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Ari, The Angel Experiment

Ari Batchelder
Ari eraser

Title
Vital Statistics
Gender Male
Family Jeb Batchelder (father)

Max (sister)

Status Deceased
Eye Color
Hair Color
Height
Other
Affiliation The Flock, Whitecoats, The School
Weapons
Species Eraser
Home
Appearances The Angel Experiment,

School's Out - Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Nevermore (clone)

Ari was the only son of Jeb Batchelder—one of the top scientists at the School—and the half-brother of Maximum Ride. He was also the leader of the Erasers.

History

Before The Angel Experiment

Young ari

Ari as a child (Manga)

Ari2

Ari's human form (in the manga)

Unlike the other hybrids, Ari spent his early life as a non-mutant human. He was born during the month of April to Jeb and an unnamed mother, though his mother died giving birth. When he was three years old, Jeb disappeared along with the Flock, leaving Ari in the hands of the School's genetic scientists. The geneticists used Ari as an experiment, splicing his DNA with that of a wolf in order to create a new breed of Eraser that could live longer than the previous versions (those whose DNA had been spliced in the womb).

The Angel Experiment

Ari leaning over the Flock

Ari leaning over the Flock in Maximum Ride: The Manga (1)

While Max and the Flock were out picking strawberries at their mountain home, a pack of Erasers dropped out of the sky. During the fight, Max came face-to-face with an Eraser who knew her. Max realized to her shock that he was Ari, whom she remembered as a small child. Ari knocked her out and carried Angel to a helicopter. To warn off the Flock, he held a gun to Angel's head. Before they left, he said that Max had it all wrong and that the Erasers were "the good guys".

The next day, as Nudge and Fang visited a trailer park in Tipisco, Arizona, looking for Nudge's mother, Ari and two other Erasers surprised them. When Nudge tried to express how sorry she was that Ari had been Eraser-fied, he told her to save her pity for herself and that their first house was nothing more than ash. He also lied and said that everyone else had died. During the quick fight that followed, Ari grabbed Fang and punched him repeatedly, but it eventually stopped after Nudge dumped green spray paint in Ari's eyes. As they left, Ari said they were dead and pulled out a gun after Nudge taunted him.

He was later seen at a gas station in a black pickup truck. He chased a guy out of the gas station after he cursed around him.

While the Flock was at a fast-food restaurant, a group of Erasers sat down nearby, causing the Flock to quickly leave. This resulted in a car chase that ended up with everyone (save for Gazzy and Iggy) being captured and taken back to the School.

As the Flock was about to be killed, Max bit Ari's fingers, resulting in him kicking her crate away from him and giving her time to unlatch Angel's cage. Gazzy and Iggy arrived with the hawks, one of which dive-bombed onto Ari and sliced the back of his neck.

Ari and the Erasers pursued the Flock to New York, repeatedly attacking them. In their final fight in New York subway tunnels, Max snapped his neck. Jeb told her that she had killed her own brother.

School's Out - Forever

Ari returned, with the bones in his neck fused by School whitecoats. A pair of wings had also been retrofitted onto him. During a fight with a group of flying Erasers, Ari attempted to kill Max, though Fang saved her by lunging at him. Ari managed to shred Fang's jacket and side, however, causing the Flock to have to go to a hospital, and permanently scarring Fang.

Ari hid in a tree and observed the Flock when they arrived at Anne Walker's house. Seeing them being pampered, he was so anguished that he self-harmed by biting himself with his fangs. Later, he took his rage out on several of his team members using a . He also jealously daydreamed about having Max all to himself. He and Max II stalked the Flock, particularly Max, making her increasingly paranoid.

He continued to track the Flock at Disney World, although he had an encounter with a child who thought he was the X-Men character Wolverine. Despite himself, Ari was nice to the child and signed an autograph.

At the Itex headquarters in Florida, he attacked the Flock when they were being shown hallucinations of their worst fears. Max II held Angel down so that Ari could bite a chunk out of her arm. He was subdued with the other villains when the Flock's bomb collapsed part of the building.

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

While the other Erasers were "retired" (killed), the whitecoats allowed Ari to continue to live, as his expiration date had recently appeared on the back of his neck, indicating that he'd die on his own anyways. After learning that his death was approaching, Ari became extremely depressed and lost his hatred of Max and the Flock.

When the Flock was held captive in the School, he showed Max some of the experiments and told her of the whitecoats' plans for Re-Evolution, saying that even though he knew he would die soon, he hoped that the Flock could still escape and stop it.

He helped them escape their cages. Realizing that the whitecoats would probably kill him for helping them escape, Max asked Ari to join them, much to the displeasure of the rest of the Flock (except Angel). Ari was very grateful that Max would take him in, and he promised to keep her safe. When the Flock split up, he accompanied Max, Angel, Nudge, and Total to Europe. During this time, Max noted that he didn't talk much, as if he didn't think he had a right to an opinion.

It was revealed that, because Jeb was Max's father, Ari was her half-brother.

Ari tried to back up Max during her tests against Omega. He fought during the mutant riot, only to suddenly collapse. In the midst of the fight, he suddenly collapsed. Max tried to find where he was hurt, but he wasn't injured; his expiration date had arrived. He died in her arms.

The Final Warning

At the beginning of the book, the Flock and Jeb held a makeshift funeral for Ari. Each of the members dropped dirt onto the casket and said a few words. The Flock members who had spent the most time with Ari—Max, Nudge, Total, and Angel—broke down and cried. Jeb was also deeply affected.

MAX

Mr. Chu built an M-Geek copy of Ari to intimidate Max and the Flock, though Gazzy and Iggy destroyed it with an explosive. Upon closer inspection, Max claimed that it although it was very similar to Ari, it wasn't an exact replica.

Nevermore

Jeb cloned Ari perfectly, retaining all of his memories. The new Ari was accompanied by a crew of other clones known as the Not-Aris, who were sent with a mission to kill Fang. This clone killed Maya, but was later killed in turn by Dylan.

Maximum Ride Forever

Fighting newly enhanced Erasers, Fang mentions Ari with disdain. Max reencounters Jeb, who mentions how "devastated" he was by Ari's death, and how he wanted to bring him back just the way he was. However, he said Dr. Gunther-Hagen had helped him move past that and see how humanity was the flaw that needed to be eliminated from mutants.

Physical Appearance

Maxrideari

Ari in the Marvel Comics series.

Despite his young age, Ari was the size of a full-grown human because of the genetic engineering performed on him by the School. When he was younger, he had blond hair.

In the first book, Ari showed the ability to morph back and forth. However, as time went on, Ari was one of the more wolfish Erasers; while the others were stunningly attractive, Ari was described as always in a partially morphed state; not quite human and not quite wolf.

Like the other Erasers retrofitted to have wings, Ari's graft was not done as well as the Flock members'. As a result, flying was painful for him. He was shown as taking many pain-killers to ease the pain of wings, although he was willing to get the wings whether it hurt or not.

Personality

In the first book, Ari's personality was adult and sadistic. However, in the second and third book, his thoughts and feelings were more like those of a seven-year-old. In the second book, he stole a Game Boy and was disgusted by a woman holding a bra in public.

He exhibited some tendencies to self-harm, biting himself in School's Out - Forever because the pain "felt better."

Relationships

Maximum "Max" Ride

Jeez. Ari loved me? Like a little kid? Like a big Eraser? Was that why he kept trying to kill me? He needed to read an article about how to send clearer signals.

–Max, School's Out - Forever

Ari showed a consistent obsession with Max, hating and envying her, yet wanting to spend time with her and have her to himself. In School's Out - Forever, Angel told Max that Ari "loved" her. Ari had a strong (but reluctant) admiration for Max, even going so far as to come up with a plan to steal Max away so she could play with him. However his wolfish-seven-year-old self showed through when he added that he planned to cut off her wings.

Ari wanted Max to be his friend, although he expressed it violently by trying to wound Fang to the point of hospitalization because he didn't approve of Max and Fang's romance. He later considered taking Max as his friend and living with her in hiding.

In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the two reconciled, with Max coming to see him as a vulnerable little brother, and teaching him how to read. She was heartbroken when he died.

However, in Maximum Ride Forever, Max described Ari as "pathetic" and "a murderous sociopath." It's unclear whether this was simply a way of needling Jeb.

Jeb Batchelder

Ari's greatest desire was to have his father be proud of him, and he was extremely and horribly jealous of how his father doted on Max. This expressed itself violently; he talked about choking Jeb to get more attention. He was ecstatic when Jeb expressed pride in School's Out - Forever, when Ari laid out his plan to steal Max.

Jeb's grief at Ari's death was apparently the largest factor in leading Jeb to turn against the Flock. In Nevermore, Jeb revealed that the reason he continued to bring Ari back to life was so that he could have more than one chance at fatherhood, indicating he truly did care about his son. He reiterated this in Maximum Ride Forever, but said that he was "past that," being totally devoted to the Remedy's cause.

Trivia

  • Ari also had a Voice similar to Max's, as shown in School's Out - Forever.
  • Ari signed an autograph as "Wolverine" in School's Out - Forever. However, in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, he couldn't even sign his own name, and had to be taught by Max.
  • His birthday was somewhere in April. However, he never turned eight since he died in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.
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