| Headmen | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Defenders #21 (March 1975) |
| Created by | Steve Gerber Sal Buscema Sal Trapani |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Dr. Jerold "Jerry" Morgan Arthur Nagan Thursday Rubinstein Harvey Schlemerman |
The Headmen is a group ofsupervillains appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics.
The Headmenfirst appeared (as a team) inThe Defenders #21 (March 1975) and were created bySteve Gerber,Sal Buscema, and Sal Trapani.
The Headmen are a group who believe that they should rule the world by virtue of their intellect.Dr. Arthur Nagan wanted society to operate like a precision instrument,Dr. Jerry Morgan wanted a society where his genius was recognized,Chondu the Mystic wanted personal wealth, andRuby Thursday wanted to replace the head of every human with a plastic head of her own design.[1] They fought theDefenders, theShe-Hulk, andSpider-Man on different occasions.
Defenders writerSteve Gerber formed the Headmen from 1950santhologicalhorror-story characters appearing in the reprint titleWeird Wonder Tales #7 (Dec. 1974). That comic's five reprinted stories included the introduction ofDr. Arthur Nagan, the Gorilla-Man, fromMystery Tales #21 (art byBob Powell);Chondu the Mystic, fromTales of Suspense #9 (art byGeorge Evans); and Dr. Jerry Morgan, a.k.a.Shrunken Bones, fromWorld of Fantasy #11 (art byAngelo Torres).
The Headmen first appear inThe Defenders #21. Nagan and Morgan are based out of a house in Westbury, Connecticut. Nagan recruits Chondu the Mystic into the Headmen in that issue. The group creates chaos by using Chondu's mental powers enhanced by a drug created by Morgan. The chaos serves as cover for Nagan to carry out a series of burglaries in theNew York Diamond District.Nighthawk of theDefenders spots Nagan, but Nagan is able to escape.[2]
InThe Defenders #32 (Feb. 1976), the Headmen were joined by Gerber's newly createdRuby Thursday. The Headmen launched an elaborate scheme to secretly take economic and political control of the world. There were multiple components to the plan. Arthur Nagan created a business empire and formed a population control movement inIndia based on shrinking the size of humans. Ruby Thursday briefly ran forPresident of the United States. They were eventually defeated and captured by the Defenders at their headquarters in Norman, Oklahoma.[3]
Later, Ruby Thursday was the instigator of the death of another Gerber creation,Omega the Unknown. In the same issue,Doctor Strange declared that Chondu's real name was Harvey Schlemerman, and Jack Norris, husband of the woman whose body was being used by theValkyrie, claimed to have seen him perform.[4]
The Headmen made an appearance inJohn Byrne'sShe-Hulk comic, during a period when he was reviving Marvel villains. They had kidnapped the She-Hulk for the purpose of giving Chondu a slightly more normal body than he currently sported. The She-Hulk was convinced that her head had been detached and placed on a life-support system, and Chondu's head affixed to her body, but this was not true. As she discovered with the aid ofSpider-Man, the body that Chondu was using was actually a clone of hers.[5]
They also turned up for one issue of the Defenders (vol. 2) relaunch, byKurt Busiek andErik Larsen. Chondu had an arachnid cyborg body for this outing.[6]
The Headmen next appear inHeroes for Hire (vol. 2), where they reprogram aDoombot to assist them in battlingHumbug.[7]