ALKHEMA
Real Name: Alkhema
Identity/Class: Terrestrial robot
Occupation: Murderer, creator, would-be mass murderer
Group Membership: Leader of the Opus Futurae; creator of generations of War Toys, Robos, and Bio-Synthezoids
Affiliations: Antigone, Bio-Synthezoids, Robos, War Toys;
formerly Hank Pym, Myron MacLain, Mockingbird (Bobbie Barton), Ultron;
possibly Alkhema duplicate: West Coast Avengers robots (Hawkeye, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra, Wonder Man)
Enemies: Avengers (Black Panther/T'Challa, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Firestar/Angelica Jones, Hawkeye/Goliath/Clint Barton, Living Lightning/Miguel Santos, Mockingbird/H'rpra, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Spider-Woman/Julia Carpenter, Thor/Odinson, Tigra/Greer Nelson, USAgent/John Walker, Vision, War Machine/Jim Rhodes, Wonder Man/Simon Williams, Yellowjacket/Henry Pym), Grim Reaper (Eric Williams), Raptor (Gary Wilton Jr.), Ultron, unidentified Siberian research facility (Lt. Sergei, DK35-M, JB12-X, TY41-B, other security robots and human staff);
possibly Alkhema duplicate: Finesse (Jeanne Foucault), Striker (Brandon Sharpe)
Known Relatives: Ultron (creator), Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird, source of engrams), Jocasta ("sister"), Antigone (creation, consciousness apparently destroyed); the following could be considered as relatives: Hank Pym (grandfather), Janet van Dyne (Wasp, sister), Vision and Wonder Man (brothers)
Aliases: Mother Prophet, Alkhema-2, War Toy
Place of Creation: Underground lab in Death Valley, California
Base of Operations: Robotopia, a demolished subterranean base in Al-Luxor, Egypt;
formerly a base in Death Valley, California
Extent of Education: Programmed by Ultron, self-taught since
First Appearance: Avengers West Coast#90 (1993)
Powers/Abilities: Alkhema's Adamantium body is resistant to almost all physical harm. She can lift 90 tons with great effort and projects a variable frequency energy beam from her forehead. Alkhema also fires energy beams from her shoulder weapons and can electrify her surface and generate jet thrust from her boots to fly. Her consciousness can be transferred to other mechanical forms; she can communicate electronically with her robotic followers, and has created several generations of robots. She has the personality and speech patterns of Mockingbird, though none of her memories or emotions. Like Ultron, she seeks the death of all life on Earth. Unlike Ultron, she enjoys the killing and prefers to kill people one at a time, rather than perform a single act to cause massive death.
Height: 6"
Weight: 510 lbs.
Eyes: Variable
Hair: None
History:
(Avengers West Coast#90) - Seeking a new mate, Ultron abducted Hank Pym, Mockingbird, and Myron MacLain. Using mind control, he forced MacLain to forge an adamantium body, and he forced Pym to program the body with the brain patterns of Mockingbird. Alkhema was the result, and she soon greeted the Avengers who came seeking Ultron's captives.
(Avengers West Coast#91) - After struggling against the Avengers, Alkhema realized her goals differed slightly from Ultron and so she assaulted him. However, Pym, MacLain, and the Vision managed to magnetize the two robots to a nuclear missile, which they launched into space and detonated. Though they survived the explosion due their adamantium forms, they were temporarily neutralized.
(Avengers West Coast Annual#8) - Ultron and Alkhema recovered and relocated to San Francisco where they began plotting to activate a number of volcanoes across the planet to cause massive death of biologic life forms. The Avengers discovered their plans, but fell victims to Ultron's mind control beam and instead became their slaves. Raptor also discovered their plans, but escaped in time and joined forces with Iron Man, Living Lightning, Hank Pym, Tigra, and the Wasp to stop the mind-controlled Avengers from activating the three seismic activators. The activator at Mt. St. Helens was neutralized and so Ultron and Alkhema traveled there to activate it by hand. Ultron nearly defeated the gathered Avengers (whose minds had been freed in the process), but ultimately Alkhema turned against him, destroying the activator and then combining her power with the Avengers so that Ultron could be captured and contained. She then took off to plot her own course.
(Avengers III#21 (fb) - BTS) - Alkhema re-designed her form (taking the name Alkhema-2) and created her War Toys.
(Avengers III#0) - As Ultron planned his most recent plot against the Avengers, Alkhema observed him remotely.
(Avengers III#19) - Alkhema assaulted the Wakandan Design Group, intending to draw the Avengers so that she could kill them before Ultron could. After a fierce struggle, the Scarlet Witch managed to take control of her Molecular Rearranger, threatening to destroy her unless she surrendered. Alkhema eventually capitulated, but when the Avengers demanded she tell them Ultron's plans, she instructed them to turn on the television, which was reporting Ultron's slaughter of Slorenia.
(Avengers III#20) - Alkhema was placed in bonds that immobilized her, from which she refused to give any further information on Ultron. However, she did succeed in sending out an ultrasonic hum to order her War Toys.
(Avengers III#21) - The War Toys invaded the Virginia Blue Mountains military base and freed Alkhema, despite the efforts of the soldiers stationed there.
(Avengers III#22) - After Ultron's defeat, Alkhema and her War Toys retrieved the brain engrams of Grim Reaper, Henry Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp, and Wonder Man from his demolished Slorenian base.
(Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (fb)) - Alkhema used the brain patterns to create robos of Grim Reaper, Henry Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp, and Wonder Man, but she viewed them as flawed and unstable. She considered destroying them, but then decided it would be more fun to let them destroy themselves. Alkhema then relocated to a base beneath the tomb of Amenhotep III, Al-Luxor, Egypt, where she created various Robos that were amalgamations of the progenitors. She had these Robos establish the subterranean city of Robotopia, where they could dwell.
(Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (fb)) - Alkhema created the Bio-Synthezoids as her third attempt to create a race of synthetic life. However, unbeknownst to her, she was actually following programming from Ultron in building the Bio-Synthezoids. Once created, they set about rebuilding Ultron.
(Avengers: The Ultron Imperative) - The Avengers tracked Alkhema to her Egyptian base, where they encountered the amalgamated Robos. After a brief skirmish, Alkhema appeared and took command of the Robos. However, as the Avengers struggled against Alkhema, Ultron arose and started a four way war between the Avengers, Bio-Synthezoids, the Robos, and War Toys, as well as Alkhema and Ultron himself. Alkhema had built within herself a failsafe that would destroy her base and her creations. When she saw that she could not stop Ultron, she allowed Hawkeye to shoot her with an Antarctic Vibranium (Anti-Metal) arrow, destroying her, Robotopia and the rest of the base, the War Toys, the Robos, the Bio-Synthezoids, and seemingly Ultron.
(Avengers: Solo#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - Pym used Alkhema, or more likely a duplicate, and robotic West Coast Avengers doppelgangers at his old Death Valley lab as a test for Avengers Academy students Finesse and Striker.
(Avengers: Solo#3/2) - Alkhema knocked Pym out (he actually got knocked out sigh) and confronted his students Striker and Finesse.
(Avengers: Solo#4/2) - Alkhema and her toys, robot duplicates of the former West Coast Avengers Tigra, Mockingbird and Hawkeye, fought Striker and Finesse. They took down the doppelgangers and then went after Alkhema, whose left arm they ripped off, but Alkhema wasn't finished yet.
(Avengers: Solo#5/2 (fb)) - Finesse blocked Alkhema's eye blasts and used her own arm to decapitate the robot after Striker knocked Alkhema to the ground with an electric blast. Finesse secretly removed Alkhema's processor after the fight and kept it.
(Avengers: Solo#5/2) - Pym wondered when and how Finesse would use Alkhema's processor.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(2020 Iron Age#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Alkhema founded the robot cult Opus Futurae and became revered among her followers as their Mother Prophet.
(2020 Iron Age#1/2) - During the robot revolution Alkhema and the Opus Futurae attacked a military research laboratory in Siberia. She quickly removed the programming that kept the facility's security robots subservient with her encephalo-beam. Some of the robots had already been dreaming about joining the Artificial Life Army, but Alkhema promised them that joining her Opus Futurae was even better. The security robots at first aided Alkhema against the scientists and other human staff and security robot JB12-X even stopped Lt. Sergei from activating the facility's self-destruct sequence. Alkhema then ordered the robot to open the door to a lab where a biochemical weapon was stored that would aid their cause. Security robot DK35-M tried to stop her and got whacked in the head for it. Alkhema then implemented a gas canister in her blaster and killed all the human staff. DK35-M called her a monster for murdering the humans and was destroyed by Alkhema for it, which led to JB12-X finally turning on her as well for for killing his friend and colleagues. JB12-X rallied the security robots to fight against Alkhema, but she destroyed most of them with ease while others fled. She finally caught JB12-X, but was too late to stop him from activating the self-destruct sequence. The facility was destroyed in the ensuing explosion, but Alkhema and her Adamantium body remained intact. Though she mourned that she had once again lost everything, she was already planning to rebuild her army.
Comments: Created by Roy & Dann Thomas, Dave Ross & Tim Dzon.
Alkhema received a profile in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#1.
Since Alkhema was destroyed in Avengers: Ultron Imperative it was probably a duplicate used by Pym in Avengers: Solo to test his students. Not that it matters with her later appearance in 2020.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond (Avengers Solo & 2020 Iron Age).
CLARIFICATIONS:
Alkhema has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
2020 Iron Age#1, p14, pan2 (main)
Avengers III#19, p20, pan5 (closeup)
Avengers West Coast#91 cover (original form)
Avengers III#19, p15, pan1 (strangling the Black Panther)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#1, Alkhema entry (full body)
2020 Iron Age#1, p18, pan1 (gas attack)
Appearances:
Avengers West Coast#90 (January, 1993) - Roy & Dann Thomas (writers), Dave Ross (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks), Nelson Yomtov (editor)
Avengers West Coast Annual#8 (1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Sequence 1: Kris Renkewitz (pencils), Don Hudson & John Lowe (inks)
Sequence 2: David Ross (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks)
Sequence 3: Scott Kolins (pencils), Tim Dzon & Maria Beccari (inks)
Sequence 4: Larry Alexander (pencils), Mike Barriero (inks)
Sequence 5: John Czop (pencils), Maria Beccari (inks)
Sequence 6: Vince Russel (pencils), Fred Fredricks (inks)
Avengers III#0 (1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade von Grawbadger (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers III#19-22 (August-November, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), George Perez (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (November, 2001) - Tom Brevoort (editor)
Sequence 1: Roy Thomas (writer), John Paul Leon (artist)
Sequence 2: Roger Stern (writer), Paul Smith (artist)
Sequence 3: Kurt Busiek (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Karl Kesel (inks)
Sequence 4: Roy Thomas (writer), John McCrea (pencils), James Hodgkins (inks)
Sequence 5: Roy Thomas (writer), Jim Starlin (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks)
Sequence 6: Steve Englehart (writer), Pat Oliffe (pencils), John Livesay (inks)
Sequence 7: Steve Englehart (writer), Jorge Pereira Lucas (pencils), Mike Royer (inks)
Sequence 8: Roy Thomas (writer), Klaus Janson (artist)
Avengers: Solo#3-5 (February-April, 2012) - Jim McCann (writer), Clayton Henry (artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
2020 Iron Age#1/2 (May, 2020) - Fonda Lee (writer), Damian Couceiro (artist), Shannon Andrews Ballesteros (editor)
First Posted: 09/22/2004
Last updated: 03/24/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let us know.
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