Neutral Good: Professor Imam

Believing that his former teammates in the Squadron Supreme were corrupt, Nighthawk sought the help of Professor Imam, the Wizard Supreme of Earth-S. Professor Imam agreed that the Squadron was now a menace but said he needed to conserve his dwindling energy to train his successor. By weighing the needs of the present versus those of the future, Professor Imam exhibited a balanced approach in keeping with an alignment of Neutral Good.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

This panel of Professor Imam comes from Captain America #314 (Feb. 1986).

Chaotic Good: Moonglow

Nighthawk charged his former teammates in the Squadron Supreme with abusing their authority and then enlisted help to defeat them. One of Nighthawk's recruits was Moonglow, a new hero who would infiltrate the Squadron Supreme only to turn against the team. Intensely private, Moonglow felt a certain thrill in the subterfuge. Adding a layer to her undercover work, she used her actual power of illusion—sometimes carelessly—to give the Squadron the misimpression that she had other superpowers instead. Moondglow's covert modus operandi would align with Chaotic Good.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

This panel with Moonglow comes from Squadron Supreme #11 (July 1986).

On a Lark

Lady Lark was among the most tragic members of the Squadron Supreme. As revealed in the Squadron Supreme limited series, Linda Lewis had been a successful recording artist until an accident damaged her vocal cords. Following an operation, new vocal cords gave her superhuman sonic powers. As a drawback, however, she could no longer sing (Squadron Supreme #1, #4). In some respects, Lady Lark's music career had parallels to that of Dazzler, a singer whose mutant powers over light and sound propelled her into the role of reluctant superhero.

Like other early members of the Squadron Supreme, Lady Lark had a counterpart in the Justice League of America—specifically, Black Canary, with her ear-piercing "canary cry." On top of that, Lady Lark's on-again, off-again relationship with teammate Golden Archer was an homage to Black Canary's romantic pairing with Green Arrow in DC Comics.

This image of Lady Lark comes from Avengers #147 (May 1976). Since her powers often appeared as music notes, singing may have been how Lady Lark activated her superhuman abilities.

What's Up, Doc?

The title Doctor can be confusing in comic books. Whereas Dr. Strange and Dr. Druid both earned medical degrees (Strange was a surgeon and Druid a psychiatrist), that wasn't a given. In the case of Dr. Spectrum of the Squadron Supreme, the hero's alter ego Joseph Ledger was an astronaut with no suggestion that he held the title Doctor out of costume.

In contrast, the Squadron's enemies in the Institute of Evil included Dr. Decibel (a physician). Additionally, the secret identity of Dr. Spectrum from the Squadron Sinister was Dr. Obatu (Iron Man #63), revealed slightly before his first battle against the non-team (Defenders #13-14).

Under the entry for the Squadron Supreme, the original edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe listed Dr. Spectrum's profession as teacher.

Redstone the Redeemer

On the parallel Earth of the Squadron Supreme, Nighthawk so objected to the Utopia Program implemented by his former teammates that he organized a covert group of heroes to infiltrate and overthrow the Squadron. One of these new recruits was Mr. Redstone—known simply as Redstone while in costume (Squadron Supreme #9). When Nighthawk's Redeemers turned against the Squadron, Redstone's superhuman strength proved well-matched against Hyperion.

As for his origin story, Redstone revealed little about his background aside from mentioning that he grew up on a reservation (#12). That biographical detail leads me to wonder whether the name Redstone was intended to allude to the character's Native American heritage. Such racial coding in Marvel Comics had been evident with the Cheyenne hero Red Wolf, especially during his early adventures set during the Old West.

This panel of Redstone, a defeated Hyperion, and Nighthawk comes from Squadron Supreme #12 (Aug. 1986).

Chaotic Evil: Brain-Child

The Squadron Supreme's homeworld was on the brink of destruction. Arnold Sutton, a superhuman ten-year-old dubbed Brain-Child, invented a device that would cause the sun to go super-nova (Avengers #86). Such nihilistic plans had all the trappings of Chaotic Evil from the nine-alignment system of Dungeons & Dragons.

During a team-up with the Avengers, Dr. Spectrum of the Squadron ultimately saved the day by using his Power Prism to change Arnold into an ordinary boy—with no memory of his previous intentions to destroy the world. We can only speculate whether this change to the brain had a lasting effect on Arnold's alignment.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

Whizzer's Rogues

The Flash accrued one of the most creative rogues' galleries in DC Comics. But a similar observation could not be made of Whizzer, the Squadron Supreme's counterpart to the Flash. Squadron Supreme #8 showed Whizzer defeat two old foes named Rustler and Bollix. The outlaw duo seemed to have no super powers aside from their newly acquired force field belts (invented by Squadron member Tom Thumb). In contrast, Tom Thumb's obituary would report how he had apprehended scores of bizarre criminals, such as the Iron Moth (#10). I would have liked to have learned about more of these imaginative enemies.

This panel comes from Squadron Supreme #8 (April 1986).

Every Which Whizzer

The Squadron Supreme entry from the original edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe introduced several details about the team. The Squadron's 12-issue limited series, however, would later contradict some of the information from the handbook. Whereas the handbook listed Whizzer as Hiram Arnold, chemist, his identity would instead become Stanley Stewart, mail carrier. Squadron Supreme #8 further established that Whizzer gained superhuman speed after jogging through a dense, slightly luminescent fogbank—distinguishing the hero's origin story from the Golden Age version of the Whizzer.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe included this image of the Whizzer in the original entry for the Squadron Supreme.

Superheroes Sinister

When the story from Defenders #13 (May 1974) later ran in Rampage #12 (Jan. 4, 1976), the U.K. reprint series kept the cover illustration of the original. But whereas the original cover text promoted Super-Team vs. Super-Team, the reprint said, "Superheroes battle Superheroes when--the Squadron Sinister Strikes!

As their name implied, of course, the Squadron Sinister were not superheroes. To be fair, though, the Squadron Sinister did look strikingly like their superheroic counterparts in the Squadron Supreme—so much so that the cover of Avengers #141 (Nov. 1975) had incorrectly billed the Squadron Supreme as the Squadron Sinister!

Nuke: Half a Hero

Though loosely based on Firestorm of the Justice League of America, the hero Nuke of the Squadron Supreme was at a disadvantage. Unlike Firestorm, Nuke was not a composite character; he did not share a mind with an accomplished physicist who could fill the role of superego for the young hero. As a result, Nuke lacked a scientific understanding his nuclear powers and the maturity to temper his emotional short fuse.

From a storytelling perspective, the Squadron's sizable roster may have prevented Nuke from developing into a more multifaceted character before his death in Squadron Supreme #3 (Nov. 1985).

This image of Nuke appeared in the Squadron Supreme entry of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

In the Shadow of Tier S

In this series of posts placing characters into alphabetical tiers based on their powers, I am not slotting any of the Defenders into Tier S: a penultimate tier directly above Tier A. This is because I see Tier A as the cap for Marvel heroes during the span of the original Defenders and New Defenders series (1971-1986).

In contrast, however, I would place Superman into Tier S during this time frame. His indestructibility and vast array of abilities made him recognizably more powerful than other DC heroes. Although the versions of Hyperion from the Squadron Sinister and Squadron Supreme were Marvel homages to Superman, their scaled-back strength fell far enough below Superman's to rest within Tier A.

Squadron Supreme #8 (April 1986) pitted Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme against his evil counterpart from the Squadron Sinister.

The Squadron Symmetry

At the time of their appearance in Defenders #113, the Squadron Supreme had a dozen active members—each corresponding in varying degrees to a member of the Justice League of America. That being said, not everyone in the Justice League up to that point had a Squadron counterpart—and that's not all bad. Creatively speaking, making the Squadron even larger could have had diminishing returns and shortchanged the team's originality.

For example, a Squadron homage to Elongated Man could have felt reminiscent of Mr. Fantastic (featured in Defenders #105), and a Squadron equivalent to Red Tornado could have overshadowed the Vision (who would play a central role in #123). As for the Phantom Stranger and honorary JLA member Snapper Carr, these characters were too tertiary to warrant counterparts in the already sizable Squadron.

As much as I liked the dynamic that married couple Hawkgirl and Hawkman brought to the Justice League of America, the Squadron sufficed with a singular winged weaponsmith in Cap'n Hawk (a.k.a. Blue Eagle).

As a pleasant surprise, the Squadron Supreme limited series would establish that an extraterrestrial Skrull helped found the team, matching Martian Manhunter's place as a founding member of the JLA. From that point on, however, the order of new recruits to the Squadron did not always follow the same order as the JLA.

Green Arrow (the basis for Golden Archer of the Squadron Supreme) joined in Justice League of America #4, becoming the team's first new recruit. For the Squadron, the first new member was Tom Thumb (a loose approximation of the Atom, who joined in JLA #9).

Nighthawk's Rogues

Seeing how Batman developed one of the most recognized rogues' galleries in comic book history, it stood to reason that the version of Nighthawk in the Squadron Supreme would have a rogues' gallery of his own. Although we don't know every supervillain Nighthawk might have faced, Squadron Supreme #7 identified Remnant, Mink, and Pinball as the hero's oldest foes.

• Remnant, the most esoteric of the trio, could pull a magic carpet and other items from the "bottomless pocket" in his costume.
• Mink armed herself with claws and a poisonous perfume spray. A flashback in #9 revealed that Mink had once been a member of the Institute of Evil, a supervillain team that often battled the Squadron.
• With the ability to expand into a rubbery sphere, Pinball had powers similar to the DC hero Bouncing Boy from the Legion of Superheroes.

This image of Nighthawk, Remnant, Mink, and Pinball comes from Squadron Supreme #9. The hero and villains formed an unlikely alliance to end the Utopia Project introduced in #1.

To Abin Sur, With Love

The Squadron Supreme had twelve active members when they fought the non-team in Defenders #113. The Squadron Supreme limited series that followed would reveal a former member of the Squadron: a Skrull who helped found the group. Adding to the decided parallels between the Squadron Supreme and the Justice League of America, the green-skinned Skrull was a nod to J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

That Skrull turned out to be a counterpart to another character from DC Comics as well. In presenting the origin of Dr. Spectrum, Squadron Supreme #4 showed how the hero received his Power Prism as a gift after saving the Skrull's life. The Skrull, therefore, was analogous not only to Martian Manhunter but also to Abin Sur, the dying extraterrestrial who gave Green Lantern his Power Ring. I admired the clever and economical storytelling in blending two DC characters into one character in the Squadron Supreme. As a fan of this version of the Squadron Supreme, I also enjoyed seeing any glimpse into the early years of the team.

Lawful Good: Tom Thumb

Tom Thumb, resident inventor of the Squadron Supreme, played a pivotal role in bringing forth the Utopia Program on the Squadron's homeworld. Tom's most notable invention was a behavior modification machine designed to rehabilitate criminals by conditioning them to detest illegal thoughts … essentially compelling them to act in accordance of the Lawful Good alignment from Dungeons & Dragons. The behavior modification machine, along with other aspects of the Utopia Program, invited criticism for encroaching on civil liberties.

After developing cancer, Tom Thumb traveled to the 40th century to steal a Panacea Potion from the Scarlet Centurion, only to find upon returning home that the fabled cure was nothing more than penicillin and a few complex vitamins. Before his death, the conflicted hero regretted compromising his principles out of desperation (Squadron Supreme #9). Tom Thumb was an example of a character who extolled the virtues of Lawful Good despite deviating from that alignment.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

This panel from Squadron Supreme #10 recalls when Tom Thumb joined the team. On a surface level, Tom Thumb's below-average height was reminiscent of the DC hero Atom (as the Squadron was an homage to the Justice League of America). Unlike Atom, however, Tom Thumb did not have the power to change size. Rather, Tom Thumb's aptitude as an inventor earned him a unique place in the Squadron.

The Arrows of Golden Archer

In several of his comic book appearances, Golden Archer of the Squadron Supreme seemed to fire ordinary arrows. Other times, such as Defenders #113, he suffered defeat before taking his first shot. There were instances, however, when Golden Archer used specialized arrows in step with the superhero genre.

Avengers #147 (May 1976) showed Golden Archer wielding an explosive Detonation Arrow similar to Hawkeye's Blast Arrow, along with an ultra-sonic Siren Arrow with sonic effects resembling the vocal powers of Squadron member Lady Lark.

Squadron Supreme #4 (Dec. 1985) depicted a wider array of weaponry, as Golden Arrow fired Magnesium Flare Arrows, as well as an arrow that produced smoke to provide cover. He also referenced a Parachute Arrow that he did not have on hand at the time.

Acknowledgment goes out to the blog Dispatches from the Arrowcave for a series of posts about the trick arrows of Green Arrow, the DC hero who inspired the creation of Golden Archer.

This image of Golden Archer comes from Avengers #147.

Becoming Blue Eagle

While Nighthawk was the only member of the Defenders with a direct counterpart in the Squadron Supreme (a group pf heroes from a parallel Earth), other similarities existed between the teams. Although the two would never meet, Red Guardian—a Soviet crimefighter who joined the Defenders during the Cold War—had a politically contrasting counterpart in the Squadron.

Introduced in Avengers #85 (Feb. 1971), the Squadron Supreme included a headstrong hero originally called American Eagle. Upon meeting the Avengers, American Eagle jumped to the conclusion that the Avengers were enemy Communists.

American Eagle: I think they're a bunch of Reds--or at least Commie-symps!

The Squadron Supreme limited series would provide more background about the patriotic character, whose given name was James Dore. He was in fact the second hero on his Earth called American Eagle, as his father fought crime under that alias in an earlier group of crimefighters known as the Golden Agency. The limited series alluded to a falling out between the father and son, which could account for the younger character's decision to adopt a non-political costume and change his alias to Cap'n Hawk (as seen in Avengers #148; Defenders #112-114).

After his father's death (Squadron Supreme #1), Cap'n Hawk changed his costume and codename once more, now calling himself Blue Eagle (a nod to his original name of American Eagle and, indirectly, to his early distrust of Reds! Blue Eagle died in combat against the Redeemers, a band of heroes and villains who challenged the Squadron's Utopia Program (Squadron Supreme #12).

This image of Blue Eagle (left) comes from the deluxe edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Interestingly, the original entry for the Squadron Supreme in TOHOTMU #10 (Oct. 1983) listed James Dore as Condor, a codename he never used in the comic book stories. The preliminary design for Condor resembled the costume the character would wear as Blue Eagle.

The Ambiguous Amphibian

Introduced in Avengers #148 as the resident water-breather of the Squadron Supreme, the character Amphibion was an homage to Aquaman of the Justice League of America. In fact, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe revealed that Amphibion's given name was Kingsley Rice, a play on Aquaman's secret identity of Arthur Curry.

During a showdown between the Squadron Supreme and the Avengers (#148), Amphibion faced Hellcat on her first adventure since donning the costume previously worn by the hero Cat. Reminiscent of the chauvinism Cat had faced, Amphibion dismissed Hellcat as a member of the "weaker sex"; Hellcat, however, easily defeated him.

During that first appearance, Amphibion commented on his mother's human heritage, implying that his father wasn't human. Amphibion also described himself as "King of the Seven Seas" (not necessarily a royal title like Prince of Atlantis).

By the time the Squadron Supreme appeared in Defenders #112-114, Amphibion had changed the spelling of his name to Amphibian.

In the 12-part Squadron Supreme limited series, Amphibian referred to his "sea-born muscles" (#4) and "my native ocean" (#6) without offering further insight into his past.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (deluxe edition) described Amphibian as a mutant, yet the possibility of a more complicated origin remains. After all, the half-human, half-Atleantean Sub-Mariner met the criteria for membership in Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

This image of Amphibian appeared with the Squadron Supreme entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (deluxe edition).

The Return of Over-Mind

Upon the destruction of their homeworld (a.k.a. Earth-S), the surviving members of the Squadron Supreme escaped to the dimension where most of Marvel's superhero comics take place.

The Squadron's arrival had an unusual effect on Over-Mind, who had once enslaved the team (Defenders #113).

Although six psychics collectively known as the Chorus had subdued Over-Mind, he returned to his original personality of the warlord Grom and soon regained mental control of the Squadron Supreme (Quasar #13-14).

The mysterious Stranger, a former enemy of Over-Mind, intervened to stop the powerful foe yet again. Numerous members of the Watchers witnessed the battle, as did the admittedly outclassed hero called Quasar (#15-16).

Mark Gruenwald wrote Quasar #13-16 (August-November 1990). Mike Manley penciled those issues.

Happy Birthday, June!

Monthly calendars appeared on the back cover of Marvel Age magazine in 1985, with humorous images filling most squares.

Nighthawk from Earth-S appeared on June 18, wishing happy birthday to Mark Gruenwald (author of the 12-issue Squadron Supreme limited series published that year).

Meanwhile, Silver Surfer marked the first day of summer on June 21.