Hidden Depth Part 4: A Man Reborn!

Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, has found himself caught in the middle of a war between Mephisto and Blackheart. During some downtime, Simon’s friend the Beast has made some discoveries about Simon’s powers. Through concentration, Simon is able to will his thumb nail to grow in length. Hank explains that Simon’s ionic powers have given him total control over his body and appearance. Through sheer force of will Wonder Man is able to purge himself of the deceased hand given to him by his evil brother, the Grim Reaper.[1]

Jamie Flores can hardly believe it and the Beast explains that this was a process that occurred when Baron Zemo first turned Simon into Wonder Man. His body underwent this change during the period everyone believed he was dead.[2] Jamie wonders if the magic at play right now could also potentially bring her mother, Alex Flores, back to life.[3] The Beast also wants to know what a Williams family secret regarding Simon’s parents has to do with all of this. This makes Wonder Man remember a painful memory but dismisses it and the questions, saying it doesn’t matter now that both of his parents are dead.[4]

Before the Beast can press the issue, the Masters of Evil — Baron Zemo, the Enchantress, Executioner, Black Talon, Man-Ape, and Goliath — all come crashing in through the wall.[5] Seeing Zemo and the Executioner walking around convinces Wonder Man that someone is toying with him since Zemo is dead. After smashing in the head of the fake Zemo, he then clashes with Goliath who has been looking for a rematch with Wonder Man for some time now.[6] Unable to match Wonder Man one-on-one at normal height, Goliath uses his growing power to increase his size. Surprisingly, Wonder Man is able to mimic this ability thanks to his new understanding of his powers. Goliath refuses to allow Wonder Man to beat him at his own game and begins increasing his size beyond his usual limits. This backfires on him as Goliath’s body loses cohesion and he eventually ends up dissolving into electromagnetic particles.[7] Wonder Man is deeply disturbed by this and sees how one man’s madness can lead to their own destruction and wonders why this hasn’t happened to him yet.

He gets his head back in the game when he sees that the Beast is having a hard time with the phony Executioner. By this time, Jamie Flores has gone into her dream form and this allows her to see through the magic at work. Instead of the Enchantress and the Executioner, she sees two Mephistos and reveals that this is all an illusion. Wonder Man fights back against his attackers, channeling his powers in such a way that he can produce flames. This sears through the illusions and realizing that his deception has been exposed, Mephisto disappears. This leaves the Black Talon as the only villain left standing. When Wonder Man confronts him, the Talon explains that he has always sought power through Mephisto and that this was his motivations for reviving Wonder Man all those years ago.[8]

The Black Talon then teleports himself, Wonder Man, and the Beast to Mephisto’s realm. There they are welcomed by Lotus Newmark who is sitting on Mephisto’s lap. She explains that she has been the mastermind behind all the events that led Wonder Man down his path of despair being responsible for his battles with Goliath, Rampage, Angkor, the mastermind behind the Armed Response conspiracy, and the one who got him the role in MacBeth to pull him away from his friends.[9] The Beast demands to know why Mephisto is so dead set on claiming Wonder Man’s soul. The demon explains that he subsists on souls and claiming the soul of an immortal like Wonder Man would be a source of undreamed power.

Elsewhere, Blackheart and the Grim Reaper grow impatient as they were expecting Wonder Man to return to them. The spirits of Simon and Eric’s mother assures them that he will return because Simon is a good boy who wouldn’t turn on family. Still, they decide to go to the Flores house to see what’s going on. Teleporting there, they find the house in ruins and only the Man-Ape in the rubble. Reviving the Man-Ape, he tells Blackheart that Wonder Man has been transported to Mephisto’s realm. This makes Blackheart furious and decides that it is finally time to attack his father’s domain.

Meanwhile, Jamie’s dream form appears at the home of Gloria Angel and she asks her to help reunite the Crazy 8 since Wonder Man is in trouble. Gloria agrees to contact LaHoya Scripps, Audnray, Phelps, and Argus LaVecchio, however she doesn’t know where to reach Ginger and Spider Beach. Jamie decides to go looking for them and tracking their auras she is able to cross over into the dimension that they were banished to by the “Enchantress”. They plead with Jamie to get them out of there but Jamie suddenly sense the presence of her mother.

Back in Hell, Blackheart and his followers appear before Mephisto who unleashes a horde of demons to fend them off. Wonder Man also decides to join the fight. Breaking free from his bonds he takes on the form of a demon since that’s what they all see him as anyway. With Wonder Man using his full power, Black Talon needs to make a human sacrifice to have the strength to fight back. Mephisto offers her Lotus Newmark as this sacrifice and although she pleads with Mephisto to spare her, Talon kills her without mercy.[10]

By this time, Jamie Flores finds her mother who is trapped in a sphere made of impenetrable brick. Knowing that Wonder Man is strong enough to free Alex, Jamie travels to Mephisto’s realm and tells him of her discovery. Hearing that Alex might still be alive is enough to snap Simon back to human form and he demands that Mephisto free his prisoner. Mephisto then reveals that it was Blackheart who took Alex’s soul, not him. This leads to a clash between Wonder Man and the Grim Reaper. It’s here that Simon is forced to confront the memories of the past that he has refused to accept.

He is made to remember how his brother Eric was always considered a bad seed while Simon himself was always praised by his parents. One night, Simon’s mother came into his room and the two made a secret pact that Simon would always look out for his brother and keep him out of trouble. Not long after that, Eric was playing around with chemicals in the garage and accidentally started a house fire. While Simon and Eric made it out alive, his parents did not. Simon blamed himself for the death of his parents because of the promise he made to his mother. Remembering all of this, Simon realizes that he has been led his entire life since then, by allowing Eric to convince him to embezzle from the family company.[11] By allowing Zemo to transform him into Wonder Man. By allowing the Avengers to push him into becoming a hero. Simon now realizes that he hasn’t been his own man for such a long time and is probably the reason why he got into acting to being with.

When the Grim Reaper points out that the times that Simon tried to act on his own it ended up going badly. Like when he attempted to stop the nega-bomb that caused countless deaths in the Kree galaxy and how that explosion also destabilized his powers. This led to Wonder Man accidentally bombarding his friends and neighbors with ionic energy. While this gave them super-powers this also resulted in Alex Flores getting seriously injured.[12] Simon admits that these tragedies did happen but none of them were his fault and that Eric wasn’t at fault for the fire that caused the death of their parents. This gets through to Eric and when Mephisto tries to blast Wonder Man from behind, the Reaper pushes his brother out of the way and takes it instead. Simon cradles his brother in his arms as he dies and tells him that he chose to be a hero.[13] This also makes Simon remember why it was he became a hero and why he needs to fight for justice.

Wonder Man confronts Blackheart and demands that he stop tormenting his parents spirts. The demon complies by letting them fade into oblivion. He then brings back Alex Flores to him. Simon then convinces Alex to use her illusion casting powers to make it seem like Hela — the Asgardian queen of the damned — has appeared in Mephisto’s realm. This creates enough of a distraction for Blackheart to ambush his father. While the two demons are distracted, Wonder Man then forces Black Talon to transport him, Alex, and the Beast back to Earth. Simon and Alex are reunited with Jamie and Simon promises to give his relationship with Alex another shot. All of the other members of the Crazy 8 are there as well and Simon is able to draw back the ionic energies he bombarded them with, taking away their powers. Wonder Man is almost ready to start his life all over again but first he is going to bury his brother. He surprises everyone when he flies away under his own power, something Wonder Man hasn’t been able to do until now. Once he is gone, Spider Beach confronts Jamie with the fact that she didn’t give up all of her ionic power. He tells her that neither did he, and suggests that they continue fighting crime.[14]

Later, Wonder Man has a brand new outlook and mission in life. He will become a hero again and defend those in need. He has even created a new costume for himself which utilizes the infinity symbol — one that he hasn’t used since he first his first costume — to signify his eternal devotion to good.

Recurring Characters

Wonder Man, Beast, Mephisto, Blackheart, Lotus Newmark, Black Talon, Grim Reaper, Alex Flores, Jamie Flores, Gloria Angel, Ginger Beach, Spider Beach, Aundray Phelps, Argus LaVecchio, LaHoya Scripps

Continuity Notes

1. Wonder Man had his hand incinerated in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #23. The Grim Reaper replaced it with one of his own.

2. I am going to be so happy to stop having to write about this: Zemo gave Wonder Man his powers in Avengers #9. The process had a side effect that would seemingly kill Simon if he did not get the antidote in time. He did not and appeared to die. In reality, he was in a death like state until Avengers #151. Issue #164 of that series explains that Wonder Man didn’t actually die but went into a metamorphic stage as his body was converted into pure ionic energy. This is contradicted in this story where it is stated that Wonder Man actually died. This has since been dismissed as manipulations by Mephisto and/or Blackheart as evidenced in the Wonder Man profile of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #13.

3. Alex was seriously injured by Splice in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #20. After being hospitalized she seemingly died in issue #23. She will be brought back to life at the end of this issue.

4. This story presents the idea that both of Simon’s parents were killed in a house fire started by his brother Eric. This actually proves to be a false memory created by Mephisto and/or Blackheart. Simon’s father Sandford did indeed die when Simon was younger as revealed in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2, but his mother is alive and well. The woman posing as his mother in this story is an impostor or an illusion of some kind. We’ll see that Martha Williams 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.

5. Zemo, the Enchantress, and the Executioner are all impostors/illusions created by Mephisto. Especially in the case of Zemo and the Executioner who died in Avengers #15 and Thor #360-362 respectively.

6. Goliath was defeated in a fight against Wonder Man in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1.

7. This is not the end of Goliath, who manages to reconstitute himself. He will turn up again in Marvel Comics Presents #137.

8. The Black Talon is referring to the time that he “resurrected” Wonder Man as a zombie in Avengers #151. He was freed from Black Talon’s control in the following issue.

9. Per the Lotus Newmark profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8, this might not be the real Lotus Newmark but yet another illusion. This is because she is claiming responsibility for things in direct contradiction of the events of the stories she is referencing. These are:

   • Wonder Man’s battle with Goliath in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1. This was set up by Simon’s agent Neal Saroyan in a misguided attempt to boost Simon’s popularity. Lotus had no involvement with the incident.

   • Wonder Man’s battle with Rampage took place in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #5-6. This battle was instigated by Stuart Clarke himself after he stole back his Rampage armor. However, the real Lotus did end up hiring Rampage later (issues #17-18, and 20-21) she even employed the use of his technology for Armed Response (see below).

   • Angkor: Was a Cambodian refugee that gained his powers either by praying to the destroyer god Shiva or being exposed to Wonder Man’s leaking powers or both. He rampaged across Los Angeles in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #11-12. Lotus wasn’t directly involved in this although she did investigate the Buddist church that Angkor frequented before getting his powers.

   • Armed Response: Lotus Newmark was directly involved in this. By fomenting gang violence in wealthy parts of Los Angeles she created Armed Response as a private security firm and tried to gain subscriptions and city support. This was exposed by the Crazy 8. See Wonder Man (vol. 2) #18-21.

10. Another indication that this wasn’t the real Lotus Newmark is that she’ll appear alive and well in Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #1-3.

11. This story makes the claim that Simon helped Eric embezzle money from the company. While Eric once claimed that he stole the money and let his brother take the blame in Avengers #160, Wonder Man has since owned up by saying he did it all himself as seen in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2. This discrepancy can be attributed to Mephisto/Blackheart’s manipulations.

12. Wonder Man was exposed to a nega-bomb explosion in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9. This set his powers out of whack and caused him to bombard his friends and neighbors in issues #11-12. They became the Crazy 8 in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #19, leading to Alex’s injury in the following issue.

13. The Grim Reaper doesn’t stay dead for very long. He manages to cheat death again in Avengers (vol. 3) #10-11.

14. Except that neither of them display any powers again. The Crazy 8 will still have trace amounts of ionic powers making them a potential target for Count Neferia in Iron Man Annual 1999.

Topical References

• The Flores family home and Gloria Angel’s apartment are depicted as having a CRT televisions and a VCRs. These should be considered topical references as these are obsolete technologies.

• When noting Black Talon’s change in costume, Wonder Man asks if the San Diego Chicken threatened to sue him. The San Diego Chicken is a mascot for KGB-FM Radio. He made appearances at various sporting events in the area. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world character and is on its way into retirement.

Errors

• The Baron Zemo in this story is supposed to be Heinrich Zemo, the man who turned Simon into Wonder Man back in Avengers #9. However, the artist draws him to resemble his son Helmut Zemo who took on the mantle starting in Captain America #275.

• For two panels on page 26, Black Talon is coloured like the Grim Reaper.