Champions of Angor
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The Champions of Angor (also known as the Justifiers and the Assemblers) are a fictional superhero team in the DC Comics universe. They are a pastiche of the Avengers from the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin in the pages of Justice League of America #87 February (1971).
[edit] Origins
The team was introduced in Justice League of America #87 (Feb 1971), written by Mike Friedrich and published at the same time as his friend Roy Thomas was introducing the Justice League pastiche Squadron Supreme in Avengers. They came from the alien planet of Angor. When Angor was attacked by a spacefaring robot, they defeated it, and tracked it back to its home planet. At the same time, the JLA was tracking a robot which attacked Earth. The two teams both assumed the other was the enemy, and fought.
The Champions of Angor in this story were:
- Wandjina - The team leader. Named after an Australian weather spirit, he has super-strength and weather control powers. Pastiche of Thor.
- Silver Sorceress (civilian identity later revealed as Laura Neilsen) - A powerful, but unpredictable, magic user, with a costume incorporating a curious headdress. Pastiche of the Scarlet Witch.
- Blue Jay (civilian identity later revealed as Jay Abrams) -Hero with the ability to shrink in size, and fly. Pastiche of Yellowjacket.
- Jack B. Quick (civilian identity later revealed as Harry Christos; later takes the name Captain Speed) - Speedster, with brief flight abilities. Pastiche of Quicksilver.
[edit] Current Status
The team later appeared in Keith Giffen's post-Crisis Justice League International. In #2 Wandjina, Bluejay and the Sorceress came to Earth in order to destroy our nuclear weapons. Apparently they are the only survivors of a nuclear disaster that wiped out Angor. Wandjina sacrifices himself to prevent a meltdown in a Bialyan reactor, and the others give themselves up to the Russian authorities. Wandjina's corpse would later be reanimated as a weapon by Queen Bee of Bialya.
Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990) began a story in which the Sorceress and Bluejay escaped from prision. Bluejay went to the League for help, while the Sorceress returned to Angor.
A flashback revealed that the nuclear disaster was caused by a group of villains called the Extremists. The Extremists captured the Sorceress and made her take them to Earth, where they again attempted to seize control of the world's nuclear weapons. It was eventually revealed that (with one exception) these were robot duplicates of the Extremists, created for an amusement park. The owner of the amusement park was sent to Earth and switched them off. The remaining villain, Dreamslayer, was defeated by the Sorceress. Bluejay and the Silver Sorceress joined the JLE.
Justice League Quarterly #3 (1990) featured Mitch Wacky (the amusement park owner) travelling back in time to prevent the Extremists from destroying Angor. This story introduced more members of the team (now called the Justifiers), including:
- The Bowman - A womanising archer, with a tendency to go for "black widow types". Pastiche of Hawkeye
- Tin Man - An armoured hero with a heart condition. Pastiche of Iron Man.
- T.A. - A heroine with metal wings. Presumably a pastiche of the Wasp.
There was also an unnamed version of Goliath, as well as of non-Avengers Marvel Comics characters, including Wolverine, Cyclops and Spider-Man.
Later appearances of the Angorian characters downplayed their origins and the Marvel pastiche elements.
[edit] See also
- The Maximums, another team of Avengers pastiches in the DCU
