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 of ...

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 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 Comics'' in ...

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 Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include '' Man-Thing'', '' Omega the Unknown,'' '' Marvel Spotlig ...

Sal Buscema Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of '' The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as artist of ''The Spectacular Spider-M ...

, 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 Geor ...

wanted personal wealth and Ruby Thursday wanted to replace the head of every human with a plastic head of her own design. They fought the

Defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional 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 ( cover-dated February ...

, 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 Si ...

on different occasions. ''Defenders'' writer

formed the Headmen from 1950s anthological 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 Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916

);

, from '' Tales of Suspense'' #9 (art by George Evans); 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'' #11 (art by

Angelo Torres Angelo Torres (born April 14, 1932, in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many noteworthy comic books, as well as a long-running regular illustrator for '' Mad''. EC Comics Torres was f ...

). 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 The nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, native to the western hemisphere. The term "nighthawk", first recorded in the King James Bible of 1611, was originally a local name in ...

of the

spots Nagan but Nagan is able to escape. In ''The Defenders'' #32 (Feb. 1976), the Headmen were joined by Gerber's newly created Ruby 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 in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

based on shrinking the size of humans. Ruby Thursday briefly ran for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

. 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. 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 In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997: ...

, 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 Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the ''Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled '' Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early life ...

and

Erik Larsen Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel ...

. Chondu had an arachnid cyborg body for this outing. The Headmen next appear in ''

Heroes for Hire Heroes for Hire are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in '' Power Man and Iron Fist'' #54 (December 1978), and was created by Ed Hannigan and Lee Elias. The team continued to ap ...

'' Vol. 2 when they have reprogrammed a Doombot 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 and ...

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

)

References

External links

Marvel: Marvel Universe: The Headmen
*

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