The increasingly weary and disillusioned Swordsman abandoned their partnership and eventually reformed, dying in action as a member of the Avengers. They fought an early incarnation of Alpha Flight as members of Egghead's Emissaries of Evil, and battled the Avengers twice more as agents of the Mandarin and as founding members of the Lethal Legion, but they were defeated repeatedly. After that, Power Man and Swordsman began working in larger groups.
Later serving the Red Skull, the duo was defeated by Captain America. Battling the Avengers as agents of the Black Widow (Natasha Romanova), then a brainwashed communist pawn), they were defeated by Swordsman's old protégé Hawkeye. The embittered Power Man turned to crime, forming a long-running partnership with fellow super-mercenary the Swordsman (Jacques Duquesne). They conspired together to destroy the Avengers, but their plot failed, and the Enchantress abandoned Josten. Using Zemo's ionic ray machines (which had previously transformed Simon Williams into Wonder Man), she gave Josten superhuman strength and durability, dubbing him Power Man. Zemo's ally, Amora the Enchantress, soon seduced Josten into serving her. When Zemo died in battle with Captain America, Josten fled to the South American jungle surrounding Zemo's headquarters, hoping to evade capture. Josten was intensely grateful, and became fiercely loyal to the Baron. Desperate and directionless, Erik joined the private army of infamous super-criminal Baron Zemo, whose brutal discipline restored a sense of purpose and order to Josten's life. He was caught smuggling and ran again, becoming a mercenary. Blaming himself, Erik ran away from home and joined the army. His kid sister Lindy idolized him, and was killed in an auto accident one night while trying to follow Erik into town on her bicycle.
Growing up on his family's farm outside the small town of Madison, Wisconsin, Erik became a troubled teen that ran with a bad crowd. A career criminal turned wavering, would-be hero, Erik Josten has lived much of his life as a smalltime loser trying to be a big man.
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