Major Victory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Major Victory name has been used by three fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. Both patriotic crimefighters, the first Major Victory first appeared in Batman and The Outsiders Annual #1 (1984). He was affiliated with groups like Force of July, and Suicide Squad.
The second person to go under the Major Victory moniker has not yet been revealed but first appeared in Adventures of Superman #612 (March 2003). He appeared as a background character in a few Superman stories of the time.
The third Major Victory currently active in the DC Universe, first appears in the miniseries Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven (2006), also as a government operative. This Major Victory may or may not be identical with the second Major Victory from the Superman stories.
Major Victory is also the most recent alias used by Vance Astro, a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel Comics universe.
Contents |
[edit] DC Comics
| Major Victory | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
[edit] William Vickers
[edit] Character biography
The man born William Vickers started out as Major Victory, when the group known as the Force of July was founded. There was an organization, called the American Security Agency who found five willing Americans to undergo tests and transformations to become a force for America - the Force of July - and made no efforts to keep this a secret. With apt codenames and a lot of pomp and circumstance these patriots held America's flag high as they took on missions B. Eric Blairman assigned to them in the name of the President. Leading the Force of July was that blond haired, blue-eyed, all-American idol Major Victory. Thanks to his powerful personality he became team leader, conditioned to handle any contingency and fight for what's right.
The Force had many successes believing that what they were doing was absolutely right, no questions asked. Fervent in their belief that the government couldn't be wrong, the team finally faced defeat fighting the subversive super-team called the Outsiders. Later, the Force of July was drawn into a battle with the Suicide Squad each believing the other was acting against the interests of America. The Squad proved especially effective, killing the Force's Mayflower, Sparkler, and Blairman.
Further drawn into the events known as the Janus Directive (a comic crossover throughout the Suicide Squad, Checkmate and Firestorm titles), Major Victory wanted revenge against the Squad. He served with them reluctantly, and sadly lost his remaining teammates Silent Majority and Lady Liberty in the final battle to stop Kobra. He would eventually come to have a grudging respect for Amanda Waller and her tough ways. Afterwards, the United States government asked Major Victory to maintain his post with the Squad and report on Waller's activities.
The Major refused, reminding the government that he was a civilian and the man who provided him with the uniform and purposes in life, Blairman, was dead. The Major was going to follow his own conscience, and the government could not control that. Major Victory went underground for some time, keeping his activities covert, especially since at that time the Squad was disgraced and Waller was in jail, serving a one-year prison term.
Eventually Major Victory returned to public duty, by reuniting with the Suicide Squad, under Black Adam's command, to help stop Circe from her holy war against the Earth and all humanity. It was during this mission that he met and was recruited by the Captains of Industry, he served with that team until its dissolution. Bill was later seen amongst a group of heroes assembled by Amanda Waller to invade the island stronghold of Eclipso, where he was subsequently murdered by Eclipso along with the majority of the Shadow Fighters in issue 13 of the Eclipso series.
In the end his greatest drawback was his narrow-minded views about right and wrong. He had bought so deeply into America's rhetoric that he had lost the ability to properly judge moral and ethical quandaries. His experiences with the Suicide Squad and his solo missions caused him to reconsider his world view, before he was killed in battle with Eclipso's minions.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Major Victory was not naturally in possession of meta-human powers, all his superhuman abilities came from the special suit he wore. He was also trained to the peak of human perfection. Major Victory also had a charismatic personality that made it easy for him to lead others. In contrast however, he was also arrogant in his manner, and did not handle the authority of others very well.
[edit] Major Victory II
A new Major Victory who, like his predecessor, has links to the United States government, appeared in the city of Metropolis a few years later. He was one of the first victims of the Hollow Men, drained by them of all colour and energy, but he was later restored. He had but a few appearances in the Superman stories of the time.
[edit] Major Victory III
Revealed in Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven #1, a new Major Victory was created at some point before the Infinite Crisis for the American government, leading into a remake of the Force of July named Freedom's Ring, which included new versions of Lady Liberty and Silent Majority. This Major Victory may or may not be identical with the above mentioned Major from the Superman stories.
Freedom's Ring was called in on orders from the government to take control of the situation in Blüdhaven, serving as a meta police group to keep other metas out of the city. Freedom's Ring eventually ran into a group calling themselves the Nuclear Legion, themselves on orders from the Secret Society of Super Villains to investigate a radiation spike in Blüdhaven. In the aftermath of the fight, Silent Majority II and Lady Liberty II were killed, and Major Victory's superior Father Time denied him backup, leaving him alone against the Nuclear Legion and the Atomic Knight.
This third Major Victory shares a number of traits with his original namesake; blond hair, althetic physique, the original's arrogance and allegiance to the American government. This version's power suit also exhibits the same blue-white energy blasts and enhanced strength as the previous version. According to him he has a history in "kicking butt in seven different countries", and like Vickers this Major Victory seems to have developed a form of conscience, displayed in his wondering about the government's experimentation on refugees.
In an attempt to control Major Force's battle lust, Major Victory instead wound up having his arm ripped off and being beaten to death with it by Major Force.
[edit] Marvel Comics
[edit] Vance Astro
[edit] "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"
[edit] Major Victory
Self-created character by Chris Watters to compete on the Sci-fi original series "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?", where he provides much comic relief to both viewers and superheroes alike. His character was eliminated in Episode 5, cited for being more of a "Parody of a Superhero" by Stan Lee.
