Hypnotia (Iron Man: The Animated Series)

Hypnotia is a fictional character, a supervillain created by Ron Friedman for the Iron Man animated TV series. Hypnotia is voiced by Linda Holdahl in the first season and Jennifer Darling in the second season. She seems to be partially based on Vertigo.

History[]

She first appeared in the Marvel Action Hour animated series as Iron Man's foe ("And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead", September 24, 1994). The 1994 Iron Man animated series was part of the Marvel Action Hour, which packaged several animated versions of Marvel series with two half-hour episodes from different series. The Mandarin led a group of villains, consisting of herself, Dreadknight, Blizzard, Blacklash, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind, M.O.D.O.K. and Justin Hammer against Iron Man and his team, based on Force Works.

In the series, Dreadknight and Blacklash constantly competed for Hypnotia's affections, but she was seemingly attracted to Tony Stark. She did show signs of attraction to Blacklash after he saved her from a fall off a building in part 2 of Iron Man to the Second Power, though Dreadknight interrupted before anything could really be said between them.

Hypnotia appeared seldom in Marvel comic books, mainly in the Marvel Action Hour title published at the same time as the cartoon.^[1]

In the two-part series finale, she, Blacklash, Whirlwind, and Blizzard are given exo-armors in their fight against Iron Man and Force Works. She and the other villains were later used to help Mandarin power the Heart of Darkness only for it to be thwarted by Iron Man. She and the other villains ended up in jail after that.

Powers and abilities[]

Hypnotia has what has been described as telepathic hypnosis. Though being of normal human physical capacity, her mental abilities are quite powerful. In the show, her power manifests as a series of concentric (usually yellow) rings coming from her forehead, hands, eyes, etc. This power effectively and almost immediately mesmerizes her victims, and leaves them obedient to her will. In some cases, such as with animals, evidence of her power can be seen with yellow swirls within an animals eyes. Though the limits to her power are unknown, she has displayed how potent her power is when hypnotizing an entire group of villagers in seconds claiming "My spell has secured the villagers for 24 hours." She can even leave her power on previously made recordings. In Episode 7, Origin of the Mandarin, after the brief Mandarin biography, Hypnotia extended her power though the projection device in what she called 'Delay Action Hypnotism', entrancing anyone who happened to be watching.