JUST A RATHER VERY INTELLIGENT SYSTEM

If you guessed what the title means before you read the post, you got brownie with M&M's points.

Originally Tony Stark’s butler, Jarvis was an important character in the Avengers comics. You could say he was to Iron Man what Alfred is to Batman. Portrayed as a father figure and a mentor to many of the Avengers with whom he crossed paths, Edwin Jarvis even had a ‘thing’ with Peter Parker’s Aunt May.

Since the first installment of the Iron Man movies, Jarvis is a highly developed artificial intelligence computer program that functions as Stark’s personal assistant and runs the math for the creation of the Iron Man suit. With his English accent, Jarvis is pretty much everywhere his creator is, like a cyber guardian angel, if you will.

What is truly appealing of this non- physical yet ever- present character in the movies is his ability to hold sophisticated conversations with the Iron Man, all the while giving back wit and sarcasm to boot. As his assistant, Jarvis feels compelled to make respectful observations regarding Tony Stark’s reckless behavior and impetuous actions that go very well with his bad boy persona, but there is only so much a computer program can do for the playboy millionaire turned hero.

Let’s talk a little about the scene towards the end in The Avengers where Iron Man takes the guided missile. So, he grabs the lethal projectile headed towards the (gasp) city of New York in his iron hands and heroically takes it into the portal that led to who knows where in the universe in order to have it destroy the Chitauri mother ship. Jarvis shows concern about what is going on and suggests calling Miss Potts, sensing it could very well be the last time Tony and Pepper would ever speak to each other. Alas, she doesn’t answer, which makes Jarvis sound even more preoccupied. Anyway, Iron Man succeeds, manages to avoid getting trapped on the wrong side of the portal, everyone is happy, the end.

miss potts isn’t picking up, sir.

However, this got me pondering about Jarvis, and his role in the movie. I suppose it has to do with the genius that is Tony Stark to be able to give personality to an artificial intelligence program, but how come it actually gets sarcasm and use it? Or have a soft spot for sensibility and, well, romance, for that matter? When you think about it, (and I clearly have) Jarvis has a wider range of emotions than Sheldon Cooper will ever have. I’m being serious here, so bear with me on this point. If Jarvis were programmed to only perceive the scientific specter of the world, the movies would be very different to what we’ve seen so far in terms of his and Stark’s relationship. For entertainment’s sake, I imagined what that scene I revisited before would be like if Jarvis were Sheldon Cooper. This is what I got:

First of all, Sheldon wouldn’t have suggested the phone call, if anything he was doing calculations of mass, distance and who knows what else of the situation Iron Man was in (he wouldn’t include himself, since he is a program and can still go on after on earth if all else fails), so Tony tells Jarvis-Sheldon to dial Miss Potts. Since Jarvis- Sheldon is still programmed to question his creator his answer would go something like, 

“Now? Miss Potts? I fail to see how Miss Potts would have any knowledge about guided missiles, or keeping an extraterrestrial portal open for a safe return to New York. I believe it’s far better to call Black Widow and tell her to keep the portal open for a little longer. Call Miss Potts! You silly humans! I swear you have the funniest timing I must say! Just like that time you thought it was a good idea to let your best friend fly off with one of your suits. Remember that?”

My guess is, that sort of responses would’ve accounted for a deprogramming or at the very least the installation of a new personality chip into its hard drive. I think Sheldon is funny with his quirks and idiosyncrasies that make him special in his nerdy world, but not really as a cyber side-kick to a Marvel shiny super hero.

Either way, Jarvis is one funny character and I for one like his sexy accent, and wouldn’t change him one bit. Bit. Get it? LOL!

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