Eric Williams

The Grim Reaper is a fictional comic book super-villain whose real name is Eric Williams. He is featured in titles published by Marvel Comics and is part of the mainstream Marvel Universe. He is associated with the Avengers line of comic titles and was introduced in the "Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!" story from The Avengers, Volume 1 #52 in May, 1968.

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

One day, Eric was playing with chemicals in the garage and caused a fire that burned down their house. Simon felt guilty for having not stopped Eric, and resolved to be responsible for Eric from then 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 theft. Eventually, Eric 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 the Wonder Man in order to infiltrate the Avengers, but Zemo's empowering process also poisoned Simon, ensuring his loyalty in exchange for the antidote. Simon's better nature won out, however, and he died saving the Avengers from Zemo's trap.

Becoming the Reaper
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. Taking the name the Grim Reaper, he defeated the Avengers, but was beaten by the surprise appearance of the Black Panther.

Later, the Grim Reaper confronted the Avengers with his Lethal Legion comprised of the Living Laser, the Power Man, the Man-Ape, and the Swordsman. 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.

The Vision met with the Grim Reaper who offered him a proposition. If the Vision aided him in getting revenge on the Avengers, he would transfer the Vision's mind into the body of the deceased, but preserved, Wonder Man. Not giving into the Grim Reaper's offer, the Vision refused; however, the Grim Reaper gave him a medallion that would put them into direct contact should the Vision change his mind.

Versus the Avengers
When the Space Phantom returned, he teamed up with the Grim Reaper. The Space Phantom and the Grim Reaper imprisoned some of the Avengers. The Grim Reaper then found the Vision and made his offer yet again. He took the Vision back to where the body of the Wonder Man was being stored, only to reveal that he really could not transfer the Vision's mind into the Wonder Man's body because the Wonder Man was dead; however, if they joined forces, he would transfer the Vision's mind into the living body of Captain America. Trying to appeal to the Vision, the Grim Reaper revealed his and the Space Phantom's plan. To this end, the Space Phantom took the form of the Viper, and later the Supreme Hydra during Captain America's last battle against the terrorist organisation.

When the Space Phantom was unmasked by Captain America, he paralyzed the star-spangled Avenger and his partner and then, to facilitate their plot, the Space Phantom made the whole world forget that Captain America was Steve Rogers, suppressed Captain America and Rick Jones's memories of the event, and sent them on their way. Without finally revealing his and the Space Phantom's ultimate goal, the Grim Reaper asked if the Vision would go along with their plan so that he may be human, a question to which the Vision answered affirmatively.

The Vision goaded the Grim Reaper to anger by suggesting that the Grim Reaper was merely one of the Space Phantom's lackeys. This gave Captain America the chance to attack and the Vision explained to Captain America that he was tricking the Grim Reaper into believing he had joined their cause in an attempt to free his captured comrades. The two Avengers then freed their friends and soon found themselves confronted by the Grim Reaper, the Space Phantom, and an army of Hydra soldiers. When the Space Phantom tried to kill the Vision, the Grim Reaper attempted to stop him, and soon a battle erupted between Hydra and the Avengers. The Avengers were soon felled by one of the Space Phantom's weapons, except for the Scarlet Witch -- who escaped to summon Thor -- and the Vision who was immune to the sonic attack. However, the Space Phantom got the Vision to surrender and allowed him to be imprisoned when he threatened to kill the Grim Reaper. The Space Phantom then chased after the Scarlet Witch so she could not rouse Thor, and she was quickly captured. The Space Phantom then arrived at the Avengers Mansion and attacked Jarvis and Rick Jones. Rick turned into Captain Marvel, then freed the Avengers, and they all made short work of the Hydra army. Mar-Vell explained to the others that when Rick clashed the Nega-Bands, the Space Phantom's powers attempted to become two people at once, which proved to be too much, and so the Space Phantom was transported to Limbo, while Rick was transported to the Negative Zone as usual. The Avengers allowed the Grim Reaper to go free.

Appearances

 * Avengers 52
 * Avengers 108
 * Vision Vol 2 1