Aikku Jokinen

Aikku Jokinen is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a Finnish girl who became bonded with a mechanical creation by the being Ex Nihilo and now has an alien suit that acts as a battle armor. She initially used the code name Pod, but now goes by Enigma.

Publication history

Pod was created by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Stefano Caselli and first appeared in Avengers Vol. 5 #4 (March 2013).

Fictional character biography

Aikku Jokinen was a Finnish girl who whilst hiking came across the armor of the being known as Ex Nihilo. The armor proceeded to bond with Aikku forming a cocoon that protected her.^[1] She was later found by the group Avengers Idea Mechanics where she finally hatched and flew to Australia to fight the Avengers only to be caught by A.I.M. again.^[2] The leader of A.I.M. turned out to be the superhero Sunspot who made Aikku, now going by the name Pod, a personal bodyguard and together they joined the New Avengers.^[3][4]

While being studied by Dr. Toni Ho, it is revealed that Aikku refuses to take the Pod armor off as it would effectively kill the suit since it is actually a living sentient suit. It's also revealed that Aikku is depressed as her girlfriend Darja broke up with her. Toni herself began to fall in love with Aikku.^[5] They are suddenly attacked by the New Revengers who fatally wound Pod. With no other choice, Pod ejects Aikku, sacrificing itself in the process, however Aikku is able to retain the undersuit from Pod.^[6] Afterwards, Toni helped Aikuu get used to her new suit and the two admitted their feelings to each other.^[7]

Alongside the new Iron Patriot, Pod becomes a member of the U.S.Avengers when Avengers Idea Mechanics merges with the U.S. government to become the American Intelligence Mechanics. During this time, she takes on the alias of Enigma. In their first mission, the team encountered the Secret Empire in their floating volcanic island base. They're later approached by a future version of Danielle Cage as Captain America when her nemesis, the Golden Skull, arrived in their timeline to steal all the wealth in the world. In Miami, Florida, the team crashes a charity gala only to discover that the wealthy CEOs were kidnapped and replaced by robots. During the battle, the team manages to defeat and capture the Golden Skull, who was wearing a golden armored suit. Danielle then goes back to her timeline with the Golden Skull as her prisoner.^[8]

During the "Opening Salvo" part of the Secret Empire storyline, Aikku becomes concerned about Toni, since she's been spending too much time upgrading her armor.^[9] During the event, the team arrives in Washington D.C. to confront Hydra when Red Hulk begins to attack them due to nanites that were injected in him, which starts to control him. When Enigma and Squirrel Girl end up in Paris and are attacked by Hydra Agents, they are saved by the Champions of Europe consisting of Ares, Captain Britain, Excalibur, Guillotine, Outlaw, and Peregrine. They later help the Champions of Europe in raiding a Hydra base. After stealing some ships, Enigma, Squirrel Girl and the Champions of Europe manage to defeat the Hydra soldiers in Paris by destroying a helicarrier and releasing other captured heroes. Enigma then makes contact with Toni Ho, who managed to break out of prison with Sunspot and Red Hulk, and makes plans to return to the US. In the aftermath of the event, Squirrel Girl and Enigma are shown on a stakeout at the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. facility, where Enigma expresses concerns over Toni's decision to quit the Iron Patriot mantle. They later end up fighting the Plunderer and Blue Streak, who were attempting to rob from the facility.^[10]

While travelling through space with Smasher, Pod and the rest of the U.S.Avengers are attacked by space pirates known as warpjackers. After a brief fight, the pirates tell them that Glenbrook is actually a planet named Kral X and that it's ruler, Ritchie Redwood, is ruthless. Arriving in Kral X, the heroes manage to help Cannonball and the planet's rebels in overthrowing Ritchie. After restoring order to the planet, the heroes head home.^[11]

Powers and abilities

Aikku Jokinen is a regular human with no super-human abilities. The suit that bonded to Aikku allows flight, shield generation, invulnerability and the ability to adapt to its enemies attacks. It also includes a full arsenal such as laser beams and mines.

References

External links

• Pod at the Marvel Wiki