ASH WILLIAMS
Earth-818793
(see comments)

Real Name: Ashley James Williams

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-818793) human

Occupation: Adventurer, retail clerk

Group Membership: S-Mart staff

Affiliations: Earth-2149 natives: Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Spider-Man (Peter Parker);
    formerly Punisher (Frank Castle of Earth-2149)

Enemies: Deadites, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Sentry (Robert Reynolds of Earth-91126), werewolves of Earth-7085 ("Black Widow," "Captain America," "Giant-Man," "Hulk," "Power Man," Werewolf Spider-Man, Werewolverine);
    Earth-2149 natives: Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Doombots, zombies (Black Widow/Natasha Romanova, Colonel America/Steve Rogers, Enchantress/Amora, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Howard the Duck, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers, Power Man/Luke Cage, Thor, Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes)

Known Relatives: Cheryl Williams (sister, deceased), James Williams (grandfather, deceased), Kent Williams (uncle), Evil Ash (doppelganger)

Aliases: Impersonated Doctor Doom

Base of Operations: Detroit, Michigan, USA

First Appearance: (in comic form, Dynamite Entertainment) Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes#1 (July, 2004);
(Marvel-related, Dynamite Entertainment) Army of Darkness I#13 (January, 2007);
(in an actual Marvel comic) Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness I#1 (May, 2007)

Powers/Abilities: Ash Williams is an ordinary human and possesses no superhuman abilities but he is skilled in the use of a chainsaw, which he attaches to a metal prosthetic hand when needed. An integral part of Williams' arsenal is also a shotgun, which he calls a "boomstick," that he uses quite effectively in his adventures.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'1")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 178 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History:
(Dynamite Entertainment's Army of Darkness comics) - Once every hundred years, God chose a child who would one day fight the forces of evil and in 1969, this child was born Ash Williams. A cultist who built a cult around the magical book Necronomicon Ex-Mortis discovered the infant and placed a curse on him. As a result, Ash became the target of supernatural forces tied to the book.

    As an adult, Ash worked as a clerk at the S-Mart retail chain. One day, he and his girlfriend Linda went to a small cabin in the woods. Discovering the Necronomicon there, the couple accidentally awakened the supernatural Deadites using its pages. The girl was killed and Ash was forced to cut off his demonically-infected hand, replacing it with a chainsaw. The battle with the Deadites culminated in Ash being transported to the year 1300, where he fought the army of darkness and eventually returned to his own time.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness I#1 (fb) - BTS) - During one of his adventures, Ash was institutionalized in an asylum and fought the Deadites there.

(Army of Darkness I#13) - Ash died via lightning strike in a ritual performed by the Deadites and the Cult of Death, and while his soul was sent to the afterlife, his body was possessed by his Deadite duplicate, Evil Ash.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1 (fb)) - In the afterlife, an angel refused to let Ash through because of his chainsaw. Hearing screams, Williams turned and saw the infected superhero Sentry of Earth-91126 with a pile of corpses. The zombie attempted to attack Ash but he grabbed his shotgun just in time and fired. Sentry tossed him, causing Williams to fall out of the afterlife and end up on Earth-2149, a completely different reality.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1) - Ash Williams fell into a dumpster and upon climbing out, rudely told a homeless woman to get lost. The Sentry's blow caused short-term memory loss and their meeting in the afterlife vanished from Ash's mind. Williams looked back and concluded that he wasn't dead after all, commenting that "Heaven would have less garbage." Moving forward, he witnessed a fight between the vigilante Daredevil and supervillain Thunderball. While Ash, determined to intervene, wondered which of the costumed men was on the good side, a Deadite-infected homeless woman called out to him, declaring that the Necronomicon couldn't be destroyed, and that an army of the dead would rise and plunge the world into chaos. The woman was immediately struck in the face by Williams but was saved from death by Daredevil, who heard the noise of a chainsaw. The superhero, believing Ash was about to kill an innocent woman, attacked him but was subdued by Thunderball. Thunderball thanked Ash and left while the Deadite managed to escape.

    In the newspaper, Ash read articles about the Wrecking Crew (realizing Thunderball was actually a criminal), Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Realizing that he needed help against the forces of evil, Williams decided to turn to the Avengers. He soon reached the Avengers' mansion and shot the intercom, not wanting to wait. The superheroes reacted immediately and the entire team confronted Ash, who explained that the world was in danger, but the Avengers dismissed him as a madman. Some team members began to laugh at the absurdity of the events he described, which began to infuriate Ash. Scarlet Witch teleported the eccentric guest to a lake in New York's Central Park and Ashley gave up hope of help from the superheroes of Earth-2149. Looking up at the sky, Williams saw clouds gathering over the city, accompanied by purple lightning. At that moment, his memory of his encounter with the Sentry flashed through his mind. Williams ran, screaming for the people to pack their things and run as far away as possible. The Avengers reacted, still convinced of his madness, and Colonel America asked Spider-Man to tie up Ash Williams and take him elsewhere.

    Ash tried to convince Spider-Man of the danger and Spider-Man finally believed him when the Sentry appeared on the city streets and infected the Avengers with a zombie virus. Williams began explaining the nature of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis but was interrupted by an attack from the zombified Colonel America. Rogers attacked Spider-Man and Ash, bound in webs, fell to the ground, where he was found by the infected Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye and Luke Cage.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#2) – The rest of the Avengers joined them in preparation of devouring Ash but Spider-Man appeared and insisted that the team leave Ash Williams for him to devour. While the superheroes argued, Ash crawled away and freed himself from the web. Spider-Man then took him to the roof of the building. There, the visitor from Earth-818793 attempted to kill Spider-Man but Spider-Man revealed that he had only impersonated a zombie and was not, in fact, a victim of the virus. After a brief dialogue with Williams, Spidey rushed to check on his Aunt May and wife Mary Jane. The moment Spider-Man left, the Punisher appeared and promised to help Ash find the Necronomicon after the massacre of Wilson Fisk and other criminals. With the villains dealt with, the Punisher joined the fight against the undead.

    Outside the building, the Punisher gave Ash some of his arsenal and rushed into battle. Ash, who considered himself the main protagonist, was displeased with another man giving him orders. Grabbing his bag of weapons, he ran away and spotted Dazzler. Captivated by her beauty, Ash saved her from the Winter Soldier, finishing him off with a shot to the head. He told her to stay close and tried to calm her down. Williams told her about the Necronomicon and briefly recounted his past. Dazzler suggested they contact Doctor Strange and together, they headed for Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#3) – At the Sanctum Sanctorum, Ash was pulled aside by Scarlet Witch, who was now convinced of the veracity of Ash's earlier claims of the world being in danger. When Scarlet Witch and Dazzler were attacked by the zombie Howard the Duck, who had just moments earlier feasted on the Earth-2149 version of Williams, Ash sliced ​​him to pieces and then awaited Scarlet Witch's thanks. While he was talking, Dazzler tried to warn him that Howard had survived and was about to strike again. Scarlet Witch stopped the duck, turning him into glass, which Ash then shattered. A zombie Thor soon appeared above the trio and they ran into the Sanctum Sanctorum.

    Scarlet Witch revealed that Doctor Strange was not home, as he was among the heroes gathered on the Helicarrier to develop a plan to fight the infected and save their lives. Inside, Ash and company encountered the infected Doctor Druid and Wong's dead body. Druid claimed to have slowed the virus' effects with magical powers but his hunger was beginning to take over. Williams approached Druid and gained his trust but then shot him, explaining his actions by citing the fact that the infected remained infected forever and had no chance of recovery. In Strange's library, the heroes began searching for the Necronomicon. Ash attempted to find out where it was by asking the talking books. The first book refused and Ash immediately threw it into the fireplace. Another book revealed the location of the Necronomicon to be Latveria and after leaving Doctor Strange's abode, Ash, Dazzler and Scarlet Witch headed for an Avengers Quinjet.

    Ash, Dazzler and Scarlet Witch then flew to Latveria on a Quinjet. During the flight, Ash flirted with them and placed his hand on Dazzler's knee, angering her. When Williams asked about Latveria and whether it was a nice place, Scarlet Witch replied that the country was ruled by the dictator Victor von Doom. Upon arrival, they discovered that zombies had reached the country as well.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#4) - The trio met Doctor Doom at the castle. Ash ran into trouble because the villain wasn't happy with his manner of speaking but Doom ultimately released Ash when he said "Hail to the king." Williams subsequently interrupted the conversation between the Scarlet Witch and the ruler of Latveria, demanding the Necronomicon. Doom claimed the book was useless, as magic hadn't caused the zombie virus, and refused to grant the American guests access to it. An enraged Ash attacked Doom's Doombots but was stopped by Victor himself. Doom ordered Williams captured and locked in a room with the uninfected Latveria residents.

    After several hours passed, Ash was having a conversation with himself and said his mechanical arm was missing a lockpick. He heard his name and saw the Scarlet Witch when he looked back. The superheroine explained that she had come down while Doom was telling her and Dazzler stories about his "untold greatness." Ash was freed by the Scarlet Witch but a Doombot attempted to attack him in the hallway and was destroyed by Wanda. She was ready to continue searching for the Necronomicon and deal with the remaining guards together but Williams decided to take matters into his own hands and suggested the superheroine return to Dazzler and continue distracting Doom.

    Wearing armor composed of destroyed Doombots, Williams entered Doom's library. One of the Doombots followed him but Ash, impersonating Victor, ordered it to leave. It complied, leaving Ash alone with the Necronomicon but the book refused to cooperate with Ash's wishes. Ash threatened to laser the book and it finally began to speak. From the Necronomicon, he learned that the plague had extraterrestrial origins, not supernatural, and that the Deadites played no role in its spread. The Necronomicon message sent through a homeless woman in New York was actually a hoax—the book was trying to taunt Williams and drag him into a world that had absolutely no hope. In response, Ash tossed the book into the trash and, as the book maniacally laughed at him, Ash left the library. In the hallway, he spotted an energy cage containing a girl, who introduced herself as Amora and claimed to be an enemy of Doctor Doom. Ash, believing she might join the team against the zombies, freed her. After meeting with Scarlet Witch and Dazzler, it turned out that Amora had fooled him with an illusion and was actually one of the infected.

(Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#5) – Dazzler saved Ash and weakened Amora the Enchantress' influence with her abilities. He then watched as Dazzler entered the early stages of her zombification after Amora bit off her finger and both zombies were soon killed by Doom. Victor von Doom had disliked Ash from the start and felt his death was justified after his last foolish act. Scarlet Witch stopped Williams' murder, coming to his defense, and Doom's servant also intervened, reporting the arrival of the zombie army, which had previously been repelled thanks to the castle's arsenal and defenses.



    When the zombie superheroes invaded Doom's castle, Ash suggested he and Scarlet Witch escape quietly but it was too late, as she fell victim to the zombie Punisher. Before transforming into a zombie, she told Williams to use the Necronomicon. After shedding his Doom costume and donning his everyday clothes, Ash Williams burst into the library and demanded the Necronomicon's help. The book, as before, refused to help but changed its mind after being threatened and Ash told it that since the Necronomicon was a sentient book, it would therefore attract the zombies' attention and be eaten. At Ash's behest, the Necronomicon resurrected the army of darkness to fight the zombie superheroes. The book then directed Ash to an interdimensional transporter so he could return to his home reality. He saw Doom transporting the surviving Latverians through a portal and Doom explained that he had been bitten but the infection had not yet manifested itself. He explained to Ash that the portal rebooted every five minutes, randomly selecting realities. Williams threw the book away and entered the portal. He visited the futuristic alien Earth-77559, a mesozoic world (allegedly Earth-74811) and the post-apocalyptic Earth-20725 before finally stopping at Earth-7085, at which point the portal closed, having been destroyed by Doom. Unfortunately for him, Ash Williams found himself trapped in a world inhabited by werewolf superheroes.

(Army of Darkness II#1) – Ash eventually found a way out of Earth-7085 and returned to his home reality. His first thought was that the lack of zombie superheroes around was a good start.

(Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash#6 (fb) – BTS) - At some point, Ash returned to Earth-2149 and saved Dazzler from being bitten by Amora the Enchantress, thus creating the divergent reality of Earth-14261, in which Dazzler later fell victim to a "giant world-eating tyrant from space" (allegedly Galactus).

Comments: Created for Dynamite Entertainment by Andy Hartnell and Nick Bradshaw, based on the film character originally created by Sam Raimi. Adapted into Marvel Comics by John Layman and Fabiano Neves.

    Ash Williams has a wide history and over a hundred appearances in Dynamite Entertainment's comic book continuity. However, this profile focuses only on his Marvel-related appearances with the exception of a summary paragraph in the History section and a few issues in that section that set up and give the aftermath of the Marvel appearances (Those non-Marvel appearances are listed in italics. - Proto-Editor)

    Ash Williams is the protagonist of the popular horror franchise Evil Dead, which, in addition to films, also includes a television series, numerous comic books and video games. The franchise was created by Sam Raimi based on his own short film Within the Woods while the role of Ash Williams was played by Bruce Campbell. Raimi would later direct the 2000s Spider-Man movie trilogy and the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in each of which Campbell made a cameo appearance. Comic books based on the franchise have been published by Dark Horse Comics, Dynamite Entertainment and Space Goat Publishing. The biggest contribution to the comic book portion of the Evil Dead franchise came from Dynamite, which collaborated with Marvel on the Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness mini-series.

    Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness serves as a direct sequel to Dynamite's Army of Darkness series and a prequel to the original Marvel Zombies mini-series, covering the period when the zombie virus first began to spread. Army of Darkness I#13 is a prelude to the crossover and features licensed appearances of zombie Marvel characters on the final page (this page takes place during the opening of Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#2). Ash's story continues in Army of Darkness II, which, while not detailing his adventures in the werewolf reality, shows him returning to his home world. Army of Darkness II #5 features appearances of Marvel characters in a recap.

    Earth-818793 is the original reality of Dynamite Entertainment's Army of Darkness, which, in addition to the main series, also includes the limited series Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes, Army of Darkness: Shop 'Till You Drop Dead, Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator and one-shots Re-Animator and Tales of Army of Darkness. Army of Darkness II #8 ends with the creation of a divergent reality in which Ash never became the Chosen One and the events of previous Dynamite comics never occurred. Ash Williams from Earth-818793 was transported there and this new reality became the setting for subsequent Army of Darkness comics, as well as the Dynamite Entertainment shared universe, which, in addition to the aforementioned Army of Darkness and Re-Animator, also includes properties such as Red Sonja, The Lone Ranger, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Vampirella, Green Hornet and others.

    Earth-818793, numbered in Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities, refers to the years the films of the original trilogy were released. It is a separate reality from the one where the films and the Ash vs. the Evil Dead television series take place, although events similar to those in the first three films also happened, albeit in the early 2000s instead of 1982.

    The Marvel Zombies: The Covers collection includes the Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness covers but with Ash edited out.

    This profile was completed 08/26/2026 but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Mike Castle.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-818793's Ash Williams should be distinguished from

images: (without ads)
 Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash I#1, p13 (main image)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#5, p5, pan5 (headshot)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1, p2, pan1 (Ash in a dumpster)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1, p16, pans1-5 (Ash meets the zombified Sentry)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1, p7, pan1 (Ash attempts to kill the Deadite-possessed woman)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1, p11, pan 2-3 (Ash meets the Avengers)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#3, p8, splash page (Ash slashes Howard the Duck using the chainsaw)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#4, p6, splash page (with Doctor Doom)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#4, p18, pan6 (disguised as Doctor Doom, threatens Necronomicon Ex-Mortis)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#5, p21, splash page (on Earth-7085)
Army of Darkness movie (Ash, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell)

Appearances:
Army of Darkness I#13 (January, 2007) - James Kuhoric (writer), Fernando Blanco (pencils and inks), Joe Rybandt (editor)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#1 (May, 2007) - John Layman (writer), Fabiano Neves (pencils and inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#2 (June, 2007) - John Layman (writer), Fabiano Neves (pencils and inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#3 (July, 2007) - John Layman (writer), Fabiano Neves (pencils and inks), Ralph Macchio, Nicole Boose and John Barber (editors)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#4 (August, 2007) - John Layman (writer), Fabiano Neves, Sean Phillips, Fernando Blanco (pencils and inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Army of Darkness II#1 (August, 2007) - James Kuhoric (writer), Fernando Blanco (pencils and inks), Joe Rybandt (editor)
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness#5 (September, 2007) - John Layman (writer), Fabiano Neves, Sean Phillips, Fernando Blanco (pencils and inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Army of Darkness II#5 (January, 2008) - James Kuhoric and Mike Raicht (writer), Fernando Blanco (pencils and inks), Joe Rybandt (editor)
Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash#6 (February, 2014) - Tim Seeley (writer), Daniel Leister (pencils and inks), Joe Rybandt (editor)

First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 08/26/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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