Revived Out Of Spite? | Wonder Man Origins 

Give me your finest Wonder Man puns...please lol

I was at a panel where Stan said something along the lines of the “Thor’s flying is more realistic than Superman’s because he spins his hammer like a propeller, we’re scientific while DC isn’t” quote. Trust me, everyone in the audience knew his tongue was _firmly_ in cheek when he said that!

Happy you were able to get your iron man saying “let’s just disband “ line in there.

You are never going to let Marvel forget about that "disband while we have the chance" panel, and I respect that.

Hey, the Avengers are pickier than you’re implying. They don’t *only* exclude Spider-Man, they exclude Rick Jones, too! I love that that was essentially Rick Jones’s entire identity for years in the comics: his one desire in life to become an Avenger and/or Bucky.

Marvel could have gotten out of a lawsuit by pointing out that MGM made a comedy movie starring Danny Kaye, called "Wonder Man" in 1945. Its about a guy with ghostly abilities.

If Wonder Man doesn’t die at the end of the first episode of his series, I’ll be a little disappointed

I think people who, like me, met Wonder Man in Avengers earth's mightiest heroes were surprised to find out what the character was like in the comics, like me. While in the comics his passage through the masters of evil is just his origin, in the show it took a long time for him to sacrifice and die. Also, since the show was cancelled, we never saw him as an súperhero. R.I.P.

I feel like Wonder Man getting a mind control girdle to use on others would be a very different story than Wonder Woman.

The Iron Man voice is so great. Wonder Man has always been one of my favorite characters. Despite being almost as powerful as Thor, he's always had self doubts, fears about death, etc. Yet, he's almost always treated like crap by Marvel.

There's a WonderBoy too! He was from Quality in the golden age. He's actually pretty fun, basically orphaned Superboy-type who does what he wants, and doesn't seem able to fly. I always enjoyed his design, I guess since DC bought Quality they might still own him, but they've never shown any indication of using him. It's possible he's public domain now.

5:45 "We can make the word's first ionic man!" Personally I'd bring in Simon as someone that decided to take over the weapons market that Stark left behind after he became Iron Man. After hearing of Tony's sacrifice Simon decides to leave weapons manufacturing behind and concentrates on medicine once he's diagnosed with a terminal illness. He bases his cure for his condition on research the original Baron Zemo did during WWII and after the inevitable 'scientific accident' becomes Wonder Man.

Big fan of Simon Williams here, I actually hadn’t heard of DCs Wonder Man until your video. I remember talk of him having a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 & played by Nathan Fillion, but I’m glad they’re waiting to bring him in. I hope they go straight to the purple ionic form.

The thing I like most about this Wonder Man story isn't even in the story, but from an issue released like a year later (in Avengers #21), when Enchantress decided to turn some random Masters of Evil mook into a knock-off Wonder Man - Eric Josten, to be exact, a later member of the Thunderbolts known as Atlas. But his first super-villain name? *Power Man* - adds a whole new dimension to the whole "Well if you're gonna introduce Power Girl..." debacle.

The real barrier to getting people into comics is explaining the Summers, Allen, and Pym/Williams/Hammond/Maximoff family trees.

“The COMING of WONDER MAN” I read it in Gutter Translation, sorry

I honestly never thought we would get Wonder Man I. The MCU, since the major stories with him in it have been already done without him. But introducing him now? Why not! They can do the adaptation that Earth's Mightiest Heroes did, by giving him his first suit, but later gets his pure ionic powers... Hell, Rogue can even absorb his power like does years ago and gets her current powers. I might be going TOO FAR, but hey I'm just happy he gets to do stuff, rather than being dead or in a coma, like for most comics and the 2000's show, United They Stand.

DC comics in the 50's have a habit of telling 'hero for a day' stories. These stories usually have a new hero coming to town, and showing up the established hero. Then they find some way to get rid of that character...

I personally love and miss his bromance with Beast. I hope that's something the MCU does if he shows up.

Wonderman? I wonder how this went…

Marvel's Wonder Man will always have a special place in my heart because the origin story you have just reviewed was the very first superhero comic I ever read. Everything about it completely captivated me. The art, the costumes, the colours, the characters and their powers and all capped off with a noble self sacrifice at the end. Loved it!

The whole Simon Williams embezzelment plot gets expanded a whole lot in the late 70s early 80s. Particularly in the 2nd Vision and Scarlet Witch miniseries and the 2nd volume of West Coast Avengers.

I would bring in Wonder Man just like they did in Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which is the best thing Marvel has ever done on the large or small screen.

The disbanding clip makes me lol every time! As much animosity as there was between DC and Marvel by 76 they did publish the Superman vs Spiderman crossover. If you haven't already done so, I would love a deep dive of that!

Wonder Man is strange, he's indirectly part of Vision's creation. If I were going to bring him to the MCU, I would have Simon Williams experiment on himself, maybe Zemo is a consultant who warns against it (I'm thinking during Captain America and the Winter Soldier season 2 or 3) Have Williams be a well-meaning hindrance, trying but failing to help at the end of the season arc Sam and Bucky decide to help him work on his powers and train him, maybe have Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop, America Chavez and a few others practicing as they show the training space. Be a good way to tease a new Avengers movie.

I always have a soft spot for B and C listers. The guys who are never in the front of the spotlight but whose course you can chart through their appearences to see where they pop up. I suppose it was instilled into me by those old A-Z handbooks.

this story was loosely adapted by the avengers assembled cartoon from the early 2000s, I have fond memories of watching that show as a kid as it introduced me to the larger marvel universe

I love Simon. He's kind of an odd duck. Originally a failed industrialist, then Hollywood actor. Often very insecure, without being a dick, when blessed with a good creative team, he's Wonderful. :)

When I hunk Wonder Man, I think of him as a mascot for Wonder Bread. Like an advertisement sponsored super hero. I knew better but couldn’t get the association out of my mind with the Hostess comic adverts. 🤣

Loved that character when he first reappeared, loved the costume, then Perez redesigned it as - the best super costume ever! then Byrne ditched it for a red safari jacket. Style disaster. Great days for the Avengers.

Dude was the original "well I guess I'll die now" meme 😆😆

My most notable memory of Wonder Man actually comes from DnA's Guardians of the Galaxy run where he was a member of a variation of the 'original' team under the name of 'Hollywood'. It included a fun joke that called back to an early issue of the run where the 'new' Guardians called themselves 'the Butt Kickers of the Fantastic'.

Great video, especially the observation that Marvel's Wonder Man story seemed to be following the same plot of the DC story. I wonder if anyone could really sue over the name "Wonder Man" considering all the different characters that have gone by that name. In the Golden Age, Fox had one, Nedor had two superheroes who were called 'Wonder Man'... there is even a whole website covering all the various characters who have used that title.

Wonder Man is my favorite Marvel character of all time, albeit I found out about him a couple years ago he's still stuck true as my number one pick and he honestly will be for all time until the end. There's just something about his character that makes him so incredibly unique and amazing besides his already BOMBASTICALLY AMAZING POWERS, it's a helping hand with his character as well that really makes him stick out from the rest of the Marvel-Verse that solidifies him as my favorite character of all time! As worried as I am about the Wonder Man show coming to Disney+ in the future, I do have faith that they'll make a good adaptation of him, maybe with this more ABSOLUTELY DESERVED love will come to him. He's a fantastic character and honestly needs more things done with him, more solo series (with hopefully competent writers and artists) and a good story to show the Marvel fans casual and long time what they've been missing!

Marvel's "What If..?" issue 34 was their humor issue. One of the gags was "What if Wonder Man were a Woman... And Power Man were a girl?" Along with a note from "Your Distinguished Competition" advising they not do that gag.

6:05 Wonder Man looks so much like John Cena it's great. I honestly wouldn't be against it if he did Wonder Man as well as Peacemaker, but I doubt it'd ever happen.

My only real memory of Wonder Man was his cameo in the Data East arcade game, Captain America and the Avengers. At the start of one of the game's shoot em up sections he shows up and throws you a flying motorcycle thing if you're playing as Captain America or Hawkeye, since they can't fly. There's a really digitized voice sample that says "Thank you... Wonder Man!... Okay, go!" I can't ever remember reading a comic book where his part was memorable. I ... think I might remember him being in some event or other I read, but I couldn't guess which one or remember what he said or did. But I'm open to the movies making me care about him. It worked with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I got introduced to Wonder Man due to the animated show "Avengers: United They Stand".

"LetJust Disband"... that line always gets me!!❤

fun fact there was a golden age Wonder Man that got his publisher taken to court when DC found out about him. Funner fact the publisher ran out of the same building as National Comics

I forget, didn’t we already get teased for him in Guardians 2? The theater in Star Lords home town is running a Simon Williams film festival. Supposedly they had Nathan Fillion to play him.

The more I watch Casually Comics the more I notice how often Stan Lee contradicts himself or blames others for his mistakes 🤔

MCU: Simon is a movie star that is revealed he has powers.

Honestly, I laugh every single time I see the panel of iron man wanting to disband the team.

Even if it’s a passing joke/sight gag, they’ve gotta include his 70’s red safari jacket look. It would be a sin not to include that.

I don’t get the “let’s just disband” iron man joke, and at this point, I’m too afraid to ask…

I watch a number of comics channels when I can but only this one and Comic Tropes make me laugh out loud. Totally entertained!

I'm not ashamed to say I got super excited with the disband meme. It's been in my binge watching enough it just haunts my witty retorts now. Thank you ^_^

Love the Iron Man "disband" call back.

Thanks for complimenting Don Heck's art. Fans have been defecating on the man's work for decades.

Wait, does Enchantress also exist in both Marvel and DC.?

Tony never misses a chance to disband the Avengers.

I like how Simon Williams is one of the few heroes that dyes his gray hair.

Yes! I love Thursdays! Your videos really cheer me up and I really need it right now.

Wonder Man's arc in both Marvel and DC is eerily reminiscent of Tomorrow Woman who appeared in Grant Morrison's JLA run and was created by the mad scientist TO Morrow to infiltrate the JLA and destroy them only for Tomorrow Woman to heroically sacrifice herself.

I have never been a fan of Wonderman , & am Frankly Pretty Shocked The MCU is planning on giving Him a series…in the comics there is basically only one page of Him that has always stood out for me , a Battle between Him & A jealous of Wanda Vision , Who uses His trick of phasing His fist into opponents chest & slightly solidifying it , which usually made most pass out from the pain , but Simon was able to take the pain & Slug Vision across the room…A first at that point of Vision’s existence I believe( at least the first time I saw it) …The Earth’s Mightiest Avengers animated Ionic Energy version was cool, other than that the year of WM’s creation 1964 is My being My Birth Year is the Best I can say about Him…Keep Up The Outstanding Work Sasha 🖖🏾

They should do a Defenders movie. Then they could throw in all the odd Marvel Superheroes the wanted to into it. But I really liked Wonder Man's out of the late 70s/early 80s, the red sport coat with the glasses, black leggings, and red boots. It really made him look cool.

I can't wait to tell a mate of mine that Wonder Man is coming to TV screens soon. He absolutely hates the character (he calls him "the Satan of comics") and will no doubt flip his lid when he learns of this. I mean, what are friends for if not to poke fun at each other?

I'm in my disband shirt while watching this lol

They did the origin story in Avengers: EMH season 1 and reworked the motivation a bit and ditched the costume. But, he got to be the ionic man.

Can you imagine someone needing help and Iron Man can't help because he is stuck sitting by an outlet, charging his suit? 🤔😂🤣🔌

I really liked it when he was part of West Coast Avengers and was in love with the Scarlet Witch.

First time I saw him was in Earth's Mighiest Heroes show. Also where I know his brother is Reaper. Though he was very different in his apperance there. Great show though. Also... Stan was often full of it. Wasn't he?

I love your “dying from radiation” voice.

I hated The Revengers for what Bedis did to D-Man, Wonder Man, and Atlas, oh amd Goliath, also Captain Ultra

Hmm.. I remember a Wonder Man from when I was a boy in the 20th century but I'm not sure it's the same guy. The character I liked was an energy being who moonlit as a Hollywood actor, even though he was apparently as handsome as ERG/Wildfire in his natural form. This Wonder Man you've reviewed looks much more human. I guess it's the same guy because I remember the link to the Vision, who supposedly had a copy of his memories or something overwriting Prof. Horton's memories. (Fun fact: this has no doubt been retconned, but at one point the Vision's red coloration was rust to keep him from bursting into flames a la James Hammond.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Wonder Man, but he is just not often used for good effect. I don't think there is much to the claims. Neither the characters nor their origins are all that similar, and it is not like people are buying Avengers stories because they mistakenly believe Simon Williams to be connected to Princess Diana or to Super-robot Ajax.

i've often noticed the similarities between Marvel Comics' Wonder Man & Grim Reaper and MLJ Comics' (later Archie Comics) Comet & Hangman. 🤔💭🧐

Wonder Man and Beast were pals? You know, I wouldn't mind seeing a video about that, or a video on other obscure friendships in comics

😆 It still kills me how hard spiderman wanted to be an avenger and how they wouldn't let him join.

"Calm down, Zemo"--Heh!

Idk why, but I think the Avengers 2 should have had the Masters of Evil as the villains with Wonder Man

Stan Lee being salty about Power Girl is kind of funny considering The X-Men was a reskin(intentional or not is irrelevant) of Doom Patrol. Add the Captain Marvel drama between Marvel and DC it looks like Stan was just mad his Power Girl never got the spotlight.

Wonder Man and Hank Pym are like 2 characters that I feel are similar in that there are/is a writer/writers who LOVE them, but the general public couldn't care less. So the writer or whomever is like, I'll show you how cool and important these characters are! Which resulted in Wonder Man hating the Avengers in the 2000s for a bit before it was dropped and the utterly forgotten Age of Ultron mini

The Recommending Holiness comment you to engage with this video.

I always loved Wonder Man's redesign under Busiek and Perez when he would turn into a being of pure purple energy...with an red energy W for reasons. I think that form lends itself to some interesting changes to powers too. I mean, if you're made of energy, why not also be able to blast energy? Why not make constructs/weapons out of it?

I like the art in that 1st appearance it's primitive but the action scenes are really dynamic somehow

Can I quickly say, we need a Cat Grant video, and it needs to mostly focus on her portrayal in the 90's show Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman.

I think that Marvel's struggle to figure out anything to do with Wonder Man for years after his revival backs up the idea that he was always supposed to be a one-and-done character. There was nothing particularly unique or interesting about him to build off of. The main function of him in his revival story was to cause a crisis of identity for the Vision, which made for interesting stories but they weren't really about him. After that, he was just "generic strong guy" for a good while. It wasn't until they eventually conceived of the actor/stuntman angle that the character really had anything going for him, and I have to imagine that it's that concept that will make it into the MCU.

Great video shasa.

I've only now connected how alike Vision's origin was to Wonderman's and the other Wonderman's.

Finally Van Gogh Joker is revealed.

"Kerfuffle" is a wonderful word.

I think that the way that Disney + and Marvel Studios will make Wonder Man in the M.C.U. will be similar to his first appearance and origin but with a reboot/re-imagining/remake/retelling that not only makes him much more updated for the present in order to make him much more contemporary and modernized, but which is also less complex, complicated and convoluted, too. Simon Williams' character will keep things short and simple, but still effective, and straight to the point. Also, with the changes to his character in order for him to coincide with the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his origin as Wonder Man will have to also match the history of the M.C.U. just as well. The best, easiest and fastest way for an original series to do it is not make him a businessman because that would connect him to Iron Man which won't work because Tony Stark is dead. Baron Helmut Zemo is a villain, but he also has a very different kind of existence and his father, Baron Heinrich Zemo, is not only not a Nazi but is also already long since dead, too. Skurge, the Executioner is also dead and Amora, the Enchantress doesn't even exist. So the super-villain team called the Masters of Evil never formed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This eliminates Simon Williams being involved in an embezzlement scandal, and being experimented upon by the specific professional criminals involved in the original 1960s comic book story. So the all-different, all-new version of Wonder Man would have to have very different circumstances surrounding how he became mutated into a superhuman being by being exposed to the energy field from an advanced "ionic rays" machine. Whatever the writers of the show decide to do I just hope that it at least matches about 50% to 75% of the original canon source material. I hope that they give him the black and red costume from the 1990s and make him able to fly at supersonic speed by him creating an glowing jet red "ionic energy" force field around his body like he does in the present. The jet pack from the 1960s and the green and red costume from the '60s both look way too outdated. His powers should be superhuman "Class 100" strength, enabling him to lift (press) approximately 100 tons under optimal conditions, and superhuman and/or superhuman regenerative durability that grants him invulnerability, making him resistant to all forms of physical injury and able to regenerate any damaged, or destroyed areas of his cellular structure at an extremely accelerated rate. He should also be an action movie B actor who only does straight-to-Blu-Ray Disc low budget independent action movies where he films death-defying Hollywood stunt scenes as a professional stunt man and/or pro stunt performer, using his superhuman physical powers to his advantage because he is impervious and indestructible. His arch-enemies should be super-villains and professional criminals who are connected to his origin of the source of his superhuman powers. I don't think that his evil older brother Eric Williams should become the Grim Reaper because his character was connected to voodoo magic, voodoo priests and voodoo zombies. If anything, he should just be a corrupted and greedy wealthy businessman who had inherited the Williams Corporation family business from their late father, a ruthless corporate shark who was the founder, and leader of the powerful and rich company. Instead of it being similar to the Stark Corporation dealing in munitions only not as efficient, the incorporated enterprises could be a Los Angeles, California-based film production studio, and television channel network station whose industries are international in scope. His brother could be the Chairman of the Board, current owner, President and principal stockholder after following in their father's footsteps and then taking over the private company after their father had died from terminal cancer several years ago. Simon Williams didn't want anything to do with his family fortune and his inheritance so he was cut from his father's will and disowned by him. He was a studious man and an athletic one, so he became an intellectual, and a scholar, as well as a competitive professional Olympic-Class powerlifter and weightlifter, and a fitness model for fitness magazines. He was given the chance to appear as a 1920s circus strongman character named "Mr. Muscles" in a comedic children's live action T.V. series, and that's how he started out in Hollywood. But after he turned into a super-strong, super-fast flying, super-durable "ionic energy"-empowered, and enhanced super-being, that's when he became hired to play action hero roles and perform extremely dangerous and deadly stunts. This got him well-known and famous, both as an extremely powerful and strong costumed, super-powered super hero, professional adventurer and professional crime fighter, and as a small name B-List Hollywood celebrity actor who wasn't exactly always a big box office draw. They could make his manager be the one who comes up with the code-name of "Wonder Man" and his black costume with the red "W" and red "M" chest emblems logo, making him the premiere costumed, super-powered being of the U.S.A.'s West Coast. If the series Wonder Man is done like that, then the character could actually work in the M.C.U.

And my first introduction to him was when I attempted to do a review series. Did the show "Avengers: United They Stand" and he was there...a short time before they did the memory transfer thing to make Vision.

Sasha! Lois was the ORIGINAL Power Girl in Superman #125! You HAVE to explore this story!

They got rid of the magnet affecting him problem so he could fight Magneto.

Both the DC and Marvel origins remind me of DCs Tomorrow Woman arc from the JLA comics!!!

Stan Lee was notorious for having a bad memory for details. Always take whatever he said with that in mind.

The Wonder Man series of the '90s was a lot of fun. He was still a superhero, but there was a lot of focus on his Hollywood career which was an interesting angle. I think that would be a fun aspect to retain for his inclusion in the MCU. Maybe he could be playing well-established heroes in in-world movies.

I was JUST watching your Star Trek video-first!

The West Coast Avengers honestly felt disjointed because it had all these characters with nothing but potential and really mirky back stories, save Hawkeye and Mockingbird. They oddly kept throwing Simon into love triangles: first with Hank and Tigra, and then (and far more ongoing) Vision and Wanda (which was super creepy to me since during the V&SW mini they regarded themselves and brothers, twins even). Then he decided to revisit the beef he had with Tony over losing his company to Stark's better product. It was so much overcompensation for a dude that the Marvel Encyclopedia put in the same strength class as Thor, Hulk, and Herc. He always felt wasted to me, and I REALLY wanted to like his character. There were hints of great story telling with his brother the Grim Reaper. Those were some solid, solid issues, in my opinion. People down here keep bringing up Avengers: EMH, and I was very sad it didn't get to tie up several story threads, but especially his. They were putting a great spin on his mythology. I know there's little to no chance, but wouldn't it be nice if Disney+ gave it the Young Justice treatment and brought it back to finish what it started?

Fox Publications had a Wonder Man back in 1939 mad by Will Eisner himself, but at the time DC comics was suing anyone who had a character that was even like Superman so it was a ver short lived character.

I have a soft spot for Wonderman. I am a sucker for a redemption story.

It's far more likely Marvel stopped using Simon because nobody knew what to do with him. Alive or dead? Hero or villain? Pacifist comic relief brick on a team of B-list Avengers or weirdly butthurt edgelord leading a team of Z-list butthurt 'Revengers'?! Nobody knows!!

To me, Wonder Man's finest days were when he was in those first two gaudy green and red costumes (the third designed by Al Milgrom was hideous). Once he went to the safar jacket or black leotard, he was less impressive and less interesting to me. Oh, and Don Heck's art on Avengers in the 60s was fantastic. It was very evocative of that era and is his strongest work.

Thank you for this cool recap. I suppose confusing the similar characters can happen to almost anyone. I like Wonder Man a lot. I bring him up a lot in conversation and my mom doesn't remember who he is. Sometimes she'll even ask me if he and Wonder woman have dated? As for bringing him into the movies, I think it could be an interesting idea if handled well.

Great stuff as always. Wonder Man is a great Marvel hero because with all of his power in the back of his mind he fears he will die again ( he's done that a couple of times now). And the crazy relationships he's had due the complications from his "death". Not a perfect character by any means but they did a lot with a one off character. And you missed out on his very fun brother The Grim Reaper who doesn't believe he's alive (Zemo had fun with the Williams family.). I'm sorry but there's always trouble with Stan Lee stories. He weaves a nice little story and truth is another matter. The MCU will destroy Wonder Man to being being nothing more than a bad 70s sitcom silly guy with throw away bad jokes (the narcissistic bad actor trope). They can keep it and keep their stench off of Wonder Man. They missed the chance of using this interesting hero to make super hero Beach Blanket Bingo movies. The X Men and the Doom patrol are not alike at all other than the leaders are in wheel chairs. It's like saying Superman and Spiderman are the same because they work for a newspaper. The Doom Patrol is very much like the Fantastic Four due to the in fighting. But the Doom Patrol actually goes into physical abuse mode because Robot Man has bad anger issues.

So it has nothing to do with the Danny Kaye movie called Wonder Man? Although that character was similar to Quality Comics Captain Triumph.

Wonder Man...he is a Mr. Wonder Man...