Thanks to the success of WandaVision, FBI agent Jimmy Woo is one of the most noteworthy heroes in the MCU. But no matter how bizarre his adventures in WandaVision turn out to be, the wild happenings at Westview are far from the most exciting things this FBI agent has ever faced. in comics. Within the Marvel Universe, Jimmy Woo's wildest adventures lie with the Agents of Atlas.
Although he spent much of his superhero career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Woo's involvement with the Agents of Atlas was first revealed in Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk's 2006 series, Agents of Atlas. After Woo's greatest enemy, the Yellow Claw, kidnapped President Eisenhower in 1958, Woo selected a team of primordial Marvel heroes that came to him in a dream, and they became Department Zero and the G-Men, before finding their way back together in the present day.
Woo's first recruit to the group was Venus, who was seemingly based on the god introduced by Stan Lee and Lin Streeter, she first appeared in 1948's Venus #1. Her powers include "vocal pathokinesis," or, put simply, a siren song. She can make those around her fall in love with her voice, or fall to their knees in despair with her tears. Despite her belief that she's the Roman god Venus reincarnated, she is given a darker origin during the events of Agents of Atlas: She was once a soulless Siren that fed on passing sailors before being given a soul and turning into a more heroic figure.
The group also included Marvel Boy, Robert Grayson. The character was created by Stan Lee and Russ Heath, first appearing in Marvel Boy #1 in 1950. At the rise of Nazi Germany, Robert Grayson and his father fled Earth to Uranus at the invitation of the Eternals. Seeing Captain America in action, the Eternals decided to mold Grayson into their own champion on Earth. In Agents of Atlas, Grayson reforms an old and injured Woo based on Grayson's last memory of him, allowing Woo to completely regain his youth.
Gorilla-Man is perhaps the weirdest Atlas member, created in 1954 by Stan Lee and Robert Q Sale, and first appearing in Men's Adventures #26. Kenneth Hale was a soldier of fortune who sought immortality. Hearing of the Gorilla-Man curse, he tracked the beast down and killed him. This granted Hale his immortality, as a gorilla, and he has since used those powers around the Marvel Universe.
The team was also joined by Namora, Namor's adoptive cousin who has a similar power set to the Sub-Mariner. She was created by Ken Bald and Syd Shores, first appearing in Marvel Mystery Comics #82 in 1947. The character was killed off in 1972 before being revealed as alive in the Agents of Atlas series. Unlike Woo's other choices, Namora declined to join the group initially but would later join the reformed Agents of Atlas.
For the group's final recruit, Namora tipped off Woo to the existence of Human Robot, M-11. Created by Stan Lee and John Romita in 1954's Menace #11, M-11's tragic origin in keeping with the cautionary themes of old sci-fi stories. M-11 was made to follow any command, the only problem being it performed orders on a loop. Before it could be fixed, the creator's business manager ordered M-11 to "kill the man in the room." M-11 killed its creator as instructed, then proceeded to kill the manager and move on to kill more men in other rooms. In Agents of Atlas, it's revealed that M-11 was actually part of Yellow Claw's grand plan to seat Jimmy Woo as his replacement and make him the next Khan.
In the distant past, the government disbanded them six months after their first mission, saying that the world "wasn't ready" for a team like them. The modern Marvel universe welcomed them back in Agents of Atlas, reformed as the titular group, but this strange assortment of 1950s characters could be too weird for the current MCU.
While the original Agents of Atlas are still a going concern in the Marvel Universe, Woo formed a new incarnation of the team in War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 by Greg Pak, Gang Hyuk Lim, Federico Blee and Clayton Cowles, which primarily features Asian and Asian-American heroes like Shang-Chi. But if the MCU continues to invest in more daring, offbeat stories like WandaVision, then S.W.O.R.D. could have some competition in the future.
0 Comments