I Saw 'U' in the Comics Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Avengers

With the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Ultron first made an appearance in "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015), it is easy to overlook that Ultron had been around for almost fifty years prior. He made his first appearance in "The Avengers" #54, which was published in July 1968. At that point, he was an unnamed character but got his first true gig in the next edition (August, 1968).

Unlike the movie, in the comic realm, he was created by Hank Pym, who patterned Ultron's thought processes on his own brain symmetry. Eventually Ultron became self-aware and rebelled against Pym. The rebellion soon turned to hatred. He would go through a process of rebuilding to make himself faster, stronger and much more powerful. He eventually brainwashes Pym into forgetting that he even existed, and then sets about creating Vision, a synthetic form of himself, to use as a weapon to try and destroy the Avengers.

Ultron is notable for being the first character in the Marvel Universe to use the fictional alloy adamantium.

Answer: Underdog

"Underdog" was created by the advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample for the General Mills Company in 1960.

Clearly sending up "Superman", his secret identity is Shoeshine Boy and his sole disguise is a pair of glasses. When trouble is afoot (no pun intended), he ducks around a corner, and into a phone booth to get changed into his super-hero costume. Only problem is that he does this with so much force that the phone booth is obliterated. He is also smitten. The love of his life is Sweet Polly Purebred and... you guessed it, she's a news reporter. However, unlike "Superman", our hero needs to enhance his powers with the aid of power pills.

Answer: League of Assassins

Ubu is a master assassin who is often seen as the number two to Ra's al Ghul. He works closely with his leader and is also his personal bodyguard, at times going to extremes to ensure that no one steps in the path of his boss. Unlike Ra's al Ghul, who has a healthy respect for the Batman and works to gain his confidence, Ubu has a strong distrust of the Dark Knight, that borders on being jealousy. This, in turn, leads him to being overzealous and making mistakes that, invariably, lead to the occasional failure of one of their schemes.

Over the course of the series there have been several characters who have taken the role of Ubu, including Bane.

Answer: Union Jack

Brian's father, Lord James, would become the first of three incarnations of Union Jack. The third would be Joseph Chapman. Lord James also appears in the film version of "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011) as one of the Howling Commandos.

Brian, initially, is a sympathizer of the German ideal and he and his friend, Roger, travel to Germany in the mid-1930s to aid their cause. Here they discover that the Nazi regime is evil and quickly change their tune. Brian is thrown into prison, but Roger is taken away for experimentation, which eventually turns him into the super soldier Dyna-Mite. A dying German scientist, who'd been working on another super soldier formula, turns against his nation and provides it to Brian, imbuing him with superpowers.

Brian names himself the Destroyer and sets about fighting the Germans within their country. When he returns home, he learns that his invalided father had been Union Jack. He dons his father's costume and continues the rage against the Germans, eventually joining forces with Captain America. Struck by lightening during a battle with Thor, he gains the power to shoot electricity from his fingers. However, all does not end well for Brian as he is killed in a car crash in 1953.

Answer: Fishmonger

"Asterix the Gaul" is the clever creation of Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, which was first published in 1959. Thanks to a magic potion, that imbues the drinker with super strength, his village, the "indomitable village", located somewhere in Amorica in northern Gaul, is the last to hold out against the invading Roman army.

The names assigned to the villagers have been cleverly crafted to be a reflection of their occupation or their reputation. For example, their resident bard is named Cacofonix and, as the name implies, he's terrible. The fishmonger's fish are stale and smell to the high heaven, hence the name Unhygienix. He carries on the business that his father, Unhealthix, established and one that his children are likely to carry on. Appropriately, his faithful wife's name is Bacteria.

Unhygienix has a love/hate relationship with his neighbour, Fulliautomatix the blacksmith, and the pair will end up fighting in each edition over the quality of the fish. Without doubt, the rest of the village will get embroiled in the tussle. Despite having a boat, Unhygienix, will not fish from the sea nearby claiming "you don't know where they've been" and, instead, has them imported from Lutetia. He is a terrible cook, but is a good shot and usually uses a fish when he charges into battle.

Answer: Green Goblin

Phil Urich is the nephew of Ben Urich, a reporter for the Daily Bugle in the "Spiderman" universe. He stumbles upon one of Harry Osborn's Goblin lairs and, while donning the Green Goblin mask, gets a zap which provides him with enhanced strength but not the psychotic delusions that plagued Harry. He makes an attempt to be a super-hero but, because of the costume's checkered past, struggles to gain credibility. When he damages the mask and cannot repair it he walks away from the ideal.

Years later, in an attempt to help a colleague, Norah Winters, track down information on the Hobgoblin, he stumbles on another lair, killing the man posing as the Hobgoblin and becomes a super-villain. He will eventually join the forces of the Goblin Nation and declare himself their Goblin King.

Answer: Ultra Boy

Ultra Boy first appears in "Superboy" #98 (1962). Based in the 30th century, he is sent back in time to uncover the identity of Superboy. This is a test to prove his worthiness to enter the "League of Super Heroes". In this publication he uses a super power called "penetra-vision" to achieve his goal. He is accepted into the Legion and, as noted above, is considered one of the "Big Three", the others being Superboy and Mon-el.

Ultra Boy sources his power from a field known as "ultra-energy". He is able to utilise a wide range of powers, however, only one at a time. He gained his powers after being swallowed by a large creature that resembled a whale and, while inside its belly, became exposed to a large dose of radiation which had a positive effect on him. You may have noted his name, which was drawn from Jonah, the Old Testament character that was also swallowed by a creature resembling a whale.

Answer: Rabbit

Inspired by the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi and created by Stan Sakai, Usagi is the chief protagonist of the comic strip "Usagi Yojimbo", a Dark Horse publication that first appeared in 1984.

Usagi is a master swordsman (er... swords-rabbit) who was sent to train at the famed Dogora school. On the path he and his companions came across a group of Dogora students attacking a lone traveler. The lone traveler, named Katsuichi, uses an unorthodox fighting style and defeats the students. Usagi's and his companions then go their separate ways with our hero pursuing the lone traveler. He begs Katsuichi to teach him but is refused. After standing outside the master's door day and night in appalling conditions, Katsuichi relents and teaches Usagi.

After his training Usagi goes to work as a bodyguard for Lord Mifune and his family. The family is betrayed during a clan war and the Lord is killed. Usagi escapes but not before retrieving the head of Lord Mifune. This means that, in defeat, his master does not suffer the ignominy of having his head displayed by his vanquishers. After burying the head, Usagi feels that he has done enough to atone for his failure to avoid having to commit seppuku. Now a Ronin, he embarks on the warrior's pilgrimage, travelling the backroads and enduring as a Yojimbo (bodyguard) for hire.

Usagi has made numerous crossovers, appearing frequently with the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Answer: The Metal Men

The "Metal Men" first appeared as a filler in "Showcase" #37 (1962). They are a group of robots that were created by an inventive genius know as Dr. Will Magnus. Into each Metal person he installed a device called a "responsometer" that endowed each robot with intelligence, animation and a human personality. It also enabled them to control their given element.

The initial team consisted of five members; Gold who was their given leader, Lead, who was big-hearted but not the sharpest tool in the shed, Iron was the team's strong man, Mercury, the fiery and egotistical one and Tin, the weakest of the group though, possibly, the one with the biggest soul. In addition, there's Platinum, also known as Tina, who thinks she really is a human and has fallen in love with the good Doctor.

Uranium appears in "The Brave and the Bold" (Issue #55, 1964). He is one of the early robots created by Dr. Magnus. Uranium creates a female partner for himself, Silver, whom he called Agantha, and the pair set out to destroy the Metal Men. They succeed, initially, but the effects of the death ray they used are reversed by the Atom, who then combines with the Metal Men to defeat Uranium and Silver.

Answer: Captain America

There were three different versions of Super-Patriot in the Marvel universe, John Walker was the second. The first, Patric List, was an enemy of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D, the last, Mike Farrell aligned himself with Dead Ringer to fight Captain America.

John Walker's Super-Patriot was a rival to Captain America. He first appeared in "Captain America" #323 (1986), the edition where Steve Rogers gives up the mantle of Captain America. Without a Captain, the Commission on Superhuman Activities goes knocking on John Walker's door with a view that he be a replacement for Steve. In issue #350 (1989), John Walker is, apparently, killed off by the Scourge but this turns out to be a ruse by the US government. It allows them to change Walkers identity to Jack Daniels and Steve Rogers to step back as Captain America. Daniels (Walker) now works alongside the Captain as U.S Agent.