Liberty Legion
| Liberty Legion | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Invaders vol. 1, #5 (March 1976) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | United States |
| Member(s) | Whizzer Miss America Bucky Blue Diamond Jack Frost The Patriot Red Raven The Thin Man |
The Liberty Legion is the name of a fictional superhero team in the Marvel Comics universe. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II. Comprised of existing heroes from Marvel's 1940s Golden Age predecessor, Timely Comics, the team was assembled and named by writer Roy Thomas in a story arc running through The Invaders #5-6 (March & May 1976) and Marvel Premiere #29-30 (April & June 1976).
Publication history
Never headlining its own series except for the two issues of the showcase title Marvel Premiere, the Liberty Legion guest-starred in The Invaders #35-37 (Dec. 1978 - Feb. 1979); in the final two-thirds of a three-part story arc running through The Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 (both 1976), and Marvel Two-in-One #20 (Oct. 1976); and in issue #3 (June 1993) of the 1990s miniseries The Invaders.
The Thin Man would go on to co-star in the 2004-05 series The New Invaders.
Marvel announced on November 6, 2007, that a new, unrelated version of the Liberty Legion, known as the Liberteens, based in Pennsylvania, would debut in Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1.[1]
Liberty Legion (1940s)
"America's Homefront Heroes of World War II", the Liberty Legion differed from the Invaders by confronting Axis plots and influence in and around the United States as well as fifth columnists rather than in the overseas theaters of war, and by consisting of mostly obscure Timely Comics superheroes, rather than stars Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, and the original android Human Torch, and sidekicks.
The Liberty Legion, indeed, included only two of even the company's secondary tier (the Whizzer and Miss America, members of Timely's first superteam, the post-war All-Winners Squad), skipping past the popular Angel, Blazing Skull, and Destroyer to instead revive several third-string characters who, in the team's modern-day retcon origin, were assembled in 1942 by Captain America sidekick Bucky, the only Invaders member to escape a brainwashing trap by the Red Skull. To rescue his teammates, he gathered:
• The Blue Diamond (introduced Daring Mystery Comics #7, April 1941)
• Jack Frost (USA Comics #1, Aug. 1941)
• Miss America (Marvel Mystery Comics #49, Nov. 1943)
• The Patriot (Marvel Mystery Comics #21, July 1941)
• Red Raven (Red Raven Comics #1, Aug. 1940)
• The Thin Man (Mystic Comics #4, July 1940)
• The Whizzer (USA Comics #1, Aug. 1941)
The Blue Diamond (a super-strong, superhumanly durable anthropologist), Jack Frost (the mythological spirit of winter), and the Thin Man (comics' first stretching hero, predating Plastic Man by just over a year) were here reintroduced into Marvel continuity, appearing for the first time since the Golden Age. Unofficial team leader the Patriot (styled after Captain America) had appeared as a simulacrum projected from the mind of Rick Jones in The Avengers vol. 1, #97 (March 1972), but was otherwise reintroduced here. The winged Red Raven, who'd starred in the single issue of a namesake title in 1940, had re-entered the modern Marvel universe with [Uncanny] X-Men #44 (May 1968). The Whizzer had returned as an older character in Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Aug. 1974), relating how he and the since-deceased Miss America had married each other years before.
Liberteens (2007)
| Liberteens | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Avengers: The Initiative Vol.1 Annual 1 |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | United States |
| Member(s) | The Revolutionary Ms. America Blue Eagle Iceberg 2-D Whiz Kid Hope |
The Liberteens, whose name is a homonym of "libertine", is a young group of superhumans inspired by the Liberty Legion.[2] The group is first seen as the Pennsylvania-based Initiative team.
The team consists of:
- Their leader, The Revolutionary (inspired by The Patriot)
- Ms. America (inspired by Miss America)
- Blue Eagle (inspired by Red Raven)
- Iceberg (inspired by Jack Frost)
- 2-D (inspired by Thin Man)
- Whiz Kid (inspired by Whizzer), who had previously appeared as the super-speedster courier for the law firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway in She-Hulk vol. 2
- Hope (inspired by Blue Diamond)
In public, the Liberteens use "liberty"- and "America"-based puns. In private, the group is shown[3] celebrating victory with debauchery.
Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 (2007) revealed that team-leader The Revolutionary is a shapeshifting, alien Skrull, infiltrating the team as part of the Secret Invasion.