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Champions of Angor

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Champions of Angor
Champions of Angor, Justice League of America #87
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceJustice League of America #87, February (1971)
Created byMike Friedrich (writer)
Dick Dillin (artist)
In-story information
Member(s)Wandjina
Silver Sorceress
Blue Jay
Jack B. Quick
The Bowman
Tin Man
T.A.

The Champions of Angor (also known as the Justifiers, the Assemblers and the Meta Militia) are a fictional superhero team in the DC Comics universe. They are a pastiche of the Avengers from the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin in the pages of Justice League of America #87 February (1971).

Origins

The team was introduced in Justice League of America #87 (February 1971), written by Mike Friedrich and published at the same time as his friend Roy Thomas was introducing the Justice League pastiche Squadron Supreme in Avengers. They came from the alien planet of Angor. When Angor was attacked by a spacefaring robot, they defeated it, and tracked it back to its home planet. At the same time, the JLA was tracking a robot which attacked Earth. The two teams both assumed the other was the enemy, and fought.

The Champions of Angor in this story were:

  • Wandjina: The team leader. Named after an Australian weather spirit, he has super-strength and weather control powers; imitation of Thor.
  • Silver Sorceress (civilian identity later revealed as Laura Cynthia Neilsen): A powerful, but unpredictable, magic user, with a costume incorporating a curious headdress; imitation of the Scarlet Witch.
  • Blue Jay (civilian identity later revealed as Jay Abrams): Hero with the ability to shrink in size, and fly; imitation of Yellowjacket.
  • Jack B. Quick (civilian identity later revealed as Harry Christos; later takes the name Captain Speed): Speedster with brief flight abilities; imitation of Quicksilver.

Current status

The team later appeared in Keith Giffen's post-Crisis Justice League International. In #2 Wandjina, Blue Jay and the Sorceress came to Earth in order to destroy all nuclear weapons. Apparently they are the only survivors of a nuclear disaster that wiped out Angor. Their teammate, Captain Speed, died later of radiation poisoning.[1] Wandjina sacrifices himself to prevent a meltdown in a Bialyan reactor, and the others give themselves up to the Russian authorities. Wandjina's corpse would later be reanimated as a weapon by Queen Bee of Bialya. The citizens didn't quite understand the fate of Wandjina and came to revere him as a hero.[2]

Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990) began a story in which the Sorceress and Blue Jay escaped from prison. Blue Jay went to the League for help, while the Sorceress returned to Angor.

A flashback revealed that the nuclear disaster was caused by a group of villains called the Extremists. The Extremists captured the Sorceress and made her take them to Earth, where they again attempted to seize control of the world's nuclear weapons. It was eventually revealed that (with one exception) these were robot duplicates of the Extremists, created for an amusement park. The owner of the amusement park was sent to Earth and switched them off. The remaining villain, Dreamslayer, was defeated by the Sorceress. Blue Jay and the Silver Sorceress joined the Justice League Europe.[3]

Justice League Quarterly #3, Mike McKone (1991)

Justice League Quarterly #3 (1990) featured Mitch Wacky (the amusement park owner) travelling back in time to prevent the Extremists from destroying Angor. This story introduced more members of the team (now called the Justifiers), including:

  • The Bowman - A womanizing archer, with a tendency to go for "black widow types". Pastiche of Hawkeye. First appeared in one panel of the "Extremist Vector" storyline in Justice League Europe #15-18. Subsequent appearances include "When You Wish..." in Justice League Quarterly #3, the "With a Vengeance!" storyline in Superman/Batman #20-24, and in the new Lord Havok and the Extremists series.
  • Tin Man - An armored hero with a heart condition. Pastiche of Iron Man.
  • T.A. - A heroine with metal wings. Pastiche of Wasp.
  • Bug - A pastiche of Spider-Man that appears as a hero in Justice League Quarterly #3 and as a villain in "With a Vengeance!"

In 2008's Final Crisis event, a team called the Justifiers are controlled by the Anti-Life Equation, and now "justify" Darkseid's rule of the Earth.

Other versions

Lord Havok and The Extremists

In the new Lord Havok and The Extremists series (2007), new versions of the Champions are featured on Earth-8. They are now part of a group called the Meta-Militia with Tin Man as president of Angor and Americommando as vice president. When Tin Man is killed by Lord Havok, Americommando becomes president with Blue Jay as his vice President. Americommando is sleeping with T.A. behind Blue Jay's back. Blue Jay eventually turns against Americommando, the latter having forged an alliance with Monarch, arrests him for crimes against humanity, and takes his place as president. Wandjina is also featured, now a closeted homosexual. During a battle between the Meta-Militia and the Extremists, he is swallowed whole by Gorgon.

The New 52: Earth 7 and Earth 8

Two versions of the Champions of Angor are introduced in the first issue of Grant Morrison's The Multiversity series. In the DC Multiverse following its The New 52 reboot, Earth-7 and Earth-8 are sister worlds, representing pastiches of the Ultimate Marvel imprint and the mainstream Marvel Comics universe respectively. In the beginning of The Multiversity, a terrible evil comes to Earth-7 and utterly destroys it, leaving its only hero as Thor analogue Thunderer (whose closest counterpart is Wundajin of Earth-8).

While Earth 8 continues to feature Lord Havok, the Champions of Angor are replaced by The Rampaging Retaliators, themselves an Avengers pastiche whose "Retaliators ready!" echoes the latter's rallying cry of "Avengers assemble!". The other residents of Earth-8 include:

  • The Future Family, a pastiche of the Fantastic Four. Led by Frank Future, a pastiche of Mister Fantastic; Lord Havok claims to be his "greatest creation"
  • The G-Men, "neo-humans" and a pastiche of the X-Men
  • American Crusader, a pastiche of Captain America and member of the Retaliators
  • Wundajin, a pastiche of Thor with a "lightning axe" who is identical in appearance to the Champions of Angor's Wandjina and is a member of the Retaliators
  • Behemoth, a pastiche of the Incredible Hulk who grows into a giant blue infant when angered and is known as Dr. David Dibble when in human form; a member of the Retaliators
  • Machinehead, a pastiche of Iron Man and member of the Retalitors
  • Ladybug, a pastiche of Spider-Woman and member of the Retaliators
  • The Bug, a pastiche of Spider-Man, known as "The Hero You Hate to Love"
  • Kite, a pastiche of Falcon
  • Deadeye, a pastiche of Hawkeye
  • Red Dragon, a pastiche of Black Widow
  • Major Max, a pastiche of Captain Marvel
  • Stuntmaster, a pastiche of Daredevil[4]

See also

  • The Maximums, another team of Avengers (specifically the Ultimates and New Avengers) pastiches in the DCU
  • Squadron Supreme, a Marvel Comics pastiche of the Justice League

References

  1. ^ Justice League #2 (June 1987)
  2. ^ Captain Atom Annual #2 (1998)
  3. ^ Jimenez, Phil (2008), "Extremists, The", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 117, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  4. ^ "Earth-8". DCComics.com.
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