Warning! Spoilers for Heroes Reborn #2 and Peter Parker: The Amazing Shutterbug #1 below.
Marvel's Superman, Hyperion, just destroyed a version of Ultron whose size rivaled that of a Kaiju. In this week's Heroes Reborn offerings from Marvel Comics, Hyperion is forced to deal with villains who have escaped the Negative Zone. Among them is his former friend Henry Pym, who's become a giant Ultron robot threatening his city. The hero quickly puts an end to Ultron's life.
Heroes Reborn is the latest event from Marvel Comics, which sees the publisher's pastiches of DC Comics characters become the protectors of Earth under mysterious conditions. The lead hero is Hyperion, who is Marvel's version of Superman, with the new event making that even clearer. Without the Avengers, Hyperion leads the Squadron Supreme, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. One of his first missions in Heroes Reborn is to stop a group of supervillains who have broken free from the Negative Zone. The literal biggest threat who escaped is Ultron.
In Heroes Reborn #2 by Jason Aaron, Dale Keown, Carlos Magno, Scott Hanna, Edgar Delgado, and VC's Cory Petit, and Peter Parker: The Amazing Shutterbug by Marc Bernardin, Rafael de Latorre, Ron Lim, Hanna, Jim Campbell and VC's Ariana Maher, Hyperion's battle with Ultron is shown from two different perspectives. In Heroes Reborn, Ultron is one of the many villains that Hyperion fights. He admits he was friends with Henry Pym before he was consumed by his automation experiments. Peter Parker watches as Hyperion folds Ultron's body into a tightly compacted piece of metal. Meanwhile, The Amazing Shutterbug shows Hyperion ripping Ultron's head off and posing for some pictures for Peter, before heading off to face the Hulk. Hyperion leaves Ultron's crunched body for S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with.
While Hyperion seems to take joy in killing villains, before he kills Ultron, he apologizes to his friend, telling him he's sorry for what's about to happen. He says "sometimes the worst things happen to the best people," as he beheads the massive robot. In this case, Marvel's Superman probably wished he didn't have to kill his corrupted ally.
The idea of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man who created Ultron in the comics, being consumed by his own experiments and becoming a Kaiju-sized version of the villain in the Heroes Reborn universe is a pretty cool idea. Sadly, the human elements of Pym were all but gone as the massive Ultron robot became one of the most feared villains in the universe. Hyperion might have been close to Pym at one point, but he didn't pause for a second when dismantling the Ultron robot for good. Heroes Reborn #2 and Spider-Man: The Amazing Shutterbug are in comic book stores now.