From DC Database

The All-Star Squadron

Gallery

Official Name

All-Star Squadron

Team Aliases

The All-Stars

Status

Status

Defunct

Team Identity

Public

Universe

Earth-Two

Base Of Operations

The Trylon and Perisphere, New York City

Organization

Team Leader(s)

Formerly Liberty Belle (Libby Lawrence); Formerly Hawkman (Carter Hall)

Former Members

See Below

Allies

Blackhawks, The All-Star Squadron had a robotic butler named Gernsback, Doll Girl

Enemies

Adolph Hitler, Baron Blitzkrieg, Axis Amerika, Ultra-Humanite, Cyclotron, the Axis Powers, various Fifth Columnists

Origin

Origin

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, 05 DEC 1941, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gathered all available superheroes and mysterymen (as they were also called) and asked them to unite for battling sabotage and similar at the home front during World War II. Their acivities were limited to the home front so they could not fall under the influence of Adolph Hitler's Spear of Destiny. The Squadron soon included also the members of the Justice Society of America (during war time also called the Justice Battalion), the Freedom Fighters and the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Later there was a sub group of younger heroes, dubbed the Young All-Stars, who also were part of the All-Star Squadron.

Creators

Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler, Jerry Ordway

First appearance

Justice League of America #193
(August, 1981)

History

Late into the evening of December 6, 1941, President Roosevelt and Vice President Truman attempt to contact the Justice Society of America but no one answers as their headquarters is empty. In Los Angeles, Johnny Chambers and Tubby Watts cover a charity foot race among the Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, with the Amazon winning by a nose. Wildcat presents Wonder Woman with a trophy noting that he had been wanting to meet the three heroes. The heroes take their leave and meet up (minus Wildcat) in nearby Echo Park where they encounter Solomon Grundy. None of the heroes have fought Grundy yet the villain claims to have fought them before. Grundy bests the costumed trio and is summoned by a mysterious voice to deliver them or "pay the penalty."

Roosevelt makes another attempt to contact the JSA with no luck. Meanwhile, in New York City, Sandman, Starman, and Johnny Thunder (with his personal Thunderbolt), are defeated by the notorious Sky Pirate. Simultaneously, Dr. Fate learns through the Orb of Nabu that Wotan has returned despite having been defeated "forever." The sorcerer quickly departs despite his wife's admonishment that he is not as powerful as before. Wotan uses a disguised Spectre to defeat his old nemesis, thereby defeating them both.

Somewhere in the South Pacific, Ensign Rod Reilly tries to dissuade his sister Danette from her risky volcano research. Elsewhere, in Gotham City, Superman, Batman, and Robin open a new USO club but are defeated by Professor Zodiak. In Washington, DC, the Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Hawkman are attacked at the Lincoln Memorial by The Monster. When the trio best the horror-inspired villain, The Monster changes into an old man mentioning the name Degaton as the person responsible for the attack. Witnessing this is a mysterious man who then walks away "making strangely metallic sounds upon the rough concrete." As the clock strikes midnight, Roosevelt reveals he had hoped to have the JSA ready in case of a Japanese attack. Still unsuccessful in contacting them, the president is cautiously optimistic the United States will "come through this."

On the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered available superheroes at the White House and asked them to work together to battle sabotage and keep the peace on the home front during World War II. At the time, many of the Justice Society members had been captured by the villain Per Degaton, but the available heroes were asked to first guard against a potential attack on the American West Coast.

Degaton himself used some stolen Japanese planes to launch such an attack, so the new Squadron's first major mission was to stop the attack and rescue the captured heroes, who also became part of the new group. The rationale for not using the Squadron in combat situations in the European or Pacific Theaters of War was that Adolf Hitler had possession of the Spear of Destiny, a mystical object that gave him control of any superheroes with magic-based powers or a vulnerability to magic (including Superman, Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, and others) who crossed into territory held by the Axis Powers.

In Battle with Cyclotron and the Ultra-Humanite

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.

Notes

• The book chronicled the adventures of a large team of superheroes, comprised mostly of featured characters owned by DC comics (including those purchased from other companies such as Quality Comics) that had appeared in the Golden Age of Comic Books. It included members of the Justice Society of America, Freedom Fighters, and Seven Soldiers of Victory, as well as a small number of solo heroes.

• The All-Star Squadron was an example of "retroactive continuity" or "retcon", as it rewrote the already-established history of DC superheroes that had been published during the 1940s. The first known use of the term "retcon" was by Roy Thomas in the letter column of All-Star Squadron #20 (April, 1983).

• The Trylon and Perisphere, actual structures constructed in New York City for the 1939 New York World's Fair, housed the Squadron's headquarters. The All-Star Squadron had a robotic butler named Gernsback, who was based on the Elektro robots from the fair and was probably named after Hugo Gernsback.

• Originally, the All-Star Squadron was supposed to exist on "Earth-Two", a parallel world used by DC as the venue for stories occurring during the 1940s, and including heroes only published during that era as well as the early versions of characters still published up to the present day such as Batman and Superman (the contemporary versions of those characters existed on "Earth-One"). After the 1985 DC Comics event Crisis on Infinite Earths merged the parallel worlds into one continuity, the duplicate superhero versions were eliminated. The All-Star Squadron was then itself retconned and left only with the characters unique to that time period, so that Superman, Batman and Robin; Wonder Woman and Aquaman were not alive at that point in history, and were thus never Squadron members.

Trivia

• No trivia.
  
  

Former Members

Air Wave (Larry Jordan), Amazing Man (Will Everett), Americommando, Atom (Al Pratt), Black Condor (Richard Grey, Jr.), Bulletgirl, Bulletman, Captain Triumph, Commander Steel (Hank Heywood), Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis), Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider), Doctor Occult, Doll Man (Darrell Dane), Dyna-Mite, Firebrand (Danette Reilly), Flash (Jay Garrick), Flying Fox, Fury (Helena Kosmatos), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Guardian (Jim Harper), Billy Gunn, Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders Hall), Hourman (Rex Tyler), Human Bomb (Roy Lincoln), Ibis the Invincible, Jester, Johnny Quick (Johnny Chambers), Manhunter (Paul Kirk), Manhunter (Dan Richards), Merlin (Jock Kellogg), Midnight (Dave Clark), Minute-Man (Jack Weston), Miss America (Joan Dale), Mister Scarlet (Brian Butler), Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane), Iron Munro, Neptune Perkins, Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight), Pinky, Plastic Man, Quicksilver, Ray (Lanford Terrill), Red Bee (Richard Raleigh), Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel), Robotman (Robert Crane/Paul Dennis), Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Sandy the Golden Boy, Sargon the Sorcerer, Shining Knight (Justin Arthur), Spectre (Jim Corrigan), Spider (Tom Ludlow Hallaway), Spy Smasher, Starman (Ted Knight), Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton), Stripesy, Stuff the Chinatown Kid (Danny Leong), Tarantula (Jonathan Law), Johnny Thunder, Tigress (Paula Brooks), TNT, Tor (Jim Slade), Tsunami (Miya Shimada), Uncle Sam, Vigilante (Greg Saunders), Whip (Rod Gaynor), Wildcat (Ted Grant), Wing, Wonder Woman (Hippolyta), Zatara the Magician; possibly others

See Also

• Discuss All-Star Squadron on the forums

• Appearances of All-Star Squadron
• Team Gallery: All-Star Squadron
• Catalogued images featuring All-Star Squadron

Links and References

External Links

• All-Star Squadron at Wikipedia
• More (All-)Stars Than There Are In Heaven by Roy Thomas From Alter Ego Vol. 3 #6 - A discussion of the creation of the All-Star Squadron.
• Invaders A Marvel comics WWII Team at the Marvel Database
• HITLER NEVER STOOD A CHANCE . . .Unca Cheeks' article on the All-Star Squadron

Footnotes