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Monica Rappaccini

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Monica Rappaccini
Monica Rappaccini alongside A.I.M. troops as seen on the textless cover of Ant-Man & Wasp #3 (January 2011).
Art by Salva Espin and Guru-eFX.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceAmazing Fantasy vol. 2 #7
(2005)
Created byFred Van Lente
Leonard Kirk
In-story information
Alter egoDr. Monica Rappacini
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliationsH.A.M.M.E.R.
J.A.N.U.S.
A.I.M.
Notable aliasesDoctor Rappaccini
Scientist Supreme
Abilities
  • Engineering, biochemist, cybernetics, physics, and robotics expert
  • Genius-level intellect
  • Teleportation belt

Monica Rappaccini is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fred Van Lente and Leonard Kirk, the character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #7 (2005).[1] Monica Rappaccini is a genius-level biochemist and the Scientist Supreme of the supervillain organization A.I.M.[2]

Publication history

[edit]

Monica Rappaccini debuted in Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #7 (2005),[3] created by Fred Van Lente and Leonard Kirk.[4] She appeared in the 2007 Super-Villain Team-Up MODOK's 11 series.[5] She appeared in the 2017 The Unstoppable Wasp series.[6] She appeared in the 2020 Ravencroft series.[7]

Fictional character biography

[edit]

Monica Rappaccini went to New Mexico's Desert State University to study and shared a brief relationship with physics student Bruce Banner while enrolled as a biochemistry student at the University of Padua. She used their relationship to exploit Banner's radiation expertise for her own research. Upon attaining her doctorate, Rappaccini quickly became a world-renowned innovator of antitoxins and antidotes for various environmental poisons and nearly won a Nobel Prize.[8]

Recognizing the many environmental and political failings of Western civilization, Rappaccini decided that it was too corrupt to exist. She joined a series of terrorist organizations, such as the pan-European leftist group the Black Orchestra, and then Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), where she had a brief relationship with fellow agent George Tarleton.[9] Making poisons instead of curing them, Rappaccini's expertise with toxins allowed her to rise quickly through A.I.M.'s ranks. She implanted her own daughter and several other newborn children of A.I.M. members with memetic antibodies. She released them into the world as A.I.M. Waker agents with no knowledge of their heritage. They programmed to travel instinctively to the nearest A.I.M. biohaven when their antibodies activated at age 16. Her daughter was raised in Vermont by undercover A.I.M. agents as Carmilla Black.[10]

Monica Rappaccini went underground for nearly two decades and studied potential power sources such as the sentient Uni-Power. She orchestrated attacks on capitalism, such as the dioxin-based gas attack on Hong Kong. When the A.I.M. Scientist Supreme was slain by renegade A.I.M. creation MODOK, Rappaccini became head of a splinter faction of A.I.M. that remained independent from MODOK's control. Following his numerous defeats, Rappaccini's splinter group absorbed more cells into a sizable rival faction. She was made Scientist Supreme of this "true" version of A.I.M.[11] She rarely did field work as A.I.M.'s leader, preferring to act through agents and proxies.

When she led an A.I.M. attack on the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, it was thwarted by her estranged 19-year-old daughter, who had since joined forces with S.H.I.E.L.D. and became the costumed superheroine the Scorpion II. Monica Rappaccini eluded capture and soon attempted to harness the malfunctioning Uni-Power, but her plans were thwarted by the Scorpion II and several superheroes who bonded with the Uni-Power.[volume & issue needed]

Her A.I.M. faction was involved in an A.I.M. civil war against MODOK's faction that drew in several of the Marvel superheroes, prominent among were Ms. Marvel[12] and the Hulk.[13] Following Ms. Marvel's thwarting of a plan to turn MODOK into a bomb, Rappaccini reunited the organization under her control.[14]

She infiltrated the supervillain group MODOK's 11 with A.I.M.'s new robot the Ultra-Adaptoid, which was impersonating the Chameleon. She attempted to prevent MODOK from obtaining a weapon called the Hypernova and using it to erase all life on Earth. She had a stated aim to stop A.I.M. from creating "inventions that turn around and try to destroy us." In the end, MODOK gained the Hypernova, and Monica gave him $1 billion dollars in exchange for it - which, unknown to her, had been MODOK's plan all along, as he had already worked out that the Hypernova would grow unstable and explode anyway. A.I.M.'s base was destroyed in the explosion and MODOK believed Monica was dead.[15]

During the "Dark Reign" storyline, it is revealed that Rappaccini survived and came into conflict with Mockingbird and Ronin.[16] She also hired Deadpool to retrieve a batch of baby M.O.D.O.C.'s enhanced to warp reality from H.A.M.M.E.R. headquarters.[17]

After a failed attempt to persuade Hank Pym to join A.I.M., she and her followers were stranded on Earth-Charnel when the Wasp deactivated her facility's dimensional screen.[18]

Monica and A.I.M. later sided with Norman Osborn after he escaped from prison and reformed H.A.M.M.E.R.[19] Following Osborn's defeat, she and A.I.M. end up retreating.[20]

During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Noh-Varr located a secret A.I.M. base where Rappaccini and the A.I.M. agents that escaped following Osborn's defeat were hiding out. The Avengers raided the base and arrested Monica and the other A.I.M. members that were present at the time.[21]

She then escaped from prison and fought the new Wasp. Monica Rappaccini was later seen as a member of J.A.N.U.S.[22]

During the "Stark-Roxxon War" storyline, Monica leads A.I.M. in collaborating with Roxxon in wanting to do a merger with Stark Industries.[23] When Iron Man arrived at A.I.M.'s facility in Caspen, Colorado and fought the second Force, Monica sent her scheduler out to break up the fight and invite Iron Man to a luncheon. While trying to get Stark to allow the merger to happen, Monica states that she did not sanction the revived Justine Hammer into attacking him and rigging his armors. In addition, she has also enlisted the services of Doctor Druid who states to Tony that he is now working for them by choice. Monica orders Doctor Druid to do something scienceless to Iron Man as he is subjected to illusions of being called a failure by Howard Stark, Captain America, and Emma Frost. She also allowed Force to delay Iron Man when he recovers so that the merger can happen.[24]

Powers and abilities

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Monica Rappaccini is an expert in robotics, chemistry, physics, engineering, biotoxins, and biochemistry.[25] Her inventions include the enhanced lymphatic system of the A.I.M. Waker agents that granted them total immunity to all biological, chemical and radiological weapons, memetic antibodies, synthetic microbes that attack the human psyche and trigger pre-coded memories and impulses, hallucinogenic drugs that deliver programmed hallucinations before being absorbed into the system; and many innovative weapons of mass destruction, from gas attacks to nanobacterial bombs.

Her A.I.M. uniform belt contains a phasing device that allows her to teleport.[26] She keeps many different devices at hand, varying upon her situation and opponent. When facing a captured Hank Pym, she boasts that she kept 157 methods of containing him on hand.[18]

Reception

[edit]

Melody MacReady of Screen Rant called Monica Rappaccini one of the "most ruthless villains of the Marvel Universe," writing, "Monica is manipulative, prejudiced, murderous, and proud of what she does; this was best shown when she was one of the best villains in the game Marvel's Avengers."[27]

Other versions

[edit]

House of M

[edit]

An alternate version of Monica Rappaccini appears in the "House of M" storyline.[28] She worked alongside the Scorpion II and the Hulk to overthrow Governor Exodus' fascist mutant government in Australia when Scarlet Witch reality-warped Earth into a mutant-dominated society,. When the Hulk became Australia's new leader, she secret plan to create a cybernetic army to overthrow Earth's mutant rulers was exposed. Denying any knowledge of the army, she promised to restore the cyborgs' humanity. When this warped reality was undone, the disoriented Rappaccini found herself stranded in Australia alongside Bruce Banner. Evading the Scorpion II's attempt to arrest her, Rappaccini returned to A.I.M.

Death's Head 3.0 (Earth-6216)

[edit]

An alternate version of Monica Rappaccini appears in the alternate future timeline in Death's Head 3.0. She created the Uni-Alias, an artificial variant of Captain Universe's Uni-Power.[29] Decades later her granddaughter Varina Goddard, a Senior Scientist in the future A.I.M., used the Uni-Alias as a power source for the Death's Head robot in her attempt to assassinate the United Nations Secretary General.

Ant-Man: Natural Enemy

[edit]

An alternate version of Monica Rappaccini appears in the Ant-Man: Natural Enemy. She captures the shrunken Scott Lang and was going to make her pet, but later attempts to kill Lang by flushing the latter down the toilet. It is revealed that Rappaccini murdered animals when she was a child, especially ants.

In other media

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Television

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  • Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme appears in Spider-Man, voiced by Grey DeLisle.[30] This version oversees the organization's front at the Bilderberg Academy boarding school by posing as its headmistress.
  • Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme appears in M.O.D.O.K., voiced by Wendi McLendon-Covey.[31] This version is an A.I.M. scientist and work rival of the titular character.[32] Additionally, she has a teenage daughter named Carmilla who was the result of Monica creating a male clone named "Manica" and having him inseminate her. Introduced in the episode "If Bureaucracy Be Thy Death!", it is revealed that she once greatly admired MODOK and applied for A.I.M. to work together, but she developed a hatred for him after MODOK took credit for her killing a major yet unnamed member of the Avengers. Complicating this however, she later realizes that MODOK supports her endeavors and put her in a higher position so she can continue her work. After A.I.M. goes bankrupt and is bought out by GRUMBL, the latter promotes Monica to Scientist Supreme, but limits her work. By the end of the series, MODOK convinces her to leave A.I.M., though she decides to continue working for MODOK at his new company, A-I-M-2.

Video games

[edit]
  • Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme appears in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced by Jennifer Hale.
  • Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme appears in Marvel Strike Force.[33]
  • Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme appears in Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Jolene Andersen.[34] This version serves as a senior executive of A.I.M. who assists Dr. George Tarleton in his efforts to control the growing Inhuman population and caring for him after he was mutated due to exposure to a Terrigen crystal. Upon discovering her injections were derived from Captain America's blood and accelerated his mutation instead,[35] Tarleton injects Rappaccini with it and leaves her for dead. In a mid-credits scene however, Rappaccini survived after transplanting an Inhuman's duplication ability to herself off-screen. Following Tarleton's defeat at the hands of the Avengers, she takes over A.I.M. as Scientist Supreme and meets with the organization's board of directors, vowing to renew A.I.M. experiments and develop new technology.[36]
    • In the DLC expansions "Taking A.I.M.", "Future Imperfect", "Cosmic Cube", "War for Wakanda", and "No Rest for the Wicked", she leads A.I.M. in building a time gate to work with Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and her future self to avert a Kree invasion. She creates the Cosmic Cube to stop the aliens, but it freezes her and everyone around her in time while the rest of the world falls into chaos. Meanwhile, a clone of the present Rappaccini continues working on the Cosmic Cube until the Avengers and Hawkeye's future self intervene to stop her from destroying reality, with the latter sacrificing himself and killing Rappaccini to do so. Despite this, another clone of Rappaccini hires Ulysses Klaue and Crossbones to help her invade Wakanda for its Vibranium and leading scientists. However, Klaue kills most of the scientists in pursuit of his own goals, leading to Rappaccini cutting ties with Klaue and leading A.I.M. in a separate attack on Wakanda. Due to the Avengers' work in dismantling A.I.M., the desperate Rappaccini revives Tarleton to preserve the organization, but he kidnaps her instead.

References

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  1. ^ Sakellariou, Alexandra (September 19, 2020). "What AIM's REAL Plan Is In Marvel's Avengers". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  2. ^ Serrano, Ryan (2020-09-07). "Marvel's Avengers: Everything You Need to Know about Monica Rappaccini". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  3. ^ Moore, Brandon (August 21, 2020). "What is A.I.M. in Marvel's Avengers?". Gamepur. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  4. ^ Meisfjord, Tom (2021-05-21). "Every Marvel Character Referenced In MODOK Episode 1". Looper. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  5. ^ Meisfjord, Tom (2021-04-16). "The Untold Truth Of Marvel's Monica Rappaccini". Looper. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  6. ^
  7. ^ Bacon, Thomas (July 1, 2020). "Marvel's New DARK Illuminati Have Been Revealed". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  8. ^ Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #7-12. Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #1, page 1. Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ Scorpion debut story in Amazing Fantasy. Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #1, MODOK profile. Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ Ms. Marvel #5, 7 and 9-10. Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #287-290. Marvel Comics.
  14. ^ Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #15-17. Marvel Comics.
  15. ^ Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #1-5. Marvel Comics.
  16. ^ New Avengers: The Reunion #2-4. Marvel Comics.
  17. ^ Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #40-41. Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ a b Ant-Man & Wasp #3. Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ New Avengers (vol. 2) #18. Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ Avengers (vol. 4) #24. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ Avengers (vol. 4) #25. Marvel Comics.
  22. ^ Ravencroft #5. Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ Iron Man Vol. 7 #1. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ Iron Man Vol. 7 #2. Marvel Comics.
  25. ^ O'Brien, Megan Nicole (2021-05-09). "Marvel: 10 Smartest Female Characters". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  26. ^ Chrysostomou, George (2020-10-14). "Marvel's Avengers: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Scientist Supreme". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  27. ^ MacReady, Melody (September 15, 2022). "10 Characters Gal Gadot Could Play In The MCU". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  28. ^ Kurland, Daniel (January 17, 2021). "10 Marvel Characters The Hulk Had A Relationship With". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  29. ^ Amazing Fantasy #18. Marvel Comics.
  30. ^ "Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme Voices (Marvel Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 21, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  31. ^ Lealos, Shawn S. (June 12, 2021). "Hulu's MODOK: The 10 Best Characters". ScreenRant. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  32. ^ Dinh, Christine (January 21, 2020). "Marvel TV and Hulu Unveil Cast for Animated Series 'Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.'". Marvel.com.
  33. ^
  34. ^
  35. ^ Feyrer, Avery (September 10, 2021). "The Best Marvel Villains Featured In Video Games". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  36. ^ Oloman, Jordan (August 6, 2020). "First Look: 'Marvel's Avengers' is super, but I'm worried about the end game". NME. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
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