Avengers #160
…The Trial!
After their battle with Graviton, a number of the Avengers have departed for personal business. Iron Man is flying the Whizzer back to the hospital so he can be treated for his heart condition,[1] while Yellowjacket and the Wasp are heading back to Hank’s lab, Thor is departing on his own business agreeing to take Captain America to SHIELD headquarters along the way.[2] This leaves the Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast, and Wonder Man behind to hold the fort.
The Black Panther can’t help but notice that both Wonder Man and the Beast are preoccupied with their thoughts. Wonder Man is concerned about his recent resurrection, while the Beast is thinking back to his days with the X-Men.[3] That’s when the Beast remembers that he was going to clean up the lab. However, when he races there someone strikes him with enough force to send him flying out. The other Avengers race in and discover that the Grim Reaper has broken into their headquarters again.
Wonder Man instantly recognizes the Grim Reaper’s voice as that of his brother, Eric Williams, and asks what’s going on. The Black Panther explains that the Reaper blamed the Avengers for Simon’s “death” and has attacked them on a number of occasions.[4] The Vision goes on to say that Eric also believed the Vision to be his brother since he was created using Simon’s brain engrams and once offered to transfer his mind in to a living body.[5] When the Avengers try attacking the intruder, the Reaper uses the weapons built into his sythe to knock them all out. When they wake up, the Avengers find themselves seated at their meeting table. Each one is wearing a set of bracelets that will lethally electrocute them unless they do exactly as he says.
Eric wants to put on a mock trail to find out who is truly his brother: Wonder Man or the Vision. Once he has made his decision, he will allow one to live and kill the other. To act as a defense in this kangaroo court, the Reaper picks the Black Panther.
The first begin questioning the Vision and have him recount his origins. The Vision explains how he was created by Ultron using the remains of the original android Human Torch of the 40s and 50s. He Also details how his original mind and personality were overwritten with the brain patterns taken of Wonder Man’s mind before his “death”.[6] When the Reaper questions the Vision, he asks about the time he offered him a human body. The Vision recounts how Eric offered up the body of Captain America and that he agreed to the mind transfer. The Reaper also recounts how during the later battle between the Avengers and Hydra, the Vision risked his own life to protect Eric from getting shot by his would-be ally, the Space Phantom.
Although the Reaper rests his case, the Black Panther presses the Vision to explain things further. The Vision reveals, much to everyone’s relief, that he only agreed to go along with this plan to distract the Grim Reaper so Captain America — who was hiding in the room at the time — could attack.[7] The Panther goes on to say that the Vision is a different man than the Reaper thinks he is, telling how the Vision later went on to marry the Scarlet Witch.[8] Revealing himself to be a bigot, the Reaper cannot believe his brother would marry a mutant.[9] When the Black Panther rests his case, Wanda worries that the Grim Reaper will kill the Vision. However, the android insists on being his own entity and not a carbon copy of Simon Williams and is willing to die for his own identity.
The Reaper then calls Wonder Man to the stand and orders him to explain his origins. He tells everyone that he was once Simon Williams and after getting in trouble with the law he agreed to undergo a process created by Baron Zemo to gain super-human powers. In exchange for this power, he was to destroy the Avengers. When Eric insists that the Avengers were responsible for his death, Simon corrects him by saying that Zemo was responsible.[10] From there, Simon doesn’t remember what happened. All he knows is that someone stole his body and the voodoo parctitioner known as Black Talon brought him back to life as a zombie. This was all part of a plan by the Living Laser to get the Serpent Crown. Although Wonder Man helped the Avengers defeat the Laser, he still doesn’t know how he came back to life.[11]
The Reaper wants to believe that his brother is alive, however the Black Panther isn’t convinced as he cannot believe a man can cheat death. He also notes that his jungle senses have caused him to feel an unease around Simon the whole time. Now that someone else knows, Simon admits that there is something different about him. He then removes his goggles to reveal that his eyes have been replaced with glowing energy. That’s when the Vision points out that the Simon Williams that Eric is looking for no longer exists and now the android and Wonder Man are more brothers than Eric and Simon ever were. This angers the Reaper who blasts the Vision with his scythe. Deciding that the trial is over, the Reaper tries to execute the Avengers.
However, Simon refuses to let his friends die and attacks his own brother. The Reaper tries to fend off his brother with his weapons but Wonder Man shrugs them all off and knocks Eric out with a single punch. While the Avengers are greatful for the save, Wonder Man asks to be alone for a moment so he can contemplate everything that has just happened.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, the Vision, the Beast, Wonder Man), Whizzer, Grim Reaper
Continuity Notes
Iron Man feels like a hypocrite harping over the Whizzer’s heart condition. The Whizzer has had heart problems since Giant-Size Avengers #1. Tony Stark had his own heart troubles when an explosive put the shrapnel in his heart in Tales of Suspense #39. He ignored his medical condition to be Iron Man for years until he got a transplant in Iron Man #19.
Thor’s appearance here, as explained in Avengers #175, was due to the machinations of the Collector. He has been pulling Thor out of time to assist the Avengers to protect them until he could put them all in his collection in order to prevent their destruction at the hands of Korvac. Thor would be put back to his proper time and place with no memory of being pulled out of time. At the time of this story, Thor is in the middle of the so-called Quest for Odin that takes place in Thor #255-266.
The Beast was a founding member of the X-Men circa X-Men #1. He later quit the team to work for the Brand Corporation in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #10. After this he joined the Avengers in Avengers #137.
The Grim Reaper first attacked the Avengers on the same day the Black Panther first joined the Avengers in Avengers #52.
The Grim Reaper began offering the Vision a human body in Avengers #102.
The details of the Vision’s origins were told in Avengers #57-58 and 133-135.
The Grim Reaper’s team-up with the Space Phantom took place in Avengers #106-107.
The Vision and Scarlet Witch got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4.
Although the Scarlet Witch is referred to as a mutant here, she actually isn’t. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, she was actually experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover his tracks he made it so that future genetic tests would have Wanda register as a mutant.
The creation of Wonder Man happened in Avengers #9. What is not explained here is that the process that gave him his powers was apparently killing him slowly unless Zemo gave him the antidote. Instead of destroying the Avengers, Simon turned on Zemo and died a hero, or that’s how it seemed at the time.
Wonder Man’s resurrection, the battles with Black Talon and the Living Laser all took place in Avengers #151-153 and Avengers Annual #5. It won’t be revealed until Avengers #164 that Simon didn’t really die but entered an inert state as his body underwent a metamorphosis into a being of pure ionic energy.
