Score:
AVENGERS A.I. #2
Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Andre Lima Araujo & Frank D’Armata
Cover by David Marquez & Frank D’Armata
