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Paterson is a city in New Jersey. It was the birthplace of Simon Williams (later the superhero Wonder Man) and his brother Eric (later the villain Grim Reaper); they both grew up in Paterson, by then prosperous thanks to their father's munition factory Williams Innovations but, after the latter's death, Simon was unable to keep the company working and it ended up controlled by criminal interests of Maggia, its Paterson center closing, which was wrecking for Paterson's economy. The waste disposal company operating there, Unisym, was also controlled by organized crime, the Mecozzi Family. Roxxon Oil's cybernetics division Cybertek Systems was located in Paterson, and its head of computer software system Michael Collins lived there with his family - until Cybertek turned him into the superhuman cyborg Deathlok. Deathlok's actions led to Cybertek being terminated. As Deathlok, Collins moved to Coney Island, while his family remained in Paterson, until the Hobgoblin destroyed their house in an attempted hit against Deathlok, and they also moved to another city. Later, the Avenger Hercules stored the items of a discarded human identity in Paterson; and the city was affected by a Terrigen Bomb triggered by Black Bolt that turned several people in Paterson into Inhumans.

History

Paterson is a city in the north of New Jersey, USA. It is 8 miles from the borough of Leonia.[2]

Williams Residence from West Coast Avengers Vol 2 39 001

Williams residence in Paterson.

Industrialist Sanford Williams and his wife Martha raised their two sons Eric and Simon,[2] who were both born in Paterson,[3][4] in a suburb house in Paterson.[2] Sanford founded Williams Innovations, a highly successful munition factory,[5][6][7] which he then expanded to create a commercial empire with assets in other states.[8] A stern father, Sanford had tried to raise his firstborn son using his methods, but Eric grew up to become a loutish rebel; and Martha refused to let Sanford repeat the mistake with Simon, raising Simon herself,[9] giving the kids the idea that Eric had been born bad,[10] especially after Eric harmed the family cat in the living room, in front of the family during a fourth of July, refusing to stop even after a discussion had been triggered. Leaving Eric to Sanford's untender attentions, Martha took Simon to her bedroom and told him that Eric was evil, Sanford was useless, she herself was weak, so Simon had the burden to stopping Eric when the later was to do an evil deed, lest the Williams family would be destroyed and it'd be Simon's fault. While being most involved in Eric's upbringing,[9] Sanford was a hard and stern father to both of his sons, never satisfied with their achievements,[10][11] and even prone to physically punish them[11] - Martha knew of the belt spankings, but failed to stop her husband.[2] While both kids tried to get their father's approval, Eric also tended to an athletic, risk-taking approach while Simon was shy and studious,[10] yet even then, Sanford offered only a frown at Simon's A-minus result in maths.[12] Eric eventually became a professional criminal and, while he tried in vain to pressure Simon to join him in his deeds, Eric admired Simon's morality.[9][11][10]

Apparently Sanford died in a fire accidentally caused by a very young Eric, which destroyed the family home.[9] Eric was in shock, coming to believe the words about him being inherently bad.[9] Apparently the house was rebuilt,[2] then Eric squandered his share of the inheritance in gambling[5] and ended up working for the organized crime syndicate Maggia[10] and being transferred to Las Vegas, his mother knowing about this.[2]

While Williams Innovations was initially successful under Simon's leadership[11] and made important breakthroughs,[2] Simon eventually proved to be too inexperienced a manager for such a big venture.[6][11][7][13] Several other up-and-coming companies, especially Stark Industries.[6][11][13] Stark Industries was led by extraordinarily talented Anthony Stark, who singlehandedly produced several technological advances that rendered many of Williams Innovations' patents obsolete.[11][14] Williams Innovation lost its competitive edge[11][7] and failed to recover, with Simon taking the failure personally.[2]

Paterson from Avengers West Coast Vol 2 2 001

Williams Innovations facility in Paterson, abandoned.

In the verge of bankrupcy,[13] Simon asked Eric for help,[2][10] Eric, who had since became a member of the East Coast family of Maggia,[11] joined the company[6] and initially tried to change the minds of government contractors using physical threats and literal arm-twisting so that they'd hire Williams and not Stark, but this method failed.[2][10][11] Eric then suggested Simon that he embezzle money from the company to invest it in business entreprises that Eric had gotten wealthy from, namely illicit racketeering run by Maggia,[10][15][7] to obtain fast profit that would save the business[10] and allow him to compete with Stark.[13] Despairing over his inability to reverse the company's decline,[11] Simon emblezzled money for that reason[16][15][14][11] but his crime was discovered[5][6][10] by his company's board of directors[15] Simon was arrested,[10][13][11] brought to trial,[15][7] and found guilty[13][6] in a mediatic case covered by the Daily Gazette.[14] This started a succession of events when Simon, released on bail, obtained superpowers as Wonder Man, then died saving the Avengers.[14] Avengers financier Anthony Stark started paying an annuity to Martha Williams after her son's death.[2]

Eric, who valued too much Simon's reputation, took several steps to convince several people, including his and Simon's mother[11][10] and the Avengers, that Eric had been the real embezzler[11] to pay his own gambling debts.[6][5] and Simon had taken the blame[11][5] to protect him,[11][6] and because Simon blamed himself for both the company's failure and for asking Eric for help.[2] At the same time, Eric became the supervillain Grim Reaper to avenge his brother's death,[12] for which he blamed the Avengers,[11] and was transferred to Las Vegas Maggia family.[2]

However, this was too much for Williams Innovations. Its Paterson facilities were closed and abandoned, which contributed to Paterson losing economic strength in comparison with other cities.[2] The company remained active in other locations, but those ended up controlled by the Maggia.[17][8] Years later, the Avengers visited the Williams home to ask Martha Williams for information, and that led to Avenger Vision, an android with Simon's brain patterns, to identify Martha as his mother; Martha agreed to treat Vision as her son too,[2] babysitting Vision's twins Billy and Tommy at her Paterson home until Vision moved to Los Angeles (he offered Martha to go with them, but she refused to leave her decades-long home).[18] Martha was also visited at her home by Simon, then known as Wonder Man, especially once after he died and resurrected once more.[16]

Francis Castle (Earth-616), Paterson (Earth-616) from Punisher Vol 2 6 001

Unisym Compound, Paterson, New Jersey.

This was not the only case of organized crime controlling a Paterson-owned business. A corporation controlled by the criminal Mecozzi Family, Unisym, was in charge of waste disposal in Paterson and illegally dumped toxic chemicals in a landfill in Jersey City while operating from a barbed-wired, dog-protected compound in Patterson. Unisym CEO Harold Magary had been person of interest to the Department of Justice for months, but they failed to prove Magary's links to Mecozzi. Rival Jersey-based Rosettis Family wanted to get the Mecozzi's territory, one of the reasons leading to violent conflicts that eventually attracted the attention of then-Jersey-based vigilante Punisher. Investigating about them with his friends Microchip and Microchip Junior, Punisher fonud about the Unisym Compound in Paterson and went to investigate; he accidentally killed Magary (who was replaced by his second-in-command Manuel Herrera as the person in charge of Unisym)[19] and discovered that Unisym was in the process of selling radioactive materials to the Revolutionary Jihad. Thou Punisher associated with Rose Kugel, he was unable to stop the sale. Punisher and Rose returned to Unisym to harass Herrea for hints; they discovered where the Jihad planned to attack, and Rose shot Herrera.[20] It is unclear whether Herrera survived.

While Paterson had become a behind-the-times industrial town,[2] it was chosen as the seat of the main lab of Cybertek Systems,[21] the applied cybernetics division of Roxxon Oil Corporation[22] created after Roxxon had to close its previous subsidiary Brand Corporation when Brand's many illegal activities were made public,[23] for Roxxon to transfer assets and activities (including illegal ones) from Brand to Cybertek.[24] Cybertek also had its Weapons Development Testing Facility 4 within the boundaries of Paterson.[25] Cybertek stayed there for at least five years, the time spent by then-Philadelphia-based Michael Collins as Cybertek's head for the Computer Software Systems;[26][27] when Cybertek had hired Collins, it required him to move with his family, but he agreed as the additional income would pay for the mortgage of a house in a better neighbourhood.[26] Collins developed cutting edge neurological prosthetics for Cybertek,[27] not knowing that Cybertek was involved in criminal activities, developing high-tech weaponry that was sold to foreign and illegal interests.[22] Other Cybertek employees lived not in Paterson, like Jim Dworman, who lived in Riverdale.[28]

Paterson, Michael Collins (Earth-616) from Deathlok Vol 2 6 017

Collins family home.

Cybertek's head Harlan Ryker was developing a cyborg named Deathlok, using volunteer John Kelly[25] for its military use by Roxxon to pacify (or exterminate) guerrillas in countries like Estrella,[22] but their initial test run in Weapons Development Testing Facility 4 ended up in Kelly's death, meaning that Deathlok needed a new brain donor.[25] When Collins discovered and threatened to expose the Deathlok project, Ryker narcotized him and used Collins' brain in the body of Deathlok,[22] thou Cybertek's cybersurgeon Dr. Hu kept Collins' original body in the Cybertek main lab in case it was needed.[29] Ryker made up a story about Collins being hospitalized, and promoted Dworman to Collins' position.[21] However, Collins obtained control over his cyborg body and escaped. When he tried to go back home with his wife Tracy, son Nick Collins and cat Pascal, Tracy failed to recognize Collins except as a monster; Collins left[22] and moved to Coney Island with Jesus Badalemente, an amusement park technician whose life Collins had saved. Chased by Cybertek to Coney Island,[21] Collins stole a Dragonfly vehicle from them and went to Estrella to spoil their operation; he then returned to Paterson to raid Cybertek. He coincided with law enforcement agency SHIELD, who was also surrounding the building with a Stane International Mark XIV Land Attack Vehicle. SHIELD director Nick Fury sympathized with Collins and allowed Collins to enter first and help them apprehend Ryker so that he'd face trial.[30] However, Ryker convinced Collins to help him instead, in exchange for being returned to Collins' original body, and they both sneaked from Paterson to Japan. Once there, Collins was disgusted at Ryker's immorality and help SHIELD arrest him,[29] leading to widespread arrests in Cybertek.[31]

Roxxon tried to distance itself from Cybertek's mess and close the company, promoting Dworman to take care of the details for two months. After having sent home all the employees, Dworman stayed in the building, allowing his friend Collins to enter and access Cybertek files, hoping to find something that would help him return to his body. At the same time, Ryker sent one of Cybertek's cyborg weapons, Warwolf, to destroy the files in Paterson so as they could not be used as evidence against him; while Warwolf succeeded, Ryker was eventually convicted when other evidences were obtained.[31]

Paterson, Michael Collins (Earth-616) from Deathlok Vol 2 6 001

Paterson high school.

Meanwhile, Fury had told Collins' family that Collins was alive, but collaborating in a high-level government mission, to justify his absence.[29] Collins frequently stalked his family, watching them from afar, while looking for a way back to his body.[31] Due to the changes in his family life, Collins' son Nick kept bad companies and his classmate Donny convinced him to help him drug dealing[32] in crack[26] for crimelord Silvermane. Internal struggles in Silvermane's organization led to one drive-by shooting at the Paterson Elemental School, attempting to murder Donny, which was witnessed by a distraught Michael Collins, who decided to investigate and take measures. Simultaneously, Punisher's interest was also attracted.[32] Both men followed up the trail to Silvermane's base in Coney Island. Silvermane escaped, his Paterson operation damaged, and Nick Collins left the criminal path, thou he also recognized Deathlok as his father, and the latter lied to his son, claiming not to be Michael Collins, in an attempt to protect him.[33] Tracy Collins also discovered that her husband had become Deathlok and, when she also discovered she was pregnant of him, she contacted him through SHIELD asking him to come back home.[34] Collins did return and SHIELD tried to support the family, but the situation was too weird to be solved without adaptation,[26] and, when the family home was attacked by the creature Biohazard who was after Collins, damaging the home[35] Collins decided he could not stay with his family without putting them in danger[27] and returned to Coney Island.[36] He visited his family repeatedly and kept them informed of his activities and progresses in his attempts to become human again,[37][38] but then the family house was attacked by supervillain Hobgoblin, working as a hitman for Collins's enemy Clayton Burr. The Hobgoblin tried to murder Collins and failed, but managed to burn the house to cinders, which also triggered Tracy's labour two months in advance. Tracy was taken to the Paterson Hospital, where her daughter Patricia was born under the protective watch of Collins' friends Misty Knight and the Thing.[39] As the house had been destroyed and the Collinses had no money to rebuild it, Tracy and the kids moved to Manhattan with Tracy's sister Arlene.[40] Still, Patricia was taken again to the Paterson Hospital when her lungs were full of fluid and her fever was too high,[41] and Collins had an illusion soon after where he had left Cybertek before becoming Deathlok, so he stayed in his Paterson home with his family - however, this would have led to Cybertek building an army of weaponized Deathloks.[42]
Paterson, Hercules Panhellenios (Earth-616), Zeus Panhellenios (Earth-616), Malekith (Earth-616) from Incredible Hercules Vol 1 132 001

Hercules' warehouse of choice in Paterson.

Some time later, after the Civil War, Olympian Avenger Hercules stopped using the human identity of Victor Tegler, but decided to keep "Tegler's" human belongings in a warehouse, along with his weapon of choice, the Golden Mace. He used a Paterson warehouse, and kept it there until he had need of the Mace; he went there with his father Zeus, who had been turned into a kid, and his Asgardian ally Balder (who was later revealed to be villanous Dark Elf Malekith the Accursed in disguise) to pick up the Mace.[43]

Even later, Inhuman King Black Bolt confronted Thanos in hopes of preventing the latter's invasion of Earth in search of the former's son. Black Bolt unleashed a powerful attack that triggered a Terrigen Bomb and destroyed his own city Attilan in the process.[44] The result Terrigen Cloud released in New York City began to circumvent the globe, striking Paterson and transforming humans of Inhuman descent, including a Paterson teacher that became covered with purple fur, pointed ears, fangs, and claws, and adopted the alias Furball. Furball was angry at Black Bolt for affecting his life like that, and probably many others, especially because he believed that Black Bolt had abandoned the Inhumans soon afterward[45] (yet Furball kept his residence in Paterson).[46] Furball associated with other Inhumans who opposed Black Bolt, the Tribe, and attacked him at the Absorbing Man's funeral in Parkwood Cemetery,[47] but the assault turned too weird due to other powers involved. Eventually, Furball and his teammate Sheath escaped in an Inhuman Aircar, piloted by the latter, and Furball asked Sheath to drop him in Paterson.[46]

Alternate realities[]

Days of Future Past Simulation[]

Paterson from X-Men Gold Vol 2 32 001

Alternate future Paterson, in Mesmero's illusion.

The mind-contrlling supervillain Mesmero tried to manipulate Prestige (Rachel Summers of Earth-811) using his powers to make her believe she was back in her original world, Earth 811 (Days of Future Past). In the illusion generated by Mesmero, Ariel, Avalanche, Colossus, Cyclops, Forge and Nightcrawler (the later being Rachel's husband) escaped a Sentinel concentration camp and reached Paterson, where they were attacked by Rachel, a mutant-hunting Hound associated to a human who was revealed to be Mesmero. Mesmero was manipulating Rachel to make her attack the X-Men in a way that also affected their real-world versions.[48]

Points of Interest

Residents

Notes

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Punisher (Vol. 2) #6
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #2
  3. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #4 , Grim Reaper's profile
  4. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12 , Wonder Man's profile
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #4 , Grim Reaper's profile
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12 , Wonder Man's profile
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe #4 , Wonder Man's profile
  8. 8.0 8.1 Iron Man #138
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Wonder Man (Vol. 2) #25
  10. 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Avengers 2005 #1 , Grim Reaper's profile
  11. 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 11.16 11.17 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #17 , Grim Reaper's profile
  12. 12.0 12.1 Avengers (Vol. 3) #23
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Avengers 2004 #1 , Wonder Man's profile
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Avengers #9
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #15 , Wonder Man's profile
  16. 16.0 16.1 Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast #1
  17. Marvel Premiere #55
  18. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #39
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Punisher (Vol. 2) #26
  20. Punisher (Vol. 2) #27
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Deathlok #2
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 Deathlok #1
  23. Amazing Spider-Man #236
  24. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #32
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Marvel Comics Presents #62 ; "Test Run"
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #13
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3 ; Deathlok (Collins)|'s profile
  28. Deathlok Annual (Vol. 2) #2 ; "One Day At A Time"
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 Deathlok #4
  30. Deathlok #3
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #1
  32. 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #6
  33. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #7
  34. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #12
  35. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #14
  36. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #15
  37. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #17
  38. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #21
  39. 39.0 39.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #26
  40. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #27
  41. Deathlok Annual (Vol. 2) #2 ; "Quarry"
  42. Deathlok (Vol. 2) #29
  43. 43.0 43.1 Incredible Hercules #132
  44. Infinity #3
  45. Black Bolt #8
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 Black Bolt #11
  47. Black Bolt #9
  48. X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #3132
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