Wonder Man (vol. 2) #22
A Brightly Shining Soul - Hidden Depth Part One
Now
Wonder Man is a prisoner within Mephisto’s realm. The devil wants to force the ionically powered hero into doing his dirty work. However, Simon Williams refuses to allow Mephisto to get his hooks into him as he had his brother Eric, aka the Grim Reaper.[1]
In order to force Wonder Man to do his bidding, Mephisto reveals that he has stolen the soul of Alex Flores and will damn her for all eternity unless he does what is told.[2] When Simon continues to refuse to side with the devil, Mephisto dumps him into a pit filled with demons. As Simon fights for his very soul he thinks back to how he got into this situation…
Earlier
Wonder Man was visiting Alex in the hospital where she has been in a coma since she was seriously injured during the Crazy 8’s fight with Splice and Rampage. Simon blames himself for what happened because Alex and the others only got their powers thanks to his ionic powers flaring out of control and bombarding them all with energy.[3]
That’s when a nurse came in to tell him that visiting hours were over. Leading Simon out of the room, the woman then forced a kiss upon him. As it turned out, the nurse was actually the Enchantress in disguise and she teleported him into a bizarre M.C. Escher type room.[4] The room is filled with recreations of major events from his past. As they passed each one, the Enchantress mocked him for each event starting with his recent roll in MacBeth.[5] They also when Wonder Man went “savage” and fought his comrades in the Avengers West Coast.[6] They also see one of Wonder Man’s many battles with his brother, the Grim Reaper.[7] It’s soon a short jump to when Black Talon resurrected Wonder Man, before finally showing him the time he had seemingly died.[8] Lastly, she showed him the time when Simon was in charge of the family business and helped facilitate his brother’s embezzlement from the company.[9]
This trip down memory lane only served to anger Wonder Man prompting the Enchantress to try and use her powers to charm him. When this doesn’t work, Amora admits that she can’t control someone who is already dead.[10] When Wonder Man struck her, he was then ambushed the Executioners — a former lover of the Enchantress — and something that should be impossible since Skurge is dead.[11] Wonder Man quickly subdued the Executioner but this left him open to the Enchantress to tempt him by taking on the forms of the various women in his life including Ginger Beach, Alex Fores, and the Scarlet Witch.[12]
By that point, Wonder Man had enough and is convinced that this must be a scheme cooked up by Hela, the ruler of the Asgardian underworld. This offended the real mastermind behind this, Mephisto, who came smashing out of the ground in giant size and subdued Wonder Man….
Now
Back on the mortal plane, Ginger and Spider Beach have arrived at the hospital to check on both Alex and Wonder Man. They find no sign of either but the room stinks with the stench of sulfur. That’s when they notice a burn mark on one of the walls and Simon’s Wonder Man costume piled on the floor in front of it. That’s when two cloaked figures enter the room and demand to know where Wonder Man is. The Beach siblings insist that they don’t know what happened to Simon. Eventually, one of the robed beings notices the burn mark on the wall and senses a type of magic that is familiar to him. Telling his compatriot to follow him, the cloaked man beings passing through the wall.
While back in Mephisto’s realm, the demon explains why he wants to use Wonder Man. He says that Simon’s over all apathy and inaction, his choices of cruelty over compassion are useful to him as it promotes the cause of evil. He then orders Wonder Man to put on a flaming necklace as a sign of his subservience to Mephisto. Simon refuses at first but when he is reminded that Alex Flores’ soul will spend eternity in torment if he doesn’t he relents. However, before Mephisto can place the necklace on Wonder Man, it is destroyed by a mystical bolt. This was fired by Mephisto’s son, Blackheart, who has come to challenge his father’s rule once more. This time Blackheart has formed an alliance with the Grim Reaper. Seeing his estranged brother, Wonder Man leaps down and starts fighting his brother as he wishes to destroy Eric once and for all.
However, Wonder Man is stopped dead in his tracks when the Reaper reveals that he has imprisoned the souls of Sanford and Martha Williams, their parents![13]
Recurring Characters
Wonder Man, Mephisto, Blackheart, Grim Reaper, Alex Flores, Ginger Beach, Spider Beach
Continuity Notes
The Grim Reaper is an undead fiend. Having killed himself in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2, he was reanimated as a zombie in Avengers West Coast #65. Up to this point he hadn’t worked with Mephisto directly but the demon Lloigoroth in Avengers #352-354.
Alex Flores was seriously stabbed by Splice in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #20 and has been hospitalized since last issue.
The Crazy 8 got their powers thanks to Simon’s powers flaring out of control in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #11-12.
This isn’t really the Enchantress but an illusion created by Mephisto as we’ll learn in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #25.
Simon was offered a roll in MacBeth in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #18.
Wonder Man has been going through an identity crisis at the time of this story. It was created in part to his powers being altered by a nega-bomb explosion in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9 and a mental probe from Galactus in issue 14. He fought his former teammates in issues #16-18.
The fight between Wonder Man and the Grim Reaper seen here is from Vision and the Scarlet Witch #3.
Wonder Man got his powers from Baron Zemo in Avengers #9. A side effect of the process seemingly killed him without the antidote. However, he was brought back to life and manipulated by Black Talon in Avengers #151-152. Here, the Enchantress states that Wonder Man did indeed die. This refutes Avengers #164, which explains that Simon entered a death-like coma as his body was converted into pure ionic energy. Per the Wonder Man profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #13, this discrepancy is likely part of some manipulation on the part of Mephisto.
Prior to becoming Wonder Man, Simon ran the family company and was caught in an embezzlement scandal, per Avengers #9. However, the statement here that Simon helped his brother is not correct. While the Reaper claimed responsibility for the embezzlement in Avengers #160, Simon later owned up and revealed that he was the one solely responsible as seen in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2. This discrepancy is likely another deception created by Mephisto.
Mention is made of the times in the past the Enchantress used her power to enthrall Wonder Man. These were in Marvel Comics Presents #38-45 and Wonder Man (vol. 2) #2.
At the time of this story the Executioner was counted among the dead. He had sacrificed his life so Thor and his allies could escape during an expedition into Hel as seen in Thor #360-362. This man here is another illusion created by Mephisto.
Wonder Man has a very complicated relationship with all of these women. The details:
Ginger Beach was paired up with him by their agent, Neal Saroyan, back in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1. While Ginger has been attracted to Simon, Williams has frequently been flustered by her as she seems to be only interested in fame and danger.
Alex Flores first met Wonder Man in issue #2, the two grew close and Simon had been attempting to date her since issue #10 because he craved a normal relationship. Unfortunately, his recent identity crisis had prevented anything serious from happening prior to her injury.
The Scarlet Witch: Wonder Man discovered that he loved Wanda after her estranged husband (the android Vision) was disassembled as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. After the Vision abandoned her in Avengers #312, she briefly dated Simon from Avengers West Coast #63 through 69. She decided to cut it off because soon decided that she and Simon could only be friends.
While Sandford Williams died years ago, per West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2, Martha is not. We’ll see that she is alive and well in Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #1. Wonder Man becomes aware that this representation of his mother is false in Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #2. Per the aforementioned Wonder Man profile, the appearance of Martha Williams as a deceased spirit is yet another illusion at play.
