Batmen of All Nations
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| Batmen of All Nations (also known as the Club Of Heroes) |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #215 (January 1955) |
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| See:Members | |
The Batmen of All Nations were a group of superheroes who were inspired by Batman to fight crime in their countries. The group first appeared in Detective Comics #215. Later the Batmen of All Nations were renamed the International Club of Heroes, often known as just the Club of Heroes. Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, they were named the Dome (see Global Guardians) and were not inspired by Batman but the Justice Society of America.
Grant Morrison featured them in his 2007 run on Batman (#667-669). Morrison revealed the modern period fates of the "Club of Heroes".
| “ | It was kind of neat looking at what could go wrong with Batman. The Italian guy who was a mature type film hero has become this big, fat guy who loves eating and trades on his past glories as The Legionary. The Knight and The Squire are still active but it’s a grownup Squire and The Knight has his own Squire. The Gaucho has become a serious Argentinean superhero who is well respected—he’s the real deal. Wingman, who Batman trained in the past is now really pissed off, and doesn’t want to admit that Batman ever trained him because he wants to make his own way. — Grant Morrison on 2007 plans for Batman. [1] |
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[edit] Fictional organization history
In the 1950s the legend of the Batman has reached the whole world. Many people in other countries were inspired by this to become superheroes themselves. Years later, Batman decided to hold the first meeting with his counterparts in Gotham City.
[edit] Recent history
A three issue story arc, "The Island of Mister Mayhew", in the pages of Batman, starting with Batman #667 and ending in #669, written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by J.H. Williams III, has shown what became of the Batmen of All Nations since, save for the Knight and the Squire, who have appeared in JLA Classified.
- The Musketeer was sent to an asylum after he accidentally killed a man in battle. After he was released he wrote a book about the experience and became rich. He recently sold the movie rights.
- Man-Of-Bats with his sidekick and son Little Raven. Little Raven grew up and became Raven Red. However their relationship is strained.
- Wingman has changed his look and resembles Batman even more than he originally did. But, he refuses to admit he worked with Batman and claims he came up with his superhero identity a year before Batman started his. With his accomplice, John Mayhew, he kills the Ranger and replaces him and tries to kill the others. He is later killed by Mayhew.
- The Gaucho has become a serious superhero in Argentina and has changed his look.
- The Ranger changed his costume and identity to Dark Ranger in order to keep up with the increasingly evil supervillain community. Wingman kills him.
- The Legionary has let himself go and trades on about the old times. He gets stabbed twenty-three times.
[edit] Members
- Batman and his sidekick Robin (USA)
- Man-Of-Bats and his sidekick Little Raven (USA--Sioux Indian)
- The Gaucho (Argentina)
- The Knight and his sidekick, the Squire (United Kingdom)
- The Musketeer (France)
- The Legionary (Italy)
- The Ranger (Australia)
- Wingman (an unnamed country in Northern Europe, probably the Netherlands)
[edit] Relationship To Batman
Readers of Grant Morrison's run on Batman have theorised that the modern-day Club of Heroes may in fact be a musing on hte many different versions of Batman written by different authors over the years; the nature of identity is a theme present in many of Morrison's other works, such as The Filth, as well as his run on Batman, such as the prose story The Clown At Midnight, exploring the strange psyche of the Joker. The same theorists have also proposed that the killing off of some of the Club's members symbolises Morrison's 'doing away' with aspects of Batman's personality that would not suit his take on the character. [2] Morrison has also experimented with other characters based on Batman in the past, such as the supervillains Prometheus and Owlman.
[edit] Other versions
- A different version of the Batmen of All Nations appears in the critically acclaimed Kingdom Come comic series. The members of this group include "Cossack, the Champion of Russia", "Samurai, the Champion of Japan", and "Dragon, the Champion of China". They were joined by "Batwoman, a Batman admirer from the Fourth World".
- A solicitation for the upcoming Batman #679 references a Club of Villains, composed of:
- Le Bossu: The Hunchback, a french villain with Gargoyle henchmen.
- Pierrot Lunaire: A Joker-esque foe of the Musketeer whose trademark is death by mime.[3]
- King Kraken: A disfigured deep sea diver turned pirate whose weapon of choice is a high voltage electric rifle. A foe of Wingman.[4]
- Charlie Caligula: A madman whose schemes are designed to coincide with Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire. A foe of the Legionary.[5]
- Scorpiana: An assassin whose calling card is the blue scorpion. A foe of the Guacho.[6]
- El Sombrero: A lunatic in a luchadore mask who designs fantastic and almost inescapable death traps for anyone who's willing to pay. A foe of the Guacho.[7]
- Springheeled Jack: A mad bomber type responsible for murdering the first Knight by making him ingest a bomb.[8]
- The Joker has been recruited by the Club but it is uncertain if he accepted.
[edit] References
- ^ Wizard Entertainment
- ^ 4thletter.net: Batman Is Bruce Wayne, Many Troubles In Your Brain
- ^ Batman #668
- ^ Batman #669
- ^ Batman #668
- ^ Batman #668
- ^ Batman #668
- ^ Batman #668
