The Onslaught are a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditio ...

team of state sponsored super powered Quraci terrorists published by

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 ...

. They first appeared in ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

'' #1, and were created by

John Ostrander John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949) is an American writer of comic books, including ''Suicide Squad'', '' Grimjack'' and '' Star Wars: Legacy''. Career Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes ...

and

Luke McDonnell Luke McDonnell (born July 19, 1959) is an American artist whose early career was spent specialising in comic books. Career Comic books Luke McDonnell began his career as a comics artist in 1980 and illustrated a wide variety of comics including ...

History

The Onslaught is a team of super-powered international terrorists-for-hire operating out of the outlaw nation of

Qurac This page list the locations in the DC Universe, the shared universe setting of DC Comics. Sites * the Arrowcave – The former base of operations of the Green Arrow and Speedy. * Avernus Cemetery – A burial ground located in Central City fo ...

. The team was created and guided by Qurac's President Marlos and had accepted, as its first commission, the assignment of killing the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

. Former Suicide Squad member Jess Bright, now a Soviet operative named Koshchei helped bio-engineer candidates for the team. At its inception, the Jihad was infiltrated by

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The n ...

and

Nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

, members of the advance team of the Suicide Squad, and was the target of a preemptive attack by the Squad (as seen in ''Suicide Squad'' #1 and #2). After their first clash with the Suicide Squad, Raza Kattuah now calling himself Rustam formed a second team based in an old

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 ...

fortress called Jotunheim in southern Qurac. The name translates as "Land of the Giants", because the Germans believed only a race of giants could have built those mountains. Rustam used this team to terrorize civilians in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Ravan, Ifrit and Agni were captured. Manticore and Jaculi were killed, but Rustam and Badb were able to escape. Ravan was eventually recruited by the Suicide Squad.

Rick Flag Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

carried out an unauthorized solo mission to Qurac which resulted in the destruction of Jotunheim, killing Rustam and countless Jihad members. The man known as Kobra would later kill Ravan while engaged in single combat. Agni assembled a small three-person team to free Quraci President Marlo from United States custody. He brought along Badb, and the Atlantean renegade known as Piscator, a self-styled

Janissary A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orha ...

. The Suicide Squad preemptively substituted Nemesis for President Marlo. At the same time, Israel's heroes, the

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

superteam known as the

Hayoth The Hayoth are a fictional team of super powered Israeli super commandos published by DC Comics. They first appeared in ''Suicide Squad'' #45 (September 1990), and were created by John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Geof Isherwood. The Hayoth's team nam ...

were involved in a covert mission on U.S. soil, a failed attempt to abduct Marlo. As revealed in ''Suicide Squad'' #50, Jess Bright had survived the

Yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, that killed most of the original Suicide Squad. Jess was rescued by the

Red Chinese The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on mainl ...

and given a new name ''Yen Wang'' (King of the Devils) and was made the head of a secret Chinese project to develop

metahuman In DC Comics' DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with both ''mutant'' and '' mutate'' in the Marvel Universe and '' posthuman'' in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In DC Comics, the ...

s alongside a Chinese scientist named Deng Zho-Zhi. But due to frostbite his nose, lips, toes and fingers all had to be amputated. Deng Zho-Zhi's laboratory was raided by Chinese government officials, and he revealed to Bright that he was actually a dissident and probably would be taken away for reeducation. Jess is recruited from prison by Major Zastrow of the Red Shadows. The Russians gave him cybernetic hands, and cybernetic feet that allowed him to walk again. Zastrow changes Bright's codename to ''Koschei the Deathless'' and put him to work on maintaining and improving the

Rocket Red Rocket Red (russian: Ракетно-Красный, Raketno-Krasnyy) is a fictional character and comic book superhero from the DC Comics universe. Created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton, he first appeared in ''Green Lantern Corps '' #208 (Jan ...

s. The Russians then sent him to Qurac where he was put in charge of the program to develop Qurac's metahuman program, Jaculi, Manticore and the Djinn were all his creations, but he was killed when Rick Flag destroyed Jotunheim with an atomic bomb. The Quracis were able to revive him as a cybernetic

zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

using technology he himself had created, his body was dead and his mind was a digital recording. As part of an elaborate revenge against Rick Flag, Koschei kidnaps his son by Karin Grace, Rick Flag Jr. Unbeknownst to Koschei Flag had apparently died in the nuclear detonation that destroyed Jotunheim. Nemesis eventually convinced him to set the boy free, and he appeared to have been destroyed by an explosion that he set off. Agni assembled yet another Onslaught team with the help of Njara Kattuah son of Rustam. This new team's mission of vengeance against America was short-lived. After disposing of a team of

Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

Knights who had tracked them as far as Markovia, the homeland of

Geo-Force Geo-Force (Prince Brion Markov) is a fictional superhero character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Markov is the younger Prince Twin of Markovia and the elder brother of Terra. One of the founding members of the superhero group ...

, they were discovered on an

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...

bound for Gotham by the Outsiders, who were also on the flight, and a fight broke out onboard the plane. The battle in midair nearly cost some of the Outsiders their lives, but Manticore III and Dahak both ended up dying instead, with Djinn presumably killed as well. The fight is ended after it forces the plane to make a hard landing in Gotham, with all the surviving Onslaught members except for Dervish escaping. Dervish later joined the Outsiders in order to find Manticore, who she thought was alive, remaining with them until she discovered what happened to Manticore. In anger she joined the second Strikeforce Kobra. After a clash with the Outsiders, she was captured and imprisoned in the Slab, she later escaped when the

Joker Joker(s) or The Joker(s) may refer to: * Joker (playing card) * Jester, a person employed to tell jokes and provide entertainment Fictional characters Print * Joker (character), a DC Comics character ** ''The Joker'' (comic book) ** ''Joker'' ...

engineered a jailbreak (as seen in ''Joker: Last Laugh'' #3). Njara later returned with a new team including Antiphon, Tolteca, Hyve and Digital Djinn (''Suicide Squad'' (vol. 2) #10). They succeeded in kidnapping

Amanda Waller Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...

as part of an elaborate revenge, and in killing Squad members Havana (slain by Rustam) and Modem (slain by Digital Djinn). They were no match for the Squad when members of the

Justice Society of America The Justice Society of America (JSA, or Justice Society (JS)) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team was conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of Comic Boo ...

were drafted to help. The second Rustam was killed by

Deadshot Deadshot (Floyd Lawton) is a supervillain and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by David Vern Reed, Lew Schwartz and Bob Kane, the character made his first appearance in ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' #59 ...

and the other members escaped custody.

Roster

Team one (''Suicide Squad'' #1-2)

* Chimera - She was actually Suicide Squad member

. * Djinn - His body was reduced to a binary code and stored in microchips within a

magnetic bottle A magnetic mirror, known as a magnetic trap (магнитный захват) in Russia and briefly as a pyrotron in the US, is a type of magnetic confinement device used in fusion power to trap high temperature plasma using magnetic fields. Th ...

. Enchantress blew up his bottle, presumably destroying him. * Jaculi - A young Bedouin with the ability of moving at super-speed in three second spurts. He carried an assortment of explosive javelins. Jaculi was slain by

Captain Boomerang Captain Boomerang is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, who respectively serve as enemies to both the Barry Allen and Wally West versions of the Flash. Created by writer John Broome and artis ...

. * Manticore - A super strong cyborg from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, he was slain by

. Manticore is named after the mythical

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

. During the events of ''

Blackest Night "Blackest Night" is a 2009–10 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous central miniseries, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis, along with a number of tie-in issues. ''Blackes ...

'', Manticore's corpse is reanimated as a member of the

Black Lantern Corps The Black Lantern Corps is a fictional organization of corporeal revenants (resembling intelligent zombies or jiangshi) appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, related to the emotional spectrum. The group is composed of deceased fictiona ...

alongside several fallen Suicide Squad members. * Colonel Mushtaq - He was actually

in an undercover role. *

Ravan Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He ...

- Last surviving thugee, his back was broken in single combat with the

Bronze Tiger Bronze Tiger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dennis O'Neil, Leopoldo Dirampma, and Jim Berry, he first appeared in ''Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter'' #1 (May 1975). The character's rea ...

. * Rustam - Raza Kattuah was the first team leader, named after

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a we ...

, a mythic hero in

Persian folklore Persian mythology or Iranian mythology (Persian:اساطیرشناسی ایرانی) is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples, and a genre of Ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the origi ...

. Rustam wields a scimitar artifact from

Skartaris Skartaris is a fictional Hollow Earth fantasy setting created by Mike Grell for the sword and sorcery comic book '' The Warlord'', published by DC Comics. Skartaris debuted in '' 1st Issue Special'' #8 (November 1975), where the character Trav ...

which could generate fiery plasma that could seemingly cut through anything, and open dimensional portals. The scimitar uses its wielder's life force as a power source. According to Raza he was a US covert operative in Qurac who was apparently betrayed by the United States, a situation which led to the deaths of his entire family.

Team two (''Suicide Squad'' #17-19)

* Agni - Agni is an

Asian Indian Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred t ...

pyrokinetic who could create progressively larger fireballs by snapping his fingers. He is named after

Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

, the Hindu god of fire. * Badb - A teenaged Irish telepath who could mentally instill panic and hatred. She is named after

Badb In Irish mythology, the Badb (Old Irish, ), or in Modern Irish Badhbh (, )—also meaning "crow"—is a war goddess who takes the form of a crow, and is thus sometimes known as Badb Catha ("battle crow").http://www.dil.ie/5114 ''badb'', Author ...

, the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

goddess of war. * Ifrit - She was a new artificial intelligence, similar to Djinn, based on the brain patterns of

Mindboggler The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cr ...

, whose mental engrams were salvaged by Quraci scientists, and twisted to induce extreme aggression and hate; she was healed of this by sentient Israeli computer Dybbuk and fell in love with him. She is named after the Persian spirits known as

Ifrit Ifrit, also spelled as efreet, afrit, and afreet (Arabic: ': , plural ': ), is a powerful type of demon in Islamic mythology. The afarit are often associated with the underworld and identified with the spirits of the dead, and have been comp ...

s. * Jaculi - The second Jaculi was a woman of unknown nationality with the speed and weapons of the original. She was slain by

. * Koshchei The Deathless - Jess Bright, former member of the original Suicide Squad. He could animate the dead using specialized electronic implants, controlling them via

telepresence Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Telepresence requires that the user ...

; this control was accidentally broken by

Shade the Changing Man Shade, the Changing Man is a comic book character created by Steve Ditko for DC Comics in 1977. The character was later adapted by Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo in one of the first Vertigo titles. Both versions of Shade are distinct ...

. In Russian folklore

Koshchei Koschei ( rus, Коще́й, r=Koshchey, p=kɐˈɕːej), often given the epithet "the Immortal", or "the Deathless" (russian: Коще́й Бессме́ртный), is an archetypal male antagonist in Russian folklore. The most common feature of ...

the Deathless is a powerful necromancer. * Manticore - The second Manticore, also of unknown nationality, was tougher than his predecessor; he was slain by Duchess (

Lashina Lashina is a supervillainess and Goddess warrior appearing in comics published by DC Comics. Publication history Created by Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Mister Miracle'' #6 (January 1972). Fictional character biography Lashina ...

). * Ravan - Master assassin now wearing a cybernetic harness because of his broken back. After being captured by the

he joins the

. * Rustam - Team leader and the same operative.

Team three (''Suicide Squad'' #59-62)

* Agni - Team leader for this mission. * Badb - The same operative. * Piscator - An Atlantean (see

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

) renegade and self-styled

Team four (''Outsiders'' (vol. 2) #5-6)

* Agni - Second in command for this mission. * Dahak - A demon who used the body of an old Quraci woman as its host. In Persian mythology

Aži Dahāka Zahhāk or Zahāk () ( fa, ضحّاک), also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder ( fa, ضحاک ماردوش, Zahhāk-e Mārdoush), is an evil figure in Persian mythology, evident in ancient Persian folklore as Azhi Dahāka ( fa, اژی دها� ...

is the god of evil. This demon is killed when an airplane tail crushed it to death. * Dervish - Nema, a female martial artist, she is romantically tied to Manticore III. Nema is named after the traditional

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage ...

es. She later joined to Strikeforce Kobra. * Djinn - The original Djinn restored by the group's technicians. He is presumably destroyed again after

Sebastian Faust Sebastian Faust (known as simply Faust) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, created by Mike Barr and Paul Pelletier. He was introduced in the 1993 '' Outsiders'' comic book series and is loosely bas ...

traps him in a hand-held TV that he throws into Agni's flames. * Manticore - The third Manticore was Saied, who was romantically tied to Dervish. He was accidentally killed during a fight with Charlie Wylde of the Outsiders. * Rustam - Njara Kattuah, team leader and the son of the original Rustam. Njara has demonstrated pyrokinetic abilities, but is unknown if they were internal, or if he had access to his father's scimitar.

Team five (''Suicide Squad'' (vol. 2) #10-12)

* Antiphon - A super speedster from Greece. The name is based on the term

Antiphon An antiphon ( Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominen ...

(opposing voice). * Digital Djinn - New more powerful creation based on the original Djinn. * Hyve - A hulking creature able to separate into smaller and smaller copies of itself. * Rustam - Njara Kattuah, team leader. He is slain by Deadshot. * Tolteca - A powerful warrior woman and cannibal. Her name is derived from the

Toltecs The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 C ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

In other media

Television

Onslaught appears in '' Young Justice: Outsiders'', consisting of

Psimon Psimon (Simon Jones) is a fictional supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Publication history He first appeared in ''The New Teen Titans'' #3 (January 1981) and was created by George Pérez and Marv Wolfman. Fictional ...

, Devastation,

Mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and ...

Shimmer Shimmer may refer to: * ''Shimmer'' (play), a 1988 play by John O'Keefe * Shimmer (comics), a DC Comics super-villain * ''Shimmer'' (novel), by Eric Barnes * '' Shimmer Magazine'', or ''Shimmerzine'', a speculative fiction magazine * "Shimmer" ...

, Icicle Jr., the Terror Twins, and

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. This version of the group serves

Queen Bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...

and the

Light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

. Additionally, Jaculi appears as an assassin and member of

Baron Bedlam Baron Bedlam (Baron Frederick DeLamb) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Batman and the Outsiders'' #1 (August 1983). Fictional character biography Baron Bedlam is really ...

's metahuman trafficking ring who is sent to kill

Markovia This page list the locations in the DC Universe, the shared universe setting of DC Comics. Sites * the Arrowcave – The former base of operations of the Green Arrow and Speedy. * Avernus Cemetery – A burial ground located in Central City fo ...

's king and queen before Jaculi is killed in turn by Bedlam.

Miscellaneous

* Onslaught appears in the non-canonical ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers ...

'' tie-in comic series, ''Arrow: Season 2.5''. This version of the group is led by

Khem-Adam Black Adam, real name Teth/Theo-Adam, is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck, and first appeared in the debut issue of Fawcett Comics' ''The Marvel Family'' comic b ...

, who wished to bring

Kahndaq This page list the locations in the DC Universe, the shared universe setting of DC Comics. Sites * the Arrowcave – The former base of operations of the Green Arrow and Speedy. * Avernus Cemetery – A burial ground located in Central City for ...

back to its traditional roots, only to run afoul of the

. * The ''Young Justice'' incarnation of Onslaught appears in the tie-in comic ''Young Justice: Targets'', with the addition of

Match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

References

External links

DCU Guide: ''Suicide Squad'' #1
{{Suicide Squad Comic book terrorist organizations DC Comics supervillain teams Fictional Indian people Characters created by John Ostrander Comics characters introduced in 1987 Fictional mercenaries