The Nanite Agenda

It’s time for one of those short, sweet, little posts where I pull at a strand of continuity until I find something that probably wasn’t intentional. This time, it’s a piece of info I found while researching my post A-Next Ages: Mainframe: The Nanite Agenda.

 

So, what the heck is The Nanite Agenda anyway? Well, as I’ve discussed briefly in both my Iron Man in the MC2 and History of the MC2:The Avengers, Iron Man (Tony Stark) and the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) closed the portal to the alternate world which had claimed so many of their teammates and friends. The portal required Wanda to remain in stasis, holding the breach closed with her powers.

 

In an attempt to help Wanda, Tony designed and built a Nanite Agenda intended to super-charge the human body. Stark’s friend Jim Rhodes tests the Agenda on himself before Tony despite the risk. The process at first seemed to be a success, mutating Rhodey and gifting him with steel-hard skin, concussive energy blasts. However, with the Nanites continuing to multiply, this made Rhodey less and less human over time (Spider-Girl #95).

 

This information is all conveyed via flashbacks which further explain why the nanite-driven Rhodey goes on a rampage after accidentally being hit with a hex bolt cast by the recently-revived Scarlet Witch. Stinger notes that Rhodey was familiar enough with Starktech to disable Mainframe’s Lazarus Protocol, preventing the summoning of replacement armoured bodies. Tony responds that Rhodey is in many ways Starktech. Poor Rhodey. But the Nanite Agenda would seem to run deeper than just within James Rhodes.

 

That’s right, there are Nanites running about within Mainframe’s various mechanical bodies. We first learned this in A-Next #8, when Stinger (Cassie Lang) and Ant-Man (Scott Lang) journeyed inside Mainframe’s body in attempt to save the armoured Avenger following a system-wide shut down. It’s there that Stinger and Ant-Man encounter Nanites designed to repel foreign invaders within Mainframe’s robot shell. Fortunately, Scott is able to hold off the Nanite’s long enough for the heroes to save Mainframe.

 

This small detail about Mainframe’s Nanites, separated by several years of publication, actually makes some sense of the timeline for several smaller moments in the History of the MC2: Mainframe’s creation, the last mission of the Avengers, the team’s later official disbanding and the transformation of the James Rhodes. As mentioned, Spider-Girl #95 shows the creation of the Nanite Agenda after Mainframe’s own creation, so we can safely assume the Nanites within Mainframe are more rudimentary versions or precursors.

It’s also stated by Tony Stark himself that he built the Mainframe robot after retiring from super heroics (Spider-Girl #95). While Tony claims he retired ‘when the Avengers officially disbanded,’ we actually see the moment in A-Next #7, and Tony hangs up his armour and leaves the Avengers Mansion permanently shortly after sealing the portal with the Scarlet Witch. According to Edwin Jarvis, the interim team of Avengers that filled out the roster at that time continued on afterwards until finally the group fell apart and no one answered the call to assemble. Presumably, as Tony never joined this interim team following the loss of so many of his comrades, he isn’t speaking literally but instead poetically or emotionally.

Still further, we see that Tony apparently had plans in place to ensure ‘that whenever the need arises there will always be Avengers’ before embarking on the team’s fateful mission. I’ve always believed this to be a reference to Mainframe but with the Mainframe robot apparently only built after this mission, it raised further question.  Here’s what I propose: Tony had already at least begun designing the Mainframe program, perhaps even produced the encephalograms of himself and linked the Mainframe program to the Avengers distress call systems. I further suggest that it’s only after returning from his final mission and sealing the portal with the Scarlet Witch that Tony actually builds Mainframe a physical body in the form of the robot shells we know today. And, just to really stray into the realm of speculation, perhaps while developing the armoured robot bodies defensive Nanites, Tony hit upon the Nanite Agenda as a solution to help liberate Wanda from her comatose confinement.

The fact that the Nanites within James Rhodes went haywire after being struck by Wanda’s hex bolt is ironic considering they were intended to help the Scarlet Witch. But the fact that Mainframe was so easily defeated by the Nanite Agenda is due to being comprised of an earlier version of the Nanites.

 

Until I manage to devise a technology advanced enough to beat up its little brother, I remain

 

frogoat

 

                                                                                                                     

A-Next Ages: Mainframe

I thought it might be fun to work out the approximate ages of the various members of the MC2’s Avengers. Keep in mind this isn’t definitive unless it’s spelt out on the page and is merely a rough estimate based on in-universe information or- where necessary- statements from the creative teams involved in the characters creation and development.

 

For the fourth entry in this occasional series of A-Next Ages, it’s time to figure out the age of the team’s by the book mysterious machine-man: Mainframe!

 

Unlike my prior three post in the series, we don’t have to look to far to figure out the age of this artificial Avenger. Let’s revisit Mainframe’s debut to start with: A-Next #1. It’s here we get the first hint about Mainframe’s identity. When Loki’s magical energy bolt is detected by monitors built into the Avengers Compound defences, they bring online a ‘long dormant program’. The program sends out an emergency call to assemble to over a dozen locations, but which is only received by two former Avengers; Jubilee and Jolt.

 

This may seem a little pointless to mention, but shortly after when Jubilee asks who sent out the Avengers distress call, Mainframe’s responds ‘That would be me’. So, in the very first issue we had a major clue to Mainframe’s true identity right on the page.

 

After a few more clues, including Mainframe being seemingly killed when torn in half by Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in A-Next #3, we got answers in A-Next #7. Having exhausted all of their current supply of mechanical bodies during a battle with Ion Man, Mainframe reveals to Stinger (Cassie Lang) that they are in fact a program based on the encephalograms of Tony Stark to ensure there would always be Avengers.  Left unable to download into a new body and suffering a system-wide shut down, Mainframe is fortunately saved the by the intervention of Cassie and her father, Scott Lang (formerly Ant-Man) in A-Next #8.

 

So, when did Tony Stark create Mainframe? We learn from Jarvis in A-Next #7 that the Original Avengers disbanded some 10 years prior to the new team’s formation, and that the fateful mission which saw so many of the team perish occurred a year and a half prior. This places their final mission at around 11 and a half years prior to the events of A-Next #1 as I’ve discussed previously here.

 

Iron Man (Tony Stark) and the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) toiled away for months afterwards deep beneath the Avengers Mansion, eventually succeeding in closing the portal between worlds by sealing Wanda in a stasis pod which used her immense power to hold the aperture shut. Immediately after this event, Tony retires from super heroics, vowing to instead help the world using his other talents.

 

Around this time -though it's unclear whether it was before, after or both before and after the team's final mission- Tony Stark developed and completed work on Mainframe, the sophisticated robotic armour imbued with Tony's own brain patterns, designed to ensure there would always be someone to answer the call to assemble (A-Next #7, Spider-Girl #95). From this we know that Stark completed work on Mainframe around the time he left the Avengers, which was about 11 years prior to A-Next #1.

 

As a program inhabiting an armoured robot suit, it’s difficult to assess Mainframe’s age by human standards, but we do see hints throughout the MC2 titles of the character’s development and personality. This includes his strained relationship with his creator or ‘father,’ Tony Stark. But as for how long Mainframe has been in existence in-universe? Mainframe is only at most 11 years old in A-Next #1 and that’s probably the first ever time the being had been out in the really world. By the conclusion of the MC2 publication history, another full year may have passed, making Mainframe at most 11-12 years old and ironically the youngest member of the Avengers.

 

Until I spend 11 years sitting on a computer in a dark basement, I remain

 

frogoat

Iron Man in the MC2

With all the build up for Avengers: Endgame, I've elected to cover some of the MC2 incarnations of the films main cast. For this entry, we'll be taking a look at the golden Avenger, the genius, billionaire, former playboy philanthropist: Iron Man. 

Making his first appearance in the MC2 in the A-Next #7 in a flashback to the last days of the original Avengers team, we learn that not only did Iron Man join the team on their final mission, he was among the few to return alive. After mourning their fallen comrades, Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch worked tirelessly for months to seal the portal permanently against future attacks. Unfortunately, to achieve this the Scarlet Witch was sealed within a stasis pod, holding the aperture shut. Tony Stark retired as Iron Man, but continued to work to help the world. 

We also learn through flashbacks that around this time Tony Stark developed Mainframe, a sophisticated robotic armour with Tony's own brain patterns, designed to ensure there would always be someone to answer the call to assemble (A-Next #7, Spider-Girl #95).

Jumping around a bit for context: Tony Designed and built a Nanite Agenda in an attempt to aid the Scarlet Witch. However, Tony discovered too late that his best friend James Rhodes aka War Machine had tested it on himself to protect Tony. The Agenda proved harmful, causing a slow erosion of Rhodes' humanity, making him less and less human over time whilst also gifting him increasing superhuman abilities (Spider-Girl #95).

Stark makes his first present-day appearance in A-Next #10 when the new Avengers team venture to the alternate world. When Tony learns of this news, he confronts Edwin Jarvis only to be stopped by Clint Barton aka Hawkeye who argues with him about their last mission. 

The three men were taken hostage by the Red Queen and her Revengers team prior to A-Next #12. While held captive, Stark manages to get a signal to Mainframe's satellite, enabling the robotic Avenger to return with reinforcements. Despite Tony's initial misgivings he is soon impressed with the team's performance, giving the new Avengers his blessing.

Next showing up in Spider-Girl #30-32, Tony warns Spider-Girl about interfering with the Avengers pursuit of The Buzz following her encounter with Stark's 'bodyguard,' the now super powered nanite-puppet James Rhodes. Refusing to stand down, Spider-Girl finds herself in conflict with the Avengers when she attempts to defend the wrongly-accused Buzz. During the battle, we learn that Stark contributed technology to the Human Fly Project which created the suit now worn by The Buzz and wishes to take  it back. Things are resolved when the Stark-controlled Rhodes strips the technology from the Buzz and allows him to go. Due to his manipulations of the team behind the scenes, the Avengers clash with Tony soon afterwards.

Despite most other retired super heroes being drawn back into costume during the events of Last Hero Standing, Tony Stark does not don his trademark suit of armour. In fact, we only see him in Last Hero Standing #1 visiting the comatose Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch. When she is abducted, Stark alerts the Avengers. Notably, there is a brief exchange between Tony and Captain America, the only interaction we see the two old friends share before Cap's death.

With so many members of with injuries or otherwise absent, Stark takes it upon himself to recruits some 'experienced pros' to fill out the Avengers roster. The Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man and Hawkeye are joined by Stark's 'personal bodyguard'  James Rhodes on a mission to investigate and apprehend Normie Osborn. Things go awry when Rhodes (now more machine than man) is inadvertently hit by a hex bolt from the Scarlet Witch, triggering a violent rampage. Forced out of retirement, Stark reluctantly dons an old suit of Iron Man armour to help end Rhodes' rampage (Spider-Girl #93-#95). 

When we last see Tony, he's discussing the grave threat posed by the newly-returned Doctor Doom with the President of the United States G.W. Bridges, Mainframe and the Vision. After the crisis is ended, Tony concludes they have Reed Richards to thank.

Tony Stark is an interesting character in the MC2. I get the impression he is quite lonely, considering he lost many of his closest friends in short span of time. Several colleagues perished on their final mission, Captain America stayed behind, the Wasp died soon after returning home, Hercules was driven insane and the Scarlet Witch fell into a coma as a result of sealing the dimensional portal with Tony. Not to mention Tony's best friend Rhodey becoming trapped in a state living-death due to his invention. All that loss most definitely weighs on Tony. I'd love to see more of him.

Until I build myself a high-tech suit of armour in a cave--WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS, I remain

frogoat