Liberty Legion
Liberty Legion | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Marvel Premiere #29 (April 1976) |
Created by | Roy Thomas |
In-story information | |
Base(s) | United States |
Member(s) | The Blue Diamond Bucky Jack Frost Miss America Patriot Red Raven Thin Man Whizzer |
The Liberty Legion is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team was first created in 1976 and set during World War II. Composed of existing heroes from Marvel's 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books predecessor, Timely Comics, the team was assembled and named by writer Roy Thomas in a story arc running through The Invaders #5–6 (March & May 1976) and Marvel Premiere #29–30 (April & June 1976). Inspired by the Liberty Legion, a second fictional team called the Liberteens was published in 2007 as part of the Avengers Initiative.[1]
Publication history
The genesis of the
A new, unrelated version of the Liberty Legion, known as the Liberteens, based in modern-day Pennsylvania, debuted in Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 (2008).[5][6]
Fictional team histories
"America's Homefront Heroes of World War II", the Liberty Legion differed from the Invaders by confronting Axis plots and influence in and around the United States as well as fifth columnists, rather than in the overseas theaters of war. It also differed by consisting of mostly obscure Timely Comics superheroes, rather than stars Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, and the original Human Torch, and their sidekicks. The Liberty Legion, indeed, included only two of even the company's secondary tier – the Whizzer and Miss America, who in late-1940s comics were members of Timely's first super-team, the All-Winners Squad.
In the team's modern-day retcon origin, the Liberty Legion was assembled in 1942 by Captain America sidekick Bucky, the only Invaders member to escape a brainwashing trap by the Red Skull. To rescue his teammates, he gathered:
- The Blue Diamond (introduced in Daring Mystery Comics #7, April 1941)
- Jack Frost (U.S.A. Comics #1, Aug. 1941)
- Miss America (Marvel Mystery Comics #49, Nov. 1943)
- The Patriot (Human Torch Comics #3, Spring 1941)
- The Red Raven (Red Raven Comics #1, Aug. 1940)
- The Thin Man (Mystic Comics #4, July 1940)
- The Whizzer (USA Comics #1, Aug. 1941)
The Blue Diamond (a super-strong, superhumanly durable anthropologist), Jack Frost (the mythological spirit of winter), and the Thin Man (comics' first stretching hero, predating Plastic Man by just over a year) were here reintroduced into Marvel continuity, appearing for the first time since the Golden Age. Unofficial team leader the Patriot had appeared as a simulacrum projected from the mind of Rick Jones in The Avengers #97 (March 1972), but was otherwise reintroduced here. The winged Red Raven, who had starred in the single issue of a namesake title in 1940, had re-entered the modern Marvel universe with The X-Men #44 (May 1968). The Whizzer had returned as an older character in Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Aug. 1974), relating how he and the since-deceased Miss America had married each other years before.
Liberteens
Liberteens | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 |
In-story information | |
Base(s) | Pennsylvania, United States |
Member(s) | The Blue Eagle Hope The Iceberg Ms. America The Revolutionary The Whiz Kid 2-D |
The Liberteens, whose name is a
The team consists of:
- The Revolutionary: A swordsman who is inspired by the Patriot,[citation needed] and is the leader of the Liberteens. He was briefly replaced by a Skrull.
- The Blue Eagle: He is inspired by the Red Raven,[citation needed] and possesses artificial blue wings that grand him flight. He also wears goggles to protect his eyes from high velocities and carries two handguns.
- Hope: Inspired by the Blue Diamond,[citation needed] Hope has a diamond body that grants her super-strength, enhanced durability, speed, stamina, and agility, invulnerability, indestructibility, flight, and space vacuum adaption. However, she does have a weak point similar to diamonds.
- The Iceberg: Inspired by Jack Frost,[citation needed] his icy body provides him with super-strength and enhanced durability.
- Ms. America: Inspired by Miss America,[citation needed] she has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, durability, reflexes, and high-speed flight.
- The Whiz Kid: She was inspired by the Whizzer.[citation needed] The character had previously appeared as the super-speedster courier for the law firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway in She-Hulk (vol. 2).
- 2-D: Inspired by the Thin Man, he has a flat, malleable body.
In public, the Liberteens use "liberty"- and "America"-based puns. In private, the group is shown celebrating victory with debauchery, with the exception of the seemingly straitlaced leader, the Revolutionary, who is revealed to be a Skrull sleeper agent involved in preparations for that shape-shifting alien race's Secret Invasion.[7] During the invasion, upon the beginning of overt hostilities, a loosely organized band of Initiative members, including the Liberteens, join forces with the Skrull Kill Krew to identify and defeat the Skrulls within their own ranks, the Revolutionary among them.[8] Afterward, the Whiz Kid saves her fellow Initiative members from the Skrulls' poisonous gas, before succumbing to it herself.[9]
During the "
Ms. America, 2-D, Hope, and the Iceberg later leave the Liberteens and come together as the Fantastix after the Fantastic Four disbanded following the Secret Wars storyline. While Ms. America took up the name of Ms. Fantastix, they also gained ownership of the Baxter Building. The Fantastix' first mission sees them thwarting the Wrecking Crew's jewelry store robbery. When the Fantastic Four return, they revealed that the Wrecking Crew's robbery was staged by their manager/publicist Brenda Bannicheck as part of a plan to boost their popularity. The Fantastix got the Fantastic Four's blessing to continue using the Baxter Building.[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ The Invaders #5 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ Cassell, Dewey (August 2018). "The Liberty Legion". Back Issue (106). TwoMorrows Publishing: 19–22.
- ^ The Invaders #6 and Marvel Premiere #30 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ a b Morse, Barry (November 6, 2007). "Initiative Initiation: The Liberteens" (Press release). Marvel.com. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
- ^ a b Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative Annual, no. 1, p. 33/1 (January 2008). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative #18 (Dec. 2008). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative #19 (Jan. 2009). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Fantastic Four (vol. 6) #4. Marvel Comics.
External links
- The Liberty Legion at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived October 31, 2011.