The Rock of Aegeus

"Sometimes to move forward, you have to go backwards". Awful line from "Luke Cage", just awful. But in this character's case you can see why it's relevant. A mortal man seeking immortal tools, this week's Z-Lister is a Wonder Woman villain good enough for a reinvention, but dull enough to be forgotten. DC Comic's Aegeus.

Created by Dan Mishkin, Gene Colan, and Frank McLaughlin in 1982's "Wonder Woman #297", Nikos Augeus was a Greek Terrorist with a hand in weapon trading. After killing an ambassador, he and his men hid on an island-unbeknownst to them it was Paradise Island, home of The Amazons. There he found and recruited Bellerophon. Bellerophon was one of the first Greek heroes, before the age of Hercules, but in his old age he grew blind. Once off the island, Bellerophon gifted Aegeus with the lightning of Zeus, which gave him super strength, teleportation, and electricity manipulation. He also gave Augeus the winged horse Pegasus. Together they learned Wonder Woman and The Amazons were in possession of a Purple Healing Ray that could undo his blindness. To find Paradise Island again they kidnapped Wondie's boy-toy Steve Trevor and forced him to give him the island's location. Once there, Augeus and Bellerophon are creamed by Wonder Woman and one of Aegeus' own followers.

Augeus was later hired by a rogue U.S. government officer to kill Steve Trevor with the blade of Vulcan (another Z-Lister we talked about a long time ago). His assassination plan was thwarted by Wonder Woman, but Augeus was released after he agreed to testify at the officer's court case. With a few more rare appearances here and there, Augeus' last appearance was quite recent in 2017's "Justice League of America". There, he uses his mythological connections and his personal weapons designer to arm a group of mercenaries and citizens and overthrew Penn City, Pennsylvania. He even managed to numb Lobo's healing factor by using an ancient poison and provided Chimeras for his men. However, he also provided a forced stability to the city. After his defeat by the JLA, the heroes help establish more jobs to provide the citizens with legal career opportunities.

As far as Wonder Woman villains go, Augeus is pretty boring. The concept of a weapon-totting, modern day God-slayer is pretty cool, but ultimately no writer has established him as a solid villain. Since he is human, one could play with the perspective of a man using Godly weapons on a Goddess trying to behave like a human. As if Augeus believes all it takes to be a God is power, but from Wonder Woman's experience being a God is something that's given to you and not taken by force. Especially by men who resort to weapon-dealings and militaristic mutiny. There's potential, especially now that Wonder Woman is being approached by more of her traditional super-villains and not just the common Greek God or Goddess anymore. At any rate he's a decent villain for Steve Trevor. You know, for whatever that's worth.

Thanks for reading!

Also in Greek myth he was a Goat-Man.