In issue 18 of Marvel‘s comicbook Secret Avengers the writer, Warren Ellis, makes a bit of fun of mobile computing and Apple software.
The story, wonderfully illustrated by David Aja and Raul Allen, tells about a secret mission by a trio of heroes: supersoldier Steve Rogers, agent Sharon Carter and martial artist Shang-Chi. Among their enemies is a “damaged” copy of supervillain Arnim Zola, able to transmit his consciousness into grotesque robotic bodies.
Mid-issue, sneaking upon the “baddies”, Steve Rogers identifies this incarnation of the villain as “Arnim Zola 4.2.3”, a stab at version numbers in software and “mobile” computing.
Later, during the fight, Ellis has Zola declare to Rogers “I will kill you and become Arnim Zola OS X”, a verbatim reference to the Macintosh Operating System.
It is a well know fact that Warren Ellis has an iPhone but that he refuses to get a Mac, and prefers Windows laptops or ChromeBooks. ;-)
* “Secret Avengers” 18 has been published in the USA in October 2011 and then collected in the “Secret Avengers: Run the Mission, Don’t Get Seen, Save the World” TPB
Nota: all images are © Marvel Worldwide Inc.
Leave a Reply