Marvel Comics Trademarks Lethal Legion For Wonder Man?

So sooner have we news about Marvel’s upcoming TV series Wonder Man casting Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams than Marvel Comics trademark the words “Lethal Legion”. Well, they can’t trademark “Wonder Man” I guess. Marvel Characters has trademarked the phrase for “Printed comic books; printed periodicals in the field of comic book stories and artwork; printed posters” which suggests they have a Lethal Legion comic book to be published ahead of the Wonder Man TV series, and heavily suggests that the Lethal Legion will be a part of it.

There have been a number of versions of the supervillain team Lethal Legion in Marvel’s history and Wonder Man has been associated with a number of them in different ways. Created by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Tom Palmer in the seventies for the Avengers comic book. the original Lethal Legion was formed by the villain Grim Reaper, the brother of Wonder Man. It also included Man-Ape, Power Man, Living Laser, and Swordsman.  The Grim Reaper formed a third version in West Coast Avengers, in which Ultron-12 states he had his own plans for Wonder Man. In the Rob Liefeld pocket universe of Heroes Reborn, Wonder Man was drafted into the Lethal Legion by the Enchantress and sent to Avengers Mansion to distract them long enough to leave them vulnerable to the rest of the Lethal Legion. The Dark Reign version of  the Lethal Legion saw the Grim Reaper, joined by Wonder Man, recruiting villains to oppose former Green Goblin, Norman Osborn.

Which version of the Lethal Legion will be referred to, referenced, revived, relaunches or rebooted, we have yet to see. But looking which names and phrases the comic book side of Marvel Comics chooses to trademark does give clues as to their publishing plans, and especially plans trying to connect synergy with whatever the TV and movie side of the company has.

So sooner have we news about Marvel’s upcoming TV series Wonder Man casting Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams than Marvel Comics trademark the words “Lethal Legion”. Well, they can’t trademark “Wonder Man” I guess. Marvel Characters has trademarked the phrase for “Printed comic books; printed periodicals in the field of comic book stories and artwork; printed posters” which suggests they have a Lethal Legion comic book to be published ahead of the Wonder Man TV series, and heavily suggests that the Lethal Legion will be a part of it.

There have been a number of versions of the supervillain team Lethal Legion in Marvel’s history and Wonder Man has been associated with a number of them in different ways. Created by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Tom Palmer in the seventies for the Avengers comic book. the original Lethal Legion was formed by the villain Grim Reaper, the brother of Wonder Man. It also included Man-Ape, Power Man, Living Laser, and Swordsman.  The Grim Reaper formed a third version in West Coast Avengers, in which Ultron-12 states he had his own plans for Wonder Man. In the Rob Liefeld pocket universe of Heroes Reborn, Wonder Man was drafted into the Lethal Legion by the Enchantress and sent to Avengers Mansion to distract them long enough to leave them vulnerable to the rest of the Lethal Legion. The Dark Reign version of  the Lethal Legion saw the Grim Reaper, joined by Wonder Man, recruiting villains to oppose former Green Goblin, Norman Osborn.

Which version of the Lethal Legion will be referred to, referenced, revived, relaunches or rebooted, we have yet to see. But looking which names and phrases the comic book side of Marvel Comics chooses to trademark does give clues as to their publishing plans, and especially plans trying to connect synergy with whatever the TV and movie side of the company has.