GENERAL WO

Real Name: General Wo (first? name unknown)

Identity/Class: Human, weaponless warrior, Viet Namese citizen

Occupation: General in Communist Viet Nam, Former? Despot of small village in Viet Nam

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Associate of Batroc; One of the many mercenaries present at AIM's weapons exposition;

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: General, Sumo

Base of Operations: Viet Nam

Appearances: Tales of Suspense I#61/2 (January, 1965)

Powers: None. General Wo weighs 460 pounds and is an accomplished sumo wrestler. He possesses peak human strength and is skilled in using his massive weight to his advantage. He is very well balanced.

In addition, General Wo has an army of loyal soldiers at his command.

History: (Tales of Suspense I#61/2) - Near the beginning of the modern era, General Wo's soldiers captured and imprisoned an American helicopter pilot, Lt. Jim Baker. Captain America himself traveled to Viet Nam to barter for his release. Captain America located the General's army and informed him of his desires. They forced him to pass a test, defeating two of the strongest soldiers before deeming Cap worthy of challenging the General. The soldiers brought Cap to his village and showed him Lt. Baker, to prove he was alive. General Wo then ambushed Cap from behind. Cap struggled inconclusively with the General, unable to find a weak point in his body. Instead, after gaining some distance, Cap freed Lt. Baker and prepared to flee. The General picked up a massive idol to throw at them, but Cap blinded him with glare off his shield, and he and Lt. Baker escaped by diving through Wo's open legs. Enraged, the General inadvertently dropped the idol on himself, pinning him and blocking the gate, preventing his men from going after Cap and Lt. Baker, who escaped.

(Captain America I#411-412, [413-414] ) - Years later, at AIM's Weapon Exposition on their island base of Boca Caliente, General Wo was one of the five hand-to-hand combatants chosen by Batroc (alongside Mad Dog, Ramrod (the cyborg), Razor-Fist, and himself) to battle Crossbones in single combat in rapid succession as part of a previous wager. Unbeknownst to Batroc, the other warriors, and the other hundreds of super-villains present, Captain America had had Sersi transform him into a duplicate of Crossbones in order to infiltrate the Exposition. It was actually Captain America who was forced to go through Batroc's gauntlet, for fear that he would arouse suspicion by refusing. General Wo was the third combatant, attacking Cap/Crossbones after nearly being choked by Ramrod. General Wo succeeded in landing on Cap/Crossbones and was crushing the wind out of him. However, feeling he was expected to fight dirty as Crossbones, Cap reached around and squeezed the General's trachea. Gasping for air, the General rolled off of Cap/Crossbones, who then picked him up and hurled him out of the ring, defeating him.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Marvel's continued forward shifting of time to keep events modern and the characters from aging makes General Wo's and Captain America's encounter during (or prior to? History and me...bad) the Viet Nam war topical. I guess Lt. Baker was captured during some unnamed mission.

It wasn't revealed whether Wo still rules a village in Viet Nam, or whether he's a mercenary now, or what.

Clarifications: General Wo is not to be confused with:

• Commisar, robot used by Major Hoy @ Avengers I#18
• General, an enemy of Sentry, @ Sentry/X-Men#1
• General, a former member of the kgb and russian mob, imprisoned in the Cage, @ Wolverine II#164
• Sumo, Kono Sanada, @ Marvel Fanfare I#11
• Sumo, of the Mutant Liberation Front, @ New Mutants I#93
• sumo, an unnamed agent of the Silent Ones, @ Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu
• ...or any other sumos seen in various and sundry Kung-Fu stories