Avengers #9 (October 1964)

The Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe marches on! In honor of the miniseries Wonder Man, I thought I'd take a look at his first appearance in the comic books. 

Simon Williams has actually been around for quite a long time. In fact, 2026 is his 62nd anniversary. He has been regarded as a stalwart member of the Avengers, most notably in their 1970s heyday and in my favorite era of the team, the Kurt Busiek era. He's also been a founder of the first incarnation of the West Coast branch. He's also appeared in other media, like the Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series, the MODOK animated series, and as I mentioned earlier, he was portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the titular MCU miniseries. 

So, how did it all start? Let's find out in Avengers #9!

The cover is a Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers piece. It's pretty cool. It depicts Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil empowering Wonder Man, with the heads of the Avengers looming over it. My only real critique of the covers is the Avengers' faces. It would be nice if they showed fear or at the very least concern about this strange new character in their midst.

"The Coming of the...Wonder Man!" 
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Don Heck
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Art Simek
Colorist: Stan Goldberg
Editor: Stan Lee
Editor-in-Chief: Stan Lee

The story begins with Steve Rogers, aka the original Captain America, seemingly attacking his old foe from World War II: Baron Heinrich Zemo, father to future Avengers villain and Thunderbolt Helmut Zemo. However, it's only in his head. 

"HE ATE MY ICE CREAM! I'LL KILL HIM!"

I do find it funny that Iron Man, Giant-Man, and Thor have trouble holding Steve back. Rogers still wants Zemo's head, but the thing is after the events of Avengers #7, Zemo fled in a ship. He could be anywhere...even in the Twilight Zone. 🎵 Help, I'm slippin' into the Twilight Zone... 🎵

Right, right. In actuality, Zemo has headed to his hidden jungle kingdom located in the Amazon rainforest, where he's been living since the war. With him is his allies, Skurge the Executioner and Amora the Enchantress. And he's hatched a new plan to take down Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Part of that plan? A trip to New York City.

Nope, the three are not planning some sightseeing, although Amora and Skurge doing that would be pretty funny. Their actual mission is to recruit a man who got himself into a bit of legal trouble.

"We also have an excellent dental plan."

Meet Simon Williams, the MCU's newest star. An industrialist by occupation, his company (Williams Innovations) was going under thanks to the innovations of Stark Enterprises, so he ended up committing embezzlement in desperation. And he got caught. A disguised Enchantress and Executioner offer him the chance to get some payback on Stark. 

They bring him to Brazil, where Zemo makes him a guinea pig. He pumps Simon's body full of ionic radiation. Now, being pumped with lots of radiation would normally kill a man. So, Simon's dead, right?

Simon and death would become acquainted, but not on this day. Instead, Simon is transformed. He's bigger, stronger, tougher. He is a wonder, man!

"'Wonder Man' is still a better name than 'Big W Guy', you have to admit'."

Amora gets...very impressed with him, let's just say.

Skurge isn't happy about that, naturally. So, what's the plan here? Well, Zemo figures that maybe the best way to destroy the Avengers is from within. Simon will join the Avengers...and then break them up...somehow. I have no idea. I'm betting Zemo is just making this up as he goes.

My guess is he'll try to earn their trust and turn them against each other. Simon's a lot of things, but he has never struck me as the manipulative type. Anyway, we get a scene with Simon showing off his new powers. He's got incredible strength, tough as nails. He's even strong enough to wrestle Skurge into a river. Keep in mind, Skurge is half-Asgardian, and half-Jotunn. As in, half-Storm Giant. He's no stereotypical 90-pound weakling.

Simon may be a powerhouse, but that power comes at a price: The ionic energy will kill him in a week. However, Zemo has a treatment for it, and as long as Simon stays loyal, he'll get it. 

Later, Zemo's Masters of Evil brawl with the Avengers as they try to steal a company's payroll.

Simon makes his debut, seemingly easily thrashing the Masters.

"This was not what Amora had in mind when she wanted Simon to take her for a spin."

Zemo flees, happy the plan seems to be working. Simon introduces himself to the Avengers and gives them an altered version of his origin story: He was a man captured and experimented on by Zemo. Captain America smells a rat. 

It's not hard to see why. Cap knows Zemo. Zemo certainly has the scientific expertise to give Wonder Man his powers, but he certainly isn't stupid. He would have anticipated Simon trying to escape. Amora casts a spell to dampen Cap's suspicions...and also announce that Simon is dying of a rare disease. The Avengers are happy to help. They get to work finding a cure using their expertise.

"We're going to science this guy so hard!"

A few days pass. Simon reports in, wanting the antidote for his radiation sickness. He's also managed to capture the Wasp and brings her to the Masters. Simon tells the Avengers that they were captured by Zemo. Naturally, the unaware heroes race to the rescue. 

Zemo deals with Iron Man thanks to a giant magnet. Like the one Jim likes to use against ROM. Captain America and Thor come to the rescue. Wonder Man, able to match the Thunder God in power, KOs him and traps him under a boulder. Giant-man tries to help, but Wonder Man brings him down with the help of a boulder. Before he goes unconscious, Hank is able to smash the magnet, freeing Iron Man. 

Cap gets ambushed by Zemo with a stun-gun. Iron Man engages Simon, but the Wonder Man is able to beat the Armored Avenger into a mountainside. But the armor is made of stern stuff, and he's able to fight Simon. As this brawl goes on, Simon notes that the Avengers only seem to fight harder when the odds are against them, like being the underdog fuels them. Thing is, he's fighting for his own life (literally), and he must win. Amora makes that happen by putting a sleep spell on the Shellhead.

With the Avengers beaten, Zemo calls for them to be killed. Simon notes that they don't have to. They can just be captives. After all, they beat the Avengers once, they can do it again. Zemo tells Simon not to question him, as he can keep the ionic man alive. Simon thinks back to when the Avengers tried to help him. They did it without asking for anything in return, not because they wanted to have something over him. He was just simply someone in need, and they had the resources to try and help. This seems to spark a realization in the future Avenger.

This inspires Simon to embrace his inner hero. He destroys the ray machine that Zemo intended to use to execute the Avengers. He then moves to free Thor and gets tackled by the Executioner. Zemo activates a self-destruct device for his lair. The Avengers manage to escape.

The group then find a dying Wonder Man. Tony asks him why he betrayed the Masters. Simon tells them that he wanted to do one noble thing before the end. The story ends with Simon seemingly dying in Stark's arms.

I enjoyed this comic. What I found interesting about it was that this whole plot was a done in one issue story. In modern comics, Simon's intended betrayal and eventual heroic sacrifice would be an on-going subplot. Yes, the comic does establish that the events of the story do take place over several days, but it does feel like it was all in a very short time. I also really liked the scene of the Avengers working to help Simon. I've got nothing against the omnidisciplinary scientist trope in fiction, but it's nice to see here that while the Avengers did have a few brainiacs on their team, they are experts in different areas. Donald Blake was a doctor. Hank Pym was a biologist. Tony Stark is an engineer. Makes them seem more unique as characters. And of course, Simon turning out to be a better man than it was thought. 

I do think the dialogue was a bit awkward at times, most notably Tony's last words about Simon being a "mix of good and evil". Also, Don Heck's art comes of a bit...grittier than what was expected of a Silver Age artist. It also really needed the narration to tell what was going on at times. I liked the jealous face he drew for Skurge. Really showed the emotion well. 

It would turn out that reports of Simon's death were greatly exaggerated. Later issues would reveal that Simon was actually in a coma-like state, and that Hank Pym had recorded Simon's brain patterns to hopefully revive him one day...which would be used by Ultron to rebuild the body of Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch into the Vision. Simon's "death" would drive his brother Eric into becoming the villainous Grim Reaper, beginning a years-long grudge against the Avengers. The 1970s would become a heyday for Simon, as he returns to life, fully joins the Avengers (in which he becomes friends with Beast), and has been associated with the group since. You can read more about his history here.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback Avengers Epic Collection Vol. 1: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!