Wonder Man (3rd series) #1

The future:

A future version of Wonder Man with long white hair gives a homeless man some money for food and declines an invite to join him since he no longer needs to eat. He ignores the man’s question if he needs company. He flies up to the top of a building in the shadow of a huge ‘new New York’ which has been built on top of the old city. He thinks of his long gone friends and enemies and how he no longer believes in many things he used to. Simon thinks back to the last thing he truly believed in -  ‘her’.

The present:

Wonder Man is having lunch with his ex-agent Neal and dealing with fans (a pair of girls who slip him their number). They’re approached by another agent Ken Flevin who asks after Neal’s career in documentaries (which he is trying to convince Simon to be in as his next subject). Ken is impressed to meet a real life superhero which Simon nervously deflects explaining Captain America is a superhero, he is just a guy with powers.

Neal asks after Simons’ relationship with the Scarlet Witch to which Simon can only say it went badly… she went crazy. Neal points out that the daughter of Magneto whose first team was the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was always going to go bad as she has ‘evil’ hardwired into her, she was bad to the bone. Wonder Man reminds Neal that he too used to be a villain. Neal confronts Wonder Man saying that is why he’s so weirded out when people call him a superhero because Simon doesn’t really think he’s worthy of it.

They discuss it a little more and Simon explains that he has always worked hard on being a better hero and anyone can turn their lives around from being ‘born in the pits of hell and still wind up on the side of angels’, provided that people believe in them. That is what his ‘second chances’ charity is all about, Neal thinks Simon obviously has good intentions but that only goes so far. Simon disagrees and thinks that the human ability for change is unlimited and no one is beyond redemption.

Just at that moment there is an altercation in the street between a trenchcoated woman and the valet driving Neal’s car where she uses a Kama to destroy the engine block. Wonder Man intervenes to which she responds by wrapping a chained weapon around his neck. Simon explains that he doesn’t need to breathe so cannot be harmed to which she responds by using her superstrength to throw him into the side of the car. Simon  turns fully ionic and informs her that they’re done.

The woman goes into a berserker rage and launches at him with glowing pink energy on her kama. It is loaded with ‘Anionic’ energy and so manages to clash across Wonder Man’s chest. He responds with a ‘good punch in the face’. She drops into the splits and swings her Kama at Simon’s crotch, but he catches it only to end up with the second blade sinking into his shoulder. She leaps over him and slices it across his back and knocking him down.

She leaps over him again and through the window of the restaurant he had just been eating in. She seeks out Ken Flevin whom she informs that he is about to die, the only reason she gives when asked is ‘because’ but reveals her name to be ‘Ladykiller’.

Simon is back with her now and manages to tie her up with her chain. He keeps tightening it until eventually she cannot move and then he is able to knock her out with one last punch. Whilst she is out Ken Flevin starts laying in some kicks onto her unconscious body until Simon lifts him clear.

Neal decides that she is ‘perfect’. He suggests that Simon must follow through on his convictions and traps him by asking if she is beyond redemption calling back to Simon’s earlier words. He suggests a title of ‘my fair superhero’, a modern day Pygmalion. Simon refuses at first but then Neal asks what he would have done if it was the Scarlet Witch and whether he thought she didn’t deserve a second chance.

In an apartment somewhere Ladykiller wakes up to Simon standing over her and launches to attack. She is floored with a large electrical shock, and he informs her that if she is going to act like an animal she will be treated like one. The shock collar whilst regrettable will redirect her aggressive behaviours. He gives her the ultimatum of joining with him in the experiment or going to prison. Simon introduces her to two people who will be helping: Henry McCoy AKA Beast and Carol Danvers AKA Ms Marvel who are sitting casually in an arm chair. Ladykiller launches at him again and receives a shock. Sweet girl, Beast opines. By all means, Simon, let the healing begin.