Avengers (vol. 3) #11
…Always an Avenger!
After visiting her mentor, Agatha Harkness, the Scarlet Witch returns to Avengers Mansion. Rather than finding her teammates celebrating after the Avengers Day parade, she discovers the reanimated corpses of previously deceased Avengers trashing the place and tormenting Jarvis.[1] Wanda tries to prepare a magical hex to take down her foes, but she is ambushed by Hellcat from behind and is knocked out.
Meanwhile, in Central Park, the Grim Reaper has sealed off the area with a mystical barrier so he can torment the Avengers — Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Vision, Justice, and Firestar — uninterrupted.[2] The Reaper rants and raves about his past, recounting how his abusive father favored his brother Simon over him as a child. While Eric went on to become a criminal, Simon took over the family company. This led to an embezzlement scandal that Simon was guilty of, but Eric got the blame. Shortly after that, Simon was propositioned by Baron Zemo and transformed into Wonder Man to destroy the Avengers. Simon seemingly died at that time, leading to Eric becoming the Grim Reaper to avenge his death. However, Simon miraculously returned to life and joined the Avengers and became a hero in his own right. Eric soon died and came back just like his brother, as a twisted mockery of life. When Simon died again and was being restored to life for brief periods, this also somehow restored Eric to some semblance of life as well. However, he was trapped in the netherworld and raged over his imprisonment, but the barrier between life and death weakened enough to allow the Grim Reaper to rise again. Using the life essences of dead Avengers as his minions, the Grim Reaper has now returned to make Hell on Earth.[3]
The Vision, who is only present as a holographic projection, tries to reason with his “brother” Eric.[4] However, the Grim Reaper refuses to listen and finally shatters the holographic projector allowing the android to be present.[5] With the Vision now gone, the Grim Reaper proceeds with his plan to make the Avengers suffer. Outside the barrier, Stuntmaster and Chili Storm — the television commentators for the Avengers Day celebration — continue providing live updates of the situation in Central Park.[6] There, other heroes such as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Daredevil attempt to breach the mystical barrier with little success.
Back at the mansion, the Scarlet Witch has been tried to a chair and is now being taunted by the undead Avengers. Remembering what Agatha Harkness told her about her connection to Wonder Man, she reaches out to him with her hex powers to try and free him of the Grim Reaper’s control. He senses what she is trying to do and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t stop. However, Wanda knows that deep down Simon actually loves her and calls his bluff. Wonder Man realizes he cannot bring himself to strike her and before she can get him to free her. He and the other members of the Legion of the Unliving then head back to Central Park. The moment they are gone, Agatha Harkness emerges from the shadows just as Wanda is freeing herself. While the Scarlet Witch wants to head to Central Park and save her friends, the old witch tells her that her place is here, at the mansion.
Meanwhile, the gathered heroes continue to try to breach the barrier with little success. Stuntmaster tries to take matters into his own hands by trying to ram his flying motorcycle into the barrier as well, but it doesn’t work either. Moments later, the Legion of the Unliving pass through the barrier with no resistance. However, rather than attacking the Avengers, the undead heroes free the Grim Reaper’s captivates instead. Wonder Man tells his brother he failed because the Avengers are first and foremost heroes. Suddenly, the undead heroes revert back to living flesh and blood. Furious over being denied his revenge, the Grim Reaper summons a horde of demons to fight in his stead. The Avengers, and their resurrected allies then leap into battle willing to fight to the death once more if need be.
While at the mansion, Agatha Harkness tells Wanda that the only way to win this battle is to finally admit that she too loves Simon Williams and allow herself to have those feelings. Using her mystical powers to view the battle remotely, Wanda then concentrates on her past feelings about Simon.[7] As she begins to feel her emotions finally coming forward, her powers draw Simon back to the mansion. In that same moment, the resurrected Avengers are transported back to the afterlife. Thunderstrike tells Thor to find his son and tell him that he loves him, while Mockingbird tries to get the Wasp to pass a message on to Hawkeye but vanishes before she can tell it.[8] This however, still doesn’t sever the connection between Simon and Eric as it will remain in place as long as there is hatred and pain in his heart.
However, the Scarlet Witch has drawn Wonder Man back to the mansion where he appears in physical form for the first time since his death many months earlier. Wanda comforts Simon and tells him its all over. However, Williams still needs to deal with his brother. Reaching through the portal to Central Park, Simon pulls his brother through and tells him that he loves him. This puts an abrupt end to the battle and an insane — but alive — Grim Reaper is then turned over to mental health professionals. The Avengers are glad that Eric Williams is finally getting the help he needs and that they have Simon back. However, this isn’t pleasant for everyone as the Vision stands silently watching as his former wife and Wonder Man snuggle on the touch together.[9]
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Justice, Firestar), Grim Reaper, Legion of the Unliving (Wonder Man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Druid, Hellcat, “Mockingbird”, Swordsman, Thunderstrike), Spider-Man, Daredevil, Agatha Harkness, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Edwin Jarvis, Stuntmaster, Chili Storm, Megan McLaren, Ebony
Continuity Notes
The facts regarding these dead Avengers are as follows:
Wonder Man was killed fighting the Kree in Force Works #1. Although he has been briefly brought back to life on occasion by the Scarlet Witch since Avengers (vol. 3) #2, the Grim Reaper (Simon’s brother) turned him and the other dead Avengers into his zombified Legion of the Unliving last issue.
The Swordsman: The first Avenger to die in battle, he sacrificed his life trying to save Mantis from Kang the Conqueror back in Giant-Size Avengers #2.
Captain Marvel: Long time Avengers ally, Mar-Vell died of cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.
Mockingbird: Bobbi Morse was believed to have died during a battle with Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #100. In reality, that was a Skrull spy who took her place circa Avengers West Coast #91. This won’t be revealed until Secret Invasion #8 and New Avengers: The Reunion #2. Presumably, the Mockingbird seen here is the Skrull spy still posing as Bobbi.
Doctor Druid: Was killed by Nekra who shot him with the mystical Breathing Gun back in Druid #4.
Hellcat: aka Patsy Walker, she was driven insane by her husband Hellstrom and committed suicide in Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #14.
Thunderstrike: aka Eric Masterson, he sacrificed his life in Thunderstrike #21 to break the curse of the Blood Axe.
Here, Justice is concerned about Iron Man’s condition given his recent injuries. Tony Stark got the shit kicked out of him by the Espionage Elite, see Iron Man (vol. 3) #8-10.
Whoof, there is a lot of exposition about Eric and Simon Williams here, aka the Grim Reaper and Wonder Man. Let’s parse it all, shall we?:"
Simon and Eric’s abusive childhoods were explored in some detail in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2, Avengers West Coast #65, and Wonder Man (vol. 2) #25.
Simon Williams was busted for embezzlement in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17 and had to face the music in Avengers #9, the same story where he became Wonder Man and seemingly died battling the Avengers.
It’s later explained in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2 that, while Eric Williams took the blame for it, Simon was indeed guilty. In later years, Wonder Man’s guilt over his past crime led to him making a public statement admitting his wrong doing in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4.
Way before any of that, Wonder Man was resurrected in Avengers #150-151. It was later determined in issue #165 that he didn’t actually die. Instead, the ionic process that gave him his powers put him a death-like state while his body transformed into pure ionic energy.
While Simon was “dead”, Eric became the Grim Reaper and frequently attacked the Avengers starting in issue #52. Even when Simon returned from the dead, he continued attacking the team, believing that Simon was not his brother due to his superhuman transformation.
Eventually, Wonder Man would confront his brother and force Eric to see the truth about their past. Horrified by what he had done, he committed suicide in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2. He wouldn’t remain that way for long as his lover Nekra resurrected him as an undead zombie in issue #12 of that series. It is in this form that the Grim Reaper continues to terrorize the Avengers until he ran afoul of and was banished to the nether realm by the demon Lloigoroth in Avengers #352-354.
The Vision’s body was seriously damaged during a battle with Morgan le Fay in Avengers (vol. 3) #3 requiring extensive and lengthy repairs. He has been appearing as a holographic projection ever since. His body will finally be repaired next issue.
The Grim Reaper denounces the Vision as his brother. This too is a complicated set of circumstances:
Following Simon’s “death” in Avengers #9, his brain engrams were used to create a personality of the Vision as seen in Avengers #56-57 and 134-135.
There was even a period in time when the Reaper thought of the Vision as his brother and offered to transfer his living mind in the body of then then thought to be deceased Wonder Man circa Avengers #102 and 106-108.
When Simon came back from the dead, there was an uncomfortable period where he got used to the fact that the Vision had a copy of his own mind and personality. The two came to terms with this and he was accepted as a member of the Williams family in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2/Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2.
A short time later, the Vision was kidnapped by an organization called Vigilance who wiped out his mind and disassembled him. Although the Avengers were able to rebuild the Vision and restore his memories, the brain engrams of Simon Williams were unable to be recovered leaving him emotionless. Wonder Man refused to provide the engrams a second time because of his love for the Scarlet Witch. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45.
From there, the Vision regained his capacity for emotion after receiving the brain engrams of Alex Lipton in Avengers Spotlight #40. Later, he was infected with a virus in Vision #1-4 that saw his Simon Williams and Alex Lipton personas clash. The Vision purged the virus and, according to his profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #13, the Alex Lipton persona went dormant with the Simon Williams one becoming the norm.
Stuntmaster and Chili fear that they might lose the Avengers again after so recently getting them back. They are referring to how, recently, the Avengers seemed to sacrifice their lives to stop Onslaught. In reality, they were transported to a pocket dimension by Franklin Richards where they lived out new lives for a brief period before they were found and brought back to their proper reality. See Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1, Avengers (vol. 2) #1-13, and Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.
Wanda pulls up a number of memories of the past that relate to her and Wonder Man. They are: A time the pair went shopping for Christmas gifts in Avengers #157, Simon’s battle with Count Nefaria where he overcame his fear of death in Avengers #165, and when Wonder Man gathered firewood for Wanda during their battle with Morgan le Fay in Avengers (vol. 3) #3.
Bobbi’s message to Hawkeye is to help Daimon Hellstrom free his wife Patsy Walker from Hell because she is being used by Mephisto to try and kill him. See Thunderbolts Annual 2000 and Avengers Annual 2000.
Yet another complex series of events. See, the Vision and Scarlet Witch were married in Giant-Size Avengers #4. However, they became estranged after the Vision was disassembled and put back together. Although he has had his capacity for emotion restored, the Vision has been pushing Wanda away since Avengers (vol. 3) #4, believing that she’d be happier without him.
