The Headmen is a group of

supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...

s appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Publication history

The Headmen

first appeared In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status. Reader interes ...

(as a team) in '' The Defenders'' #21 (March 1975) and were created by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema, and Sal Trapani.

Fictional team biography

The Headmen are a group who believe that they should rule the world by virtue of the 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 Chondu the Mystic, sometimes known as Chondu the Magician, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Chondu the Mystic first appeared in ''Tales of Suspense'' #9 and was created by Doug Wildley and Geo ...

wanted personal wealth and

Ruby Thursday Ruby Thursday (Thursday Rubinstein) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is usually depicted as a member of the Headmen. She is named for the Rolling Stones song, "Ruby Tuesday (song), Ruby Tues ...

wanted to replace the head of every human with a plastic head of her own design. They fought the Defenders,

She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...

, and

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

on different occasions. ''Defenders'' writer Steve Gerber formed the Headmen from 1950s

anthological In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

horror-story characters appearing in the reprint title ''Weird Wonder Tales'' #7 (Dec. 1974). That comic's five reprinted stories included the introduction of Dr. Arthur Nagan, the Gorilla-Man, from ''Mystery Tales'' #21 (art by Bob Powell);

, from ''

Tales of Suspense ''Tales of Suspense'' is the name of an American comic book anthology series and two one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such arti ...

'' #9 (art by

George Evans George Evans may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George "Honey Boy" Evans (1870–1915), American songwriter and entertainer * George Evans (bandleader) (1915–1993), English jazz bandleader, arranger and tenor saxophonist * George Evans (si ...

); and Dr. Jerry Morgan, a.k.a.

Shrunken Bones Sabra Sabreclaw Sabreclaw is a character in the MC2 universe who first appeared in '' J2'' #8 (May 1999). He is the half-brother of Wild Thing and the son of Wolverine. The character has claws (similar to Sabretooth), a healing factor, enh ...

, from ''

World of Fantasy ''World of Fantasy'' was a science fiction/fantasy comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics (1950s), Atlas Comics. Lasting from 1956 to 1959, it included the work of several notable comics a ...

'' #11 (art by Angelo Torres). The Headmen first appear in ''The 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 the New York Diamond District. Nighthawk of the Defenders spots Nagan but Nagan is able to escape. In ''The Defenders'' #32 (Feb. 1976), the Headmen were joined by Gerber's newly created

. 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 in India based on shrinking the size of humans. Ruby Thursday briefly ran for President of the United States. They were eventually defeated and captured by The Defenders at their headquarters in Norman, Oklahoma. Later, Ruby Thursday was the instigator of the death of another Gerber creation,

Omega the Unknown Omega the Unknown is an American comic book published by Marvel Comics from 1976 to 1977, featuring the eponymous fictional character. The series, written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Jim Mooney, ran for 10 issues before ...

. In the same issue,

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

declared that Chondu's real name was Harvey Schlemerman, and Jack Norris, husband of the woman whose body was being used by Valkyrie, claimed to have seen him perform. The Headmen made an appearance in John Byrne's

comic, during a period when he was reviving Marvel villains. They had kidnapped She-Hulk for the purpose of giving Chondu a slightly more normal body than he currently sported. 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 of

, the body that Chondu was using was actually a clone of hers. They also turned up for one issue of the Defenders vol. 2 relaunch, by Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen. Chondu had an arachnid cyborg body for this outing. The Headmen next appear in '' Heroes for Hire'' Vol. 2 when they have reprogrammed a

Doombot The Doombots are fictional robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. History The Doombots are robots that are modeled after their creator Doctor Doom. They are exact replicas of the real Doctor Doom and were created t ...

to team with them to fight Humbug.''Heroes for Hire'' vol. 2, #6 (March 2007)

Members

* Dr. Jerold "Jerry" Morgan (Shrunken Bones – name not used in the stories) * Dr. Arthur Nagan (

Gorilla-Man Gorilla-Man is an alias used by three different fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, beginning in 1954 with the character of Kenneth Hale, and continuing with Arthur Nagan, who also appeared in 1954 ...

– name not used in the stories) (leader) * Thursday Rubinstein (

) * Harvey Schlemerman (

)

References

External links

Marvel: Marvel Universe: The Headmen
*

{{She-Hulk Characters created by Steve Gerber Marvel Comics supervillain teams