Who is Wonder Man?

With the imminent release of the new Wonder Man television series from Disney and Marvel, it is a good opportunity to look at the superhero who is not a household name. The following will get you up to speed on all you need to know about Simon Williams a.k.a Wonder Man.

Origin of Wonder Man

Wonder Man first appearance on the cover of Avengers 9 — *Avengers 9 cover – Wonder Man’s first appearance*

He has been around in Marvel comics for some time, with Wonder Man’s first comic appearance in Avengers #9, all the way back in 1964. He was a Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creation, along with artist Don Heck. Wonder Man’s first outing though was not as the hero we would come to know him as.

The inventor Simon Williams had admitted fraud, although blamed Anthony Stark for his downfall. In the courthouse a beautiful but mysterious benefactor arrives to pay his bail and escorts him outside. They are met by another man and the two promise to help his situation, giving him the chance to enact revenge on Tony Stark. First however, Simon must join them in South America.

In the Amazon rainforest, the pair reveal their real appearances to Simon as Enchantress and Executioner. They had brought him to the secret base of Baron Zemo who had a plan for Simon. The supervillain embues Simon with ionic power that give him incredible strength and durability. Zemo even gives Simon a costume, rockets to help him fly, and his iconic name, Wonder Man.

“Why the costume — why the corny name?” – Wonder Man

Baron Zemo does all of this to try and defeat the Avengers. He had an ace up his sleeve that meant that Wonder Man had to follow his orders; the powers would kill him after a week unless Zemo would provide him the antidote.

The villains lured the Avengers to attend a bank robbery, before Wonder Man arrived on the scene suddenly and defeated the villains singlehandedly. Impressed, the Avengers invite Wonder Man back to their base where they question them. Floundering with his backstory, Enchantress helps sway them from afar by using magic to convince them he was there to find a cure to save him.

Having earned their trust, Wonder Man deceived the Avengers into heading to the Amazon where they were attacked by Zemo and the others. The villains were able to subdue Thor, Giant Man, Wasp, Iron Man, and Captain America, by picking them off one-by-one.

Baron Zemo’s plan to kill the unconcious and trapped heroes does not sit well with Simon and he betrays the villains, freeing Thor. In the resulting chaos, the remaining heroes join the fray but the villains escape. Wonder Man cannot celebrate his bravery however as he falls victim to Zemo’s failsafe and dies in Iron Man’s arms.

Controversy or legend?

West Coast Avengers 1 volume 1 cover — *West Coast Avengers 1 cover, volume 2*

Obviously, Wonder Man’s story did not end in that issue, but surprisingly, it was not until Avengers #131 was he revived (by Kang). Stan Lee himself has told contradicting stories as to why this was.

Stan Lee told The Comics Journal in 1978 that DC sued Marvel over the use of Wonder Man “because they had Wonder Woman” and that is why they killed him in the first issue. The New York Times also ran a similar version of this story in an article from 2017 writing ‘DC were not amused’ because of the similarities and Lee stepped in to have the character killed off.

As CBR pointed out in an article from 2019 however, comic book companies did not tell their rivals what they were printing prior to release. Instead, Stan Lee, shortly after the comic book was released told a fanzine “National Comics wrote to us and informed us of the fact that he had already used the name Wonder Man. We did not want to use anyone else’s name, so only for that reason, we are not bringing Wonder Man back.“

Which version of events you prefer to believe is up to you.

Wonder Man’s powers

Avengers 3 Volume 3 cover — *Avengers 3 cover, volume 3*

Wonder Man has a whole plethora of powers, slowly gaining them over the years. He is considered one of the physically strongest beings on Earth, sitting somewhere between above the Thing and below Thor and the Hulk in terms of raw power.

He is also essentially invulnerable due to his ionised organic matter and is incredibly resistant to any kind of physical harm. This invulnerability does fluctuate depending on the story but Wonder Man has also demonstrated extremely rapid regeneration and is immune to disease. For all intents and purposes, he is immortal as well, his ionic energy form seemingly able to ressurect him no matter the circumstance.

As time passes, more abilities are given to the character. He can now fly at around speeds of Mach 1 and has unlimited stamina. As his ionic energy is explored more by writers, his powers have become more energy-focussed; he can shape energy, create powerful blasts, and even project flames.