Return to Comics: The Life and Times of Squadron Supreme

Squadron Sinister and Squadron Supreme

In late 1969 Squadron Sinister made its first appearance in the pages of the AVENGERS. It was issue 69 to be exact and they turned up in the first of a three part story arc involving an obscure Avenger’s villain known as Kang the Conqueror (what ever happened to him?) and the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster created them by changing the personal histories of several Earth men (or in Hyperion's case, a subatomic man) so they would become Nighthawk, Hyperion, Whizzer and Dr. Spectrum - all thinly veiled analogs for certain high profile JLA’ers. Comic historians note this as the first recognizable instance of retconning.

As plotted by Roy Thomas, the Avengers would battle the Squadron Sinister on Kang’s behalf to save the Earth. The Avengers version of Earth, that is. Guess who wins? After this Squadron Sinister would split up and bop around the Marvel Universe trying to destroy the Earth, battle various Marvel heroes, pretend to be Wanda and Pietro’s father (wait, sorry, different Whizzer), battle the Defenders, join the Defenders, and, on occasion, die. (Issue number 71 of the AVENGERS also debuted the classic Invaders team of Captain America, Sub-mariner and the Human Torch. Not a bad few months work for Rascally Roy.)

In AVENGERS 85-86 (Feb/Mar 1971) the Squadron is back. But it’s a different Squadron as the Avengers (well, Quicksilver, Wanda, Vision and Goliath) have been transported to a parallel universe where the Squadron Supreme fights for good instead of evil. (Apparently the Grandmaster’s prior dealings with this Squadron, prompted him to try and recreate them in his earlier contest with Kang. I’m not surprised it didn’t work. We all know what happens when you try to copy a copy.) This group includes a few new JLA analogs: Tom Thumb, American Eagle, Lady Lark and Hawkeye (no confusion since the Avenger’s Hawkeye is Goliath and Goliath is Yellowjacket). This time the Avengers -- along with the help of Nighthawk -- are trying to stop the launch of a solar rocket set to cause a supernova, consuming the Squadron’s Earth. The Squadron has been duped into launching the rocket by a character called Brain-Child. Once again the Avengers must battle the Squadron. Guess who wins?

Eventually the two teams work together to over come Brain-Child and the Avengers are retuned to their own dimension. Or are they? Cue Twilight Zone theme…

The Squadron Supreme would stay in their own universe until AVENGERS 141-144, 147-148 (1975-76). This plot is somewhat convoluted, involving Patsy Walker, her ex-husband Buzz Baxter (both of Marvel humor comics fame), President Nelson Rockefeller and a really ugly green snake hat. Somehow the hat has created an evil mind-meld between the wearers in various universes. The hat has reportedly been worn by most of the CEO’s on the Avenger’s Earth (and several on ours judging by Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, etc.). Cap has had a run-in with the hat and has traced it back to the Red Skull. He’s followed the Skull's men to Roxxon Oil and enlists the Avengers (he’s been on sabbatical and out of touch) to help him breach a top secret research facility where they run smack into a Squadron Supreme guard detail.

While the Squadron is pretty clear that they aren’t Sinister this time around, judging by these two covers, Marvel wasn't so sure:

Maybe this comment from the Whizzer threw them off:

“Sold out”??!! But…I thought they we’re like the Justice League. They can’t sell out. And that's more than one syllable. Wait, there’s more…

Why…why, they’re worse than sinister, they’re capitalists!

And then Cap takes the Whizzer out with his patented Boomerang Shield Maneuver. There’s also a very cool fight scene where the Vision proves he is, in fact, the baddest Avenger on the block. The whole thing is quite Airwolf, to borrow from a certain well-known comic blogger, currently celebrating his one year anniversary. The Avengers escape back to their own universe, with the snake helmet, leaving the Squadron to deal with a mild crisis of conscience.

Before I forget, this stint gave us the Amphibian, saw American Eagle become Cap’n Hawk, updated Hawkeye’s name to Golden Archer and his appearance to a more Green Arrow-like countenance, and introduced “Rocket Central” the Squadron’s orbiting satellite headquarters and winner of the 1976 award for Worst Secret Headquarters Name. In issue 147 Hyperion also mentions his “arch-foe, Burbank” -- who becomes more important under the JMS Squadron -- and is clearly a Lex Luthor reference. (Lex Luthor, Emil Burbank – clearly taken from that evil early 20th century botanist, Luther Burbank.)

Also of note, issue #141 marked George Perez’s first appearance on the title.

Because any good story is worth retconning, in 1989, in the pages of AVENGERS WEST COAST ANNUAL #4 and WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #5, Mark Gruenwald would write a sort of wrap-around story where he tied up a several loose ends and introduced Zatanna doppelganger, Arcanna, into the story. These are among the few Squadron books I don’t have, but you can read an account of them here.

Squadron Supreme and the Defenders

You probably know Gruenwald as the writer most frequently attached to the Squadron Supreme, thanks to a well-received 1985 SQUADRON SUPREME maxiseries. But before getting to that I have to mention The Squadron’s late 1982 appearance in THE DEFENDERS – issues 112-114 to be precise. The story, penned by J.M. DeMatteis, finds the Defenders magically transported to the Squadron’s Earth where they discover a dying Hyperion, their own Earth’s Nighthawk (who the Defenders thought dead) and a planet taken over by the Over-Mind via control of Kyle Richmond (The Squadron’s Nighthawk) who has left the SS and became President.

When Richmond invokes martial law and starts jailing innocents the Squadron resists but are quickly assimilated by the Over-Mind. (Notice a trend here?) Hyperion resists, but is forced underground, poisoned by concentrated Argonite (think Kryptonite) rays being pumped into the atmosphere. The Defenders help Hyperion back to health and then defeat the Over-Mind (with the aid of a supernatural creature called “Mindy” - seriously) and of course battle the Squadron in the process. In the end President Richmond turns out to be an alien doppelganger and the Nighthawk who thought he was from the Defenders’ Earth is actually from the Squadron’s.

I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say, “Waaaa?” And I don’t have issue 115 to see what exactly happened although my understanding is that the Squadron’s Nighthawk came back to the Defenders’ Earth and assumed that Earth’s Nighthawk mantle, and later died. But I couldn’t testify to that, at least without the aid of some Advil and a stiff Scotch.

This is among the weakest of the various Squadron Supreme stories, but it does introduce a few new Squadroners: Arcanna Jones (despite Gruenwald’s previously mentioned update of the AVENGERS 141-145, 147-148 arc, this is her first official appearance – in this one she even uses Zatanna’s backward incantations), the Power Princess from Utopia Island, and Nuke, the er, Nuclear Man. As an interesting side note, the story arc which began in THE DEFENDERS #112 marked DeMatteis’ official, full-time take over of the scripting chores from none other than Gruenwald. There’s some evidence that Gruenwald set the table for this Squadron arc as well, as it actually kicked off in issue #109 when Daimon Hellstrom, Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange and Bruce Banner are transported to the Squadron’s dimension.

Coming in Part II – Kicking off the modern Squadron era with the Gruenwald Limited Series, New World Order and Ultimate Squadron Supreme.