why bring back wonderman?

[comewithme_golem]

Wonder man was killed d in his first appearance in the avenges the revived a decade later is there a story behind why they brought back wonder man?

[SJNeal]

Same reason they bring back every hero who dies - someone had a story they wanted to tell.

[Panic]

Yeah, it was for petty reasons as far as I recall - DC had just created Power Girl, and whoever was head at Marvel was furious that DC had attached the "Power" prefix onto one of their characters when Marvel was producing a "Power Man" comic; in tit-for-tat retaliation the Marvel head ordered Wonder Man back from the grave to step on DC's toes and see how they liked it.

That's how I remember the story anyway.

[t hedge coke]

Not so much furious, as just a war of trademarks. DC supposedly threatened Marvel with legal action over Wonder Man's name being too close to Wonder Woman, so they killed him off. And, yes, brought him back when Power Girl became a thing, because they already had Power Man.

But, Stan Lee kind of blew this up bigger and bigger on retellings of this anecdote, so Marvel's actually being sued, etc. Going straight back to it, it doesn't seem like either time was a huge thing just some tit for tat.

[Panic]

Not so much furious, as just a war of trademarks. DC supposedly threatened Marvel with legal action over Wonder Man's name being too close to Wonder Woman, so they killed him off. And, yes, brought him back when Power Girl became a thing, because they already had Power Man.

But, Stan Lee kind of blew this up bigger and bigger on retellings of this anecdote, so Marvel's actually being sued, etc. Going straight back to it, it doesn't seem like either time was a huge thing just some tit for tat.

That doesn't make sense to me - I mean, the same story Wonder Man is introduced, he's also killed.

[t hedge coke]

That doesn't make sense to me - I mean, the same story Wonder Man is introduced, he's also killed.

DC printed and distributed Marvel's books at the time that issue came out, right? So presumably, they'd be very, very aware of what was going into them. But, it does make it seem more like something Stan blew up into a big story than some actual big drama.

"Some guy said... we'll sue," doesn't sound as good as "they sued us, but we got revenge!"

[ed2962]

Yeah, it makes more sense to me that maybe someone from DC said something after the fact like, "We saw what you did with Wonder Man, you're lucky you killed him off immediately. You watch yerselves or there'll be trouble! Harumph!"

[Filament]

I was fine with the one issue and done way his original appearance was. I'm sure in the story arc era (which was soon to begin) it would have been at least two issues. As it was, it was very poignant that it happened in only issue. I wasn't real crazy with the rather convoluted way he was brought back. I also didn't like him having class 100 strength. It didn't jibe at all with him becoming a stunt person. He'd have to work really hard to make it look like he was putting any kind of strenuous effort in any activity he was portraying. Finally, Simon Williams was a Tony Stark competitor originally, that was all gone when he was resurrected far as I know.

[gurkle]

I think the main reason was that Roy Thomas had established the Vision's mind was based on Wonder Man's, so Steve Englehart (who had the idea to back Wonder Man, though he left just after he handed in that plot) thought it would be a good idea to see how Vision would react if the "real" man came back to life. Subsequent writers got a lot of mileage out of the Vision angsting over whether he and Simon were different people, whether the Scarlet Witch fell in love with him or Simon, etc.

[ed2962]

I was fine with the one issue and done way his original appearance was. I'm sure in the story arc era (which was soon to begin) it would have been at least two issues. As it was, it was very poignant that it happened in only issue. I wasn't real crazy with the rather convoluted way he was brought back. I also didn't like him having class 100 strength. It didn't jibe at all with him becoming a stunt person. He'd have to work really hard to make it look like he was putting any kind of strenuous effort in any activity he was portraying. Finally, Simon Williams was a Tony Stark competitor originally, that was all gone when he was resurrected far as I know.

Steve Englehart mentioned it once or twice when he was doing West Coast Avengers.

[Holt]

They needed an Avenger who would constantly take Ls to make the threat of the month look good, and realized Thor couldn't shoulder that burden alone.