The Opposite of the Avengers: Squadron Sinister

Remember that time in the 1960s, when the Avengers faced off against Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern?


No?


Probably because it didn't quite happen that way.

The Squadron Sinister

What did happen is that the Avengers fought the Squadron Sinister, a group of villains created by the Grandmaster (based on another world's heroes)....all in the pages of Avengers #69 and #70 (October and November, 1969, by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema).



These four villains might have looked familiar to comic readers of the time...

Dr. Spectrum

Dr. Kenji Obatu started out as the Ugandan finance minister, but when approached by the Grandmaster with a Power Prism (really a Skrull named Krimonn), he became Dr. Spectrum, master of energy, which he could shape into any form he could will.

After his Avengers appearance, Dr. Spectrum returned to face Iron Man in Iron Man #63-#66 (October, 1973 to February, 1974 by Mike Friedrich and George Tuska), wherein the origin of the Power Prism was revealed, and it tried to take over Tony Stark (thankfully, Thor was able to stop that by smashing the Power Prism).

Obatu was deported back to Uganda, where he was to face trial for the crimes he committed...

...but instead found himself allied himself with a witch doctor, and fought the Thing, Black Panther and Brother Voodoo, ending up dead (all in Marvel Two-In-One #40-#41, June and July, 1978, by Roger Slifer and Ron Wilson).  

Evangelist Billy Roberts ended up with the Power Prism next, and faced off against the Defenders instead...in Defenders #13-#14 in May and July, 1974 by Len Wein and Sal Buscema and Giant-Size Defenders #4, (April, 1975 by Steve Gerber and Don Heck) losing the Power Prism...

...but trying to get it back in Avengers Annual #8 (in 1978 by Roger Slifer and George Perez, where Yellowjacket had been putting the pieces back together as a gift for the Wasp....which ended up with her briefly being Dr. Spectrum until the Power Prism got imbedded into Thor's hammer, which disappeared after Thor dropping it...).

The Power Prism seemed to like the female form after that, taking over the body of Martha Gomes for New Thunderbolts #12, #13 and #15 in 2005 and 2006...



...then as a part of Dr. Alice Nugent with New Thunderbolts #16 (February, 2006) with the group reuniting for a time again...



...though the other members had undergone some changes as well, one in particular, changing his name and costume pretty quickly!

Whizzer

James Sanders was an unhappy chemist, recruited by the Grandmaster in his battle against Kang, and with a formula supplied by Grandmaster, gained super-speed and became the Whizzer!

The Whizzer returned to battle the Defenders when their foe, Nebulon recruited him for Defenders #13-#14, and again in Giant-Size Defenders #4, and had his memory erased by Dr. Strange, getting his old job back at New Jersey's Hudson Pharmaceuticals, until his memory was restored in Avengers Annual #8.

Soon after that, Sanders upped his speed, got himself a new costume and became the Speed Demon in Amazing Spider-Man #222 (November, 1981, by Bill Mantlo and Bob Hall).  Speed Demon became a regular in various Spider-Man titles after that, battling Spider-Man and the Human Torch in Marvel Two-In-One #121, joining the Sinister Syndicate in Amazing Spider-Man #280, participating in a race with other speedsters to determine who was the fastest man alive in Quasar #17 (but we all know who that really is!)...

...and first fighting against and then joining up with the Thunderbolts (with members like the Radioactive Man, and yet occasionally committing crimes in his old identity of the Whizzer, which got him kicked out of the Thunderbolts, and he found himself back with the Squadron Sinister and working with the Grandmaster again).



The Speed Demon also later joined a new Sinister Six (proving this speedy villain had time to run around with most of Marvel's villain groups, which made him a little bit different than the next member of the Squadron Sinister, who switched his way to a more heroic path....). 

Nighthawk

Kyle Richmond was the son of a wealthy businessman named Arthur Richmond, who let his son have everything he wanted, and that let him down a path of destruction, getting kicked out of college and developing a heart murmur.  Kyle's dad then died and he inherited the Richmond fortune, but that did little to give the man focus, until approached by the Grandmaster, who gave him a formula that allowed Kyle better abilities at night, and Kyle used that and his wealth to build items that would help him, and he became Nighthawk.

After a quick solo battle with Daredevil in Daredevil #62 (March, 1970, by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan), the Squadron Sinister was recruited by Nebulon to destroy the Earth, but Nighthawk wasn't into that, and instead helped the Defenders stop the Squadron Sinister, joining the Defenders in Defenders #14, and debuted a new costume (seen on its first cover with Defenders #15, as the Defenders faced the foes of the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!).

Nighthawk became a very important member of the Defenders, being their for their battles against the Badoon (with the Guardians of the Galaxy), the Headmen, Scorpio, getting his own foe in the Ringer in Defenders #51, going crazy with the over-expansion of the team in "Defenders For A Day", splitting up the team, reuniting with the team, and then dying...

Well, okay, Nighthawk was only mostly dead, as revealed in Nighthawk #1-#3 (September to November, 1998, by Jim Krueger and Richard Case), wherein Nighthawk had been in coma, and revived by an angel (well, really the demon Mephisto in disguise), and fights to save Daredevil's soul.  Nighthawk also rejoined the Defenders (and was involved in the plot by Yandroth which turned the Defenders into the Order (a six issue series from April to September, 2002, by writers Jo Duffy and Kurt Busiek, and artists Matt Haley, Chris Batista, Luke Ross, Dan Jurgens, and Ivan Reis).

Nighthawk then worked with the Thunderbolts thanks to the machinations of the Grandmaster, gets involved in Marvel's Civil War, and ends up being one of the "last Defenders" (a six issue mini-series in 2008 by Keith Giffen, Joe Casey and Jim Muniz) with team members She-Hulk, Colossus, Blazing Skull, and later added Paladin, Junta, Atlas, Son of Satan as well as a new Nighthawk in Joaquin Pennysworth), facing off against the Sons of the Serpent, U-Man, Yandroth (and his Omegatron's constructs of the Squadron Sinister) and Krang (the later foe of the Sub-Mariner then joining the team!).  Kyle returns as Nighthawk with the Fearsome Four, in the 2011 four issue mini-series Fear Itself: Fearsome Four, along with team members She-Hulk, Frankenstein's Monster and Howard the Duck (!!) to stop enraged Man-Thing!  

Hyperion

The last member of the Squadron Sinister was the oddest, as he was only a construct of the Grandmaster, given false memories of his life as Zhib-Ran, an alien explorer from the microscopic world of the first atom split by man...and finding himself the last survivor of his race, wanting to avenge himself on the inhabitants of Earth.



This Hyperion rejoined the Squadron Sinister for Defenders #13-#14, and again in Giant-Size Defenders #4, losing his memories thanks to Dr. Strange, then regaining them in Avengers Annual #8, before being used as a pawn by the alternate world scientist Master Menace (Emil Burbank) to fight his world's Hyperion (of the Squadron Supreme, the heroic other world group that inspired the Grandmaster to create the Squadron Sinister....who'd you think was the inspiration?) in Thor #280 by Don & Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, Wayne Boring and Tom Palmer.

The Squadron Sinister's Hyperion was then contacted by the evil corporation, Roxxon, and tried to have him bring Thundra (an extra-dimensional amazon, formerly of the Frightful Four) to them, but she escaped to her own dimensional home, with him following (but not quite getting there in Marvel Two-In-One #67 in September, 1980 by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio and Ron Wilson).  Hyperion was found in interdimensional space by Master Menace, and brought to the Squadron Supreme's world, where he was used as a substitute for their missing Hyperion, and fell in love with Power Princess...at least until the original Hyperion returned and beat him to death (all in Squadron Supreme #7 and #8, March and April, 1986 by Mark Gruenwald, John Buscema and Bob Hall).

Yet, there was a Zhib-Ran, and he appeared first in New Thunderbolts #15 (January, 2006, by Fabian Niceza and Rick Leonardi), with all the otherworldly powers of the original...and he's been a member of the Squadron Sinister ever since.

Well, isn't that just super, man?

Avengers History 202

Continuing our coverage of the Roy Thomas' years of Avengers chronicles, with Roy's biggest contributions to the team, the Vision and Ultron!


The Vision, a synthozoid (synthetic android) who can control his own density and fires a solar beam through a jewel on his forehead, meets the team in his first appearance of Avengers #57 (October 1968 art by John Buscema), and after a quick fight with the Avengers, reveals that Ultron built him to destroy them, but instead he helps the group to defeat Ultron.

Visions Of Things To Come

Vision joins the team in Avengers #58, (November 1968, drawn by John Buscema), where it is revealed that the Vision possesses the brain patterns of the supposedly dead Wonder Man (given to him by the evil Ultron), and that Hank Pym is the creator of Ultron! (Not the least of the secrets concerning the Vision, Wonder Man and Ultron, but the ones available to the Avengers at this time…).

The team plans to confront Goliath, but has to deal with Yellowjacket in Avengers #59, (December 1968, art by John Buscema) and Yellowjacket claims to have killed Goliath, and wants to be a member of the Avengers. Strangely, the team accepts this, and the Wasp even marries Yellowjacket in Avengers #60 (all the while fighting the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime in January 1969 drawn by John Buscema)! Janet does this because she knows Yellowjacket is Hank Pym (aka Goliath)! Hank explains away his temporary insanity (and it is later revealed that the team was playing along with Hank to help him…still, when he returns to the team after a honeymoon with the Wasp, he keeps the identity of the Yellowjacket, which foreshadows the many identity problems that Hank Pym will have in the future. Some of the guests at the wedding who would be Avengers in the future made their first appearance in the Avengers title, including the Inhuman elemental Crystal, man without fear Daredevil and sorcerer supreme Dr. Strange (who also sticks around to help the newer Black Knight…but more on him in a bit).

New Big Man In Town

Change is afoot, as Hawkeye deals with a broken bowstring by adopting the identity of Goliath to save the Black Widow from the Puppet Master, Mad Thinker and old Ant-Man/Giant-Man foe, Egghead in Avengers #63, (April 1969, art by Gene Colan) where Clint Barton also keeps this new look and power as the new giant on the Avengers...

...but still has to deal with old problems (like the Swordsman, Ultron and Kang) as well as new (like the alien gaming Grandmaster and his distinguished creations, the Squadron Sinister – a team of villains composed of oddly familiar looking people – a strong flying alien Hyperion, speedster Whizzer and power-beam welding Dr. Spectrum and a dark knighted Nighthawk) who fight the Avengers over the period of Avengers #69-70, both drawn by Sal Buscema.

Enter A Dark Knight

With the problems of knights and swords, the Avengers take a new recruit as well, making the new Black Knight (Dane Whitman) an Avenger in Avengers #71. But, a little history on the Black Knight…Nathan Garrett was the Black Knight who was a Giant-Man foe in the Masters of Evil, and then, after a confrontation with Iron Man, had been fatally wounded. Garrett let his nephew know a little of the history of the Black Knight, and Dane tried to help the Avengers against Magneto, first as himself in Avengers #47, (December, 1967, art by John Buscema) then taking on the identity of the Black Knight in Avengers #48 (January 1968, art by George Tuska). Even if the Avengers knew Dane wasn’t a villain like his uncle, the world didn’t, and the Crimson Cowl tried to recruit him to his new Masters of Evil, which Dane helped to defeat as the Black Knight.

It is later revealed that the Black Knight is a long, noble tradition dating back through a lineage to the 12th century, defending the land against invaders, and after an encounter with the ghost of Sir Percy of Scandia (the original Black Knight, in Marvel Super-Heroes #17, November, 1968 by Roy Thomas and Howard Purcell), he proved worthy to draw the Ebony Blade (his own version of Excalibur) and gained that as a weapon, whose enchantments allowed him to help the Avengers (and Dr. Strange) in Avengers #61 (February 1969, art by John Buscema) against Asgardian villains Surtur and Ymir, and returned to aid the team in the battle of Kang and the Grandmaster, and led to the team taking him on in Avengers #71 (December, 1969, art by Sal Buscema, and, is it ironic that the team ends up in World War II again, and meets an early Captain America, the android Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, right when they are forming the Invaders? Cap deals with the Black Panther as they’ve met before though not yet, and Yellowjacket might be angry with Sub-Mariner since Namor took his Giant-Man spot in Tales To Astonish, but what is the relationship between Vision and the Human Torch?).

Still, the Avengers return home to more foes, facing the Zodiac (a team of technology enhanced mobsters based on astrological signs) finding out that Nick Fury hadn’t been killed by Scorpio, and meeting up with the Kree Captain Marvel for the first time, as well as reencountering Rick Jones in Avengers #72 (January 1970, art by Sal Buscema). The team then meet an alternate world barbarian named of Arkon from Polemachus (premiering in Avengers #75, drawn by John Buscema for April 1970) who was seduced by the Enchantress, and she also took an interest in the Black Knight – whose Ebony Blade was cursed, making him more violent and prone to rage). The eventual end of this encounter with Arkon (in Avengers #84, January, 1971, art by John Buscema) left Black Knight without his blade for a time, so he left the team for a time.

A new group of villains came into being to face the Avengers but its members were old foes.
They were called the Lethal Legion, and they first attacked the Avengers with Avengers #78 (July, 1970, with art by Sal Buscema), and their roster included the Swordsman, Power Man, the Living Laser, the Grim Reaper, and the Man-Ape (a foe of the Black Panther, who first appeared in Avengers #62, March, 1969, with art by John Buscema).

The Avengers stopped them in Avengers #79 (August 1970, drawn by John Buscema).

Plenty of Guests

The past comes alive again, as there is yet another legacy hero introduced, the current version of the Red Wolf, in Avengers #80. (September 1970, art by John Buscema).

With the help of Daredevil, they face the Zodiac again in Avengers #81-82.

The women get into the team-building act as the Valkyrie is introduced, and tries to form the Lady Liberators with the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, the former Frightful Four member Inhuman Medusa, and still not Avenger Black Widow which all happens in Avengers #83 (December 1970, art by John Buscema). All this doesn’t happen as it’s a plot by the Enchantress, which leads to her fleeing to Arkon’s realm for a time.

With Avengers #85-86, we found out why the Squadron Sinister were so familiar…they were based on the Squadron Supreme…heroes from an alternate Earth that included the high-flying American Eagle, beam-welding Dr. Spectrum, their own archer named Hawkeye, his girl friend with a sonic cry Lady Lark, super-strong Hyperion, small scientist Tom Thumb, brooding dark crime-fighter Nighthawk and speedster the Whizzer. The team had to stop the evil Brain-Child from destroying their Earth. This sets the stage for a whole future of crisis between the Marvel Earth and the world of the Squadron Supreme, and also is where the Avengers will prepare for one of their larger battles…after a brief meeting with the Hulk in Avengers #88 (that also featured future Avenger and partner to Captain America, the high-flying Falcon, in his first Avengers appearance).

All this leading up to the most important battle in the lives of the Avengers (as well as everyone on Earth....coming soon!).