Alert:This Forgotten Villain of The Marvel is Back to Start her Cult
While the planet may be currently focused on the robot revolution and Arno Stark’s attempts to prevent it in Iron Man 2020 and concurrent series, there’s another, way more dangerous revolution brewing at the hands of a long-forgotten villain. In Iron Age 2020 #1, Alkhema returns along with her robotic cult, which may lead to an even more devastating robotic revolution.
Who is Alkhema?
After Henry Pym constructed Ultron, he went rogue and has since intended to wipe out humanity and replace it with a robotic legion under his control. Not eager to rule alone, he first created Jocasta, which was based on Wasp’s brain patterns and became a longtime ally to the Avengers. Later, he constructed Alkhema, who wasn’t an heroic figure. She proved to be way more cruel and violent than even Ultron. While the former wanted to wipe out humanity, the latter took enjoyment from killing specific people as slowly as she could. She became an antagonist to the Avengers for a few other appearances before she accidentally became instrumental in reviving Ultron. In her last appearance, she was a reconstructed training tool for the Avengers Academy.
Alkhema: The Mother Prophet
Robot of Conviction focuses on a military research lab in Siberia, which is populated by a healthy mixture of robots and humans. A number of the robots quietly wish they could join with the factitious Life Army led by Machine Man and be liberated, but when robots come to take control of the lab, they don’t seem to be working for Machine Man. Instead, they’re followers of Alkhema, who has somehow returned to her old deadly glory. She’s able to use her abilities to get rid of any programming that keeps the local robots subservient to humans and offers them positions in her growing army of followers. When the robots compare her to the ALA, she admits she thinks the organization could be a small-minded rebellion. While they seek equality with humanity, she instead plans to undertake and wipe out all humanity to assert robotic dominance.
Is she back with Her Principles?
Within the end, the sole thing keeping Alkhema from gaining a full stockpile of deadly weapons could be a single security robot, who, along with his new power, sacrifices his life to forestall her from making off with those destructive tools. He causes an explosion that wipes out everyone and everything within the base except Alkhema, who survives due to her adamantium skeleton. She admits it is a setback, but she quickly declares she’ll get the better of “all of them,” concerning the Avengers, the ALA, Ultron, and seemingly all of humanity.
