Biography - page 2
Once the Avengers recovered from the initial shock, they brought the zuvembie Wonder Man inside the mansion and subjected it to tests in order to find out how Wonder Man had returned. Although the Grim Reaper's involvement remained a secret for the moment, they tracked the Black Talon down to le Mort Bayou and confronted the houngan and his worshippers. The Black Talon summoned more zuvembies to protect himself, but the Scarlet Witch disrupted his connection to Damballah. The Black Talon was defeated and his zuvembies crumbled without his mystical support... all, that is, except for the zombie Wonder Man. [Avengers (1st series) #152]
The Avengers continued to study Wonder Man's body back at Avengers Mansion and found that Simon was actually getting better, moving from the low activity state of a zuvembie to become fully 
healthy and alive. Initially, Wonder Man's mind remained in the empty, zombie-like state he started from, until the Living Laser assaulted Avengers Mansion. Using a combination of his own powers and the might of the Serpent Crown, the Laser fully reawakened Simon's conscious mind. Wonder Man turned violent upon his awakening, smashing his way out of the mansion and wandering the streets in a daze until the Laser tracked him down. With the help of the crown, Living Laser compelled Wonder Man to attack the Avengers on the Laser's behalf. [Avengers (1st series) #153]
Wonder Man first encountered Beast, the newest member of the team. Despite his much greater strength, Wonder Man was still shaking off the years of inactivity from being dead, and was knocked unconscious by Beast in an alleyway scuffle. Beast dragged him back to the mansion and, when Simon awoke, convinced him to shake off the Living Laser's conditioning and join forces with the Avengers. Wonder Man and Beast met up with the rest of the team in California, defeated the Laser and recovered the Serpent Crown. [Avengers Annual #6]
The Avengers were reasonably confused and suspicious about how Wonder Man was alive again and apparently on their side, but they had little time to focus on the matter. The Vision was attacked and captured by Attuma's Atlantean hordes while disposing of the Serpent Crown. While Wonder Man was at the hospital bedside of another Avengers associate, the Whizzer, the rest of the team was assaulted by another Atlantean, Tyrak. [Avengers (1st series) #154] As the last man standing, Beast chose to retreat instead of getting captured with his teammates. He came to the hospital for help, and recruited Wonder Man and Whizzer to go after their kidnapped friends. [Super-Villain Team-Up #9]
The trio ran across Attuma's men raiding a sea-based research installation and began roughing up the Atlantean terrorists. Prince Namor arrived on the scene, hot for revenge against Attuma for his other crimes, but Attuma took advantage of the sea prince's rage and claimed Wonder Man and friends as his allies, tricking Namor into attacking them. As Beast pursued the fleeing Attuma, Wonder Man grappled with the fighting-mad Namor. Simon beat Namor senseless, knocking him down long enough to explain Attuma's trickery. [Avengers (1st series) #155] Wonder Man and the others pursued Beast's signal to Attuma's undersea base. As Simon swam down alone to 
back up the furious Namor, however, he froze in panic. His inexperience left Simon uncertain what to do in the crisis situation. He only recovered once the Avengers (having freed themselves and allied with Doctor Doom against Attuma) arrived on the battlefield. Wonder Man followed the team into battle and, along with Vision, delivered the final blow against the monstrous Tyrak. However, while this synchronized strike did something to bolster Simon's confidence, it had the opposite effect on Vision. [Avengers (1st series) #156]
The Vision had long doubted his humanity, due to his artificial body and copied brain wave patterns. The confidence he had built before Wonder Man's resurrection crumbled once he was face-to-face with a man whose very existence seemed to mock his individuality. Simon did not understand the depths of Vision's insecurities -- hearing about Vision's origin made him see the synthozoid as an identical twin or brother. Simon also made the mistake of striking up a friendship with Vision's wife, the Scarlet Witch, to find out why he was so distant. (Simon would admit years later that he was instantly smitten with Wanda. However, he recognized from the beginning that Wanda was a married woman and off-limits to him.) [Avengers West Coast #47]
When the Ghost of Stone rampaged through the mansion, Wanda was knocked for a loop before Vision defeated the quasi-living statue. Simon made the mistake of offering Wanda his shoulder to lean on as she was getting to her feet. The jealous Vision saw this as an assault on his marriage, 
and addressed Wonder Man directly for the first time since his return, challenging him for coming on to his wife. Simon tried to wave off the act as just a friendly gesture, but Vision had been spoiling to defend his right to exist for days and started a physical brawl with Simon. The indestructible man and the solar-powered synthozoid beat on each other until they were too weak to stand, but resolved nothing. [Avengers (1st series) #158]
The issue of Simon Williams' identity was addressed directly when the Grim Reaper infiltrated the mansion, defeating Simon, Vision and the others in a surprise assault. The Avengers hadn't previously mentioned the Grim Reaper to Wonder Man, so Simon was surprised to see his older brother acting as a crazed super-villain. As Eric listed all the things he had done in Simon's name over the years, he explained his involvement in paying the Black Talon to make Wonder Man a zuvembie. Simon's full resurrection was not something he expected, however, and so he had come to resolve it. In Eric's mind, only one man could be his brother, and so either Wonder Man or Vision was an imposter who must be put to death.
The Grim Reaper forced Wonder Man and the others to participate in a mock trial with the true identity of Simon Williams on the line, using specially calibrated energy induction bonds to incapacitate anyone who stepped out of line. As Simon and Vision both gave testimony on how 
they came to be, Simon begged Eric to see reason and let them talk this out as brothers. During this "trial," Wonder Man first revealed the changes his body had undergone since his awakening -- his eyes were now glowing cinders of ionic energy, and his physiology was no longer recognizably human on the inside. Vision finally stepped forward and declared he was not Simon Williams, but his own man. He offered to allow the Reaper to kill him if he must, so that Wonder Man need not die a second time. Eric was prepared to do just that but, when he triggered the energy bonds, Simon found they did not affect his unique physiology. Simon struck down his brother, refusing to let Eric kill people in his name. Grim Reaper became manic after that, screaming about everything he'd done for Simon since he died, while unloading his scythe's power bolts at the same time. The Reaper exhausted his energy scythe and finally broke it against Wonder Man's indestructible skin. In the aftermath, Simon quietly mourned the loss of his older brother's sanity, but also reached an unspoken understanding with the Vision. [Avengers (1st series) #160]
While his skin was indestructible, Wonder Man's costume was not, so Beast whipped up a new version of his duds as a present. While the Avengers were "admiring" the suit, however, they were attacked by Ultron-8. As Iron Man ordered the team into battle, Wonder Man noticed for the first time how the chairman and others treated him like a full Avenger, even though he was only living 
in the mansion for the time being. Simon's new sense of belonging didn't stop the massacre that followed, however, as Ultron seemingly killed Vision, Beast, Scarlet Witch and Captain America with his encephalo-beam. Wonder Man's ionic physiology was the only thing that kept him from the same fate. [Avengers (1st series) #161] As the reserves were called in to seek vengeance, Simon was teamed with Thor for the first time, and was struck by the battle cries of a glorious warrior's death that the Thunder God sang. Simon had never truly considered the idea that he could die again, but the thought began to consume him. He started to hesitate in battle, but still fought Ultron to a standstill at Thor's side. Together, they drove off the mad robot and found a way to revive the other Avengers from their death-like comas. [Avengers (1st series) #162]
The Avengers finally got around to making a full battery of tests on Wonder Man's bizarre new physiology, with Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Hank McCoy and T'Challa all consulting. They found that, although Simon appeared human on the surface, his cells were now self-sustaining furnaces, bursting with ionic energy. An apparent side effect of Zemo's process, Wonder Man's cells were not deteriorating when he first "died," only changing into a new form of life. His death was actually a prolonged metamorphosis as his body adopted to its new condition. The actions of Black Talon and Living Laser therefore did not raise the dead, but were more akin to rousing a coma patient from a stupor.
The Avengers' next threat came from a revived Lethal Legion, including Power Man, the second man to receive Zemo's ionic treatments. Simon was eager to prove himself against his "ionic 
imitator" after his previous hesitation fighting Ultron. Wonder Man's lack of experience hurt him here, as he charged into battle against Captain America's instructions. When Power Man proved stronger than expected, Simon froze up in battle and didn't know what to do. The Legion ended up defeating themselves as their power boost ran dry, but they were only a precursor to their boss Count Nefaria, who drained the power of his minions and amplified them a hundred fold for himself. Simon hesitated again in battle but, despite his fears, forced himself again and again to enter the fray against Nefaria until he finally went down. [Avengers (1st series) #164-166]