Wonder Man Fact — November 4, 2026

Today's Fact

Simon Williams has died more than most heroes — but for one strange season he was not dead or alive, just missed.

FOR MONTHS, WONDER MAN EXISTED ONLY WHEN SCARLET WITCH MISSED HIM — HER LONGING KEPT SUMMONING HIS IONIC GHOST!

The Featured Fact

Simon Williams died fighting the Kree while serving with Force Works, his body scattered as pure ionic energy. When Morgan Le Fay captured the Scarlet Witch in Avengers Vol. 3 #2–3 (1998), Wanda's desperate cry for help reached somewhere it should not have been able to reach — and Simon reassembled in front of her, crackling, translucent and made entirely of ionic energy, to help tear Morgan's remade reality down.

Afterwards he would not stay. For months Simon existed in a halfway state: he materialised when Wanda called for him, then began appearing when she merely wished he were there, and finally even when she was unconscious and could not call at all. Agatha Harkness finally explained the mechanism in Avengers Vol. 3 #10 (1998): Simon's love for Wanda was his anchor to the living world, and he lingered because of it — he could be made permanent only if she truly returned that love.

His halfway existence made him a door other dead men tried to use. His brother, the Grim Reaper, exploited the thinned border between life and death to raise a squad of deceased Avengers with Simon among them. In Avengers Vol. 3 #11 (1998) Simon turned on his brother, Wanda's returned love restored him to a solid, independent body — and Simon, in turn, pulled Eric back to life beside him.

Why It's Obscure

Resurrections are routine in the Avengers' address book; one powered entirely by somebody else's loneliness is not.

Morgan's dungeon

The first summons was an accident — Wanda was not performing a resurrection rite; she was a prisoner shouting for any Avenger at all, and the dead one answered.

Agatha's verdict

Love as physics — Harkness treated Simon's haunting as a solvable equation: his love anchored him, hers would finish the job.

Escalation

From called, to wished, to automatic — Across 1998 the manifestations needed less and less of Wanda's intention, which is what frightened her into seeking Agatha's counsel.

The Reaper's door

A haunting with side effects — Simon's thin grip on life weakened the whole border, letting his brother march a small army of dead Avengers through it.

Gallery

Simon's ionic form in the act of arriving, and the woman whose longing kept the door open.

Comic panel of Wonder Man materialising as a crackling purple ionic figure before a startled Scarlet Witch, saying he is here — **I'm here, Wanda**Simon materialising in his pure ionic form before a stunned Wanda — the ghost-state this page describes, red eyes and dissolving outline and all.

Comic panels of Wonder Man dissolving into ionic particles around Scarlet Witch as they embrace — **Not the end**Simon dissolving into ionic particles around Wanda — in his halfway months, every farewell looked like this, and none of them was final.

Scarlet Witch in her red costume casting a hex, surrounded by candlelight — **The anchor**Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch — Simon's tie to the living world, whose returned love finally made his resurrection permanent in Avengers Vol. 3 #11.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

How Wonder Man Got His Powers — Marvel.com Official Marvel history: Wanda's cry during the Morgan Le Fay fight in Avengers (1998) #2 reassembled Simon as pure ionic energy, stabilised by their rekindled romance.
Avengers (3rd series) #11 — uncannyxmen.net Issue synopsis: Agatha Harkness explains Simon stayed because he loves Wanda more than life itself, and that her returning that love would restore him permanently.
Wonder Man — Comic Vine Character history confirming Simon manifested whenever Wanda was stressed or lonely after Avengers Vol. 3 #3, until she fully revived him in issues #10–11.