The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline .(April 2023) |
Champions of Angor | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Justice League of America #87 (February 1971) |
Created by | Mike 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 team of superheroes in the DC universe. They were created by Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin in Justice League Comics #87 in February 1971.
The team was introduced in Justice League #87 (February 1971), written by Mike Friedrich. They were published at the same time that Friedrich's friend, Roy Thomas, was introducing the Squadron Supreme in Avengers. The Champions of Angor come from the alien planet of Angor. When Angor is attacked by a spacefaring robot, they defeat it and track the robot back to its home planet. At the same time, the Justice League of America is defeating and tracking another robot that threatens Earth. Both teams assume the other to be the enemy and confront each other. The original members were:
The team later appear in Keith Giffen's post-Crisis Justice League International . In #2 Wandjina, Blue Jay and Sorceress come to Earth in order to destroy all nuclear weapons, since they were the only survivors of a nuclear disaster that wiped out Angor and did not want the same thing to happen on Earth. Their teammate, Captain Speed, dies 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 is later reanimated as a weapon by Queen Bee of Bialya. The citizens don't quite understand the fate of Wandjina and come to revere him as a hero. [2]
Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990) begins a story in which the Sorceress and Blue Jay escape from prison. Blue Jay goes to the League for help, while the Sorceress returns to Angor.
A flashback reveals that the nuclear disaster was caused by a group of villains called the Extremists. The Extremists capture Sorceress and make her take them to Earth, where they again attempt to seize control of the world's nuclear weapons. It is eventually revealed that (with one exception) these are robot duplicates of the Extremists, created for an amusement park. The owner of the amusement park is sent to Earth to switch them off. Sorceress then defeats remaining villain, Dreamslayer. Blue Jay and the Silver Sorceress join Justice League Europe. [3]
Justice League Quarterly #3 (1990) features Mitch Wacky (the amusement park owner) travelling back in time to prevent the Extremists from destroying Angor. This story introduces more members of the team (now called the Justifiers), including:
In 2008's Final Crisis storyline, the Justifiers are controlled by the Anti-Life Equation, and "justify" Darkseid's rule of the Earth.
In the Lord Havok and The Extremists series (2007), new versions of the Champions are featured on Earth-8. In this storyline, they are 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 Vice President. Americommando is sleeping with T.A. behind Blue Jay's back. Blue Jay eventually turns against Americommando. Blue Jay, having forged an alliance with Monarch, arrests Americommando 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.
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. In the beginning of The Multiversity, a terrible evil comes to Earth-7 and utterly destroys it, leaving its only hero as Thor-equivalent 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. The other residents of Earth-8 include:
The Metal Men are a group of superheroes that appear in DC Comics. The characters first appeared in Showcase #37 and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the characters have appeared in comic books and other DC Comics-related products such as animated television series, clothing, figurines and trading cards.
Bloodwynd is a fictional necromancer published by DC Comics. He first appears in Justice League America #61 and was created by Dan Jurgens.
The Crusaders is a team of DC Comics superheroes. The team was created by Bob Rozakis and Dick Ayers in the pages of Freedom Fighters #7. They were based on the Invaders and part of an unofiical crossover.
Maxwell Lord IV is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Justice League #1 and was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Maxwell Lord was originally introduced as a shrewd and powerful businessman who was an ally of the Justice League and was influential in the formation of the Justice League International, but he later developed into an adversary of Wonder Woman and the Justice League.
Justice League Europe (JLE) is a comic book series published by DC Comics that was a spin-off of the comic book Justice League America.
Justice League International (JLI) is a fictional DC comics superhero team that succeeded the original Justice League from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The team enjoyed several comic books runs, the first being written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, with art by Kevin Maguire, created in 1987. Due to editorial conflicts, the team's new makeup was based largely on newer characters, such as Booster Gold, and recent acquisitions from other comic book companies, such as The Blue Beetle.
The Cadre is a DC Comics supervillain group, except for members of the Cadre of the Immortal, most of whom were redeemed and became heroes by story's end.
Tracer is the name of two fictional supervillains published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Justice League Europe #16, and was created by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones and Bart Sears. Like the rest of the Extremists, he is based on a Marvel Comics villain, in his case Victor Creed/Sabretooth, an arch-enemy of Wolverine.
Blue Jay is a DC Comics superhero and a former member of the Champions of Angor, also known as the Justifiers. He has the ability to shrink to 7 in (180 mm) tall and grow blue wings that allow him to fly. Blue Jay is a homage to the Marvel Comics character Yellowjacket. He first appeared in Justice League of America #87.
The Justice Lords are a fictional team of anti-heroes/anti-villains who first appeared in the two-part Justice League episode "A Better World", which was broadcast on November 1, 2003.
The Justice Guild of America is a superhero team featured in the Justice League animated series two-part episode "Legends", an homage to the Golden Age Justice Society of America, and to a degree the Silver Age Justice League of America.
The character of Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and has been continually published in a variety of DC Comics book titles since its premiere in 1938. There have been several versions of Superman over the years, both as the main hero in the stories as well as several alternative versions.
The Silver Sorceress is a DC Comics character and member of the Champions of Angor with the alter ego of Laura Cynthia Neilsen. She first appeared in Justice League of America #87,, and is an homage to the Scarlet Witch. As her name suggests, she possesses magical powers which have become more advanced over time.
Harry "Tex" Thompson is a superhero owned by DC Comics who later became the masked crime-fighter Mr. America and then became an espionage operative called Americommando. He was often aided by his best friend Bob Daley, who for a brief time operated as his costumed sidekick "Fatman". Created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily, Tex debuted in Action Comics #1, the same comic that introduced Superman. During his original stories of the 1940s, several of his enemies were based on Yellow Peril stereotypes. Several of his earliest stories featured Gargantua T. Potts, a character based around minstrel show stereotypes about African-Americans.
Gorgon is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain, part of the evil gang called the Extremists. He is based on the Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Octopus, and like him has several super-strong tentacles, though they are organic rather than mechanical.
Dreamslayer is a fictional character, a powerful DC Comics supervillain and part of the evil gang called Extremists. Like the other Extremists, he is an homage to a Marvel Comics character, in this case Dormammu. He first appeared in Justice League Europe #15, and was created by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones and Bart Sears.
Lord Havok is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain, part of the supervillain team called the Extremists. He is a genius equipped with a powered armor. Lord Havok first appeared in Justice League Europe #15.
Bizarra is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Bizarra first appeared in DC Comics Presents #71, in a story written by E. Nelson Bridwell with art by Curt Swan. The character is a distorted version of the superhero Wonder Woman, based on the Superman villain Bizarro. She is a very simple-minded being, has reversed character traits, believes women are inferior to men, and speaks in reverse of what her true meaning is.