Grim Reaper (Marvel Comics)

For the Nedor Comics character, see Grim Reaper (Nedor Comics).

Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper vs the Avengers, art by George Pérez
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Avengers #52 (May 1968)
Created by	Roy Thomas (writer) John Buscema (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Eric Williams
Team affiliations	Legion of the Unliving Maggia HYDRA Lethal Legion Sinister Six
Partnerships	Space Phantom Ultron Nekra Black Talon Goliath Man-Ape
Abilities	Necromancy Teleportation Ability to summon demons Illusions casting Clairvoyance

Grim Reaper (Eric Williams) is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in The Avengers #52 May (1968), by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

Fictional character biography

Eric Williams, the brother of Simon Williams (also known as Wonder Man), was born in Paterson, New Jersey. Eric was always the black sheep of his family. His mother would tell him that he was 'born bad', while heaping affection on Simon. Eric's father was charged with disciplining him, but was abusive and uncaring. He even preferred to watch TV lazily, while Eric was torturing the family cat. At the same time, their mother Martha was loving and attentive to Simon, making Eric bitter and jealous.

One day Eric was playing with chemicals in the garage, and caused a fire which burned down their house. Simon felt guilty for not stopping Eric, and resolved to be responsible for Eric from there on. As they grew older, Simon grew studious while Eric was an athlete. Eric also became more rebellious, and tried to get Simon to join him in his petty thefts. Eventually Eric became a gambler and joined the Maggia and moved to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Simon took over the family business, Williams Innovations.

Partly due to competition with Stark Industries, Williams Innovations began to fail. Desperate, Simon turned to Eric and his mob ties for help. Simon embezzled money from the company to invest with Eric, but Simon was caught and jailed. Simon was freed from jail by Baron Zemo, induced by an offer of revenge on Tony Stark by defeating Iron Man and the Avengers. Simon was transformed into Wonder Man, in order to infiltrate the Avengers. Zemo's empowering process also poisoned Simon, ensuring his loyalty in exchange for the antidote. Simon's better nature won out though, and he 'died' saving the Avengers from Zemo's trap (though he had really only entered a coma due to his body adjusting to superpowers). The Avengers copied his brain patterns, hoping to make him live on in another way.

Learning of Simon's death, Eric was inflamed with guilt and anger. Through his Maggia contacts, he contacted the Tinkerer who provided him with his scythe weapon, which was further enhanced by Ultron with coma-inducing abilities. Taking the name "Grim Reaper," he became a professional criminal and defeated the Avengers Hawkeye, Goliath, and the Wasp, placing them in comas, but was beaten by the surprise appearance of the Black Panther.

In his next appearance, the Grim Reaper confronted the Avengers with his original Lethal Legion composed of the Living Laser, Power Man, the Man-Ape, and the Swordsman. He first sent the Man-Ape against them, who captured Black Panther. He allowed the Black Panther to escape so he could contact the Avengers so they would be lured to the location of the Legion members, before capturing the Panther again. He captured nearly all of them, placing them in an hourglass filled with a deadly gas, and sent Power Man after Vision. The Vision defeated Power Man, disguising himself as Power Man and Power Man as himself. The Legion was defeated when the Grim Reaper found himself unable to strike down the Vision, having discovered that he possessed Simon's brainwave patterns. He released 'the Vision' by breaking the hourglass, meaning the Avengers were freed and defeated the Legion.

The Grim Reaper later allied with the Space Phantom and HYDRA. He planned to transfer the Vision's mind to Wonder Man's body, thus "resurrecting" his brother. He battled the Avengers again and was defeated.

Behind the scenes, the Grim Reaper later had Wonder Man resurrected as a zombie by the Black Talon to attack the Avengers. Wonder Man was restored to true life as a result. The Grim Reaper then captured the Avengers, and staged a trial to determine whether the Vision or Wonder Man was his true brother. He was defeated by Wonder Man.

Later, the Grim Reaper attempted to kill both the Vision and Wonder Man, but was defeated by the Vision.

Later still, the Grim Reaper with Ultron, Nekra, and other allies, captured the Avengers. The Grim Reaper attempted a recreation of "Simon Williams" as a zombie. He was pursued by the Vision and Wonder Man in a cave, and died in a fall from the cave ledge. The Grim Reaper was then resurrected by Nekra as a zombie, but he believed himself to be alive. The zombie battled Wonder Man and Magneto, but when he realized he was actually dead, he "died" again as a result.

Much later, the Grim Reaper was resurrected by the time travelling Immortus as a member of his Legion of the Unliving. The Grim Reaper battled Wonder Man, and "died" again of a broken neck. He was then resurrected by Nekra as a zombie again, this time under the condition that he absorb a human life-force every 24 hours. He killed Nekra as his first victim, and then battled Wonder Man before escaping. He battled Wonder Man and the Mandrill, and escaped again. The scythe was fused to his arm by Ultron, and he formed an alliance with Ultron.

The Grim Reaper was later restored to life by the Scarlet Witch's magic.

Grim Reaper reappeared during the aftermath of the Secret War that had been organized by Nick Fury against Latveria. He was among the supervillains who had been supplied with enhanced technology by Latverian dictator Lucia von Bardos and sent to attack the heroes who had been involved in Fury's Secret War.

The Grim Reaper was apparently one of the many villains that escaped from the Raft prison during New Avengers #1-3. Being at large for several months, the Grim Reaper was eventually tracked down by Captain America and Cable during the Civil War storyline. Captain America and Cable brought the Reaper down with the aid of their other friends. He was found bound to a pole along with the Vulture. He was once again put into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Grim Reaper is next seen at the end of Heroes for Hire #6, teamed with Man-Ape & Saboteur; how he escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. is uncertain.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Grim Reaper later formed a new lineup of the Lethal Legion as part of a plan against Norman Osborn, after Osborn's rise to power. The team is ultimately defeated by the Dark Avengers and HAMMER agents and imprisoned in The Raft. While there, the Grim Reaper is stabbed in the heart by an inmate loyal to Osborn, and has to undergo an operation. It is also revealed that his brother Simon is a member of the Legion, also imprisoned in the Raft. The Reaper is then revealed to have died as a result of the stabbing.

During the Chaos War storyline, Grim Reaper returns from the dead following what happened to the death realms and becomes a servant of Amatsu-Mikaboshi. He and Nekra fight the "Dead Avengers" (consisting of Captain Marvel I, Deathcry, Doctor Druid, Swordsman I, Vision I, and Yellowjacket II). He manages to kill most of them except for Swordsman and Yellowjacket. Grim Reaper and Nekra end up killed.

Powers and abilities

Originally, the Grim Reaper was a purely technological-based villain with no innate superhuman abilities. The techno-scythe he used as his trademark weapon was designed by the Tinkerer. The scythe was worn on his right hand and had the ability to make the blade spin at rapid speed, making the weapon usable as a high-speed propeller blade buzzsaw, missile shield, and an improvised helicopter. It could also fire electromagnetic power blasts and anesthetic gas pellets, and dispense electric stun shocks on touch. The scythe was also equipped with a cerebral-frequency generator able to induce deep comas and revive victims from them as well.

The Grim Reaper later gained some magic-related abilities: he could reanimate the souls and bodies of the dead, either through voodoo training received from Black Talon or powers bestowed upon him by Lloigoroth. The Grim Reaper has also performed various magically-based feats including but not limited to: teleporting himself and others, summoning demons, creating illusions, and clairvoyant viewing.

The Reaper's physical strength is supernaturally heightened slightly beyond the natural limitations of the human body. In addition, his right hand has been amputated and replaced with an apparently magical scythe. The scythe is magically sharp and is capable of energy blasts (much like the original), but has also been used to drain energy.

At one point, the Grim Reaper had died, and was restored to life by Nekra as a zombie. He suffered hair loss, and had sallow skin in various stages of decomposition. In this zombie state, he had the ability to absorb human life-forces to sustain his own, and was able to absorb human life-force through his scythe. He needed to absorb a human life-force once every 24 hours to remain "alive" as a zombie.

Other versions

Earth X

An alternate version of Eric Williams appeared in Earth X. He was in the Realm of the Dead and only appeared in Universe X Special: 4

JLA/Avengers

The Grim Reaper was shown in a backstory of the Justice League and Avengers' team-ups. In one story, he and the Key stole the Serpent Crown and kidnapped Zatanna and Mantis to use them as a key to celestial power.

MC2

The Grim Reaper has not appeared in the MC2 Universe, but his scythe weapon was used by Kevin Masterson in Avengers Next #5.

The Last Avengers Story

In the The Last Avengers Story, William Maximoff, the son of the Vision and Scarlet Witch, grew up to be known as the Grim Reaper. He allied with Kang and Ultron against the Avengers. He used magic and had a scythe.

In other media

Television

• The Grim Reaper appeared in The Avengers: United They Stand episode "The Sorceress' Apprentice." This version wore full body armor and a helmet featuring a skull-like paint job. His ties to Wonder Man remained intact. The Avengers end up fighting him while Scarlet Witch and Vision are visiting Agatha Harkness. At the end of the episode when Wonder Man is revived, Grim Reaper watches from afar vowing to fight the Avengers again.
• The Grim Reaper appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Iron Man is Born", voiced by Lance Henriksen. This version is a cyborg with a scythe made by A.I.M., which is implanted into his arm and is able to take on the form of a hand, and he wears a hood rather than a helmet. He infiltrates the Vault disguised as one of the HYDRA Agents that SHIELD had arrested back in the episode "Behold, the Mandroids" in a plot to spring Baron Strucker from the Vault only to end up fighting Nick Fury. After pinning down Nick Fury, Grim Reaper frees Baron Strucker and gives him his satan claw. Both Grim Reaper and Baron Strucker make it to one of the hovercars and take off. After Nick Fury throws Baron Strucker out of the hovercar and towards the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, Grim Reaper ends up attacking Nick Fury and is defeated by him when the hovercar explodes. Grim Reaper then ends up remanded to the Vault. In the episode "The Breakout" Pt. 1, Grim Reaper is among the inmates that escape from the Vault during a mass-breakout. In the episode "Living Legend," Grim Reaper was with Baron Strucker when he is visited by Baron Heinrich Zemo. In the episode "Everything is Wonderful," Grim Reaper helps his brother Simon by hooking him up with MODOK who performs an experiment that turns Simon into Wonder Man. Before leaving, Grim Reaper informs MODOK to let him know if his brother survives. In the episode "Panther's Quest," Grim Reaper and HYDRA were seen with Klaw when they claim some Vibranium. He later speaks with Man-Ape and Klaw where he is warned by Man-Ape that if HYDRA double-crosses him, Grim Reaper won't live to regret it. He ends up fighting Wasp in the Vibrainium Mines with the attacks setting off the Vibranium. Grim Reaper ends up shooting Klaw off his platform. Grim Reaper and HYDRA managed to get away with some of the Vibranium during the fight. In the episode "Widow's Sting," Grim Reaper and some HYDRA Agents make a transaction with MODOK and A.I.M. when MODOK requires more money to help produced the Cosmic Cube. This transaction is crashed by Hawkeye, but Grim Reaper manages to escape not knowing that Hawkeye managed to place a tracer on him. During Hawkeye, Captain America, and Black Panther's fight with HYDRA on their base HYDRA Island, Grim Reaper is defeated by Hawkeye and taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody alongside Madame Hydra (who was later discovered to be a Skrull in disguise).

Video games

• In Captain America and the Avengers, released as an arcade console and for the Sega Genesis and SNES, the Grim Reaper is a boss character at the end of stage 2.

• Grim Reaper appears as a mini-boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. The heroes encounter him in the tunnels to Roosevelt Island. Before fighting the heroes, he instructs Shocker and Diamondback to help the boss get ready. He later appears in Prison 42 in the Negative Zone as one to villains under the control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Control Nanites which end up gaining a mind of their own. The players end up fighting Grim Reaper and defeat him. When they pass through the same area again, the Control Nanites reactivate Grim Reaper and the heroes defeat him again.

External links

• Grim Reaper at Marvel.com
• Leader's Lair article on Grim Reaper (contains synopses on all appearances through Avengers vol. 3 #33)
• Grand Comics Database Project article on the Avengers #52 (1968)