Threading the web #7: Character Analysis: Amadeus Cho (part one)
Ah, it’s finally finished!
After countless months of staying in my computer, the first part of the long awaited Amadeus Cho analysis has finally been finished! Sorry for the breif wait, I had to get to some college related things before I could upload it. -_-
*Wipes sweat away from forehead*
So let’s jump right into it, shall we?
Amadeus Cho first appeared in “Ultimate Spider-Man” in Season 3, episode 14 “The Next Iron Spider”. In the series, as well as the comics, he’s known as the seventh smartest student in the world, despite being only 13 years old at the series’ start. Also, according to Peter, he has “an uncharted IQ, has skipped a few grades, holds several patents, and is banned from all game shows.”
He was recently transferred to, and attends, Midtown High along with Peter. However, his presence is an issue in itself because, before Cho came along to Midtown, Peter was the head honcho of the school in terms of grades, and was number one in every one of his classes. Now, with Cho attending, Peter had to renounce his title as being the smartest person (or #1) and was moved down to #2, much to his dismay and disapproval. Because of this, there had been a sense of rivalry between the two.
When we first meet Cho at Midtown High School’s science fair, Peter shows off Tony Stark’s Iron Spider model and it undoubtedly amazes Cho. However, when both boys spot each other, their reaction to one another is… not the best. They both look at each other in disgust and address the other person’s name while having an epic stare off, proving their sense of rivalry.
But aside from his brilliance, what else do we know about Amadeus Cho? I mean aside from the fact that he was named after one of the most famous composers known to man?
Well we do know that he’s a follower of Tony Stark because, while continuing to ogle the new armor, he proclaims himself to be “Tony Stark’s biggest fan”:
Cho: You know I’m Tony Stark’s biggest fan, right? I even created an arc reactor similar to his. Next gen theoretical stuff.
But we also know that like J. Jonah Jameson, Cho isn’t exactly the biggest fan of Spider-Man. His views on the character have undoubtedly become influenced by the newscaster considering the fact that, after Peter tells Cho that he’s friends with Spider-Man (while showing off), he responds by saying:
“Don’t you keep up with the news? Spider-Man is a menace!”
-Amadeus Cho (Season 3, episode 14)
While this conversation is brief and short, at this point, it’s fairly obvious that Cho’s view on certain aspects, particularly heroes and villains, are very black and white. You’re either with him or against him, and there’s no in-between. How do I know this? Well, two reasons:
First, there’s his backstory:
Amadeus Cho was born the son of Helen and Phil Cho and was raised in Tucson, Arizona. I should also note that due to his parents love for classical music and Methodist beliefs they gave Cho the name Amadeus after the great composer, Amadeus Mozart. Sometime later, Cho appeared on a game show called the “Excello soap company's "young genius" contest” which he won both first place and $5000 easily. It was also where he was discovered by the show’s host, Pythagoras Dupree, to have powers.
Yeah, Cho “technically” has powers in this version. However, they’re more or less based on intellect rather than strength or forc, eand I’ll get to that in a moment.forc, eand I’ll get to that in a moment.
In the comics, his abilities and/or “powers” (call them what you want) include, and I quote from the wiki, "the natural ability to identify the variables and quantum possibilities in any situation". This means that given in any circumstance, Cho has the ability to rapidly create mental calculations and set multiple physical reactions in action within his reach.
Now, I’m no scientist in the terms of physics nor calculations, but I’ll sum it up in the best way I can.
Basically, Cho can use his mind to create variables and predict probable outcomes of a situation within a matter of seconds, sort of like someone who can see into the future. In fact, Athena, one of Cho’s allies, claims intelligence is based on what’s known as “pattern recognition”, and that he can see 99.999999993% of patterns better than the average human on Earth can.
I gotta say, if the goddess of wisdom herself says that, then you KNOW you’re smart. 0_0
Sadly, after Dupree realized the boy’s powers, he had Cho’s house blown up, which killed both his parents in the process. As a result, Cho, along with a small little coyote pup named Kirby, leaves on his Vespa scooter on the run for his life. The death of his parents, as well as the need to constantly evade killers, leads him unable to trust anyone he comes across in fear that they would either betray him or get killed in the process (save for the Hulk who Cho strictly sees as a hero). Speaking of Bruce Banner, I should also mention that in the comics, Amadeus Cho is, in fact, not the Iron Spider, but another version of the Hulk. Cho doesn’t even touch the Iron Spider suit or, more or less, even think about it in the comics, so it’s quite a different spin on Amadeus’s character that’s actually fitting considering his brilliance in technology and since he’s a fan of Tony Stark’s inventions.
Now how he became the Hulk is actually a quite interesting story. Due to an incident where the original Hulk (that being Bruce Banner of course) absorbed a dangerous amount of radiation that could’ve possibly killed him and a lot of people, Cho injected special nanites into his body which allowed him to turn into his version of the Hulk and remove the ability to change from Banner’s body.
Now it’s unknown exactly how much of his backstory they’ve managed to convey in the series considering that it’s a show for kids (plus it’s Disney), but even though the show doesn’t outright talk about Cho’s past the hints and clues are still there.
Luckily this leads us to our second reason:
When you really think about it, for a thirteen-year-old kid, Cho’s been through a lot. When you’re constantly on the run for your life from people who are trying to kill you, it makes sense why trusting others and having an open mind about people is a hard thing to do.
In fact, this brings up a theory I have that involves Midtown High and Nick Fury, believe it or not:
Remember how in the beginning of the “New Iron Spider” episode when Nick was talking to Spider-Man about recruiting Cho? Did you ever notice that they only mentioned that Cho had been transferred and not WHY he was placed there?
My theory is that the main reason Cho is even attending Midtown High is so Fury can keep him safe from anyone who might want to kill him. I mean, think about it, Cho has been on the run from people who want to kill him for a good portion of his life, so it makes sense why Fury would want him to attend Midtown in case one of those people appeared and tried to hurt him. With the school holding some of S.H.E.I.L.D’s best heroes, (particularly Spider-MAn, White Tiger, Power Man, Iron Fist, and Nova) Fury knows that if trouble does manage to show up Cho, at the very least will be protected.
But getting back to his personality, let’s take a look at some of his interests in the show.
Besides being a fan of Stark, we also can tell that he’s a follower of JJJ and the “Daily Bugle” reports. Due to his “past” most likely J. Jonah Jameson has influenced him into thinking, and believing, that those who can easily be ousted as a menace must be hated. While he might be intelligent, it’s impossible not to understand that he’s easily influenced by JJJ’s words.
How do I know this? Observe:
After he states, albeit in a blunt manner must I also add, his thoughts on Spider-Man, notice how he walks away and doesn’t give Peter a chance to respond. Cho’s a very straightforward person and does not change his mind easily. His black and white perspective is something that plays an important role in his character and, while it was touched upon in this episode, it will resurface at a more frequent rate in the future (because it’s a problem that continuously bites him in the ass repeatedly).
But getting back to the episode, later, Taskmaster disguises himself as Stan and tries to steal the Iron Spider suit before Peter (or in this case Spider-Man) calls him out on it. While Spider-Man, with the help of Nova and Power Man, are keeping Taskmaster busy, this gives Cho plenty of time to sneak back and take matters into his own hands by wearing the suit himself. Not surprisingly, with the Iron Spider in Cho’s hands, the kid proves to be a natural at the mechanics and technology that’s used to control it.
(Which, by the way, I have to bring this up but, Sam’s line about the booster seat thing has gotta be one of my favorite lines from this show).
Now fast forward to when Spidey and Cho are on the rooftop and the two boys are fighting, and this is the first step to Cho’s development as a character which corresponds to his feelings for Spider-Man.
Taskmaster breaks the hinges off of a billboard that threatens to fall and hurts innocent civilians. Cho notices that Spider-Man is keeping the civilians safe from harm and, thankfully, turns on Taskmaster.
After the Iron-Spider suit gets hacked, Cho begins fighting against Spider-Man against his will while he’s knocked out inside of the suit.
With the addition of saving the people from the falling billboard, it’s at this point that Cho’s now starting to see what kind of a person that Spider-Man really is. Also, when he wakes up, notice that instead of letting the suit do what he wants, instead, he’s starting to get frightened and repeatedly apologizes to Spider-Man while attacking him. This shows that, while he dislikes Spider-Man, he doesn’t detest him to a point that he’d want to hurt him. In fact, due to what’s currently happening, it wouldn’t be an understatement to call him scared at this point.
Because in this scenario, Cho’s technically the “bad guy” and that’s something that he never wanted to be. If you remember in the beginning of the episode, after he stole the Iron Spider armor, Cho constantly bragged to Spider-Man how he could be a better hero than Peter could and, as I mentioned before, shows off his black and white outlook on things.
And not to mention that karma kinda bit him in the ass.
But getting back to Cho, this is also the first time that he understands how smart Spider-Man really is, and how well they’re both able to come up with a solution to a problem. Observe:
Peter: Calm down. We need a core interrupt. But you’d have to be able to write a multi-function--.
Cho: Hibernate-suspend program call.
Peter: That’s...exactly it. Get on it!
When they finally manage to get the suit working, Taskmaster activates Iron Spider’s self-destruct motion and sends it into overload thanks to the Bug still hiding in Cho’s armor.
And you all know the drill from there, they stop the clock all’s right with the world.
But let’s take a look at the final conversation that Spider-Man has with Cho before the episode ends.
Cho, realizing that what he did was wrong, tries to give back the Iron Spider uniform claiming, “You’re right, this isn’t finders keepers. You can take it back, I wasn’t meant to wear it.”
But Spider-Man, or Peter, on the other hand, tells him to keep the uniform and states, “I admit, I couldn’t have done what you did.” much to Cho’s surprise. Peter then tells Cho this:
“I’ve realized two things today. One, being smart is a superpower. And two, being a hero isn’t about power, it’s about good choices and heart. You’ve got the armor, and a solid head start on the other two. So… consider it on loan.”
From here we can see that Spider-Man has fully gained Cho’s respect and is no longer considered a menace in his book. Also, While Cho’s black and white outlook on him has changed, it still isn’t enough to turn it around in general. How do I know? We’ll get to that in a future episode.
The next time we see Cho is in Season 3 episode 8 entitled, “New Warriors” where Cho, along with Agent Venom, Kazaar and Zabu, are introduced to Spider-Man’s old S.H.E.I.L.D team (which, if you’ve forgotten, consisted of: Iron Fist, White Tiger, Power Man, and Nova) and they begin training. On the field, Cho is paired with Power Man for practice, and the two prove to be a pretty good team together. He even is shown to get along quite well with Flash which, if you compare his attitude now to how Cho behaved from the episode when he was first introduced, you’ll notice how willing he is to actually work with others.
In my opinion, this is a major step forward in terms of development for Cho because, considering how he used to live his life on the run, he’s starting to learn to place his trust in others, or in this case, his comrades.
But, there is a sense that he places a little too much on trust on them, to the point that it might make him a bit reckless. Case in point, this scene from Cloak, Dagger, Vulture, and Taskmaster’s invasion on the Triskelion.
If you recall, after Flash and Cho commenced this attack, they managed to release Scorpion, Beetle, Doc Ock, and the Green Goblin on accident.
So...in the words of Tony Stark:
Sadly, this leads to Cho’s armor being destroyed by the Goblin and the rest of the Web Warriors to retreat in order to create a new plan. As a result, Cho begins to believe that, due to his armor getting torn that now he now has no way to fight back.
“We didn’t just get beat. I lost my armor. I’m a liability.”
Now while this is not entirely true, I think we should take a look at his face when he says this. Notice how upset Cho’s face turns while calling himself a liabilty:
I mean, I would be feeling pretty upset if MY armor got destroyed as well, but really think about it. For a good portion of Cho’s life, he’s been pretty used to being a liability to someone due to his constant need to be on the run. If you really think about it, being a part of SHEILD might’ve been his one chance, or so he believes it to be, at becoming the hero instead of the victim. While the scene doesn’t last long, it is a moment that pokes a bit at Cho’s self-confidence without the armor to help him out.
Another thing scene that I feel we should talk about is when Spider-MAn is about to leave his teammates to go after the Goblin. Notice how while he’s talking and giving orders, Cho looks and sounds unbearably worried. He even blurts this out:
Cho: What do you expect me to do? I don’t even have armor!”
Peter: It doesn’t matter that you don’t have any armor. You’re the smartest one here!
Peter: Get that to a computer, you’ll know what to do.
Once again, another scene that focuses on Cho’s self-confidence in himself. But what really makes this scene notable is the fact that, like the previous scene, he feels little to no self-confidence in his actions. The kid is starting to realize that this isn’t like a classroom where he can figure things out with little to no pressure on him and in the snap of a finger, no, this is a battlefield. And in battle, you have to make split decisions on the turn of a dime. The pressure is on and it’s on high. You’re either fit for this lifestyle or you’re not, and we all know that Cho DEFINITELY is because later, after Spider-Man leaves, he begins taking the reigns as leader.
Heck, He even gets to give Ock the final punch after declaring his team’s name WITH CONFIDENCE (must I also add):
Ock: You’re Children.. You’re nothing. Just more of Sheild’s run-of-the-mill old lackeys!
Cho: We’re not old lackeys. We’re New Warriors!
Now the next time we see the character is in season 3 episode 16 entitled “S.H.I.E.L.D Academy” cheering on Spider-Man’s arrival to their new school.
Much like a lot of intelligent kids his age, we quickly find out that Cho has a bit of a competitive side to him (see the whole top bunk deal).
However, I do feel that it’s necessary to point out that Cho, being the most academically inclined to everyone, is the first to notice that the “school” does not have any books or desks. Of course, Fury explains that “S.H.I.E.L.D Academy” is not like your typical, average high school nor is it a typical classroom.
Now, why would I point this out? Because it shows that Cho is very attentive and observant which makes sense considering his backstory in the comics.
Now, how else do I know that?
Well, aside from asking Fury about the classroom, when they’re actually in the middle of a lesson, notice that he’s the first person to figure out something’s wrong:
Cho: Quit trying to hack my system, Spider-dweeb.
Peter: Hey! I’m not hacking you.
And, because he noticed that an odd transmission has been “pinging his tech”, Cho begins taking matters into his own hands by going through the archive files without permission in order to find out what it is (while, of course, being followed by Spider-Man). On their way, the two find the remains of Arnim Zola and, before they head back to class, Cho might have accidentally caused him to switch on. Things are only made worse when he returns to the archives and the suit turns on, giving away the secret of how he and Peter are in the SHIELD archives, as well as activating Zola full-front.
Y’know, I’d hate to be a hater but, for a super genius, you seem to be lacking a bit in the common sense department, Cho. I’d TOTALLY trust a head in a tv that was kept LOCKED AWAY in a forbidden archive center.
So, Zola gets away which causes Cho to become worried that, if Spider-Man snitches on him to Fury, he’d get kicked out of the Academy. Spidey agrees to keep what happened on the down low until later on while doing some research on the villain and looking for him through the security cams. Cho, not surprisingly, had been tracking down Zola as well and even upgraded his uniform with an interference signal that would override Arnim.
Now, joined by Power Man, Agent Venom, the team goes through a secluded part of the Academy and find Zola.
And you know the drill from here they fight TV Zola, win, and surprisingly Spider-Man gets in trouble by taking the blame for Cho’s folly (without his knowing). Now what’s funny about this ending is that Cho didn’t even know about how Peter took the fall for him. I mention the episode’s conclusion because, this scene is later brought up and referred to in Season 3 episode 21 entitled, “Attack of the Synthenoids”. Now, in my opinion, this is where Cho really sees just how far Spider-Man will go to keep his friends out of trouble. For example, after being suspected of being another one of Zola’s synthezoids, Spider-Man asks Cho to tell him about Tony Stark’s latest invention, which he replies a typical science filled answer.
However, after Spider-Man believes him then we get this line:
Cho: So Zola’s back huh? Can’t belive Fury found out about it and pardoned that. Must be because he was too busy yelling at you, right?
Peter: I was covering for you! I told Fury I activated Zola so you wouldn’t get kicked out of school
Danny: It’s truth. Your actions caused the spider to be punished.
Cho: I...I didn’t know, I’m sorry. Thanks Spidey.
Now, this moment really speaks out to me because I think it might be the first time that someone’s ever taken up for Cho in this manner. (I, of course, could be wrong as I haven’t read any of the comics) But if you remember when the incident first happened, Cho was nervous that he’d be kicked out of the academy. So the fact that someone like Spider-Man, a person who Cho originally thought to be a menace, would take the fall for him instead really speaks out to him and allows Cho to know that Spider-Man is a true ally.
Fastward to the three (that being Danny, Peter, and Cho) all search for Zola, Cho gets caught by a group of synthezoids. But what I find particularly noteworthy about this moment are two things:
First, notice how similar that Cho behaves like a coyote in this situation (which makes sense considering Kirby in the comics). For those of you who don’t understand what I’m saying let me explain:
When coyote’s (or any wild animal for the fact) get caught in traps, it’s common for them to chew their legs off in order to escape and do whatever they can to survive.
In this particular incident, Cho’s instincts are kicking in full-fledged. Similar to Taskmaster’s invasion, he understands that he has, once again, become a liability and is stuck in a situation, or trap, that would slow him and his comrades down. His friends are the rest of the coyote’s body, and he’s the trapped leg. And what does he do? He chops it off.
Well, not literally, but you get my point.
Coincidently this also leads to my second point, Cho’s sense of honor.
Before separating himself from his peers he mumbles this to himself:
Because of Spider-Man taking the hit for him earlier, obviously, Cho feels a need to pay him back and sacrifices himself in order for the others to get away. He’d rather avoid putting others in danger and would rather put himself at risk the then lives of others.
The last time we see Cho (at least in Season 3) is in part three of Contest of Champions arc where he, Agent Venom, and Spider-Man must battle against the Grandmaster’s league of villains.
Now there’s nothing completely noteworthy about this episode except for one thing… Spider-Man actually reveals his identity to his friends.
Unlike Flash,, who was probably the most flabbergasted at Peter’s revelation, Cho, while undoubtedly surprised about it, actually handles the situation a lot better than his more dumbfounded partner. In fact, if I’m going a bit farther, I think he might’ve had some level of knowledge regarding the fact. He states that he had no idea that Peter was Spider-Man, but listen to the way he says that line. While he is surprised, he’s not downright shocked about the fact, unlike Flash. In fact, if I’m being honest, I think he kind of knew because:
He’s a smart kid. You really think the 7th smartest kid in the world wouldn’t have been able to figure that out or even have the slightest clue about Spider-MAn and PEter Parker being the same person? (though really to be fair, the guy’s voice is kind of a dead giveaway)
&
It’s pretty hard to surprise Cho at this point. Seriously, Flash actually had a reason considering how he used to bully Peter but Cho? He doesn’t really have any leverage against the character except for the fact that they have a friendly rivalry going on.
And then we get to season 4… in the next part.
I know! I know! More waiting, but this thing was already long enough and I didn’t want the article to be too long! I’m sorry!
I know I’ve said this a million and three times alright, but thank you guys so much for your patience. I realize that it took me forever just to finish this but I’m happy that I finally managed to at least give you guys something before I go back to college in a couple of weeks. Until then, stay tuned for part 2 of this, which I will finish and upload ASAP! I hope you guys liked it as I’m trying to get back into the groove of writing again. It’s been a while.
Thanks and I’ll see you in the next article!