50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

13. Ultron

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

Even aside from the fact that he’s a killer robot, Ultron is a villain who was truly ahead of his time. It’s amazing to think that he was created in the 1960s, before computers were all around us and well before the idea of artificial intelligence graduated from science fiction to science fact.

His constant upgrading foretold the way we do the same thing with the technology in our daily lives, and his goal of eradicating all organic life is more relevant than ever in an era where some people believe we run the risk of a technological singularity in this century. We can’t guarantee that machine life, it if comes about, will be compatible with us organics, and Ultron is Exhibit A in comic book form.

The fact that he is more than pure logic and has what for lack of a better term is a personality, complete with emotions (though he’d never admit to them) actually just makes him scarier. Think of an unstoppable killing machine like the Terminator, who Ultron predated by quite a bit. Now picture him with a body that’s nearly impossible to damage, the ability to transfer his consciousness to other machines even if you do, and with a personal grudge against you. Like I said, scary.

It’s that one-of-a-kind combination of technological horror and human foibles that make Ultron so compelling, and we have a feeling James Spader is going to bring both sides of the character to the big screen in a big way. The Avengers are never going to rid themselves of this particular villain, so expect him to go nowhere but up the rankings in the future — a future that hopefully is full of much more friendly sentient machines.

Next: No. 12: Coldly calculating