Wonder Man

Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, has just landed a role on Secret Hospital, one of the most popular daytime soap operas.[1] However, his big scene is ruined when he loses his concentration, and his eyes start glowing red. Although he is able to will his eyes to return to normal, he is fired from the job because reshoots are expensive.[2] Going to get his things out of his dressing room, Simon loses his temper and accidentally puts a hole in the wall. He quickly sneaks out hoping nobody will charge him for the damage, since he no longer takes the monthly stipend he got as a member of the Avengers.

Even though he is strapped for cash, Simon decides to take a cab to Avengers Mansion. Along the way, he thinks about how everything that has happened to his life up to this point. He recalls how he once ran family business but got caught embezzling money from the company. Before his sentencing, Simon’s vulnerable nature was exploited by Baron Zemo who offered to give him power and sent him against the Avengers. As Wonder Man, Simon infiltrated the group in order to destroy them from within. However, he ultimately betrayed Zemo to the Avengers, but he seemingly died shortly thereafter, an apparent side effect of getting his powers.[3]

Simon’s body was later stolen by his insane brother, the Grim Reaper, who blamed the Avengers for his death.[4] He eventually took Simon’s body to the voodoo practitioner known as the Black Talon. The Talon appeared to resurrect Simon as a zombie, however Williams was snapped out of it by the Living Laser and the Serpent Crown.[5] Wonder Man then became a long standing member of the Avengers, and eventually learned that he didn’t really die, but underwent a metamorphosis as his body transformed into a being of ionic energy. During this time, Wonder Man developed a love for acting and after a few minor roles on television, he decided to take a departure from the Avengers to focus on his acting career.[6]

When Wonder Man arrives at the mansion, he is greeted by Ant-Man, who explains that he was helping the Scott Lang in repairing the keycard lock system on the front door. Slipping away to change out of his Ant-Man costume, Scott Lang then lets Wonder Man in and notices that he is down in the dumps. After Simon blows some steam in the training room, Scott decides to tell Williams that Cordco Incorporated is looking for a superhuman to work for their company.[7]

Wonder Man decides to look into this and meets with Cal Oakley, the head of Cordco. He looks forward to hiring Simon on since the company engages in many wild experiments that could be dangerous and having a superhero around might assist should there be any trouble. One of these experiments is being developed by a scientist named Ed Wheetley, who has developed a device that allows him to peer into another dimension. Trying to boost the power to his machine so he can get a better view, Wheetley accidentally opens a portal to this other dimension, unleashing two warring tribes into the lab.

By this time, Wonder Man is being introduced to the head of filed operations, Dulcy Kimble. They soon become aware of the rampaging creatures form another dimension. While everyone tries to stop the monsters, Wonder Man ends the invasion by unplugging the dimensional scanner, shunting the aliens back to their home dimension. To celebrate his first day on the job, Simon then goes out for a beer with the head of security and his dog.

The next day, Wheetly tries to activate his machine again and this time, Cal Oakley is sucked into the other dimension. When Wonder Man is called to lead a rescue mission he gets a distress call from the Avengers. Seeing this as a bigger priority, Simon leaves Dulcy to lead the others into the other dimension while he goes to see what the Avengers want.

The distress call is coming from the East Coast Medical Center where the Avengers have been called to deal with the Sandman. Captain America explains that the Sandman first got his powers by being exposed to radiation on a beach and that he has developed cancer thanks to that experience.[8] The villain came to the medical center to get access to its atomic reactor in the hopes to try and find a cure for himself. However, in doing so, he has caused the carbon rods to start heating up, threatening a melt down. Worse, the Sandman is completely radioactive, making Wonder Man the only one who can go safely inside the reactor and stop the villain before there is an explosion.

Although the Sandman puts up a good fight, Simon manages to defeat the Sandman by spraying him with a hose until he cannot keep himself in human form. Wonder Man then uses the control rods to soak up the Sandman’s radiation. After a later examination, the doctors discover that the Sandman’s cancer has been cured, but unfortunately they won’t be able to replicate the process because they don’t know exactly what happened.

Remembering that he left everyone at Cordco hanging, Simon races back and discovers that Dulcy Kimbel was able to rescue Cal Oakley without his help after all. Realizing now that Simon has larger priorities as a reserve member of the Avengers, Cal says that they can’t continue employing him. Simon takes this on stride, and admits that his 24 hours of employment were pretty wild.

Recurring Characters

Wonder Man, Ant-Man, Cal Oakley, Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, Vision), Sandman

Continuity Notes

1. A footnote here states that this story takes place both Marvel Two-In-One #86 (where the Sandman decides to go straight) and West Coast Avengers #1 (where Wonder Man joins the WCA). Chronologically, this story takes place further back than those two stories. According to the Chronology Project, this story actually takes place prior to Amazing Spider-Man #280-281, when the Sandman was merged with Hydro-Man to become the Mud Thing, the catalyst that led to Sandman wanting to reform from his life of crime.

2. As explained in Avengers #165, Simon’s eyes glow red due to his ionic powers. However, with some effort he can make his eyes return to how they originally looked before he got his powers.

3. Wonder Man’s origins and apparent death all happened in Avengers #9.

4. The Grim Reaper was revealed to have stolen Wonder Man’s corpse in Avengers #102.

5. Wonder Man was transformed into a zombie and his awakening by the Living Laser happened in Avengers #151-153.

6. Wonder Man left the Avengers to focus on his acting in Avengers #211.

7. Here, Scott states that Cordco operated as a subsidiary of Stark International until Tony Stark lost control of the company. At the time of this story, Tony lost his company after a hostile takeover by Obadiah Stane, see Iron Man #162-173.

8. The Sandman’s origins are recounted here as they were originally told in Amazing Spider-Man #4.

Topical References

• The taxi driver in this story is depicted smoking a cigarette on the job. This should be considered a topical reference as the city of New York banned all indoor smoke (including taxis) in 2003.

• The Sandman’s origin, as told here, is exactly the same as the one told in Amazing Spider-Man #4. In that version of the events, Sandman was exposed to radiation while on a beach during an atomic bomb test. This explanation is considered topical. Later retellings of Sandman’s origins update his origins to involve something more likely, such as an atomic reactor exploding, or being exposed to toxic waste.