Angkor

Major Story Arcs

A Buddhist priest, Father Thommanom, witnessed his homeland of Cambodia being bombed by the United States. Consumed with anger and haunted by visions of the destruction, Father Thommanom could not put the incident behind him like his fellow priests had advised him to. Eventually he renounced Buddhism and turned to the Hindu gods, warrior kings...gods of blood, fire, and power. The only thing that calmed him was the picture of Angkor, the ancient temple of the Cambodian kings. He dreamed of some day rising from “the blood-soaked earth of Angkor… to bring Cambodia’s rage to the world… to spin fortune’s wheel… to butcher the butchers!”

Wonder Man was seeking information about gangs at a Buddhist temple. Somehow Thommanom was able to absorb the ionic power from Wonder Man, giving him incredible powers and the ability to transform his shape into his mental vision of a Hindu god.

That night, after Wonder Man had left, members of a local gang show up at the temple to find out what Wonder Man might have discovered about their operations. Angkor burns them to death, grabs their guns and crushes them saying that the old powers have been nourished to spin the wheel.

Angkor goes to a mall and begins destroying it saying that the blood of his soil had been soaked and now he would cause a river of blood to flow. The mall is almost completely destroyed when Wonder Man shows up. The two go back and forth, both fueled by rage but Angkor’s is greater as he palms Wonder Man’s face and feeds Simon’s mind images of the bombing in Cambodia. Wonder Man realizes that Angkor is Father Thommanom and he is overcome with guilt. Angkor assumes that they are one, like life and death, and as he knocks Wonder Man unconscious he thanks Shiva for his power claiming that the killing fields will now spread through the west.

Wonder Man recovers and catches up to Angkor just before he can destroy the National Ballistics building that produced the bombs and napalm that was used against his country.

During their fight, Angkor begins to drain Wonder Man again but Wonder Man knocks him over. When Angkor tries to impart the horrors of the bombing on him again by palming his face, Wonder Man lets his anger rise and begins to pummel Angkor. Angkor claims that the blows are merely fueling his power and he refuses to go down. Angkor realizes that he gained his powers from Wonder Man who brought him the red fire of anger. The tide turns and Angkor is on fire with power. Wonder Man decides that the only way to put an end to this is to kill Angkor. Angkor eggs him on telling him to surrender to the hate and tries manipulating Wonder Man’s emotions again, but this only fuels Simon’s anger and he pounds on Angkor making him more and more powerful until Angkor finally explodes unable to contain the massive amount of energy.