Rhona Erwin

Rhona Erwin, otherwise known as the Mad Thinker, is a brilliant and highly intelligent student who has been known to attend the Tomorrow Academy. She is jealous of Tony Stark, whom she greatly resents for his higher IQ. Voiced by Brenna O'Brien.

Biography

Rhona Erwin is a gifted Goth student who formerly attended the Tomorrow Academy along with her brother, Andy. She first appears in the second season of the series, and was referred to as the most intelligent student at the academy until Tony's enrollment. As such, she naturally despises Tony for his superior intellect and resents his vast thinking capacity. Throughout the second season, Rhona insults and belittles Tony out of disgust for being forced to live in his shadow.

In the episode, All the Best People Are Mad , Rhona finally puts into motion her plans for vengeance against Tony, forging an elaborate labyrinth of traps within the previously normal Tomorrow Academy and forcing him to answer to a total of five different questions of her own choice (which were cleverly linked to each of his friends' traps in some way) in order to save his friends from captivity and certain doom. Once Tony managed to answer all four questions, as well as disassembling the bomb intended for the fifth question, Rhona sent her brother Andy (later revealed to be an artificial android of her own making) to dispose of him and his friends. Not able to grasp the idea of losing, Rhona single-handedly faced both Pepper and Whitney in combat and managed to hold her own against them. Prior to the scuffle, Rhona threatened to reduce each of Tony's friends to microscopic size with the assistance of her size-reduction device, which was directly replicated from Hank Pym's theories of Pym Particles; however, Pepper and Whitney stopped her before she could put it to use. When Andy is defeated by Iron Man and contemplates his false memories and origins as an android to Rhona, she assures him that she loves him as a real brother, regardless of his physiology whatsoever. Following her defeat, Rhona curses Tony and his friends and swears vengeance on them. It is revealed at the end of the episode that she was a former Ravencroft patient who escaped the facility, as well as being an orphan; this explains her true reasons for creating Andy, being that she desired a sibling and family member to care for. Rhona is soon taken in by a "Ravencroft doctor", which is shown to be one of her artificial machinations; this instance hints at her eventual return for furthering her goals of revenge against Tony (although it never happened).

Personality

Rhona is a particularly cold individual and incredibly envious to anyone who surpasses or advances her in intellectual prowess and skill; in this way, she completely despises Tony to the point of actually trying to kill him and his friends. She is also hinted to be at least partially insane due to the fact that she was a former Ravencroft patient, and that she attempted to kill Tony and his friends.

Despite her natural resentment of Tony, she has been shown to have a gentle and caring side. She has shown unexpected affection for her brother Andy, who was simply another machination of hers (even stating that she did not care for his physiology and that she loved him as a real brother regardless).

Powers & Abilities

Although she lacks any superhuman abilities or powers via armor (such as Iron Man/and an assortment of various other villains), Rhona possesses a tremendous thinking capacity that rivals Tony's own. In fact, she was considered the most intelligent of students at the Tomorrow Academy until Tony enrolled.

Abilities

Vast Thinking Capacity: Rhona possesses an incalculable level of intellect, which allows her to speedily create machinations such as artificial androids, sophisticated deathtraps, bombs, and a variety of other devices.
Technological Genius: Rhona is a genius in the field of technology and uses her understanding of it to create a multitude of devices and machinery for her own desired purposes.
Fighting Skills: She can hold her own against Pepper and Whitney (the latter of which is a skilled fighter).

Equipment

Artificial Androids: In order to accomplish her tasks, Rhona made use of the assistance of machinations, designed from scratch by herself. Her cybernetic brother Andy and the Ravencroft therapist she created were examples of these. These androids have superhuman strength and can shoot lasers from their eyes. They are capable of fighting toe-to-toe with Iron Man.

Sophisticated Deathtraps: During the "D.A.T.s" (lit. Deadly Aptitude Tests) Rhona used these to offer Tony more incentive in participating in her game. These were specificially designed to inflict harm to his friends if Tony answered a question incorrect. Rhona also designed a bomb to kill Tony and his friends, but it was fortunately disabled.

Shrink Ray: Rhona threatened to use this against Tony's friends. It was designed to replicate the Pym-particle principle formulated by scientist Henry Pym, and as such, is capable of reducing a human being to microscopic size. But Rhona was never able to actually use it.

Trivia

Rhona seems to be fond of reciting quotes from famous intellectuals, as seen in the episode, All The Best People Are Mad. She recites quotes and musical pieces from René Descartes, Ludwig van Beethoven and William Shakespeare.
Rhona Erwin is partly based off of the Ultimate version of the Mad Thinker; this is even further elaborated on when it is revealed that her true name is Rhona Burchill, which is the Ultimate version's name as well. Further similiarities are that Burchill had a great resentment of Reed Richards for his superior intellectual capacity in the Ultimate comics (similiar to Rhona's resentment of Tony) and also had a brother she used to gain neural advancements (similiar to Andy, in a way).
Her surname Erwin is a reference to the characters Clytemnestra and Morley Erwin from the mainstream Iron Man. Like Rhona and Andy, they are a sister and brother duo.
Rhona references Hank Pym when she reveals that she replicated blueprints of his theories of Pym Particles. In spite of this, his identity as Ant-Man is never elaborated on.
Rhona can be seen in every episode as a background character.
While never seen in Season one, except as a background character, she and her brother are mentioned in Ready, A.I.M., Fire as the school's resident geniuses when discussing Mr. Sandhurst's offer.