Superhero 411: Tigra

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team, and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at the furriest superhero on the list, Tigra. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!


Tigra

Real name: Greer Grant-Nelson
First Appearance:As The Cat: Claws of the Cat #1 (1972), as Tigra: Giant-Size Creature #1 (1974)

Creators: The Cat: Roy Thomas (writer-editor), Linda Fite (writer), and Marie Severin (artist), Tigra: Tony Isabella (writer), Don Perlin (artist)

Occupation: Professional Superhero
Religion: "Mystically empowered"

Operates in: All over America

Greer Grant was a native of Chicago, and when she was a sophomore at the University of Chicago, she met her future husband, a policeman named Bill Nelson, and dropped out to marry him. While their marriage was strong, her husband was soon killed in a shooting, and she had to take a job as an assistant to a former professor, Dr. Tumulo, who was working on an experimental treatment to make people physically enhanced to peak performance. Not trusting the project's financial backer, Greer convinces the professor to preform the experiment on her, where she gains superhuman physical and mental capabilities. After the backer has the lab destroyed in an attempt to keep the experiment under his control, Greer sets out to expose the backer while wearing a costume designed to further enhance her abilities, but he commits suicide rather than be apprehended, and all the equipment is destroyed in a fire started by the fight.
Greer takes the codename The Cat and begins a career as a superhero, later encountering a community of advanced sorcerer scientist cat people who had been hiding in society, which includes Tumulo. Unfortunately the community is discovered by HYDRA, and while Greer managed to drive them off, she was mortally injured in the fight. Tumulo summoned a gathering of Cat people and offer Greer a chance to survive, let the Cat people to transform her into their legendary warrior Tigra. She accepts, and becomes a super-powered human-animal hybrid, with razor-sharp claws, superhuman senses and strength. She has since effectively abandoned her previous life as Greer Grant and The Cat, with the Cat identity and costume being taken up by Hellcat, and fully become Tigra. She's had many adventures with numerous heroes, including Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four, later becoming a members of the Avengers, where she saved the world on a few occasions, including single handedly stopping Molecule Man and convincing him to seek help from a therapist.
Tigra later left the Avengers after an encounter with Ghost Rider deeply affected her, and moved to San Francisco where she started a detective business with the then depowered Jessica Drew. The two forged a strong friendship and made a very effective team, so much so that they were going to make it permanent when Tigra was approached by The Vision to become a founding member of the Avengers' new west coast-based team, which she accepted. During her time with the team Tigra felt increasingly dominated by the cat side of her personality, which came to a head when a long banished colony of cat people summon her and the West Coast Avengers, offering to help her if she kills a longtime foe of the cat people. She accepts, but is unable to carry out the deed at the critical moment, refusing the violate the Avengers' code of not killing. The colony strips her of the "Tigra soul" granting her powers, which reverts her back to her human self, and is imprisoned with the rest of the team. Hellcat, who had been with the group when they were abducted, gives Grant back the Cat supersuit, which again enhance her still present superhuman abilities. The group then attempts to escape, and during the fight the colony king decides to release the "Tigra Soul" back into Grant in the hopes it will turn her into a loyal cat person that would turn on her team mates, but the tactic fails as her supersuit enhances her human side and allows for the two sides to fully merge, making her much stronger, faster and more feline than before and completely in control of herself. The cat people instantly recognized her as the true legendary warrior Tigra and stopped their hostility instantly. The full merger saw a change in her personality, as she now freely indulged her natural feline inclinations without feeling guilty or self-conscious. Most notably she changed her mind about killing, stating that it was sometimes necessary, eventually leaving the Avengers for a time and joined with Mockingbird and Moon Knight.
When she returned to the team she underwent another transformation in a more beastly and feral form, completely losing her human intellect and becoming a danger to those around her. In order to contain her she was shrunk smaller than a housecat and put in a cage while her teammates looked for a cure, but she escaped and lived as a wild animal in the suburbs for awhile until rescued and restored by associate of the West Coast Avengers and noted witch Agatha Harkness, and rejoined the West Coast Avengers. During a mission in Japan Tigra was badly stabbed in the abdomen by some supervillians, and using one of the Avengers' Quinjets to escape she passed out from blood loss and crash landed in Arnhem Land, an Aboriginal territory in northern Australia. The Aboriginals rescued her and helped her back to health, and she decided to stay there for a while, enjoying the pleasures of the area and naming a replacement for the West Coast Avengers. Soon after however, the West Coast Avengers disbanded, and Tigra resumed her wide-ranging adventures before finding herself as a member of the New York City police force and occasionally aiding in Avenger operations when called upon, which later leads her to join the space fairing Avengers Infinity team briefly before returning to Earth, where she was instrumental in saving the planet after alien underestimated her abilities.
During the Civil War storyline she supported the superhero registration act and became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. to help enforce it, eventually infiltrating those opposed to it as a mole, but their own mole quickly outed her to those in charge and she was used to feed disinformation to the pro-registration forces. After the war she was made a founding instructor at Camp Hammond, the training compound for the Fifty State Initiative, and resumed her romantic relationship with fellow superhero Hank Pym, whom she had had a brief relationship with when they were both members of the West Coast Avengers, unaware that he had recently been kidnapped and replaced by a Skrull imposter. Tigra served in the Initiative as a senior staff member of the central organization, and was the leader of the Arkansas Initiative team "The Battalion".
Later she was shot and severely beaten by the supervillian Hood in her home in retaliation for having beaten a member of his fledgling super-criminal organization. The Hood and his gang later reappeared in her apartment demanding to know the location of the new Avengers headquarters, and intentionally misled them into an ambush, where she personally took down the Hood.
When Norman Osborn took over the Initiative she learned of the Hood role as Osborn's right hand man and resolves to out the two for their wrong doings.
After the Skrull invasion reveals Hank Pym, among others, as having been replaced, Tigra discovers that she is pregnant and believes the father to be Hank, although she is unsure if it was the real Hank or the imposter, and becomes conflicted about terminate the pregnancy, regardless of the father's identity. When Norman Osborn learns of her pregnancy, he tells her that he is going to take the baby for genetic testing in the hopes of creating an anti-Skrull bio weapon, as well as make the Hood chief operating officer of the Initiative. Tigra quickly escapes along side fellow hero Gauntlet and co-founds the Avengers Resistance, hoping to restore honor to the team's traditions, and acting as the de facto leader. Outlaws under Osborn reign, the team start going after members of the Hood's gang, savagely attacking and beating them. After Norman is brought down, the Hood depowered and the two taken into custody, Tigra confronts him in a jail cell and tells him that she's comfortable with the idea of killing him, the sight of his child outside convinces her that a life in prison or on the run would be far worse punishment, as he'd never be able to get close to his child again, and killing him would jeopardize her own future with her child.
As Tony Stark's administration begins taking over and rebuilding the Initiative, she gives birth to a healthy cat person kitten, the gestation period having been only two months due to the feline physiology. She names her son William, after her late husband. Tigra vows to not only restore the good name of the Avengers, corrupted in the hands of Osborn, but to also make the world a safer place for her child to grow up in.
With the dismantling of Osborn's criminal empire and the repeal of the Superhuman Registration Act, Steve Rogers is named America's head of a new national security team. Tigra is among the 25 heroes he personally invites to join him in creating a new heroic age, and she serves as part of the founding faculty of Avengers Academy, training a new generation of heroes in the traditions of the world's elite superhero team, along side other heroes, including the real Hank Pym. Here she learns that while the Pym she met at the Initiative was a Skrull impostor, he had copied Pym down to the genetic level, making William half-human, not half-Skrull, making Pym the genetic father. Tigra asks Hank to take care of William in the event anything happens to her.
When a former associate of the Hood plans to release a commercial video of Tigra's beating, she arranges to have the footage broadcast live in its entirety during a live interview, so that her experience may serve as an example to other trauma survivors and inspire them to seek help, and announces the foundation of several "Always an Avenger" centers to provide support to veterans, children, spouses and other trauma victims. Several members of the Avengers Academy react to news by tracking down the unpowered on the run Hood, attacking him and releasing video of the attack on the internet, rather than simply taking him into custody. Tigra becomes furious at them for their unheroic actions and refusal to take the situation serious, and so expels all those involved, although after talking with the rest of the faculty staff they are instead put on probation.

Superhero 411: Big Bertha

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team, and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at probably the heaviest superhero on the list (when she wants to be), Big Bertha. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!


Big Bertha

Real name: Ashley Crawford
First Appearance: West Coast Avengers v2 #46 (1989, Marvel Comics)

Creator: John Byrne (writer, artist)

Occupation: Fashion model
Religion: Unknown

Operates in: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

When Mr. Immortal put out an advertisement for superheroes to join his new team the Great Lakes Avengers, Ashley Crawford was among the few applicants. With her ability to manipulate her body size and mass giving her super-strength and endurance when she enlarges, she was a huge asset to the team, and used the codename Big Bertha. When not superheroing, Ashley worked as fashion model, where her powers allowed her to manipulated her body into a picturesque figure, making her the most famous model Wisconsin. She received many offers for more glamorous opportunities, but declined them all, choosing to stay in Milwaukee with the team that she had grown to consider family, and eventually becoming team's primary financial backer.

While the Great Lake Avengers have frequently been the butt of jokes, they have proven themselves time and time again to be capable, if some what odd, superheroes, and have managed to earn the respect of most of the superhero community. 

Superhero 411: Mr. Incredible

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at the only superhero on the list who started in movies, Mr. Incredible. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!


Mr. Incredible

Real name: Robert "Bob" Parr
First Appearance: The Incredibles (2004, Pixar Animation Studios)

Creator: Brad Bird (writer, artist)

Occupation: Professional Superhero/Insurance Claims
Religion: Episcopalian

Operates in: Metroville

Bob Parr was once Mr. Incredible, the most celebrated hero of Metroville, but after saving a man's life when he tried to commit suicide and subsequently being sued by the man for injuring him in the process, opening up the flood gates for other superheroes to be sued for personnel injury and collateral damage. This causes superheroing to be outlawed and forces all the superheroes into hiding through a government relocation program, including Bob and his new wife Helen, aka the superhero Elastigirl.
15 years later, Bob is working at an insurance company dealing with insurance claims and living a typical suburban life with his wife and three children, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Bob however finds this life unfulfilling, as he has to secretly help his clients navigate his insurance company's roundabout system to ensure they aren't cheated and regularly goes out superheroing with his old superfriend Lucius, aka Frozone, despite Helen's desire that they just live a normal life without superpowers.
It all comes to a head one day when, while being lectured by his boss about his clients' strange ability to get their claims by his boss, he witnesses a mugging and is prevented from helping by his boss, causing Bob to punch his boss through several walls, exposing his superpowers and costing Bob his job. Bob returns home depressed, and while trying to figure out what to tell Helen finds a package for him from the mysterious Mirage, offering him a job requiring his superpowers. Eager to relive his glory days while being able to support his family, he quickly agrees, telling his family he's going a business trip. Bob is taken to a tropical island where a rogue robot has been on a rampage and quickly defeats it. Bob is handsomely rewarded for his efforts, and upon returning home pretends to go to work everyday while secretly spending the day working out and getting back into peak shape. Bob is soon called back by Mirage for another mission, and this time encounters an improved robot that he is unable to defeat. The robot's creator, Syndrome, reveals himself, and Bob realizes that 15 years ago Syndrome was the kid who tried to be his sidekick before being rebuffed by Bob. Syndrome had vowed revenge for this, setting out to prove that he was better than all the other superheroes, and had been inviting any superheroes he could find to fight his "rampaging" robot to the death, improving his robot any time it was defeated before having a rematch. Bob is taken hostage so he can watch Syndrome "defeat" the robot with his remote after he unleashes it on Metrocity. His family comes to his rescue, but when their plane is shot down Bob believes his family is dead, however they survive and are eventually captured as Syndrome launches his robot towards Metrocity. The Incredibles are eventually able to escape, return to Metrocity and work together to defeat the robot and Syndrome, saving the city from being destroyed.

Superhero 411: Green Lantern Kyle Rayner

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at the superhero with probably the highest number of people using the same code name, Green Lantern. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!

Green Lantern

Real name: Kyle Rayner

First Appearance: Green Lantern v3 #48 (1994, DC Comics)
Creators: Ron Marz (writer) and Darryl Banks (artist)

Occupation: Graphic Artist
Religion: Catholic (lapsed)

Operates in: All over the Universe

Kyle Rayner was a struggling-but-gifted freelance graphic artist who lived and worked in Los Angeles. After the first human Green Lantern Hal Jordan, grief-stricken over the destruction of his home town of Coast City, went on a mad rampage killing various members of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force, and their overseers, the Guardians of the Universe, Rayner was found by the last surviving Guardian, Ganthet. Ganthet gives Kyle the last working Green Lantern power ring, a device that would allow him to conjure any form of matter or energy through sheer force of will.
While Kyle only had a passing knowledge of the Green Lanterns before, he soon found the ring allowed him the ultimate expression of his fertile imagination and create just about anything his artist mind could think of, including futuristic weapons, mechas, and even other superheroes, making Kyle an unpredictable and formidable opponent.

Initially Kyle took his new powers lightly, and his girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt encouraged him to be more responsible, helping him create a new uniform and train to be a superhero. However, she was soon brutally murder and stuffed into a refrigerator for Kyle to discover by a supervillain. The guilt of the incident drove Kyle to take his role more seriously and strive to be the best Green Lantern he could. Kyle, feeling he needed a fresh start, moved to New York City. Not long after Kyle was invited to join the Justice League, and while at first clashing with some members who didn't feel he could measure up to his predecessors, he earned their respect with his friendly personality, hard work and willingness to learn. He also begins a relationship with the superhero Jade.
For a brief period of time Kyle achieved near godhood after absorbing left over energy from a previous event, and could now bend time, space and reality allowing him to do things like be in many places at once. The drawback of this was that Kyle could no longer sleep or separate himself from the overwhelming responsibilities of these new powers. Kyle decided to abandon his omnipotence rather than sacrifice his humanity, and used the power to recharge the Green Lantern Corps' Central Power Battery, helping to create a new group of Guardians and restarting the Green Lantern Corps. Kyle changes his uniform to reflect his new maturity. However, following all this, Kyle has several crisises of self about his place in world and the danger he puts his loved ones in, and repeatedly goes on lengthy self-imposed exiles into space. After one of these exiles his girlfriend Jade broke up with him, and during a later exile he finds the body of Hal Jordan and discovers the true reason for Jordan's rampage: he had been possessed by the alien parasitic entity Parallax, who was the non-corporeal embodiment of fear. Subsequently Kyle was given special status amongst the Guardians as the "Torch-Bearer", the Green Lantern who carried their legacy through the Corps' darkest period. When Jade dies during an intergalactic war she transfer her power to Kyle, catalyzing a re-transformation into Ion. Kyle is subsequently put through a series of tests by outside forces eventually revealed to be the Guardians, done to test whether he could handle his new powers in anticipation of their granting him an honored position as their Torchbearer now that he could revive the Corps again if it is destroyed for a second time, and instead of patrolling a sector like normal Green Lanterns, he would assist other Lanterns in situations they could not handle alone. Kyle also discovers he is now being targeted by outside forces and is being impersonated by a supervillian who has been going on a rampage. After clearing his name Kyle learned his mother was dying of an unknown cause, and after being delayed by an inter-dimensional conflict, he returns to Earth to find his mother has died. Using his powers to reanimate his mother, she declines resurrection and asks to be allowed to die, which the grief-stricken Kyle grants as they have a tearful farewell.
Soon after the supervillain Sinestro abducts Kyle and reveals that he had killed Kyle's mother in a plot to break Kyle's will so he could serve as Parallax's new host, and that Ion is actually a a benevolent energy entry similar to Parallax that thrives on willpower and Kyle is its unknowing host. Kyle's power is then drained and is immediately taken over by Parallax, which turns the hair on top of his head gray. Parallax soon captures the other human Green Lanterns and tortures them with visions of fear as he takes them back to Sinestro. The entire Green Lantern Corps is eventually called to rescue the captured Lanterns and defeat Parallax, but Parallax murders a Lantern and crushes his power ring in the ensuing fight. He is prevented from murdering another by the intervention of other Lanterns and the Ion entity before escaping and proceeds to lead an attack on Earth. It is soon revealed that Kyle has been trapped within his own mind the entire time, locked within his childhood home, helplessly watching as Parallax went on his rampage. Kyle attempts to fight back but is unable to, and Parallax begins taunting him with his greatest fear, failing the people who depend on him, especially the women in his life, many of whom have come to harm because of their association with him and are the causes of Kyle struggles with guilt and responsibility, and that this was what allowed Parallax to possess him. Enraged, Kyle is able to summon a pencil and stab Parallax in the eye, but the creature is unfazed and continues to taunt Kyle before disappearing. In anger he is about to smash a painting before noticing his mother's signature on it, realizing she had painted it years ago. This unexpected and deep connection with his mother gives Kyle hope, and with renewed faith in himself, walks into the painting, finding himself in a field walking towards a bright green star.
Meanwhile Parallax is confronted by Hal Jordan, but is defeated and absorbed, strengthening Parallax, while another Lantern retrieves the actual painting from Kyle's mother's house, remembering how Kyle had spoke of it previously. When Parallax is shown the painting which visibly affects his demeanor, while Kyle and Jordan are able to defeat Parallax within Kyle's mind, freeing the two from his grip. The now-separated Parallax is quickly entrapped by four Lantern Power Batteries, and Kyle is reinstated as a normal Green Lantern. He and Jordan quickly defeat Sinestro, stopping his invasion of Earth.
Afterwards Kyle is assigned to mentor the new host for Ion, Sodam Yat, and begins a romantic relationship with fellow Lantern Soranik Natu. However this relationship is revealed to be in violation of one of the Guardians new rules: No relationships between Green Lanterns.
During the rising conflict between the Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps, Kyle was sent back to Earth after trying to disway the Guardians from executing the Sinestro Corps members, but quickly traveled to the living planet and Green Lantern Oa, encountering a swarm of black rings that were reanimated the deceased Lanterns in Oa's crypts, bringing Kyle face to face with the reanimated Jade. Kyle quickly learns that these Black Lanterns are not truly the deceased person but grotesque mockeries of them. Kyle tries to destroy the false Jade, but she torments him with images of people he has failed until she is destroyed by Natu. The Black Lanterns begin attacking the Central Power Battery on Oa and breach a power lantern. Anticipating its detonation, Kyle professes his love for Natu and sacrifices himself by taking it to a crowd of Black Lanterns as it exploded. The Black rings attempt to reanimate Kyle, but are destroyedby the Corps, Munk of the Indigo Tribe, and Miri Riam of the Star Sapphires, whose power embodies love. Having sensed the love between Kyle and Soranik in jeopardy, Miri uses her power to connect Kyle's heart to Natu's, and restores him to life. They then journey to Earth, where the Black Lanterns have been focusing their attack, where Kyle encounters a Black Lantern Alexandra DeWitt before helping defeat the Black Lantern Corps leader, Nekron, and in the process restoring to life some of the Black Lanterns, including Jade. Kyle later reveals that when Miri restored him to life and showed him his true. love he saw Jade and not Natu. An angry Natu breaks up with him, telling him not to come near her again. Kyle returns to Earth and resumes his normal superheroing before getting involved in the latest galactic crisis.

Because of the way in which Kyle's girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt was murdered led Gail Simone to coin the phrase "Women in Refrigerators" and subsequently drew attention to the disproportionately number of female characters who had been injured, killed, or depowered as a plot device within various superhero comic books.

Superhero 411: Aunt May

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at probably the oldest person on this list, Aunt May. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!


Aunt May

Real name: May Reilly Parker-Jameson
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962, Marvel Comics)
Creators: Stan Lee (writer) and Steve Ditko (artist)

Occupation: Housewife/Volunteer
Religion: Protestant

Operates in: New York/Boston

After the death of her brother-in-law and his wife, May and her husband Ben adopt their young son Peter and raise him in their home in Queens, New York, eventually becoming a surrogate mother to the boy after some hesitation. Years later, when Peter was in his teens, Ben was killed by a thief in a home robbery and money became tight. Peter wanted to help out as best he could, and eventually became a freelance photographer specializing in photos of superhero Spider-Man, which in reality was Peter himself, who had gained superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. May did not know that Peter was Spider-Man, and was always trying to be protective of her "frail" nephew while considering Spider-Man a vigilante to be feared thanks to frequent smearing by the Daily Bugle, a newspaper that pays top dollar for Spider-Man pictures and Peter's almost exclusive customer. Peter feared to reveal his identity to Aunt May, believing that she would suffer from a fatal shock, and was constantly torn between superheroing and helping his Aunt. Because of this, Aunt May has frequently been drawn into conflicts between Spider-Man and supervillains, such as when the villain Doctor Otto Octavius attempted to court Aunt May when he thought Peter might be Spider-Man, nearly leading the two to be wed. Eventually Aunt May learns of Peter's secret and the two have a long discussion where they learn each is stronger that they had previously though. Aunt May is glad to learn the true reason behind her nephew's previously mysterious and flighty behavior, and finds a new purpose in defending Spider-Man from his detractors. Spider-Man later joined The Avengers, and when their house was destroyed by a supervillian, Aunt May, Peter and his wife Mary Jane moved into their headquarters, Stark Tower, where she keep even the most abrasive heroes like Wolverine in check and single handedly defeated the Chameleon when he attempted to infiltrate the tower by tricking him into eating Ambien-filled oatmeal-raisin cookies. When Peter revealed his secret identity to the world in support of the Superhuman Registration Act, he later changed his mind after seeing the true impact of the act and has to take Aunt May and Mary Jane into hiding. An assassin is able to locate them and tries to kill Peter, but misses and instead hits Aunt May. Peter does everything he can to save her, but finds nothing that works. The demon Mephisto appears and offers Peter an option, that he would alter reality to save her life and make everyone forget that Peter was Spider-Man, but at the cost of Peter and Mary Jane having never been married. Mary Jane and Peter agree to the deal, which changes reality to one where Aunt May is alive and well while being a frequent volunteer at a homeless shelter, where she meets John Jonah Jameson Sr, father of former Daily Bugle owner and now mayor J. Jonah Jameson, and begins a relationship with him. The two eventually wed and later move to Boston to distance themselves from the dangerous superhero activity in New York.

Because of Aunt May's large presence from the beginning in the Spider-Man mythos, she has become a stalwart of the franchise, being a frequent focus of storylines and has appeared in nearly every adaptation of the Spider-Man series. She has also been the source of frequent parody, especially by Marvel themselves, such as the time she became Golden Oldie and fought the planet-eating Galactus.

Superhero 411: Captain America

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at probably the most patriotic superhero on the list, Captain America. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!
  

Captain America

Real name: Steve Rogers
First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (1941, Timely Comics)
Creator: Joe Simon (Writer) and Jack Kirby (Artist)

Occupation: Soldier
Religion: Protestant

Operates in: All over the place

 

Born in 1922, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. His father died when he was a young child, and his mother when he was in his late teens. During the onset of World War II, Rogers was horrified by newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe and attempted to enlist in the Army but was rejected because of his scrawny physique. Undaunted, he earnestly pleaded to be accepted so he could help and was overheard by US Army General Chester Phillips, who offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in the secret Special Operation Rebirth. Rogers agreed and was taken to a secret laboratory and introduced to Professor Reinstein, the creator of the Super-Soldier formula. After weeks of tests, Rogers was given the serum and a special treatment to accelerate and stabilize the serum's effects. Rogers body quickly developed into a perfection of human physique, but a Nazi spy who had infiltrated the experiment murders Reinstein after the success so that the United States can not reproduce the experiment as Reinstein had not written down the full formula for fear the Nazi would steal it. Rogers was then put through intense physical and tactical training before being given his first assignment, to stop the Nazi agent calling himself the Red Skull, and given the patriotic uniform and codename Captain America. Fighting valiantly during the war, as the Allied forces were closing in on Berlin and the last of the Nazi forces, a desperate Nazi official launched a bomb-loaded plane that would head straight for American soil. Captain America jumped onto the plane as it took off and managed to bring it down in the Arctic Ocean, where his Super-Soldier formula allowed him to enter a state of suspended animation as he was frozen in solid ice. Decades later he was rescued by the newly formed Avengers and became a cornerstone of the team, often acting as team leader, and continues to act as a symbol of liberty and justice.

Captain America was conceived with a rough sketch of the character in costume in 1940 by Joe Simon (a copy of which is seen to the right), first under the name Super America before being changed to Captain America, and was quickly given his own solo comic, which Simon would write and Jack Kirby would draw will adding his own ideas to story. Captain America soon became the most popular character of Marvel Comics, then called Timely Comics, during World War II, with the first issue selling nearly a million copies. Given the comic's decisive attitude to America entering the war a full year before the Pearl Harbor Attack would see America join the Allies and a strong isolationist front in America at the time, Simon and Kirby received regular hate mail and death threats, so much so that they had to be given police protection. However the character was so popular he became the company's first property to be adapted into another medium with the release of the 1944 movie serial Captain America, but his popularity waned after the war ended and disappeared in the 1950s after an ill-fated revival attempt in 1953. However a reintroducing during the Silver Age of comics, where he was revealed to have fallen into and be revived from suspended animation in The Avengers #4 (1964). Captain America has had a solid presence since, with his most recent adaptations being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Captain America: The First Avenger, released on July 22, 2011, and The Avengers, released on May 4, 2012.

Superhero 411: Plastic Man

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at one of the most flexible superheroes out there (sorry, couldn't resist), Plastic Man. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!

Plastic Man

Real name: Patrick "Eel" O'Brian
First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (1941, Quality Comics)
Creator: Jack Cole (Writer/Artist)

Occupation: Former Crook/Safe cracker
Religion: Christian (d.u.)

Operates in: Capital City

When Patrick "Eel" O'Brian was 10, he was orphaned and forced to live on the streets. He eventually fell in with career criminals in order to survive, and became part of a burglary ring specializing in safe cracking. During one late-night heist at a chemical plant, he and his gang members were surprised by a night watchman. During the ensuing escape, Eel was shot in the shoulder, accidentally doused with an unidentified chemical liquid, and left behind by the rest of the gang who had driven off without him. Fleeing on foot and suffering rapidly increasing disorientation due to the gunshot wound and chemical exposure, eel eventually passed out in the foothills just outside the city. When he awoke he found himself in bed in a mountain monestary, being tended to by the monk who had discovered him unconscious in the forest. The monk had sense the capacity for great good in O'Brian, and when the police who had followed O'Brian's trail to the area came to the monastery to inquire about O'Brian, the monk turned them away. O'Brian was deeply moved by this act of faith and kindness, and further fueled O'Brian's long dissatisfaction with the criminal life and ignites his desire to reform. As O'Brian recovers at the monastery he discovers that his body has become like super-malleable rubber, allowing him to stretch, bounce, and mold himself as he desires, and so he uses his new found powers to fight for law and order. Using a rubber suit, goggles and remolding his face to conceal his identity, he maintained his criminal connections as a means of gathering information on criminal activities. As time went on, Plastic Man was inducted into the Capital City Police Force, and then later the FBI, and eventually abandoned his Eel O'Brian identity.
Plastic Man was originally owned and published by Quality Comics, but Quality Comics was shut down in 1956 and its properties, including Plastic Man, were acquired by DC Comics. After the DC crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, which reboot the DC universe, a new origin for Plastic Man was written, one were after O'Brian was abandoned by his gang after the heist gone wrong, he wandered the street as his new powers developed, Eel oblivious to the changes, frightening civilians and bringing the police and National Guard in to deal with the "monster". When he realizes what is going on, he uses his powers to escape his pursuers but becomes depressed over his new condition that he attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge, but is interrupted by Woozy Winks, who helps Eel realize he could capitalize on his new powers to make them rich, and unable to decide if crime or crime-fighting would be more profitable, they flip a coin and end up fighting crime, so they set up a detective agency in New York City.

Superhero 411: Dr. Deseret

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at what I'm sure is the least known superhero on the team, Dr. Deseret. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!

Dr. Deseret

Real name: Dr. Cecilia Denholm
First Appearance: Captain Confederacy v2 #1 (1991)

Occupation: Doctor
Religion: Latter-day Saint

Operates in: The Country of Deseret
Dr. Cecilia Denholm comes from the second series of the comic book Captain Confederacy, published in 1991. The first series was  published in 1986, and both were written by Will Shetterly and drawn by Vince Stone. You can read nearly the whole series on the book's website. 
The comic book focused on a world where the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War thanks to a serum that gave soldiers super strength but would kill them within two weeks, and the tension between the two would prevent Manifest Destiny from coming to pass, resulting in North America being populated with several countries, including the Country of Deseret, located in present day Utah. As the CSA refines it's serum to be less lethal, the other countries create their own projects. Deseret's project produced Dr. Denholm, a women with enhanced fitness and a belt that lets her pump any of 50 different drugs into her systems at her digression to enhance her even more. Unfortunately this leads to her becoming addicted to the chemical cocktail, and when the Free State of Louisiana holds a world superhero conference in an attempt to broker peace gets corrupted by world powers seeking to start a second world war, Dr. Deseret is among those caught in the middle.

Superhero 411: Batman

Today we're starting a series where we'll feature one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. For our first article we'll be looking at the Dark Knight himself, Batman.

Batman

Real name: Bruce Wayne
First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (1939)

Occupation: Businessman/Philanthropist/Vigilante
Religion: Episcopalian / Catholic (lapsed)

Operates in: Gotham City

Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger and fist appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) as "The Bat-Man". Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, an American millionaire and later billionaire playboy, industrialist and philanthropist.
As a young boy Bruce witnessed the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger and swore an oath to bring criminals to justice. As Bruce grew up he sought masters around the world to train him to his physical, mental and intellectual peaks. Upon returning to his hometown of Gotham City he donned a bat-themed costume to strike fear into criminals as he brings them to justice.
Unlike most superheroes Batman does not possess any superpowers, but instead relies on his intellect, detective skills, advanced technologies, wealth, physical prowess, martial arts skills, will power, intimidation and fear.
Batman became a popular character soon after his debut and in 1940 gained his own self-titled comic book. Since then Batman has remained popular and has several interpretations in various media. The 1960s saw the Batman television series that used a camp style that was associated with the character until the late 1980s with the release of The Dark Knight Returns miniseries by Frank Miller and the first of the Batman feature films that returned the character to his darker roots. Batman has become a cultural icon around the world, and has been the focus of much pop culture, both serious and not.