The Origin of Amadeus Cho, Part 1: Road of Trials

After leaving Hercules to learn what became of his sister, Amadeus Cho has boarded a bus headed for Utah. Woken up by a bump in the road, Amadeus notices that someone left a book of Greek mythology in the storage pocket on the back of the seat in front of him. He regrets abandoning Hercules, but it was the only way he could find out what became of his sister and find out what — if anything — Athena knew about it.[1] He knew if he didn’t make it look like he was abandoning Herc, there would have been no way to stop him from tagging along. He then begins reading the book, thinking it might give him insight into how mad Herc will be with him later.

The opening preamble of the book talks about how the saga of Hercules is, in literary terms, the “Hero’s Journey” and details each of the steps. The first is the “Call to Adventure”, and the precursor to this “Refusal of the Call”, where the hero at first refuses to begin their quest until the hero agrees to give up all that previously gave their life meaning. This makes Amadeus think about how he and Hercules formed the Renegades during the Hulk’s war on the Earth and how, after this, Amadeus refused to quest onward with Herc because he wanted to get revenge against SHIELD.[2] Amadeus pauses his reading to reflect on this when he notices the bus passing by a massive billboard for Continuum, some new product being sold by the Olympus Group.[3]

Continuing his reading, Amadeus then learns about the next phases of the hero’s journey. Each one reminds him of some of his recent exploits. When the book talks about the hero receiving supernatural aid and crossing the first threshold, Amadeus can’t help but compare this to when he and Hercules were recruited to slay the Skrull gods when their worshipers invaded the Earth.[4] The discussion about the “Belly of the Whale” portion of the journey, which symbolizes the heroes rebirth as an independent bares close parallels to his conflict with the Amazons and his decision to abandoned Hercules to search for his sister.[5] Cho is spooked about how eerily similar his recent exploits are. When he looks up he realizes that they just past his stop and calls out for the driver to stop. This causes the driver to slam on the breaks, causing Amadeus to topple over. The driver apologizes for the sudden stop, saying that nobody ever gets off in Excello, Utah.

As Amadeus gets off the bus, he wanders into the sleepy town unaware that a woman is observing him from a camouflaged lookout. She is pleased that Amadeus has finally arrived and loads her gun and rushes into town, happy that she can finally get on with her life.

When Cho arrives in town, he discovers finds that it is an idyllic small American town, but deserted. He recalls how it is a company town for the Excello Soap Company. Amadeus remembers how they held an online quiz called Brain Fight. An hour after he won the competition, Amadeus’ house was blown up by a bomb, killing his parents. He was then contacted by an Agent Sexton who warned him that an enemy wanted to use him to take over the world. Rather than get involved in all of that, Amadeus hopped on his scooter and — with the aid of the Hulk — managed to escape. He wonders now if he shouldn’t have investigated the Excello Soap Company earlier as it would have probably led to him learning his sister was still alive sooner.[6][7]

It as he is looking around, Amadeus swears he sees the buildings around him vanish whenever they are just out of his peripheral vision. However, whenever he turns to look, they are standin there where they should be. Dismissing his suspicions he decides to pause his trek to sit in a park gazebo and read more of the book he found on the bus. He hopes it can offer some insight on where his hero’s journey will take him next. Over the context of Hercules’ battle with the Neman Lion, the book discusses the next phase of the Hero’s Journey, the so-called “Road of Trials”. Detailing various trials and tribulations the hero will face, often with the aid of the supernatural forces he encountered early in his quest. It is a period where the hero usually discovers that there is a benign power everywhere guiding his journey.

That’s when Amadeus is interrupted by a young man dressed up like Mastermind Excello. He tells Cho that the Mastermind Excello radio show is about to begin and invites Amadeus to come to his home and listen to it. He even gives Amadeus a decoder ring so he can help decode the secret message of the day’s episode. Amadeus thanks the kid for his offer asks for directions to the head office of the Excello Soap Company instead. That’s when there is a gunshot and the bullet passes harmlessly through the young man’s head. The shot was fired by the woman who was spying on Amadeus earlier and he recognizes her as Agent Sexton. She tells him that the entire town around them is fake because it was destroyed after the Excello Soap Factory blew up in 1978. She tells him that this illusion only works if they are looking right at it.

That’s when loud speakers around town begin playing the Master Mind Excello radio show and the locals come out to listen to it. Sexton pulls his gun and warns Amadeus not to let any of them get too close. Curious, Amadeus picks up a rock and throws it over the heads of the approaching mob. When they all pause and turn to watch the rock fly overhead, both Amadeus and Agent Sexton get a good look at the locals from behind. The back of their heads and backs are exposed revealing glowing brains and a nervous system that is attached to nothing else. Cho recognizes them as Boltzmann Brains, a theory by 19th Century physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. They are hypothetical consciousness that is spontaneously generated by random fluctuation. Agent Sexton doesn’t understand this concept, so Amadeus explains further. He tells her that there is a quantum relationship between the observer and observed and how the human mind views a chaotic universe in a orderly perspective. Per the Law of Thermodynamics, the universe is always increasing in entropy and as a result it is more likely to generate a part — a brain floating in space — than a whole — the entire human body. Thus the universe is chaotic enough to create something out of nothing.

As Amadeus is explaining all of this, the “freaky brains” are abandoning their physical bodies and surrounds them. They start firing psionic bolts at the two intruders. Amadeus uses his hyper-intelligent mind to try and navigate himself and Agent Sexton out of danger. However, they don’t end up moving at all and are taken down by mental bolts. As he begins to black out, Amadeus sees the “townspeople” as mathematical equations and sees that it is some different type of math.

When he wakes up, Amadeus is back on the bus and the driver tells him to get off as they are in Excello, Utah. Getting off, Amadeus is drawn to the nearby park by the locals singing him in praise. That’s when he is greeted by frail and elderly man in a wheelchair. He introduces himself as Pythagoras Dupree, the world’s sixth-smartest man and that he is going to kill Amadeus!

Recurring Characters

Amadeus Cho, “Agent Sexton”, Pythagoras Dupree, (in flashback) Hercules

Continuity Notes

1. Since Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #15, Amadeus believed his sister Maddy was killed in the same explosion that killed his parents. However, he discovered that his sister was not in the afterlife when he found his parents, as seen in Incredible Hercules #129-131. We actually won’t learn what became of Maddy until Totally Awesome Hulk #1.

2. After being exiled in space between Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #91 to 105, he returned to Earth to get revenge as primarily told in World War Hulk #1-5. Amadeus and Hercules came to the Hulk’s aid during this conflict, as seen in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #106-111. After the Hulk was captured, Amadeus sought to destroy SHIELD in retaliation until Herc convinced him otherwise. See Incredible Hercules #112-115.

3. Continuum turns out to be a new Earth that would replace the current one but with none of the centuries of baggage and a environment more befitting the Olympians. See Assault on New Olympus #1 and Incredible Hercules #138-141.

4. The Skrulls invaded Earth primarily in Secret Invasion #1-8. Hercules and Amadeus led various Earthly gods against the Skrull pantheon in Incredible Hercules #116-120.

5. Amadeus aided Hercules in preventing the Amazons from reshaping reality via the Axis Mundi in Incredible Hercules #121-125. We already talked about when he abandoned Herc.

6. We get a recap of Amadeus’ earliest adventure circa Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #15 here. Next issue, “Agent Sexton” is revealed to have been Athena in disguise all along.

7. Here, we see an add for Excello Soap painted on the side of a building. The pitch man for the product is the wartime hero known as Mastermind Excello. Aka Earl Everett, Excello used his great intelligence to fight crime starting in Mystic Comics #2.

Topical References

• This story opens with a mock flier for the Excello Soap Brain Fight competition. It specifically references the year 2009. Since this is a contest for readers of the book and asks questions about in universe continuity, this wouldn’t be considered a topical reference.

• “Agent Sexton” states here that the Excello Soap Factory blew up in 1978. This wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference given that the soap company’s namesake was primarily active during World War II. Thus the factory explosion wouldn’t necessarily be tied to the Sliding Timescale like it would if it was associated with a character born within its confines. If you were to consider this a topical reference, then this date would be relative to the date of publication. Rather than a specific year, modern readers would interpret the factory explosion as happening roughly 31 years prior to the main story instead.