Hidden Depth Part Three - Doing the Nasty

Wonder Man has found himself caught in the middle of a war between Mephisto and his son Blackheart. With the souls of his parents on the line, Simon Williams finds forced to work with Blackheart.[1] That evening, Simon is sent to a movie studio lot where a group of Mephisto’s demons are running amok. Wonder Man easily slaughters the demons but not without trashing a lot of the equipment on site.

As it turns out, this is the studio run by Lotus Newmark and soon she and three of her assistants — including two demons — come to assess the damage.[2] Knowing that Wonder Man is responsible, Lotus decides to seek mystical aid in the coming battle. Using a candle Lotus is able to project her essence into a fire out in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou where Black Talon is engaged in a voodoo ceremony. Lotus tells Black Talon that his abilities are needed to help their master, Mephisto, claim Wonder Man’s soul. The Talon agrees to come to Los Angeles and has been looking forward to this for a very long time.[3] Black Talon then uses his powers to break out more allies to help in their battle against Wonder Man. Using his powers of voodoo, Black Talon then uses his abilities to free both the Man-Ape and Goliath to aid in their war with Wonder Man.[4]

They aren’t the only ones out looking for Wonder Man either. His agent, Neal Saroyan is calling his former landlord Gloria Angel in an attempt to track his client down. Gloria tells Neal that Simon moved out of his apartment some time ago and that she hasn’t seen him since the death of Alex Flores.[5] After hearing about the attack at the movie studio, the Avengers West Coast have also split up into teams to search the city for their erstwhile teammate.[6]

While at the Beach household, Spider is trying to make sense of how Wonder Man keeps appearing in costume even though he threw away one and lost another at the hospital.[7] His sister Ginger tells him that this mystery is the least of their concerns because she just got a letter from the child welfare office. They have become aware of the danger that Spider has been putting himself into and have decided to relinquish custody of the boy from his sister.[8] This deeply upsets Spider who doesn’t want to be put in a foster home either. Ginger then decides that she needs to hide her brother until things blow over. However, when they get to the door they find the Enchantress, Executioner, and Baron Zemo waiting at the door for them.[9]

Elsewhere, a movie exec is racing to his studio after hearing it was attacked by Wonder Man. He is ambushed on the road by the hero, prompting the executive to drop his disguise, revealing himself to be a demon. Simon ends up getting his side slashed open causing him to lose focus of his rage. Luckily, the Grim Reaper is there to fend off the monster while his brother recovers. After they kill the monster, Simon tries to convince his brother to renounce Blackheart and re-embrace his humanity.[10] The Grim Reaper refuses to do anything of the sort and the two start trading blows.[11] The fight is soon broken up by Blackheart and the spirits of Simon’s parents. Wonder Man renounces them and refuses to accept that his destiny is in fighting Mephisto alongside them all. When Wonder Man takes off, the spirit of Martha Williams tells the others to let him go, as he’ll soon be back once he discovers that he has no where to turn.

At that same time, Gloria Angel has gone to the Flores home to try and comfort Jamie. However, the young girl is still mourning the death of her mother and still blames Wonder Man for what happened. After Gloria leaves, Wonder Man arrives and apologizes to Jamie for everything that happened. That’s when the Beast arrives as well and tells Simon that he has come up with some theories regarding Simon’s death and resurrection and how the dead hand given to him by the Grim Reaper could hold the key to unlocking the secrets behind who and what Wonder Man really is.[12][13]

Meanwhile, the Enchantress has banished the Beach siblings to another dimension. With them out of the way, she uses her magic to take on the appearance of Ginger in the hopes that she can trick Wonder Man with her feminine wiles. However, this plan is quickly quashed by the arrival of Black Talon, Man-Ape, and Goliath who suggests they form an alliance as the new Masters of Evil.

Recurring Characters

Wonder Man, Mephisto, Lotus Newmark, Grim Reaper, Blackheart, Beast, Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, “Mockingbird”, US Agent, War Machine), Neal Saroyan, Gloria Angel, Ginger Beach, Spider Beach, Jamie Flores, Man-Ape, Goliath, Black Talon

Continuity Notes

1. While Sandhurst Williams did indeed die many years ago (per West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2), Martha Williams is actually still alive as we’ll see in Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #1. The woman posing as Marth Williams in this story is either an impostor or an illusion created by either Mephsito or Blackheart to manipulate Wonder Man. Wonder Man becomes aware that this representation of his mother is false in Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #2. This is all explained in the Wonder Man profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #13.

2. This woman is unlikely to be the real Lotus Newmark and is an impostor that is part of the grand manipulations. The real Lotus fled Los Angeles after her Armed Response program was subject to a damaging expose by the Crazy 8, as seen in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #19-21. The Lotus Newmark profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8. This appears to be supported by omission during a retelling of Lotus’ past exploits in Marvels (vol. 2) #6.

3. After Wonder Man seemingly died in Avengers #9, he was briefly resurrected as a zombie by Black Talon in Avengers #151 until he broke free and regained control of himself in the following issue.

4. Goliath has had a specific mad-on for Wonder Man since he was defeated by the hero back in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1.

5. Wonder Man moved out of his apartment in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #18. Alex has appeared to have died last issue, however she’ll be brought back to life next issue.

6. The woman who appears to be Mockingbird is actually a Skrull spy who took Bobbi’s place circa Avengers West Coast #91, as revealed in New Avengers: The Reunion #2.

7. Wonder Man gave Alex his costume in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #18 when he decided that he was quitting the superhero biz. Simon lost a second costume in issue #22. Issue #25 reveals that Simon’s control over his ionic powers is so great he can use these powers to alter his appearance and clothing. He has been subconsciously willing his costume into existence as he needed it.

8. As explained in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #13, Ginger convinced the child welfare office to let her take custody of her brother after their mother ran out on them. Spider has been regularly putting himself in danger since he was hired to be Wonder Man’s sidekick in issue #3 and his getting super-powers in issue #11-12 and forming the Crazy 8 from issues #19-21.

9. These are not the real Zemo, Enchantress, or Executioner. As we’ll learn next issue, they are impostors/illusions created by Mephisto. This is especially true for the original Baron Zemo who died in Avengers #15 and the Executioner who died in Thor #360-362.

10. The Grim Reaper has been a reanimated ghoul after committing suicide in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2 and being resurrected as a zombie in Avengers West Coast #65.

11. Gloria Angel, aka Glamour Girl, suddenly appears in the middle of Wonder Man’s battle with the Grim Reaper. This is Gloria’s past self who time jumped to this battle in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #19.

12. The Beast mentions that he has been examining a new illness that has been plaguing the mutant community. He is referring to the Legacy Virus which was unleashed in X-Force #18. Hank will eventually develop a cure in Uncanny X-Men #390.

13. Hank is referring to the time that Wonder Man seemingly died as a result of a side effect that gave him his powers in Avengers #9. Simon was restored to life in Avengers #151. Although this story posits the idea that Simon actually died and came back from the dead, this contradicts Avengers #164 which states that Williams didn’t actually die, but was metamorphosizing into a being of ionic energy. The aforementioned Wonder Man profile states that these discrepancies are all part of Mephisto/Blackheart’s manipulations of Wonder Man.

Topical References

• The TV in Ginger’s house is depicted as a CRT model. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.

Errors

• The Baron Zemo in this story is supposed to be Heinrich Zemo, the Nazi scientist from World War II. However, the artist has drawn him to resemble his son Helmet, who succeeded him as Baron Zemo in Captain America #275.