Captain Atom- Wonder Man
The state of my finances for the past couple of years are such that, when I saw that Action Heroes II, a DC Archives volume comprised of Steve Ditko’s Charlton work, had come out last spring, I could not purchase it on sight. But I got it for Xmas this year: the book includes the mid-sixties Captain Atom stories Ditko created, as well as his Blue Beetle yarns and his celebrated but few Question tales.
I’ll talk about Ditko’s BB and Question stories when I get around to posts pertaining to those characters. But I will say that the Captain Atom comics have not aged well in my view. To me, the character became more interesting —as a man out of time— when DC revived him in 1986, after the company acquired Charlton’s properties.
As for Wonder Man, I’ve always had a soft spot for old Simon. He’s one of the strongest earthlings in the MU, but is most often written as a chronically insecure fellow (not sure what his status quo is these days).
Commonalities:
Both are troubled guys at their inception who go into hibernation and emerge as one of the toughest customers in either diaspora: both are entirely composed of comic book varieties of “energy”: Cap’s is “quantum,” WM’s is “ionic.” Both occasionally play both sides of street, sometimes in opposition to their super hero comrades.
Differences:
Cap is a military man, having served in the air force; WM is an industrialist who embezzles his company’s funds, and later becomes an actor.
Alternate history:
CA: Air Force Captain Nathaniel Adam is tried for treason, but falls in with a criminal genius before he is convicted. His body is suffused with quantum energy by the criminal, and his massive strength and abilities of energy manipulation render him a challenge to Superman. As Captain Atom, he infiltrates the Justice League with the intent to betray the team, but has a change of heart before he is seemingly killed. In fact, he is in suspended animation and upon revival joins the JLA and serves with the main team and then with a West Coast expansion team led by Green Arrow. When Green Lantern starts a pro-active organization, Captain Atom joins, only to be apparently disintegrated in battle. He is once again revived and currently serves with Green Lantern in the “legitimate” JLA.
WM: Simon Williams is a industrialist convicted of embezzlement: he volunteers for a experimental procedure that, should he survive it, would earn him a pardon. While his body is suffused with ionic energy, he is thrown into suspended animation. He emerges some time later with strength commensurate to Thor and is compelled to be a reluctant operative of the U.S. Government. Wonder Man leaves the service and participates in several iterations of the Avengers. He then is thrown hither and yon into different universes, and has apparently become evil and is now menacing the multiverse.
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