Victor Mancha

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Victor Mancha
Cover to Runaways (v2) #2. Cover Art by Jo Chen.
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Runaways Vol.2 #1 (2005) Created by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) Adrian Alphona (artist)
Characteristics Alter ego Victor Mancha Affiliations Runaways Notable aliases Victorious (Alternate future) Abilities Superhuman strength and speed Highly intelligent Photographic memory Electromagnetic abilities

Victor Mancha is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe; a cyborg made by Ultron, he is most popularly known as the character who is one day supposedly going to kill every hero in the Marvel Universe. He debuted in the Marvel comics series Runaways Vol.2 #1.

[edit] Character history

Ultron met Marianella Mancha in a scrapyard where he was left after being defeated by the Avengers. Marianella was physically unable to have children, and her past as a drug mule prevented her from legally adopting a child. Ultron promised to give her a child as a "reward" for saving him, though he had ulterior motives. Marianella, a devout Christian, saw Ultron as a John the Baptist figure and followed his words. He used her DNA to begin work on a fully-grown cyborg that was programmed with false memories of a normal childhood. He then dubbed the cyborg "Victor" and gave it a deep-rooted love for super-heroes. Ultron's long-term plan involved sending Victor to New York City when he was twenty-one so that he could meet his idols, the Avengers, and be recruited to the team after exhibiting his powers. Ultron counted on Victor's Hispanic heritage garnering him a spot on the team to fulfill the Avengers' need for ethnic diversity.

In one Marvel timeline, Ultron's plan succeeds. Victor joins the Avengers under the codename Victorious and becomes the world's greatest super-hero. After learning the secret plans, strengths, and weaknesses of his teammates, Victor's sleeper-switch is activated and he kills every super-hero on Earth, including the Avengers, the Fantastic Fourteen, Iron Woman, and the X-Men. The leader of the Avengers, Heroine (who is in fact an older version of the Runaways' Gertrude Yorkes) goes back in time to deliver a warning to her past self and her former teammates. Heroine dies, but not before telling the Runaways where to find the present-day Victor Mancha.

Marianella keeps Victor isolated on the West Coast so that he will not make contact with any super-beings, who are concentrated on the East Coast. As a result of his cybernetic parts, Victor cannot pass through metal detectors. Victor is a student at East Angeles High School in Los Angeles when he first meets the Runaways. Ultron, still wishing to keep Victor's true origin a secret, sends a Doombot to kidnap Marianella and pose as Victor's father. Victor and the Runaways rush to the rescue and the Doombot is destroyed; Ultron chooses that moment to reveal himself and kills Marianella right in front of Victor. Ultron then triggers Victor's sleeper-switch so that he will attack the Runaways; however, Gert is able to reason with Victor and he rejects his programming, defying his "father." Afterwards, the Runaways take the now-orphaned Victor back to their hideout to keep him from ending up in the custody of Social Services.

Because of his superior intelligence and electromagnetic powers, Chase calls him the Calculator Kid and Nico calls him Zapper. After observing the team in action for a month, Victor proves his worth by defeating Swarm using his electromagnetic abilities.

The Runaways are friendly towards Victor, but they know that he is still a potential threat. He is often paired with Molly Hayes when the team separates to buy supplies, because Molly is the only individual member of the team strong enough to take him down should he go rogue. Chase Stein was suspicious of Victor long after the other Runaways accepted him, but eventually he came to regard him as a brother. Judging by a comment made by Nico Minoru at the end of "True Believers," she is fully prepared to kill Victor if the need arises. In the story arc "Parental Guidance" it is revealed that Victor is being used by the new Pride to spy upon the Runaways. His teammates ultimately accept Victor's protestations that he was bugged and used as a spy against his will, and allowed him use his power to capture the new Pride members, clearing his name.

After the death of fellow Runaway Gertrude Yokes, Victor finds himself in a physical relationship with Nico; she bids him to keep their first encounter a secret. During the "Dead Means Dead" story-arc Victor displays several of his less-used powers: he flies the Leapfrog without any prior training (albeit clumsily); dismantles and reconstructs a Glock-9; and fixes the Leapfrog using his powers. At the end of the arc Victor and Nico revisit their feelings for one another and almost kiss, but are interrupted by Chase's return.

[edit] Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways

During a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation to capture the Runaways, Victor uses his powers to shield the Leap-Frog from a barrage of teflon coated missiles. He is hit and suffers grievious damage and the team returns with him to the Hostel. Victor then experiences intense seizures when the Vision arrives with the Young Avengers.

Although the Runaways are initially mistrustful of the Young Avengers, Stature is able to pull the Vision away from Victor. The Vision explains that he and Victor were experiencing a form of feedback caused by their shared programming due to the fact that both of them were created by Ultron.

[edit] Powers

Victor Mancha is a cyborg, created from DNA from Marianella Mancha and the technology of Ultron. Ultron's nanite technology was so advanced that, over time, Victor's artificial parts would become identical to his human parts, making it nigh impossible to determine he was a once a cyborg. As a result, he possesses several computer related abilities, including high levels of intelligence, a literal form of photographic memory, and the ability to interface with other machines directly. Along with those, he seems to possess some level of superhuman strength, speed, and jumping ability, as well as some manner of self-reparation through his nanites.

In combat, however, Victor primarily employs his electromagnetic abilities, which has briefly caused the Runaways to consider Electro, Magneto, and other electric based villains as his father. Victor has been shown capable of directing electricity outwards as damaging, high voltage electric blasts from his hands, as well as using his magnetic abilities to reshape and bend metallic objects to his will. In the future glimpsed by Nico where Victor is a villian, he is seen flying into the ruins of what is presumably Avengers Mansion, although he has not exhibited powers of flight in the present day.