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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Hank Pym creating Ultron might be one of the worst applications of the omnidisciplinary scientist trope. How is a guy known for working with bugs and chemicals suddenly know about robotics?
Well, that isn't entirely accurate. Stane simply wanted Stark's company and didn't seem to have anything personal against him and Vanko was taking out his issues with Howard out on Tony.
Edited by windleopard on Jun 15th 2020 at 12:17:53 PM
The concept of "these are different scientists who specialize in different things" tends to be alien in comic books. Intelligence in comics runs on DBZ rules: if you're smarter than someone else, then you're immediately better at them at all branches of science, thought and study regardless of specialty or training.
Which means what any particular scientist does tends to be vague. And in the case of guys like Hank Pym, even in universe characters are derided as obsolete because one or two other guys are famously smarter than them. It's... weird. Imo the characters who get hit hardest are the "not-quite-big-name" ones like Mr. Terrific: we know he's the smartest guy on DC's Earth, but hell if any writer can actually agree on what he does.
The MCU does this as well, but maybe a bit less so. Tony is explicitly not as good at biotech stuff as Bruce is, which is why they were working together in Ultron. Being good at biotech doesn't translate into knowing quantum physics, so instead of inventing a time machine Bruce accidentally invents immortality. But then, Tony can also master all of the branches of science needed to perfectly understand the Tesseract in a single evening.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 15th 2020 at 12:25:50 PM
The Marvel comics occasionally play it a bit more realistically. Reed Richards for example is a typical Omnidisciplinary Scientist...but he's got one glaring blindspot - he has no ability to grasp magic. This is the one field where Doctor Doom truly outshines him.
Edited by M84 on Jun 16th 2020 at 3:26:09 AM
Disgusted, but not surprisedDepending on the Writer of course. Some writers emphasize the "Noble" part of Noble Demon, others emphasize the "Demon" part. And some make the mistake of going all noble or all demon with Doom. Mark Waid being one of the latter - he's the one who wrote the story arc where Doom made a skinsuit out of his former lover Valeria as part of a Deal with the Devil.
Most writers however never forget Doom's pettiness and insecurity when it comes to Richards. Heck, the climax of the Battleworld crossover event was Victor admitting that Reed is smarter than him. Which is immediately followed by Victor trying to kill him.
Edited by M84 on Jun 15th 2020 at 5:05:27 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedWell the MCU now has the "it was a Skrull", "it was a hologram from Mysterio" and "it is a time displaced clone" excuses ready (and AoS had the "it was/is a LMD"). The fun can now begin.
Whatever your favourite work is, there is a Vocal Minority that considers it the Worst. Whatever. Ever!.You and the rest of the Internet.
For that, I blame Tom Rothman and his Fox Executives.
Even when the 2005 and 2015 movies doubled down on science (because magic and superheroes? That would never work out!), Doom was still interpreted as a pompous business guy and a vain punk who devolves into a serial killer with a god complex, respectively.
Do any of those sound like the ideal Doom?
Doombots! Doombots everywhere!
Just you wait. Sokovia is just waiting to be called Latveria. Any year now...
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That's basically how I pictured Latveria happening.
Sokovia + Robot Rampage + Mass Evacuation + Seismic event of Sokovia rising and dropping out of the sky + Half of all civilization turning into dust + Bold doctor rebuilds from stuff that's left of Sokovia during the 5 years of depression = The Proud Kingdom of Latveria.
Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jun 15th 2020 at 11:56:34 AM
Found that theory just recently. And even if it was just one Ultron drone, it shouldn't be hard for Glorious Doctor Doom to reverse engineer it into the architecture for the usual Doombot.
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The castle was built by Doombots who get it done faster than a team of humans would. The rustic look was because it made Victor feel more important.
Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jun 15th 2020 at 12:02:00 PM

@Iron Man's superpowers.
The best way to put is imo is that Tony Stark doesn't have a superpower, but he did create a weapon / prosthetic that allows him to temporarily acquire superpowers.
Tony's intelligence isn't necessarily a superpower, but the Iron Man suit's many, many weapons absolutely are.
Intellect in comics books has always been a really weird thing when used in comparison. Comic books love making lists of "the 1-5 smartest people in existence" but don't really do much with what that means.
I'd say that if you have an intelligence that explicitly outstrips what one can do with regular brain functions (enhanced perception, faster neuron firing speed, whatever) you've got a superpower: so Brainiac, with his super-supercomputer brain, has super-intellect. In-universe, I don't believe Tony is intended to have an enhanced brain, so I wouldn't call that super intelligence.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 15th 2020 at 12:09:25 PM