The Coming of the… Wonder Man!

Captain America concerns his fellow Avengers when he suddenly thinks he sees Baron Zemo in the room. This turns out to be a vivid hallucination brought on by Cap’s growing desire to avenge the death of his wartime partner, Bucky.[1] Unfortunately, this vengeance appears to have been denied when Thor created a space warp to banish the Masters of Evil during their last battle.[2] What they don’t know is at that very moment the Enchantress has used a counter-spell to free herself, the Executioner, and Baron Zemo from the space warp. They materialize over Baron Zemo’s South American hideout. There, Baron Zemo begins coming up with a new scheme to destroy Captain America and the Avengers.

Later, in New York City, inventor Simon Williams has admitted guilt in an embezzlement scheme. As the judge is setting bail, the Enchantress appears to pay it. She has sought Williams out because he blames Stark Industries for his predicament because one of their inventions had rendered his company’s own patents worthless.[3] She then offers him the chance at gaining the power to get revenge if only he agrees to accompany her and the Executioner back to South America.

Meanwhile, the Avengers go about their personal lives unaware of the Masters of Evil’s latest scheme. Iron Man returns to Stark Industries where he faces continued scrutiny from Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, who as suspicious of the hero after Tony Stark’s disappearance.[4] Thor returns to his mortal guise of Doctor Donald Blake so he can attend to his patients. Giant-Man and the Wasp return to Henry Pym’s lab, where Henry is lost in his work. This leaves Captain America alone in Avengers Mansion where he continues to lament the loss of Bucky.

In South America, Baron Zemo begins the process to give Simon Williams superhuman powers. Strapping Williams to a table, Zemo then bombards him with ionic energy. This increases Simon’s mass and musculature increasing his strength and making him invulnerable to harm. To test this, Baron Zemo has the Executioner to shoot Williams with a gun to prove that he is now bulletproof. Zemo then gives Simon a costume and calls him Wonder Man and reveals that he will help defeat the Avengers by infiltrating the group and destroy them from within. They then go outside where Wonder Man demonstrates his strength and tests out the jet pack built into his belt. After Wonder Man defeats the Executioner in hand-to-hand combat, Baron Zemo then reveals that the process that gave Williams his power is also slowly killing him and he will be dead in 24 hours. Zemo has the antidote, but will only give it to Simon after he follows through with their plan. This is done to ensure his loyalty.

Later, the Masters of Evil stage a bank robbery in order to draw out the Avengers. When the heroes arrive, Wonder Man arrives to lend a hand. Once the Masters of Evil have escaped, Wonder Man — as Zemo planned — is offered membership in the Avengers. When they return to the mansion, they ask Wonder Man how he got his powers. Wonder Man claims that he was a victim of Baron Zemo’s experiments and escaped captivity. Captain America however, is suspicious once he hears this. Observing from afar, the Masters of Evil fear that Captain America might blow Wonder Man’s cover. Luckily, the Enchantress is able to cast a spell of suggestion where Captain America becomes aware that Wonder Man is dying and he needs the Avengers help to cure him.

Since three of the Avengers are all scientific experts in various fields they all get to work. Soon, Henry Pym, Tony Stark, and Donald Blake are all working around the clock to try and find a cure. The Teen Brigade also pitch in by fetching medical texts for the group.[5] While the group is occupied, Wonder Man kidnaps the Wasp and brings her back to Zemo’s hideout in South America.[6] They then issue a challenge to the Avengers to come and rescue her. Each of the other Avengers arrives under their own, but they are all defeated by Wonder Man. However, Wonder Man soon comes to realize that what he is doing is wrong, particularly since the Avengers went out of their way to try and save his life when they learned he was dying. Wonder Man then betrays the Masters of Evil by freeing the Avengers. In the ensuing battle, the Masters escape once again, and, as the 24 hour period elapses, Wonder Man collapses to the ground. The Avengers are by his side to hear his final words. Wonder Man is glad that he was able to do at least one noble thing in his life to make up for all the evil he had done. When Wonder Man dies in Iron Man’s arms, the Avengers come to terms with the fact that even with all their powers they can’t save everyone.[7]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp), Wonder Man, Masters of Evil (Baron Zemo, Enchantress, Executioner), Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Jane Foster, Teen Brigade

Continuity Notes

1. Captain America blames Bucky’s alleged death on Baron Zemo. This is because Bucky was blown up trying to disarm a bomb on a drone plane launched by the villain in 1945, as seen in Avengers #4. However, years later, Cap will learn that Bucky survived and was brainwashed by the Russians into becoming the assassin called the Winter Soldier. See Captain America (vol. 5) #14.

2. Thor used a space warp to banish the Masters of Evil in Avengers #7.

3. For more on Simon William’s legal problems, see West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2, Avengers West Coast #65 Wonder Man (vol. 2) #25, Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17, Avengers (vol. 3) #11 and 23.

4. When his chest plate could not longer handle the strain of keeping the shrapnel from his heart on its own, Tony Stark was forced to wear his Iron Man armor 24/7. Since Pepper and Happy don’t know Tony’s double identity, they began suspecting foul play. This began in Tales of Suspense #59. Stark will upgrade his chest plate to get out of this situation in issue #63 of that series.

5. Although it is not revealed here, Giant-Man makes a copy of Wonder Man’s brain. These patterns are later used to give the Vision his personality as we’ll see in Avengers #135.

6. How Wonder Man captures the Wasp is not detailed in this story. How this happened is finally detailed in Avengers Classic #9.

7. Wonder Man doesn’t actually die here but enters a state of suspended animation as his body is transformed into pure ionic energy. He will resurface again in Avengers #131.

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: Fred Astaire