Merge:Wonder Man

Wonder Man is a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, and is a member in long standing of the Avengers. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Avengers #9 (October 1964). The first artist penciler to draw him in a published comic was Don Heck.

Character biography
Simon Williams was born the son of a rich family, and inherited the family's company and fortune. His father died when he was in his twenties, and despite his best efforts, his company (Williams Innovations) began to decline and lose money to its biggest competitor, Tony Stark. On the advice of his brother Eric, Simon tried to embezzle money from his company and was imprisoned, blaming Tony Stark for his failure. The supervillain Baron Zemo found the desperate Williams and offered him a chance to escape by transforming him into the ion-powered Wonder Man.

Wonder Man joined the Avengers on Zemo's behalf, but ultimately turned on Zemo and was apparently killed in doing so. He actually remained in a deathlike state of suspended animation for years, during which time the android Ultron stole a recording of his brain-patterns, using them in the creation of an android of his own, the Vision.

Simon's brother, Eric Williams, became the supervillain called the Grim Reaper, and the process that had empowered Simon was also used to empower the villain Count Nefaria, among others.

Wonder Man was eventually revived as a zombie by Black Talon, through voodoo, and attacked the Avengers again. His body being made of ionic energy, or in the way to be so, was probably the factor why he was able to regain his own free will, and for his consciousness to finally re-emerge. He finally joined the Avengers full-time, becoming close friends with his teammate, the Beast and changed his costume including a period where he had a distinctive look with a turtleneck sweater under a short red trenchcoat with sunglasses.

For some time after his "resurrection," Wonder Man suffered from two psychological problems. One--slight claustrophobia--was minor. The other was the far more serious fear of death; the thought of again being cut off from life was often crippling to him in battle. This fear made his Avengers service somewhat traumatic for him. In an attempt to find a less hazardous occupation, he sought work as an actor. In New York (where the Avengers are based), his career seemed forever stalled; he occasionally found work in stage plays, but more frequently found himself working on cable access shows. When he met Avengers reservist Hercules (during a time when the Avengers were reorganizing their membership rolls), the son of Zeus convinced him he had made many contacts in Hollywood who could help Williams to realize his dream; Wonder Man then travelled to Los Angeles with his new comrade. While Hercules was unable to help Wonder Man find acting work right away, Simon did find work as a stunt man, a job his invulnerability made him ideally suited for. Ironically, this work--undertaken to help him avoid danger--helped Wonder Man overcome his crippling fear, as repeated triumphs on the movie set allowed him to build up his confidence. The change in venue also led to Wonder Man become a founding and core member of the West Coast Avengers team, and eventually to greater success as an actor.

While a West Coast Avenger, Wonder Man's confidence turned to a sense of superiority, which resulted in a rivarly with fellow avenger Iron Man. He also took to wearing a green-and-red costume with jets on his back, which was largely disliked by fans. After returning from a time travel adventure, Wonder Man's agent insisted he change his costume back to the familiar black muscle shirt with the large red "W." A subsequenet battle on a Hollywood set with the gamma-iradiated Abomination served to return Wonder Man to his less egotistical nature.

Wonder Man eventually came to accept the Vision as his "brother". However, the Vision was dismantled and rebuilt as an emotionless machine, his memory erased by several governmental powers worldwide, which were afraid of all the information contained in Vision's brain.

The Vision's wife, the Scarlet Witch, asked Wonder Man to lend his brainwaves again for her lover to be reborn, but Wonder Man refused, suddenly claiming to have always had feelings for her that he could never really voice and hoping this was his chance. Angered by his refusal, she used her powers to drop a mountainside at him, which hurt nothing but his feelings.

When the West Coast Avengers disbanded, Williams became a founder member of its successor group - Force Works, along with Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, USAgent and Spider-Woman. However, Wonder Man was disintegrated in a battle with the alien Kree in an early mission with the group.

The Scarlet Witch was eventually able to restore Williams to life with her magic, and in the process brought back the Grim Reaper, who at the time had been a ghost. They became romantically involved, but slowly drifted apart, and called it quits during the Kang War, promising to stay friends. Recently Simon was linked to Ms. Marvel, also known as Carol Danvers, during House of M.

Writer Peter David will reportedly write a Wonder Man miniseries some time in 2006. Recently solicitations from Marvel have stated that he and Julia Carpenter are supporters of the Superhuman Registration Act in the Civil War storyline and that they will be responsible for training new superheroes.

Powers and abilities
While Baron Zemo's initial aim was to use ionic energy treatments to make Wonder Man at least as powerful as Giant Man, and the equal of any Avenger, Zemo was far more successful. In addition to attaining strength to rival Thor, the strongest Avenger, Wonder Man also acquired near invulnerability, great agility, instantaneous reflexes and a measure of superhuman speed. Wonder Man's great strength, invulnerability and speed enable him to hit as hard as Thor's hammer. Zemo also provided Wonder Man a short range rocket belt which enabled him to fly.

Wonder Man's strength was significantly diminished following his initial revival by the Black Talon. Through some unexplained mechanism, his full strength returned after his defeat at the hands of the Black Knight, who was previously transformed to stone by the Enchantress. The Knight's stone body was subsequently destroyed in battle with the Vision. Shortly after his full strength returned, Wonder Man learned that the ionic energy Zemo used to grant him his powers had further infused his body, making him a being composed of ionic energy.

After he was exposed to the energies of a Nega-Bomb in "Operation Galactic Storm", his powers entered a state of flux that lasted until his second "death" in combat with the Kree. At one point during this state of flux, energy erupted from his body and temporarily empowered a group of his non-superpowered friends and associates, who were briefly known as the "Crazy Eight". During an epic battle against Mephisto, Wonder Man learned that his ionic-energy body was capable of far greater feats than initially believed. Among other things, he learned that he could fly without mechanical assistance via ionic propulsion. After that, he was killed by the Kree (see bio above and trivia below), and his atoms were dispersed worldwide. His body was later reformed by the Scarlet Witch. His body was now clearly in its natural state, a form of ionic energy.

Wonder Man is capable of pressing in excess of 100 tons. His great strength ranks him in the upper echelons of Marvel heroes like the Hulk, Hercules and Thor, and above powerhouses like Colossus and the Thing. Wonderman's durability is on par with the Hulk, and is likely exceeded only by the Silver Surfer. Among other notable heavyweights, Wonder Man has defeated the Vision, the gamma-infused Abomination, and Namor, the savage Sub-Mariner. Wonder Man has also demonstrated the extent of his speed by grabbing his friend the Beast out of mid-air, a feat the Beast characterized as "like catching a bullet." And, as noted above, he is capable of flight under his own power.

Other Media
Wonder Man has appeared in The Avengers: United They Stand animated series, voiced by Hamish McEwan.

Trivia

 * Even though Wonder Man has seemingly died numerous times, it has been claimed that he is actually immortal and no longer ages, but so far, the only source for this claim remains Mephisto, the self-proclaimed Lord of Lies. Also, he doesn't need to breathe, drink or eat, or maybe even sleep, but does so out of habit, not having known for a number of years that his body was made of ionic energy, or does so for general enjoyment of the pleasures of life. Because his body is made of ionic energy, Wonder Man's eyes glow bright red. He can consciously revert his eyes back to human-looking state through concentration (Simon's human eye color is grey), but only temporarily. We can assume his current natural form to be his "energized" one, and his "human" form to be "worn" out of habit of his human life.


 * During his solo series, Wonder Man was forced to confront the long-buried truth that the real Simon Williams had indeed died in his original battle, and that his corpse had since become a living being of ionic energy. Since his subsequent return from death, this has not been mentioned, with the implication that he no longer remembers any of it.


 * The recent breakdown of the Scarlet Witch, and the revelation that she had been unconsciously manipulating the world around her, has raised the possibility that the Wonder Man she resurrected may not be real, but this matter has yet to be addressed.


 * In the 31st century of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic series (a future which diverged from the "true" Marvel Universe), Wonder Man now calls himself Hollywood. Mars had invaded Earth some centuries earlier, and Wonder Man was teleported by Vision away from Earth so he could not help against the Martian invasion. Wonder Man insisted Vision teleport him back to Earth which he did, but it was too late, the Earth had lost, and Hollywood would share the weight of this fact with an all too rational Vision for centuries to come.


 * Wonder Man is one of several Marvel characters not to have an Ultimate counterpart. However, in Ultimate vol. 2 #10, the Liberators used a group of foot soldiers who gained superpowers (described as 'flight and class-three strength') for a month before their bodies burned out. The deaths were kept secret from the new soldiers.