The Avengers #162

"The Bride of Ultron!"

Thor makes a visit to Avengers Mansion only to find that half the team (Captain America, the Vision, Scarlet Witch and the Beast) have all been seemingly slain and are being carted away in ambulances! Inside, he finds Iron Man, the Black Panther and Wonder Man -- the only Avengers to have survived a devastating attack by Ultron. They relate how Hank Pym suffered a serious breakdown leading to amnesia (he believes he’s still Ant-Man and it is still 1963), as well as how Ultron apparently murdered most of the team before abducting both Hank and Jan.

And somewhere else, Hank - as Ant-Man - awakens in a lab, only to see Ultron imploring him to help save his beloved Wasp. Hank is still unable to remember anything after the first meeting of the Avengers (in #1), not even his evil creation. Ultron cruelly tricks him into thinking the Avengers he battled were impostors who nearly killed the Wasp.

Below them, Janet is strapped to a slab next to a robotic female form. Ultron claims the only way to save the Wasp now is to “temporarily” transfer her life essence into the robotic shell until they can heal her body. Not thinking correctly, Hank goes along with this plan, unaware that Ultron already knows that once Jan’s life-force has been transferred, the process cannot be reversed. He then intends to kill Hank and take the female robot as his mate in a twisted and very literal Oedipal scenario.

The Avengers have been hoping to call in some past members to help out in this crisis situation. They attempt to get in touch with Hawkeye, but Two-Gun Kid (being from 1873) doesn’t understand the concept of a telephone and so Hawkeye doesn’t get the message.

In Ultron’s lab, Jan reacts as she feels her life essence being drained away. At the same time, the robotic “bride” of Ultron begins to stir and to speak.

Back at the Mansion, a colony of ants invades the command center and spells out letters: S-T-A-R-K-L-I, which Iron-Man recognizes to mean “Stark Long Island”, an abandoned Stark aerospace lab. The four remaining Avengers converge there. On the way, Thor remarks that he intends to fight to the death against Ultron. Wonder Man realizes he means it quite literally and suddenly he’s filled with a dread of actually being killed… again.

The heroes arrive. When Ultron sees Wonder Man (who was struck by the same encephalo-ray he used on the rest of the Avengers last issue), he remarks that he should be in a coma. Iron-Man is stunned to realize that the felled Avengers aren’t dead after all.

While Iron-Man, Thor and Wonder Man attack Ultron, the Black Panther concentrates on trying to stop Hank. T’Challa realizes Hank is still in the depths of delusion and believes Ultron to be his ally. He has no choice but to subdue Ant-Man.

While Thor and Wonder Man tackle Ultron, Iron-Man rushes to aid the Panther. The controls are now locked into a coded sequence and they have no time to crack it before the process is complete. Iron-Man thinks of a way to force Ultron’s hand, however. Realizing that Ultron’s bride is not made of adamantium, he threatens to destroy her if the villain doesn’t reveal how to reverse the process. Ultron relents and tells the heroes what they need before fleeing the scene. The Panther is slightly disturbed that Iron-Man would resort to taking a hostage, but he retorts that Ultron’s creation is not a true living being.

Epilogue: Jan is revived. Iron-Man remarks that it’s a good thing she managed to send a signal to them when she did or it might have been too late. But Jan insists she couldn’t have sent them a message as Ultron had taken away her insect-control collar. Hank is a ranting, raving mess and clearly did not send them any message. The team is left wondering who did. T’Challa theorizes that Ultron’s robot bride may have been more like Jan than he ever intended…