First Appearance: Wonder Woman 62 (1953)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and H.G Peter
Abilities: Criminal mastermind with a vast criminal network at his disposal. Master thief. Possess ‘the Angler’ which allows him to bend time and space to his will.
Backstory: Wonder Womans most frequent of nemesis in the silver age and seemingly favorite Wonder villain of Robert Kanigher.
Angle man was a criminal kingpin who held sway over a vast sum of the criminal underworlds organized crime and was well known for being ‘the man who knew every angle’ A criminal mastermind infamous for creating master plans for his crimes and looking at every possible variable and creating contingency plans for any eventuality.
When Wonder Woman began involving herself in stopping bank robberies and foiling criminal endeavors which his lackeys committed as he ordered, Angleman began by first formulating work arounds to try and continue operating despite Wonder Womans efforts.
Things such as always using a middle man not directly tied to his organization to hand out orders so the magic lasso could not be used to discover him or his plans.
Coordinating three or more robberies at the same time so that Wonder Woman would be unable to stop all of them, ensuring there was a profit to be made.
Outfitting gangsters working for him with thematic weapons in order to give them a chance against Wonder Woman.
However even with these efforts, Wonder Woman was still dealing terrible blows to Angle Mans criminal fortunes and taking down hundreds of his criminal henchmen. Thus he began plotting various ways of defeating Wonder Woman once and for all.
He tried uncovering her secret identity. Taking advantage of her weaknesses. Attempted to claim/destroy/disable her resources such as the magic lasso and the invisible plane. Hired superpowered criminals both to try ending Wonder Womans life, and tarnishing her reputation with mesmerism. He has commisioned robot Wonder Women. Paid for deadly weapons and experimental technologies all bent towards the singular purpose of ending Wonder Womans life. He even attempted to aid Steve Trevor in marrying Wonder Woman in the hopes that Diana would immediately choose to retire.
Every plan would fail time and time again and as the years passed, Angle Man went from young and babyfaced to greying and wrinkled in his efforts. Caught and arrested time and time again, seemingly going in and out of prison like it was a revolving door.
Things would finally come to an end when years of effort trying to take on Wonder Woman led to his criminal empire falling apart. All of his minions behind bars. His vast wealth evaporated. His reputation among criminals reduced to a joke.
At his lowest point, Angle Man would be gifted ‘The Angler’ an all powerful artifact which allows its wielder to bend time and space to ones will. Along with an invitation to join the Secret Society of Supervillains.
Taking the offer, Angle Man would go from suit wearing kingpin to costumed supervillain. Working for Funky Flashman (who I know nothing about so ill just assume hes a less talked about member of the Flash family) Angle Man would aid them in their villainy while on the side, attempting to get his revenge on Wonder Woman for destroying his criminal enterprise.
However even with the Angler being further empowered by Ares, allowing Angle man to travel the multiverse, time travel, create pocket dimensions, bend reality to his will, freely teleport himself and any items he wishes wherever he wanted… Angle Man utterly failed at every turn to defeat Wonder Woman. This iteration of Angle Man doomed to never succeed in his goals.
In the post crisis era, Angle Man would make a return as ‘Angelo Bend’ a suave debonair man of class and intrigue who operated purely as a thief for hire with no greater criminal ambitions than to make some money and steal a few hearts along the way. His version of the Angler being no less powerful than it had been previously, how he obtained it would remain a mystery.
