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Rock me, Amadeus! He’s the seventh smartest person in the world. He trucked around with gods. He had a pet coyote named Kirby. CEO of a divine Fortune 500 company. Amadeus Cho is quite accomplished for someone who is still in his teen years. Who is he and how do you even gauge someone as the seventh smartest person in the world anyway? Let’s find out!

Amadeus Cho was the eldest child of Helen and Phil Cho. Having a younger sister named Madame Curie Cho and himself named after Amadeus Mozart, his parents had high hopes for their children. Amadeus would begin on his road to greatness when he would take part in the Excello Soap Company’s young genius contest. He would end up winning as the “Seventh Smart Person in the World” soon after this his home would be destroyed with his parents inside. Now orphaned and on the run, Amadeus would run into the Hulk. The two would form a quick friendship and Amadeus would become one of the Hulk’s biggest defenders.

When the Civil War breaks out, Amadeus would hack into the Baxter Building learning about Reed Richards’ part in launching the Hulk into outer space. Meeting up with a depowered Jennifer Walters, Amadeus would find a way to shut down the nanites in her bloodstream allowing her to become She-Hulk again. To return the favor, she would get Amadeus in contact with Archangel and Hercules.

Taking from Archangel’s vast fortune, Amadeus would buy a submarine so the three could go and recruit Namor, he was party to sending Hulk to space. Namor refused to join them but his cousin Namora agreed with Amadeus and joined his cause upon hearing Hulk had returned from space to wage war on those who had betrayed him. While this team would attempt to help Hulk, Hulk would turn them down and they would instead try their best to save as many civilians as possible. Amadeus and Hulk would have a moment together where Amadeus offered Hulk a safe place for himself but Hulk tried to attack Cho, causing Hercules and the others to step in to protect Amadeus. Before leaving the Hulk, Amadeus would tell the Hulk that it was his anger that killed his family and the Banner part of him was where his ability to love and be loved came from.

Imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the aftermath, Amadeus and Hercules would have S.H.I.E.L.D. demanding they use their powers and skills to aide them. Amadeus wanted nothing to do with the organization, knowing they’d never stop using him if they could. Hercules agreed with the boy and broke them out but at the cost of his own sense of reality. Amadeus would use this chaos to hack into all of S.H.I.E.L.D. and nearly destroy them, but Hercules would regain his senses and talk Amadeus back to his.

Now the two were on the run together as fugitives for what they had just done. Hercules’ sister Athena would arrive and enlist their help along with several other gods from several pantheons to form the God Squad. This team was meant to take on the Skrull Gods as it had recently been discovered that the Skrull had invaded all of Earth over a long infiltration. The team would end up in the dream realm and taking on the demon, Nightmare.

Returning to Earth, Amadeus and Hercules would be confronted by the Amazons, who had declared Hercules a life-long enemy for past transgressions. It turned out their queen required Amadeus’ assistance in some tactics and puzzle solving, so they kidnapped him. While imprisoned, Amadeus would meet Delphyne, a gorgon, and the two would have a brief romance until Hercules was able to rescue Amadeus and their adventure leading Delphyne to be the new Queen of the Amazons thus ending their relationship.

In order to rescue Zeus, the duo would have to travel to the Underworld Casino of Hades to find Hercules’ father. In the Elysian Fields, Amadeus would find his parents who would hug him and tell him their deaths were not his fault and they were proud of him. They also let him know that his sister was still alive and needed his help.

Back in the land of the living, Amadeus would go to Excello, Utah to seek out his sister. Here he would confront Pythagoras Dupree, self-proclaimed “sixth smartest person in the world” and would have to outsmart him or die in a bizarre version of Russian Roulette. He would learn that while Dupree may have had a hand in his parents’ death he had no idea about the whereabouts of his sister.

Learning of a new threat when he is with Athena, the two make it a point to find Hercules to help them. During this search, Athena reveals that while Hercules is the current Prince of Power, his time as that champion is waning and that Amadeus will then take on the mantle. For this to happen though, Hercules must die. Amadeus vows to put a stop to that nonsense as soon as possible. Reunited with Hercules the three would take on the Olympus Group, the modern incarnation of the Greek pantheon, to stop them from rewriting reality into their own pocket dimension. Amadeus and Delphyne would go head-to-head due to the Amazons working for the Olympus Group. The resulting battle would have Hercules trapped in the collapsing pocket dimension, thus making Amadeus the new Prince of Powerto rid the world of monsters.

While at Hercules’ funeral, Athena would announce that Amadeus would head the Olympus Group. Several gods objected and demanded the right to it by picking a champion for a battle, to the winner the title. Amadeus is able to talk his way into access to the Underworld so he can find Hercules and save him. When he gets there he learns that Hercules is not in the Underworld which means he’s not dead or within the grasp of an afterlife. This gives Amadeus the wherewithal to take on his position as CEO of the Olympus Group.

Now in charge of a massive company, Amadeus uses his resources to try and rescue Hercules. Half a trillion dollars is spent on a machine to locate Hercules’ location in the mutliverse but the machine will take over a billion years to get his location. Vali Halfling arrives offering to work with Amadeus so the two can acquire the ingredients necessary to make them as powerful as the rulers of the gods. Amadeus steals this list so he can use it to bring back Hercules and finds that he is now in a race with Vali. Thor joins Amadeus in getting the items and Delphyne assists them as well in defeating Vali. Now holding onto god-king status, he finds Hercules and gives him the powers as Hercules warns of the coming Chaos King.

The Chaos King, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, is coming to destroy all of existence. Along with Hercules and Thor, Amadeus recruit a new God Squad to take on the Chaos King. Most of the Multiverse having been consumed, Amadeus and Galactus work together to save reality in another side dimension but are instead able to lock Amatsu-Mikaboshi within it instead. At this time he and Hercules part ways amicably.

Finding himself somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Amadeus would be with other teen heroes who would have to work together to survive. This would turn out to be an event Amadues himself had manipulated to try and form a team of his own. His would-be teammates would disagree with his methods and disperse.

In the Savagelands, Amadeus would resurrect Shanna the She-Devil and the two would work together to try and stop Wolverine from damaging a machine that would release an evil demon. Hulk would arrive to assist them but as they stopped Wolverine an army of gorillas would attack the four and in the process the machine was damaged freeing the demon within.

Recently Amadeus had become a member of the current Illuminati, the first iteration was the one responsible for sending Hulk into space, and he was sent on a suicide mission. While not killed, he did let himself get captured by Sue Storm so she could learn the whereabouts of the Illuminati. As of right now it is unclear how, but Amadeus will become a Hulk and seem to be able to retain his personality while having the power of a Hulk.

There you have it! Amadeus Cho is one of my favorite characters and he was in one of my favorite ongoing series for a while. I look forward to seeing him as Hulk as it reunites him with his co-creator and longest running writer of the character, Greg Pak. What lies in store for the Hulk Amadeus? I don’t know but I’m sure excited to find out. See you next time!

Suggested Reading
Amazing Fantasy Vol. 2 #15
Incredible Hercules
Prince of Power
The Chaos Wars
Mighty Avengers
Totally Awesome Hulk

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net