Wonder Man Fact — November 1, 2026

Today's Fact

Checked against independent sources — the issues are cited below.

WONDER MAN DIED IN HIS VERY FIRST APPEARANCE — AND HIS BRAIN BECAME THE VISION’S MIND!

The Featured Fact

Simon Williams’s company was crushed by Stark Industries, and Simon — jailed for embezzlement — blamed Tony Stark. Baron Zemo offered revenge: ionic-ray treatments that made Simon superhumanly strong, as the newest weapon of the Masters of Evil. The catch was chemical: the process would kill him without regular doses of a serum only Zemo could provide. In Avengers #9 (October 1964), by Stan Lee, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby, Simon infiltrated the Avengers and was even voted onto the team — and at the moment of betrayal, chose them instead. He saved the Avengers, defied Zemo, and died for it. Debut and death, same issue.

Except the Avengers found no life signs in a body that wasn’t finished changing. Simon had fallen into a death-like coma while the ionic energy rewrote him. Iron Man, hoping Simon might one day be revived, recorded his brain patterns and stored them away. Years passed. The body was stolen, fought over, even reanimated — while the recording sat in Avengers custody, waiting.

Then Ultron got hold of it. Building a synthezoid to destroy the Avengers, Ultron stole Simon’s recorded brain patterns and used them as the template for the Vision’s mind — revealed in Avengers #58 (1968). The Vision’s humanity, his doubt, his famous tear (“Even an android can cry”), is Simon Williams’s mind at work in another body. When Simon finally woke for good and rejoined the Avengers, the two had to live as something like brothers: one man, two lives, and only one set of memories between them.

Why It's Obscure

Introduced, betrayed, redeemed, and buried in a single issue — then quietly installed as the soul of another hero.

1964

One and done — Avengers #9 (October 1964): introduction, infiltration, redemption, and death — a complete career in a single issue.

The leash

Zemo’s serum — the ionic treatment would kill Simon without periodic doses of an antidote only Baron Zemo possessed. Obedience, enforced by chemistry.

1968

The template — Avengers #58 reveals that the Vision’s mind was built from Simon’s recorded brain patterns — copied by Iron Man, stolen by Ultron.

The return

Ionic man — Simon eventually revived in earnest, his body remade by ionic energy — and met the android who had been thinking with his brain.

Gallery

Comic art of Wonder Man and the figures named in today's fact.

Wonder Man in his original green and red costume, from the Avengers #9 story — **“The debut”** Simon in his original green-and-red, from the Avengers #9 story — with Baron Zemo lurking below. The issue that introduced him, inducted him, and killed him.

The Vision touching his face, Avengers #58 art — **“Even an android can cry”** The Vision in Avengers #58 (1968) — the issue that revealed his mind was patterned on Simon Williams’s recorded brain.

Baron Heinrich Zemo in his purple mask holding a canister — **“The puppet-master”** Heinrich Zemo, whose ionic treatment created Wonder Man — and whose antidote serum was the chain meant to hold him.

Sources

Every claim above checks out against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

Things Only Marvel Comics Fans Know About Wonder Man — Screen RantScreen Rant’s Wonder Man primer covers the Avengers #9 death, the coma, the recorded brain patterns, and the Vision connection in Avengers #58.
The Ironic, Ionic Wonder Man — First Comics NewsA comics-history retrospective on Avengers #9: Zemo’s antidote leash, Simon’s sacrifice, and the characters his single issue spawned — Vision among them.
Simon Williams (Earth-616) — Marvel DatabaseThe Marvel Database’s Simon Williams biography traces the ionic treatment, the suspended-animation years, and Ultron’s theft of the brain patterns.