Great Ten
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Great Ten | |
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Joe Bennett (artist) | |
In-story information | |
Base(s) | Great Wall Complex, China |
Member(s) | Accomplished Perfect Physician August General in Iron Celestial Archer Ghost Fox Killer Immortal Man in Darkness Mother of Champions Seven Deadly Brothers Shaolin Robot Socialist Red Guardsman Thundermind Thunderstrike |
The Great Ten (Shi Hao Xia) or (十豪侠) is a team of
Publication history
Grant Morrison explained the background to his creation of the team, in a pitch that also contained the outline for the Super Young Team:
I'm pleased with the introduction of the Great Ten who grew out Paul Levitz' desire to see more international superheroes. After the first 52 story meeting I went home, dug out the reference material on Chinese history and culture I'd used to help create the backstory for the 'Xorn' character in New X-Men and hammered out a huge document complete with detailed origin stories and backgrounds for every member of the Great Ten, as well as some details of the Chinese Government's 'super-functionary' program.[2]
The Great Ten returned in their own title,[3] in 10-issue monthly mini-series, beginning in early November 2009 and produced by writer Tony Bedard and artist Scott McDaniel, with covers by Stanley Lau.[4]
This article needs to be updated.(October 2018) |
Fictional team biography
This section is in prose. is available. (June 2013) |
First appearing in 52 #6, the Great Ten's actions are hampered by bureaucracy. Three of the team's members were forced to sit out a battle with Green Lanterns
On the final page of Checkmate #3, the Checkmate ground team, on an infiltration mission in China, is discovered and cornered by The Immortal Man in Darkness. In Checkmate #4 the August General in Iron, Celestial Archer and Yao Fei the Accomplished Perfect Physician show up to support the Immortal Man in Darkness, after a brief skirmish both sides declare a truce. Later after Yao Fei prevents Count Vertigo (acting under secret orders from Amanda Waller) from stealing Chinese state secrets, the August General decides that Checkmate has betrayed the truce and orders their deaths, only the timely intervention of Green Lantern Alan Scott and the Chinese Ambassador saves the lives of Sasha's ground team.
In
Issue #1 details the
Issue #2 details the Celestial Archer's origin, has the Old Chinese Gods have returned for vengeance. With the citizens of Lhasa caught in the middle, the Old Gods battle against the Great Ten, but the super functionaries are no match for the angry, ancient gods, not when one member – the Celestial Archer – chooses to turn against his team and fight alongside the gods.[6]
Issue #3 details Thundermind's origin, he appears in times of need to defend China against evil and injustice. But when Thundermind joins the Great Ten in their battle against the Old Chinese Gods, he learns the startling secret that the Old Chinese Gods have been hiding – a secret so massive it could destroy all of China.[7]
Issue #4 details the Immortal Man-in-Darkness' origin, while he battles Feng Po in Shanghai. Immortal Man-in-Darkness finally defeats Feng Po, and the Great Ten discover Feng Po is using Durlan technology and that the Old Chinese Gods are false.[8]
Issue #5 details the August General in Iron's origin, explaining the classified Qinghai incident, fifteen years ago. In the Kunlun Mountains, the Old Chinese Gods plan to invade Hong Kong. Celestial Archer realizes that the Old Chinese Gods are not the actual gods and sends a message to the Great Ten from their headquarters.[9]
Issue #6 details the
Issue #7 details the Seven Deadly Brothers's origin, as he and Accomplished Perfect Physician battle the gangster fight in Hong Kong while trying to apprehend Taiwanese government official, Ma Saihung. This issue also introduces a fight between the remaining Old Gods and Great Ten members August General, Ghost Fox Killer, and Shaolin Robot following the death of Chu Jiang.[11]
Issue #8 details the
Issue #9 details the Mother of Champions' origin, and wraps up the series from the viewpoint of one of her latest children, sired by Socialist Red Guardsman.[13] Socialist Red Guardsman's origins are only hinted at throughout the series, but it is established that he was the first Super-functionary and he felt betrayed by his country. The Great Ten unite at the end, and team with the remaining "false gods" to destroy the robot army created by a rogue Taiwanese general.[13]
In the
Membership
This team of "super-functionaries" (the communist Chinese ethos rejects the word 'heroes' for a humbler one) is based in China's Great Wall complex. This massive complex houses the team's command and support technicians as well as facilities for the creation of more Chinese superhumans.[1] The bureaucracy must approve every action the Great Ten take during combat.
Accomplished Perfect Physician
Accomplished Perfect Physician or 達医者完[5] (Dá Yī Zhĕ Wán), Yao Fei was born a peasant in the Anhui Province. Yao had dreams of becoming a doctor but lacked the money for medical school. He enlisted in the army instead. When his unit was sent to suppress an uprising in Gyantse, Tibet, Yao killed a monk named Tenzin Cering. Horrified at what he'd done, he deserted his unit and was shot by his commanding officer. He was saved by a local medicine man who told Yao that his son, Tenzin, was supposed to be the seventeenth man to hold the position of the "Accomplished Perfect Physician"; since Tenzin was now dead, Yao was forced to take his place by Tenzin's father. Tenzin tossed Yao through a magical portal, wherein he was filled with the memories and powers of the past Physicians. As the new Accomplished Perfect Physician, Yao was branded an outlaw and an enemy of the state for many years before he willingly joined the Great Ten.[5]
With simple vocal sounds, the Accomplished Perfect Physician can produce a variety of magical effects, such as physical or mental paralysis, force fields, the redirection of energies, healing, destruction of matter, and earthquakes. The diplomat of the team, the Physician appears to be a collected individual with well-developed people skills. He does not get along well with his team leader, August General in Iron, who sees Yao only as an irreverent deserter.
August General in Iron
The August General in Iron or 钢铁圣将 (Gāng Tiě Shèng Jiāng) is Fang Zhifu formerly a member of a "Xeno-Team", an elite Chinese spec ops unit trained for encounters with aliens. 15 years ago, his unit was sent to investigate a Durlan ship that crashed in Qinghai province. The Durlans wiped out his unit with a flesh-melting pathogen weapon. Fang barely survived by injecting himself with a counter-agent that slowed the degeneration. Chinese scientists subjected him to special treatments which saved his life, but also endowed him with superhuman strength and caused his skin to grow iron-like plates. He was then recruited into China's new metahuman division. He wields a staff that can easily slice through metal.[9]
August General in Iron is the field leader of the Great Ten and while he commands the Great Ten, he must still run all command decisions in the field by the
Fang Zhifu habitually quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.[9]
In The New 52 (a reboot in DC Comics), August General in Iron is invited to join the new Justice League International, with the United Nations council that assembled the group noting that he was selected because he represents "the world's most populous nation". His comments about the superiority of Chinese engineering quickly draw the ire of Rocket Red.[15]
Celestial Archer
The Celestial Archer or 天体射手 (Tiān Tĭ Shè Shŏu) is a figure with ties to
The Celestial Archer has unerring aim capable of shooting arrows charged with a mysterious energy, or that can turn day into night.[6]
Xu is an irreverent character, disrespectful of August General's authority. He considers his role in the Great Ten as secondary to his divine mission, something which landed him in trouble when he foolishly defected to a team of metahumans posing as Chinese deities.
Ghost Fox Killer
The Ghost Fox Killer or 鬼狐杀手 (Guǐ Hú Shā Shǒu) is a female emissary from the hidden colony of "
Immortal Man-in-Darkness
Fifteen years ago, a Durlan ship crashed in China's Qinghai province. The Chinese reverse-engineered the craft and used the technology to build the Dragonwing, the most advanced fighter plane in the world.[8] The pilot sits in a cockpit filled with a sort of amniotic fluid, bonding himself to the craft. This type of bond gradually breaks down a human's molecular structure;[18] each flight takes a year off the pilot's life. The Dragonwing has been flown by a succession of PLAAF pilots, all of whom knowingly sacrificed themselves to serve China as the Immortal Man-In-Darkness or 黑暗中的不朽者[8] (Hēi Àn Zhōng De Bù Xiǔ Zhě). The current pilot is Chen Nuo.[8] He operates from [1] but makes his home in Shanghai.
The Dragonwing is a powerful shapeshifting aircraft. It can take the form of diffuse smoke and handle hurricane-force winds.
Mother of Champions
Wu Mei-Xing, the Mother of Champions or 冠軍母亲 (Guàn Jūn Mǔ Qīn) was a theoretical physicist, working on a
One of her superstrong children named Number Four appeared in
Seven Deadly Brothers
Yang Kei-Ying, known as the Seven Deadly Brothers or 致命七兄弟 (Zhì Mìng Qī Xiōng Dì), was born in poverty in
When entering battle, Yang splits into seven identical clones, each a grandmaster of one of the seven schools of kung-fu.[11]
Shaolin Robot
When the First Emperor of China commissioned the construction of his tomb, a brilliant engineer by the name of Lao Yuqi built a hundred clockwork automatons to serve as tomb guards. The vain and jealous emperor ordered that Lao be entombed with him upon his death so that his genius would never serve another patron. Before dying of thirst, Lao reprogrammed one of the automatons with his own insights, values and priorities and gave it a semblance of free will. Thousands of years later, when the tomb was uncovered by archaeologists, the automatons went on a rampage in an attempt to topple the Communist government and restore imperial rule. These automatons were defeated by the Super Functionaries. Only Lao's reprogrammed automaton remained inactive back at the tomb. The Chinese government reactivated it and upgraded it with Durlan technology.[12]
Shaolin Robot speaks in simple
Socialist Red Guardsman
Real name Gu Lao, is one of the oldest Chinese heroes. He used his solar powers to carry out the Cultural Revolution. His body is highly radioactive, so he is forced to wear special armor reverse engineered from Durlan technology. He has since become bitter and disillusioned as China abandons Mao Zedong's vision and embraces market economics. He lives like a hermit in an isolated stretch of the Gobi Desert due to the possible threat of a nuclear meltdown.[19] Mother of Champions is immune to his radiation, and was the first person to touch him in over fifteen years.[13]
Thundermind
Thundermind or 雷念 (Léi Niàn) is Zou Kang, a history teacher at
Reserve members
Chang Tzu
As revealed to
Number Four
Number Four was one of Mother of Champions' superstrong and tough children. Number Four was sent into Saudi Arabia to retrieve the fallen OMAC satellite, he demonstrated superhuman strength, invulnerability and heightened reflexes,[22] Number Four is a reference to the 14th Century Chinese myth of the Ten Brothers, the fourth having super strength.
Shen Li Po
Shen Li Po was formerly the Black King's Bishop in Checkmate.[24] Shen Li Po later returned to the Great Wall Complex on a leave of absence and was replaced by the August General In Iron.[25]
The Yeti
Real name Hu Wei. The Yeti is a scientist who unlocked an atavistic trigger gene that transforms men into monsters. This discovery enabled him to transform into a powerful white furred yeti-like monster plagued with an uncontrollable rage. While in his Yeti form, Hu Wei must wear a special electronic amulet around his neck that keeps him from going berserk.[26] He was killed in 52 #50 by Black Adam.
Other versions
Anti-Matter Universe
There is an evil counterpart to the Great Ten in the Anti-Matter Universe, known as "The Most Unworthy Ten".[27]
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, August General in Iron is a member of the H.I.V.E. council. He voted for innocent civilians to live in Western European between Aquaman and Wonder Woman before using nuclear weapons to end the war.[28]
In other media
Television
Yao Fei appears in the TV series
The Great Ten are among the many superhero and supervillain teams whose names can be read on the wall during a musical number in Batman: The Brave and the Bold's musical episode, "Mayhem of the Music Meister".
Miscellaneous
A version of the Great Ten appears in issue #8 of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comics. They help Batman fight an army of Yetis.[29][30]
References
- ^ OCLC 213309017
- ^ The 52 Exit Interviews: Grant Morrison Archived 2009-12-09 at the Wayback Machine, Newsarama, May 8, 2007
- ^ WWLA: DC Nation with Dan DiDio & Co, Comic Book Resources, May 16, 2007
- ^ Blog Archive: Some Tuesday News - The Great Ten
- ^ a b c The Great Ten #1 (January 2010)
- ^ a b c d The Great Ten #2 (February 2010)
- ^ a b c The Great Ten #3 (March 2010)
- ^ a b c d The Great Ten #4 (April 2010)
- ^ a b c d e The Great Ten #5 (May 2010)
- ^ a b The Great Ten #6 (June 2010)
- ^ a b c d The Great Ten #7 (July 2010)
- ^ a b The Great Ten #8 (August 2010)
- ^ a b c d The Great Ten #9 (September 2010)
- ^ Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice League International (vol. 3) #1 (September 2011)
- ^ "Chinese Myth Legend 3 - Hou Yi Shot the Sun | Mysterious China Blog". Mysteriouschina.com. 2009-01-13. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #19 (December 2007)
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #4 (September 2006)
- ^ a b "DC's THE GREAT TEN - Meet China's Super-Team parts 7-10". Newsarama.com. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
- ^ Nightwing (vol. 2) #146 (September 2008)
- ^ Nightwing (vol. 2) #144 (July 2008)
- ^ a b The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special #1 (May 2006)
- ^ Shield #5 (March 2010)
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #1 (June 2006)
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #16 (September 2007)
- ^ 52 Week 32 (December 2006)
- ^ Trinity #46 (April 2009)
- ^ Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #1 (June 2011)
- ^ Batman: The Brave and the Bold #8 (September 2009)
- ^ J. Torres (2009-08-26). "BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #8". DC Comics. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
External links
- Cosmic Teams: The Great Ten
- DC's The Great Ten Preview Gallery, Newsarama
- Straight (and Not) Out of the Comics, New York Times, May 28, 2006