Angle Man

Angle Man

Angle Man.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Wonder Woman #70 (November 1954) (as Angle Man)
Created by Robert Kanigher
Harry G. Peter
In-story information
Alter ego Angelo Bend
Team affiliations Mafia
The Society
Anti-JLA
Abilities Possesses an object known as an Angler which can alter objects and locations according to the holder's wishes, sometimes defying gravity or through teleportation.

Angle Man is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as an adversary for the superhero Wonder Woman.[1] His first appearance (Wonder Woman #62, volume 1, published in 1953), written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Wonder Woman's originating artist Harry G. Peter, presents him as "Angle" Andrews, a criminal mastermind in a business suit capable of working out every "angle" of a crime caper. He reappeared a year later re-christened as the Angle Man in Wonder Woman #70, volume 1. The character was re-imagined in the Bronze Age as a dashing costumed criminal wielding a triangular weapon called the "angler" which could warp spatial relationships, phase dimensions and teleport objects and people.

Publishing history

The Angle Man was created as a recurring foil for Wonder Woman during the period in which Robert Kanigher took over as writer of the comic book.

In the late 1940s, as the backlog of Marston scripts dried up and his family stopped writing stories, and into the 1950s, Kanigher phased out most of the supporting cast, even, briefly, the Amazons of Paradise Island, presenting Wonder Woman in three short, disconnected stories per issue rather than three chapters of one full-length script. The short form left little room for characterization or elaborate plots and, for a while, typically featured Wonder Woman as a full-time crime fighter frequently targeted by the criminal underworld for elimination.

The Angle Man emerged after a series of tales in which Kanigher presented a desperate underworld turning to experts in designing elaborate schemes to defeat Wonder Woman. After one-shot tales featuring the Plotter and the Brain, Kanigher settled on the Angle Man, a character whose gimmick is designing schemes based on an angle. Wonder Woman #62 featured "Angle" Andrews, and beginning in Wonder Woman #70 she was pitted against someone known simply as the Angle Man.

The Silver Age adventures of Wonder Woman came to feature one-off villains and predicaments, and the Angle Man and the Duke of Deception were for a time the only recurring villains.

The Angle Man was dropped in the 1960s, as Wonder Woman shifted away from superheroics to feature espionage and urban adventures of the depowered Diana Prince, but he reemerged in the 1970s as a more traditional costumed supervillain, now equipped with a superpowered "angler" device.

Fictional character biography

There have been multiple incarnations of Angle Man in DC Universe continuity.

Golden and Silver Age version

The Angle Man was an unsuccessful criminal who became obsessed with crimes with unbeatable "angles." He plagued Wonder Woman with a series of increasingly clever schemes that involved "angles." It is unclear whether or not he had an Earth Two counterpart.

He reappeared where he is now wearing a yellow and green costume and wielding the Angler, a Penrose triangle which could warp time and space in a variety of ways. A text page in that issue explained that he had been recruited and outfitted by the Secret Society of Super Villains's founder Darkseid only to use the Angler to warp ahead in time to a point after Darkseid had been exposed and deposed as the Society's secret leader.[2] He also began appearing in the Wonder Woman title once more. At one point, he fights Wonder Woman's friend Etta Candy.[3]

This Angle Man died in the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths,[4] apparently as a result of attempting to use his Angler during the massive dimensional upheavals caused by that event.

Modern Age version

After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the entire DC Universe history was erased and restarted again with the same familiar characters, but with all new backgrounds and histories. In Angle Man's case, a still-living uncostumed Angle Man initially appeared briefly in the Flash comic as one of several villains whose equipment was appropriated by the weapon-absorbing Replicant.[1][5]

Later, during Phil Jimenez's run on the Wonder Woman title, he was revamped into Angelo Bend, an Italian master gentleman thief for hire who uses his special angler to escape authorities.[6] He was caught by Donna Troy while trying to steal an ancient artifact from a museum. Even though Donna, as Troia, was trying to stop the villain, Angle Man formed a bit of a crush on the Amazon. He became so enamored with her that he instinctively transported himself to Themyscira seeking Donna's help when he was savagely attacked by a Fury possessed Barbara Minerva. Later it was learned that he had been hired by Barbara, the previous Cheetah, who had lost her powers to Sebastian Ballesteros and needed the stolen artifacts to regain them. He was also seen grieving at Donna Troy's funeral after she was briefly killed by a Superman robot.[7]

The next time he is shown was among a large team of super villains formed by the Wonder Woman villain Devastation.[8] An enemy of Cassie Sandsmark, Devastation formed the group to battle the now disbanded Young Justice.

The sophisticated thief re-imagined by Jimenez was subsequently written as an entirely different personality, much deadlier and obsessive.

Bend appeared during the Infinite Crisis storyline as a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains who were operating in the East End of Gotham City. Catwoman infiltrated the team pretending to be a villain again to get close to the Society. Bend discovered her discussing her plan to double-cross the Society and attacked her, shooting her in the stomach and stabbing her in the head with a triangle-shaped blade. However, the Catwoman the Angle Man "killed" was in fact a new Clayface whom Catwoman had recently encountered and asked for help. The real Catwoman appeared and, during her attack on the villains, beat Bend savagely with a baseball bat.[9]

One Year Later, Selina Kyle has given up her mantle as Catwoman after having a child. Her associate and friend Holly Robinson has taken over the Catwoman persona. Bend, now obsessed with Catwoman and bent on revenge, has targeted Holly, not realizing that he is going after the wrong person. He has since been defeated by Holly once (the brutal fight was caught on tape), but has been approached by a new villain calling himself the Film Freak, apparently a successor to the deceased Batman villain of the same name. When Film Freak deduces Selina's secret identity the two villains launch an attack on her apartment. In the wake of this he even threatens to kill Selina's baby and to give her secret identity away to other villains. These plans are, however, thwarted when Selina calls in Zatanna, who performs another mindwipe on the two men. This results in Angle Man forcibly confessing his crimes to Gotham Police after reminiscing about his more glorious days as a supervillain.[10]

Angelo next appears as an ally of Circe who has emmassed a large team of villains to attack Wonder Woman.[11] He informs Diana that Circe has amplified his powers and uses his Angler to replicate itself as a projectile stabbing tool. He and his teammates are about to subdue Wonder Woman when she is rescued by a large group of the Amazon's allies. Angle Man is rendured unconscious by Robin in hand-to-hand combat and is then arrested under the authority of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. After Angle Man's incarceration has been processed his Anglers are taken by Nemesis and placed in government confiscation.

The New 52

Angle Man is first seen in a bar witnessing the news of Superman and Wonder Woman's romantic coupling.[12] He also participated in a meeting of several super-villains during the Forever Evil storyline.[13] Most recently, Angle Man was revealed to be Vandal Savage's son. After a failed plot against Superman and Wonder Woman, Angle Man was imprisoned and later killed by his father for insubordination.[14]

Other versions

DC Super Friends

Angle Man appears in the Super Friends comic book series. Teamed up with the Riddler, Cluemaster, the Signalman, the Calculator, and the Puzzler, Angle Man was tricked by the Duke of Deception into freeing his magical automaton. After realizing that the Duke planned to conquer the world with it, Angle Man and the other villains joined forces with the Super Friends in order to defeat the creature. After the battle, Superman thanked the villains to Angle Man's surprise.[15]

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Angle Man appeared in the All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic book series (which is based on the animated series of the same name). He was seen with the other Wonder Woman villains (consisting of Amoeba Man, Blue Snowman, Cheetah, Crimson Centipede, Fireworks Man, Giganta, Mouse Man, and Paper-Man) as they, along with an assortment of Batman's villains, crashed the wedding between Batman and Wonder Woman. They were swiftly defeated by the joint efforts of the Justice League and the Amazons of Themyscira.[16]

In other media

Television

Video games

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jimenez, Phil (2008). "Angle Man". In Dougall, Alastair. The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 15. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5.
  2. ↑ Secret Society of Super-Villains Special #1
  3. ↑ "Wonder Woman" #323
  4. ↑ Crisis on Infinite Earths #11
  5. ↑ Flash Vol. 2, #154
  6. ↑ Wonder Woman Vol. 2, #178-187
  7. ↑ Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3
  8. ↑ Young Justice #47–51
  9. ↑ Catwoman Vol. 3, #46–49
  10. ↑ Catwoman Vol. 3, #53-58
  11. ↑ Wonder Woman Annual #1 (Vol. 3)
  12. ↑ Superman/Wonder Woman #4
  13. ↑ Forever Evil #1
  14. ↑ Superman/Wonder Woman #24
  15. ↑ DC Super Friends #28 (2010)
  16. ↑ All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #4

External links

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