The Squadron Sinister is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

. The Squadron Sinister first appeared in the final panel of ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

'' #69 (October 1969), created by Roy Thomas and

Sal Buscema Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as ar ...

. The team is a pastiche of DC's

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

Publication history

The first version of the Squadron Sinister is formed by the

Elder of the Universe The Elders of the Universe are a group of supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Collector was the first Elder to appear, and featured in '' The Avengers'' #28 (May 1966), but the idea that he was a member ...

known as the Grandmaster as pawns to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, the superhero team the

Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...

. The Grandmaster creates four villains— Doctor Spectrum,

Hyperion Hyperion may refer to: Greek mythology * Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans * ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios * Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam Science * Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn * ''Hyp ...

, Nighthawk, and the Whizzer—to face heroes

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing ...

, Captain America and Goliath (Clint Barton). In interviews, Thomas and Jerry Bails have stated that the Squadron was based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

superhero team the

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in '' The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceive ...

, evoking the DC characters Green Lantern, Superman,

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

and the Flash.

Fictional character biography

Grandmaster's Squadron Sinister

The

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered * Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number ...

'' Squadron Supreme'', written by Mark Gruenwald, explains that the Grandmaster creates the Squadron Sinister modeling them on the already-existing Squadron Supreme of the Earth-712 universe.''Squadron Supreme'' #8 (May 1986) The similarities also caused confusion in Marvel's production department, as the covers of ''The Avengers'' #85 (February 1971) and #141 (November 1975) "cover-blurbed" appearances by the Squadron Sinister, when in fact it was the Squadron Supreme that appeared in both issues. The Avengers eventually defeat the Squadron and the Grandmaster abandoned them as a result. The Squadron reappear in the title ''The Defenders'', reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders are alerted to the scheme by Nighthawk and defeat the villains and Nebulon, with Nighthawk reforming and joining the Defenders the following issue. After this defeat the three remaining members of the Squadron Sinister are teleported off-world by Nebulon, returning with an energy-draining weapon. The villains plan to threaten Earth again, but are defeated once more by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. During another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate Doctor Spectrum's Power Prism from fellow Avenger the Wasp, the characters are revealed to have disbanded. While Nighthawk becomes an ongoing character featuring regularly in the Marvel Universe, two of the other members of the Squadron make isolated appearances. Hyperion appears in the title ''Thor'', battling the hero once again, and features in '' Marvel Two-in-One'' in an encounter with the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focus ...

. Hyperion also travels to the Earth-712 universe and, after impersonating the Squadron Supreme's Hyperion for a time, dies in a heated battle with his counterpart. The title ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...

'' showcases the Whizzer's return, where he returns to crime with a new costume and the alias the Speed Demon.

Resurrected Squadron Sinister

The Grandmaster reappears and reforms the Squadron Sinister: an apparently resurrected Hyperion; a new Dr. Spectrum (Alice Nugent, a former lab assistant of Hank Pym), Nighthawk and the Speed Demon, who have both had bad experiences with superhero team the New Thunderbolts. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power – an interdimensional source of superhuman abilities – the Grandmaster increases the Squadron Sinister's powers and they battle the New Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts team leader Baron Zemo defeats the Grandmaster and, in the ensuing chaos, the Squadron Sinister scatter and escape.

Other versions

''The Last Defenders''

The limited series ''The Last Defenders'' briefly features warped versions of Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer. The trio are created by long-time Defenders foe Yandroth when confronted by Nighthawk. Together with a futuristic version of the Defenders, Nighthawk defeats the

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppel ...

s, who subsequently disappear.

''Secret Wars'' (2015)

During the '' Secret Wars'' storyline, alternate versions of the Squadron Sinister characters reside in Battleworld's Utopolis domain. Led by their Hyperion, they have been annexing various domains of Battleworld in order to grow their territory. They started by destroying the Squadron Supreme of the Supremia Province where they left their Nighthawk alive to be the Supremia Province's puppet ruler for Hyperion. Then they made the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

-themed domain of Europix part of their domain upon it surrendering after the Squadron Sinister saved Europix from the

Frightful Four The Frightful Four are a group of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They serve as the antithesis to the Fantastic Four. Publication history The Frightful Four first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' ...

of Wittland. However, due to manipulations on the part of

Nighthawk The nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, native to the western hemisphere. The term "nighthawk", first recorded in the King James Bible of 1611, was originally a local name in ...

, Whizzer is executed by Hyperion for treason, and Doctor Spectrum flees when framed for the murder of one of the Thor Corps. When Warrior Woman is blackmailed into leaving Utoplolis, Nighthawk is revealed to possess Spectrum's power prism. Nighthawk then makes his move, poisoning Hyperion with argonite before fighting him on even footing with the Prism. Hyperion eventually succumbs to argonite poisoning, allowing Nighthawk to finish Hyperion off. Nighthawk is arrested by the Thors and, with testimony from Warrior Woman, sentenced to exile. He presumably meets his fate against a horde of

Ultron Ultron () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, and initially made his debut as an unnamed character in ''The Avengers'' #54 (Jul ...

drones, leaving Warrior Woman the sole remaining member of the team.''Squadron Sinister'' #4

Members

Doctor Spectrum Doctor Spectrum is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. There have been five versions of the character to date—three supervillains from the mainstream Marvel Universe belonging t ...

(Alice Nugent) *

(Zhib-Ran) * Nighthawk (Kyle Richmond) * Whizzer (James Sanders)

Former members

(Billy Roberts) *

(Kinji Obatu) *

construct

References

External links

Squadron Sinister
at the Marvel Universe * * {{Thunderbolts 1969 comics debuts Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Sal Buscema Comics characters introduced in 1969 Marvel Comics supervillain teams Squadron Supreme