Red Panzer (Helmut Streicher) - retconned "Golden Age" villain

[MajorHoy]

First appearance = Wonder Woman #228 (February 1977):




Red Panzer was the villain used in the story that transitioned the Wonder Woman title from the (then) "present-day" adventures of Wonder Woman on Earth-One to focusing on new stories of the Golden Age Wonder Woman on Earth-Two that were set during the early 1940s (at a time when the Wonder Woman television series took place during WWII). That lasted for about a year or so.

[Dr. Poison]

I've loved this villain since Phil Jimenez introduced a modern version in his Donna Troy story from the 90s. He may not be extremely powerful but he's visually striking and quite sinister.

[Jim Kelly]

Hey Major Hoy, since you've been posting about retconned WW II villains, I wonder if you've considered the Spirit King and/or Johnny Sorrow.

I think the first time Spirit King was actually mentioned was when Mr. Terrific died in 1979, but he was set up as having been Terry's arch nemesis in the old days. I think this was developed further in the Spectre comic that introduced Michael Holt--but I never read that comic so I don't know.

Then in 2000, in JSA, Johnny Sorrow showed up and he was also a villain that was supposed to be around during the 1940s. And I think he was connected to Spirit King and Mr. Terrific in some way--but the details on that have left my memory.

[MajorHoy]

Hey Major Hoy, since you've been posting about retconned WW II villains, I wonder if you've considered the Spirit King and/or Johnny Sorrow.

I think the first time Spirit King was actually mentioned was when Mr. Terrific died in 1979, but he was set up as having been Terry's arch nemesis in the old days. I think this was developed further in the Spectre comic that introduced Michael Holt--but I never read that comic so I don't know.

Then in 2000, in JSA, Johnny Sorrow showed up and he was also a villain that was supposed to be around during the 1940s. And I think he was connected to Spirit King and Mr. Terrific in some way--but the details on that have left my memory.

Still have a lot of other villains to get to, but will probably get to Spirit King eventually. (Not sure about Johnny Sorrow since I'm not quite as familiar with his backstory.)

[MajorHoy]

A few more pages from Wonder Woman #228 (February 1977):

[MajorHoy]

As for the Red Panzer's "origin", from that same issue: