The Headmen

The team was formed within Marvel Comics continuity and first appeared collectively in The Defenders #21 (March 1975). Writer Steve Gerber assembled the group from characters with earlier horror-story roots; their comic-book history spans multiple appearances and revivals in Defenders stories and later series. They are narrative antagonists who organize to seize influence and power through intellect, science, and manipulation rather than having a mythological or folkloric origin.

Appearance is episodic and character-based. Membership includes Dr. Arthur Nagan (sometimes associated with the Gorilla-Man descriptor though that specific name is not used in the stories), Dr. Jerold "Jerry" Morgan (nicknamed in notes as implying a shrunken-bones aspect), Thursday Rubinstein (Ruby Thursday) who is associated with plastic/artificial heads and a plot to replace human heads with plastic designs, and Harvey Schlemerman (Chondu the Mystic) who has appeared occupying multiple bodies including an arachnid cyborg form. Visuals vary by issue and storyline; the group has used altered bodies, clones, and technological prostheses in different appearances.

The Headmen combine scientific expertise, technological manipulation, political maneuvering, and criminal activity. Members' documented capabilities include Morgan's development of drugs (including one that enhanced Chondu's mental powers in a storyline), Ruby Thursday's creation and use of artificial/plastic heads and engagement in political schemes (including a run for U.S. President), Nagan and Morgan's establishment of business enterprises and social movements (including a population-control movement in India), Chondu's mutable embodiment and mystic/mental powers (variable across appearances), and the group's employment or reprogramming of technology and agents (e.g., use of a Doombot in a later story arc). They undertake burglaries, abductions, and conspiratorial plots aimed at social and political control.