| Adam II | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | What If #4 (1977) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas Frank Robbins Frank Springer |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities | enhanced strength and durability flight |
Adam II is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe, a supervillain and most known as an enemy of the All-Winners Squad. He is an android created to duplicate another android success, the Human Torch. Adam II first appeared in What If #4 (1977).
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Adam II was the first Marvel Comics character to debut in an issue of What If that was entirely placed in the Earth-616 universe. To most fans, it seems strange that the All-Winners Squad appeared in an issue of What If at a time very out of reach of the 1940s, where the Squad was the most popular. After appearing in most early issues of What If, Adam II went on to be in Avengers , Captain America , Invaders , and (occasionally) X-Men comics . Later in the 1980s, Adam II had his own reality known as the Earth-Adam-II. In this, Adam II triumphed over the Avengers and conquered the Earth. Some unusual happenings were present in this dimension, such as three duplicates of Captain America. This reality limited series did not last for long.
Adam II is the creation of Phineas T. Horton, a scientist inventor who also created the first Human Torch. Hoping to recreate his magnificent success, Horton made Adam II, a new android built to recreate the Human Torch. Horton planned to have this new android function for the same use as the original, but Adam II had other plans. The android proved to have goals for world conquest, and took his creator prisoner, all the while making an army of androids to help with his conquest. During his time as a prisoner, Horton discovered that Adam II had plans to replace an American politician with an android of his army. One day when the Human Torch and Toro came to visit Horton, they were confronted by Adam II, who was almost finished creating his android army. Adam revealed to them his plan of world domination, and asked the two to join him and even share a place of order. The heroes refused, and a battle was started. Most of Adam II's androids were destroyed, and the rest were shut down. Devising a plan in mid-battle to capture his foes, the android tricked the Human Torch and Toro into melting down a wall that held vats of water, and had their flames defused and were then captured. Adam II then put each of his prisoners (Human Torch, Toro, and Horton) into a tank of water, attempting to drown them. Soon, though, Captain America arrived and saved his teammates before they were killed. Before a battle could be fought by the members, Adam II sneaked out of the building in order to carry on with his plans and took with him an android impersonating John F. Kennedy and what other androids were left. The team alerted the rest of the Squad, but before they could arrive, Captain America left to stop Adam. While driving to the capitol building, Cap ambushed the android while he was in a car appearing as a normal human. The two fought a small battle on the street and in an abandoned building, where Adam II damaged Cap's ribs, nearly killing him. The android carried on with his plans and even made it to the White House to replace John F. Kennedy with his android duplicate. Meanwhile, The rest of the All-Winners Squad had arrived to Captain America's aid just before he died, nursed him to health quickly, and took off for the capital. Adam II made it past all White House security and was heading directly for the Oval Office when the Squad ran up behind him and Captain America threw his shield at the robot in an attempt to knock its head off. Instead of this fate, Adam was knocked over, his minions continuing to run to the president. After a battle in the president's office, The Squad defeated all of the android soldiers except for JFK's replacement (who had been uploaded to be more of an elite soldier than his comrades) and the last android was determined to assassinate the original human version of him. Most of the Squad began defending the president from the android soldier, but Captain America fought Adam, both for revenge and hoping that Adam II's system controlled the rest of the soldiers. During this battle, Cap fought Adam II partly on top of a swerving vehicle. After Adam II had taken over this, Captain purposely made the villain lose control of the car and Adam II died in the crash. Captain America's prediction that Adam's system would control the JFK impostor proved wrong, though the soldier was killed within a few minutes anyway.
In one alternate Marvel universe, Adam II has conquered Earth. This alternate universe was brought into being when the Contemplator, a cosmic-powered "Elder of the Universe", brought together several Captain Americas from the from various points in the timestream, including the Original Captain America (Steve Rogers) and the third Captain America (Jefferson Mace) - who was dying of Cancer.
Without a clear understanding of the situation, Adam II took advantage of the moment and conquered the All-Winners Squad and Earth, dominating over all heroes and forcing the Squad members to be his loyal slaves. During his rule, Adam enslaved or exterminated most of the Earth's population.
The Contemplator stated that his reason for creating this reality was to give Jefferson Mace a chance to achieve the glory he didn't get a chance to achieve because he abandoned the role of Captain America at the end of the war. Reluctantly the original Captain America agreed to help Jefferson Mace and the other Captain Americas battle Adam II.
In the climactic battle with Adam II, the Contemplator gives Jefferson Mace the chance to finally win the great victory he has always wanted, but in order to do so, he has to steal the life force of the original Captain America. Mace refuses to do so, and as a result, it is Steve Rogers who defeats Adam II in the alternate timeline. The Contemplator then explains that it was his intention all along to help Mace come to terms with his bitterness and regret. The Captain Americas are returned to their rightful places in history, which presumably causes the alternate timeline where Adam II conquered the Earth to cease to exist.